It’s no surprise to UMBC Professor of American Studies Warren Belasco that food is entering mainstream curricula at American colleges and universities.
A number of academic institutions are using Belasco’s latest book, Food: The Key Concepts (Berg Publishers), as a required text in undergraduate courses examining how food can be viewed in the contexts of history, culture and the environment.
“This book is really an introductory overview of how one would teach food,” Belasco said. “The book is dedicated to students at UMBC because they really shaped it. Students don’t hesitate to tell me what they think.”
Samantha McGarity ’09 recently completed Belasco’s foundation American Studies course on American food.
“We looked at every part of food and consumption: Why do we eat what we eat? How do we eat what we eat? How was the food produced?” McGarity said. “I realized just how much I don’t know about the food industry. It forever changed the way I look at what’s on my plate.”
In an early chapter, Belasco cites the ordinary act of toasting a slice of white bread to illustrate the comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to food. He suggests that toasted white bread can trigger study of why some cultures value processed white grains more than whole grains, where toast fits in one’s morning ritual and who invented the sandwich.
Belasco spoke recently with the Washington Post about the implementation of food courses at Yale, several University of California campuses and the University of New Hampshire. The report called him “a pioneer” in the discipline.
With more than 25 years of experience as a food scholar, Belasco has served for the past five years as editor of Food, Culture & Society, an international multidisciplinary research journal.
He returns to the UMBC classroom after a 2008-09 sabbatical. He will continue to engage students in food topics that most never envisioned, such as his vision of a “sustainable hamburger” that governments, the food industry and agricultural scientists could develop as a departure from grain-fed, high-fat burgers.
“The basic pattern of a semester is to start with an appreciation of how food creates community and identity. I call this the ‘Oh, wow’ stage,” Belasco said. “From there, we move quickly to the ‘Oh, no’ stage: the problems with meat production, animal rights, environment and the obesity epidemic.”
As students become aware of these challenges, lively conversations emerge.
“The course is never the same two years in a row,” Belasco said.
(2/16/09)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
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A Prototype for Collaboration
Engineering and art come together in finding innovative ways of using 3D rapid prototyping at UMBC. Dr. Anne Spence and artist Chad Eby discuss how they apply this new tool in the classroom and in the studio.
Watch the video, produced by UMBC’s New Media Studio. View Program in QuickTime:
For optimal viewing experience, viewers should
download Quicktime 6
Visit the streaming media@UMBC Web site.
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A Prototype for Collaboration
Engineering and art come together in finding innovative ways to use 3D rapid prototyping at UMBC.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering’s rapid prototyping printer is used to create instant prototypes of mechanical elements before their actual fabrication is done. The process gives freedom and speed to research projects when mechanical fabrication is necessary. Now, a UMBC artist is using rapid prototyping to produce computer-generated sculpture. Will artists join engineers on future design teams?
Anne Spence, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Chad Eby, a student in the Imaging and Digital Arts MFA program, discuss how they apply 3D rapid prototyping in the classroom and in the studio.
Watch the video, produced by UMBC’s New Media Studio. View Program in QuickTime:
For optimal viewing experience, viewers should
download Quicktime 6
Visit the streaming media@UMBC Web site.
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Young students will learn the importance of transportation efficiency and team building at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) State Championship at UMBC on Saturday, January 30. The competition stresses the importance of education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), helping students collaborate and develop necessary skills at an early age.
Sixty four teams (chosen from qualifying rounds) will compete by building programmable, motorized robots from LEGOs while researching and reporting on specific topics. The theme of this year’s season is “Smart Move” and focuses on modes of transportation. Teams are judged on the technical characteristics of their robot, how well it performs tasks, the quality of the team’s project and how well the team works together.
The competition has become increasingly popular over the years.
“If you have not seen one of these competitions, go,” said Jonathan Wray, secondary mathematics instructional facilitator for Howard County Public Schools. “It rivals American Gladiators and any other major competitive sports event.”
“We’ve grown from less than 100 teams last year to more than 160 FLL teams in Maryland,” said Anne Spence, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and FLL affiliate partner for Maryland. “That growth partly reflects increased interest in science, technology and engineering among students and educators – and because FLL is a lot of fun.”
Spence’s research focuses on the awareness and interest in engineering career opportunities for students in K-16 with the hope of increasing their participation in all areas of engineering. Her efforts are being developed in partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education, local educational agencies, community colleges, other four-year institutions and key businesses.
Also included at the championship will be a FIRST Robotics Competition, an engineering program for high school students; the FIRST Tech Challenge, a mid-level and affordable robotics competition for high school students; and an expo by the Junior FIRST LEGO League for children ages 4-9, where they will demonstrate what they’ve learned about alternative energy.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering.
