Expectant father, UMBC alumnus and UMBC development office Jordan Hadfield ’07, ’08, shares memories of his father, Ken Hadfield, Jr., in an essay in the Dundalk Patch.

While a student at UMBC, Jordan served as president of the Student Government Association, and also was a founding member of the a cappella group The Mama’s Boys.

Read the full story here.

Former UMBC track and field standout Cleopatra Borel-Brown ’02, interdisciplinary studies, is preparing to compete in the 2011 World Track and Field Championships, to be held in August in Daegu, South Korea.

Borel-Brown, an assistant coach at Morgan State University, has competed in the shot put event at two summer Olympics.

Read the full story here.

Read more about this theatre production’s journey to the Kennedy Center here.

Video by Chris Hartlove.

English alumnus Adam Trice ’04, discusses his “graveyard country rock” band Red Sammy in a new interview with Baltimore City Paper editor Lee Gardner.

Read the full interview here.

After graduating from UMBC, Trice earned his M.F.A. in creative writing and publishing arts from the University of Baltimore. His band, Red Sammy, recently released a third album, A Cheaper Kind of Love Song.

UMBC has named 1994 economics alumnus Bob Mumma the new head coach for baseball. Mumma, who was drafted by the White Sox following his graduation from UMBC, has served as assistant coach to the team for the last 15 seasons. He was inducted into UMBC Athletics’ Hall of Fame in 1997.

Mumma succeeds John Jancuska, who had coached the men since 1978.

Read the full press release here.

Via the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship:

In the spirit of entrepreneurship itself, the Alex. Brown Center is pleased to announce a new minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation this fall. This new minor will not be housed under any one major, allowing any student to declare it and any faculty member to incorporate it in their curriculum. Faculty Fellow Bill LaCourse says the initial spark for the minor was to “infuse entrepreneurship into the university, looking for methodology and pathways that don’t disrupt the system.” He goes on to explain that everyone at UMBC is an entrepreneur – everyone here is in the “business of education,” from learning and teaching to grant writing and research.

Two new entrepreneurship courses will be introduced this fall. Both courses will give students a good entrepreneurial mind set and skill set that will be invaluable to them as they head into their own disciplines. Entrepreneurial Mindset, taught by guest instructor and serial entrepreneur Gib Mason ’95, will give students the tools necessary to apply entrepreneurial thinking to their studies, work and life. Through case studies, texts, projects, magazines and blogs, students will explore what it means to think like an entrepreneur, and how they can establish and leverage an entrepreneurial mindset to achieve career success. Mason says, “I am a very passionate person. My hope is that I can instill in the folks that take the class a passion behind one’s ideas and desires.” He is excited to return to a campus he knows very well and to “unlock the entrepreneurship in all of us.”

Learn more…

“Lift Up,” a new documentary on post-quake Haiti co-directed by Huguens Jean ’12, Ph.D., electrical engineering, and Phillip Knowlton ’03, visual arts, will have its film festival premiere this Sunday, June 5, 5:30 p.m., at the 2011 DC Caribbean Film Festival.

The creators of “Lift Up” also recently announced that the film received the Best Documentary Directing Award at the 2011 Amsterdam Film Festival. The juried festival received entries from over 20 countries this year.

Held at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD, the DC Caribbean Film Festival is co-presented with the Caribbean Association of World Bank and IMF Staff (CAI), Caribbean Professional Network (CPN), Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) and TransAfrica Forum. “Like” the film on Facebook to access future screening details.

The family of missing UMBC alumnus Matthew Van Dyke ’02, political science, has sought the aid of Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger in raising the profile of his case. Van Dyke, 31, who has not been heard from since March 13, is believed to have gone missing with several fellow journalists while traveling in Libya.

During a press conference at Van Dyke’s mother’s home yesterday, Ruppersberger told the Baltimore Sun he planned to introduce a resolution about the missing journalist on the House floor.

Read the full Baltimore Sun story here.

View coverage on WJZ-TV.

Read an April story about the search in the Atlantic magazine.

Congratulations to the Class of 2011! The UMBC Alumni Association is proud to welcome you as its newest members.

– Read about members of the Class of 2011 on our special Commencement site.

– Read the Baltimore Sun’s inspiring story about political science major Matt Courson, who walked across the stage five years after being paralyzed. Congratulations, Matt!

UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III takes your questions.

Q. UMBC has been in the news as a new hub for the cybersecurity market. Do you see it as a growth industry for the BWI corridor, and for Maryland in general? And what are “secret” (or not so secret) weapons in UMBC’s arsenal to compete in this field and attract the best talent?

— Joab Jackson ’90

A. I think we’re becoming a model for building the cybersecurity workforce. A model for the nation.

The opening of the Northrop Grumman Cync Program here on campus is a great example. This program is part of our Cyber Incubator, and it will be helping young companies to build their capacity to solve cybersecurity problems. Our country more and more understands that we have to protect our intelligence and our broad societal computing security. All of us have to be concerned about the privacy of information.

Another exciting thing about the Northrop Grumman project is that it is in our research park – bwtech@UMBC – and UMBC is heavily connected with the National Security Agency (NSA). Over 700 of our graduates work at the NSA. And so we are becoming a magnet for cybersecurity companies. We have actually recruited 16 such companies in under two years, and continue to grow in our research park with that effort.

A number of our faculty in computer science at UMBC have been talking about cybersecurity issues for years. We received a major grant – $7.5 million dollars – from the Department of Defense about five years ago. We received that with other universities around the country but we were the lead partner. So we have been working in this space for some time. We are tied to the national infrastructure in this area. This is not new for us. We have become a destination.

The word for it is synergy. When you have national agencies and universities and school systems coming together to build a workforce capacity in cybersecurity and research strength, it becomes a major initiative for the entire state.

Q. At commencement, you always make a point of revisiting UMBC founding president Albin O. Kuhn’s charge to the members of the first graduating class at UMBC: “If you bring to the future the same personal qualities and personal commitment you have brought to this campus as students, good and important things will happen to each of you, as well as to those around you … and the university community will be proud to have played a part in your life.” Why?

— Richard Byrne’86

A. It is fascinating to see how fortunate our graduates are. I laugh sometimes with our students when they want me to feel sorry for them. Last night I was with some seniors, and Keilan Freeman, one of our seniors, was frustrated because he had to decide about graduate school in mechanical engineering between Stanford University and the University of Michigan. And I said to him: You want me to feel sorry for you?

The great news is that I can easily call up UMBC alumni who are graduate students at both institutions – and alumni who have graduated with Ph.D.s from both institutions. So that he could also call them and compare what they had to say.

And I think that is what Albin O. Kuhn was saying: people who have worked hard at UMBC are well-prepared for the workforce. They are well prepared for the next level. And I think he said it so beautifully, that it helps students who are graduating feel more secure about their future. If you can make it at UMBC, you can make it anywhere. That’s his point, and that’s my point.

Have a question for Dr. Hrabowski? Please visit retrievernet.umbc.edu/askthepresident