FLL is an international program for children created in partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Company in 1998.
The championship will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., in the Retriever Activities Center and is free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Anne Spence at aspence@umbc.edu.
(1/19/10)
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Chernobyl is a household word for nuclear disaster; few Americans, however, know the story behind two fate-entwined cities in the U.S. and former U.S.S.R. which each emitted three to four times more radiation than the Chernobyl meltdown.
In April, UMBC history professor Kate Brown received a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship to complete her book “Enriched by Plutonium: the tandem history of the secret cities plutonium built,” which aims to put these cities in the cross hairs of human history.
For nearly a half century, the cities of Richland, Wash., and Cheliabinsk-40 in Russia manufactured in secrecy the most volatile and lethal product in human history: Plutonium.
Brown hopes to shatter ideological assumptions cultivated during the Cold War by exploring remarkable similarities between the American and Soviet plutonium cities.
Top secret, highly restricted and socially engineered, these government-run communities developed on parallel paths into model cities. Each received awards for planning, community development and education. At the height of Cold War tension, some politicians feared Richland was too “socialisitic”, while some Soviet officials called Cheliabinsk-40 too “materialisitic” and “bourgeois.” Both suffer a deadly legacy of radioactive contamination.
“I will argue that in creating the means to destroy each other, the two cities came to resemble one another,” Brown said.
Brown has interviewed dozens of residents and plant operators in both cities and has accessed U.S. federal government and Communist Party personal archives. After making one more research trip to the Urals in Russia this summer she plans to complete her book by the end of the Guggenheim Fellowship year.
Sixty-two disciplines and 68 academic institutions are represented by 2009’s Guggenheim Fellows. Since its establishment in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has granted more than $273 million in Fellowships to nearly 16,700 individuals, including scores of Nobel, Pulitzer and other prizewinners.
Brown studies and teaches Russian and Eastern European History, focusing on ethnicity and nationalism. Her recent book, A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland won the American Historical Association’s prestigious George Louis Beer Prize. Brown is the recipient of fellowships from numerous institutions, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Social Science Research Center.
(5/1/09)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Inaugurated in 2006, UMBC’s annual IN10 International Short Play Competition seeks to address the scarcity of strong roles for young women in contemporary American plays. By creating a national competition for 10-minute long plays that feature solid acting opportunities for young actresses, the Department of Theatre hopes to help commence a new era in contemporary American playwrighting. The national winner is awarded a cash prize and performances at the Festival. Additionally, each year the IN10 Festival commissions new works by noted American playwrights.
This year’s festival, which runs March 4 through 8 in the UMBC Theatre, features new theatrical works for young actresses and all audiences, including the winning play of UMBC’s IN10 International Short Play Competition, Confirmed Sighting by Patrick Gabridge.
Artistic Director Susan McCully has commissioned new works by renowned playwrights Lee Blessing, Kia Corthron and Caridad Svich:
Into You (Lee Blessing): Following her recent assault, a nursing student implicates her roommates in brutal game of crime and punishment when she exacts a secret revenge.
Trickle (Kia Corthron): Supply-side economics works its dramatic arch through the lives of five women in this cunning play about who gets bailed out and who is dumped upon.
Confirmed Sighting (Patrick Gabridge): A young professor searching for a rare bird in an Arkansas swamp finds an unlikely ally in a savvy local, but can she be trusted?
Stepping on Water (Caridad Svich): Lotti’s restlessness and yearning to escape her insular hometown takes poetic flight through her passionate longing for the beautiful Spanish girl next door.
The Festival features direction by Colette Searls and Jennifer L. Nelson, set design by Daniel Ettinger, sound design by Terry Cobb, dialect direction by Lynn Watson, light design by student Matthew Klein, and costume styling by students Christiane Markus and Ulrich Lindqvist.
A performance schedule and ticket information are available online.
(2/27/09)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Green is the new black and gold on Thursday, February 5, as both the National Teach-in on Global Warming and Recyclemania kick off at The Commons Main Street. Both events are geared toward educating the campus and area communities about global warming and the importance of recycling through a series of activities, panel discussions, art displays and more.
Through its participation in the National Teach-in on Global Warming, UMBC joins more than 600 colleges and universities nationwide to discuss and reiterate the importance of finding solutions to global warming. UMBC will showcase its sustainability initiative and celebrate what the Climate Change Task Force (CCTF) has done so far in order to fulfill the climate commitment President Freeman Hrabowski signed in 2007.
The day’s events include a fair of local green businesses, government agencies and climate action groups at The Commons Main Street; sustainability performing and visual arts works and films; campus-wide open classes on global warming across disciplines; and a panel discussion on action and legislation to avert climate change. On the panel will be Wayne Gilchrest, former Maryland congressman and co-chair of the Climate Change Caucus; Sarah Zaleski, coordinator of the Baltimore City Office of Sustainabilty; and Donald Boesch, professor of marine science and president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) and Chairman of the Maryland Governor’s Climate Change Commission.
“UMBC students, faculty and staff have a unique opportunity to take part in the National Teach-in on global warming and learn about the challenges we face and about the policies we need to implement on campus and at all levels of government,” said Virginia McConnell, professor of economics and co-chair of the CCTF.
Alongside the Teach-in will also be the start of UMBC’s annual Recyclemania, a ten-week recycling competition in which schools nationwide collect and record the weight of products about to be recycled. Although the official kick-off is February 5, a two-week trial period began for UMBC and other colleges and universities on Sunday, January 18, in order to get accustomed with collecting and reporting.
2009 marks the third year in which UMBC has participated alongside more than 400 schools nationwide in Recyclemania, capturing several second-place awards in various categories in 2008. Faculty and staff are encouraged to participate, and students will have opportunities to participate in various recycling based activities on February 5 at The Commons. Free T-shirts and more information on recycling also will be handed out. Students are invited to bring recyclable materials to the event for collection.
“I’d like to see more people recycle on campus and help educate others about recyclable materials,” said Donna Anderson, manager of landscape and grounds. “Wherever there’s a recycling bin, please use it. And if there isn’t, let Facilities Management know, and there will be one there in the future.”
The Teach-in kicks off at 11 a.m. at Main Street in The Commons, and activities will continue throughout the day. For more information, visit the sustainability website at www.umbc.edu/sustainability. A link at the top of the page will include a full listing of events.
For more information about Recyclemania, visit www.recyclemania.org/ or contact Donna Anderson at dleak@umbc.edu.
(1/27/09)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
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Carlos Urtecho ’10, political science, never thought of himself as a leader. Instead, leadership found him.
It started in 2005 with Conexiones, an organization striving to meet the needs of Hispanic/Latino children in Howard County schools. Urtecho quickly became involved with the theatrical group, “Teens from the Hood,” a collaboration project between Conexiones, Alianza de la Comunidad and the Foreign-born Information and Referral Network. The group performed at churches, libraries, summer camps and community events to warn people about the dangers of smoking.
During his junior year of high school, Urtecho was discouraged by the lack of unity amongst Hispanic students and their parents at Mt. Hebron High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. With the help of the Conexiones, he founded a group called the “Los Vikingos Hispanic Club” to bring students and parents together at his school.
“This was my first leadership role, and I learned a lot about starting a student organization from the ground up,” he said. “I didn’t know it then – but that experience would really help me in my future leadership roles in college.”
By the time he graduated from Mt. Hebron, Conexiones awarded him a college scholarship for his outstanding leadership. In 2006, he attended George Mason University, where he continued serving in leadership roles. He was a resident assistant, an orientation leader, a tour guide and the recruitment chairman and founder of the Delta Chi Fraternity.
Wanting to be closer to his family, Urtecho transferred to UMBC in spring of 2008 and wasted no time in getting involved on campus. He met with Greek Life and Leadership, asking what it would take to bring the Delta Chi Fraternity to UMBC.
Now, two years later, Urtecho is bringing Delta Chi to UMBC and will serve again as a founding father.
“Having Delta Chi on campus at UMBC will be a great addition to the other fraternities because it will strengthen Greek life,” he said. “The opportunity to become a founding father is a chance for UMBC students to redefine Greek life from the inside out.”
Being a founding father comes with opportunities to determine traditions, values and images that will remain at UMBC for years to come, according to Urtecho. He feels UMBC is the perfect place to start these new traditions. The Delta Chi Fraternity will be officially expanding to UMBC in February 2010.
Urtecho also serves as a tour guide, a resident assistant and president of Campus Crusade for Christ. The group has grown from seven people to 120 since he became president. After graduation, he plans on pursuing a master’s degree in higher education administration and working in residence life. He has maintained his relationship with Conexiones, serving as their alumni coordinator.
“I am very thankful for Conexiones for exposing me to the beauty that is leadership at such an early age.”
(1/19/10)
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Brian Maguire, clinical associate professor of emergency health studies (EHS), has won a 2009 Fulbright Scholarship to expand his groundbreaking research on the occupational risks among ambulance personnel. Maguire will spend four months in Australia in 2010, working on his research and teaching at three Australian universities: Edith Cowan, Charles Sturt and Flinders.
Maguire’s previous research projects were the first to document the occupational injury and fatality rates among emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in the U.S. EMS workers face a host of on-the-job health risks: everything from common back injuries, strains and sprains to more serious injuries caused by ambulance accidents and assaults by patients.
“The occupational injury and fatality rates for American EMS professionals are far above the national average,” said Maguire, a former New York City paramedic, emergency services manager and health care administrator. “But because of a lack of research on the topic, it’s been hard to convince people outside the profession of the serious occupational hazards. As a result, little has been done to make the job safer.”
“The Fulbright award will permit me to work toward developing lessons learned and best practices to protect the lives and health of emergency services personnel around the world.”
The UMBC EHS department provides the only graduate program of its kind in the world. For over a decade it has been providing graduate education online and has drawn students from Europe, Asia, Africa and all over the U.S. The department has been providing emergency medical services (EMS) education since 1982, including a bachelor’s degree, certification programs that have been offered on-site in dozens of countries and a program that trained the 10,000 members of the National Disaster Medical System.
Maguire has been a member of the EHS faculty since 1999. He is associate director of the emergency health services graduate program and director of the Center for Emergency Education and Disaster Research (CEEDR). He has been a consultant to the Department of Homeland Security and numerous health departments in the areas of bio-terrorism and disaster preparedness, an international consultant for systems development as well as a committee member for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Ambulance Association in the areas of ambulance and workforce safety.
(4/16/2009)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
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One lesson Katie Long brought home from volunteering in Honduras for the Peace Corps in 2005-07 is that fun and games can have a positive social and health impact on underserved communities.
Long is now using recreation and fun to strengthen communities around Patterson Park in Baltimore as part of her public service placement as a graduate student in the Peaceworker Program at UMBC’s Shriver Center. The Peaceworker Program is designed to find ways for returning Peace Corps volunteers to serve their local communities when their missions abroad are completed.
As the recreation and Latino outreach coordinator for the nonprofit Friends of Patterson Park, Long works with Baltimore City Parks and Recreation and local groups to use sports, health and recreation programs to build community around Patterson Park. Programs range from nutrition classes and physical fitness boot camps to volleyball, soccer and a tennis program designed for urban children who don’t normally have access to the sport.
“The Friends of Patterson Park tries to use the sports and fun activities you do at a park as a way to contribute to the community and to promote health and physical fitness and outreach to the growing Latino community,” said Long, who will earn a master’s degree in intercultural communication (INCC) and certification in ESOL at UMBC this spring.
This year’s National Peace Corps Week — celebrated the first week of March — celebrates the “third goal” of the Peace Corps as envisioned by its founder, Sargent Shriver: “that someday we are going to bring it home to America.”
The Shriver Center’s Peaceworker Program has been pursuing the “third goal” since it was created in 1994 by Shriver, a native of Maryland. Over 120 returned Peace Corps volunteers have earned graduate degrees as Peaceworker fellows by combining their studies with public service positions focused on addressing urban issues in the Baltimore region.
Ten of the 14 current Peaceworker fellows are enrolled in graduate programs at UMBC.
Peaceworker fellow Amy Panoni, who will earn her master’s in public policy at UMBC this May, is working as a special projects coordinator for My Sister’s Place, a Catholic Charities of Baltimore facility for homeless women and their children.
Panoni created the agency’s job readiness curriculum and as part of her master’s degree oversees and evaluates other programs, such as life skills workshops and a rental assistance program called “Homeward Bound” that provides homeless families with housing and support services.
UMBC INCC student Duncan Cohen, who returned from the Peace Corps in Guinea, West Africa, in 2009, is doing conflict resolution work with the Community Conferencing Center in Baltimore. Cohen is a second generation Peace Corps volunteer and his grandfather was a colleague of Shriver’s when the Corps was founded in 1961.
Graduates of the Peaceworker program also continue to have an impact on the Baltimore-Washington region. Nearly 80 percent of all fellows came from outside the Baltimore region, but 60 percent have settled and remain engaged in service careers in local communities.
“With 100 percent of Peaceworker alumni continuing in service careers and more than half staying in our region engaged in community service careers, the Shriver Peaceworker Program is proving to be a creative class infusion for the City,” said Peaceworker director Joby Taylor.
View an episode of DigitalStories@UMBC featuring Katie Long’s Peace Corps service in Honduras: www.umbc.edu/oit/newmedia/studio/digitalstories/projects.php?movie=SC_Katie.flv
(3/1/10)
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