• There was little talk of "the economy" or a weak job market upon graduation.
• The only way to see and talk to another person, in another place, in real time, was using teleconferencing computer software.
• E-mail was typically returned within 24 hours.
• Gas above $2.75/gallon was considered to be extremely expensive.
• It was widely viewed as implausible that somebody other than a white man would be elected President in our lifetimes.

• Everyone knew that the biggest threat to the security of the United States was the Soviet Union.
• Receiving a long-distance phone call was a big deal (partly because long-distance calls were so expensive to place).
• Typing by touch was not an essential skill.
• The only way to search for a job or a graduate school, aside from attending career and graduate fairs, was to use printed materials: newspapers, magazines, brochures. The library was an essential resource for these things.
• When people graduated from high school or college, they kept in touch with their best friends, but nobody else. There was no practical way to stay connected with peers who had been merely casual friends or acquaintances.

PROMISE at UMB (University of Maryland – The Founding Campus, downtown Baltimore), invites you to join them for the 2nd  Biennial Henrietta Lacks Symposium: The Dignity of Difference presented by The University of Maryland. From the website: “The event features Harriet Washington, author of Medical Apartheid, and artist (and TED speaker) Rick Guidotti, founder of Positive Exposure, as well as a panel of distinguished academicians.”

Symposium: March 7, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (Doors open at 7:30 am)

LOCATION: Southern Management Corporation Campus Center and University of Maryland School of Nursing

621 W. Lombard St. Baltimore, MD 21201

Directions: http://www.umaryland.edu/smccampuscenter/building/index.html

The main speaker for this event wrote the book: “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman from Baltimore. Her cells were used, without her knowledge, for cloning, gene mapping, and vaccines. Her story was brought to the forefront by Rebecca Skloot in the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” 

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Journalist Sheryl McCarthy talks with Author and Bioethicist Harriet Washington in this video:

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Author Rebecca Skloot talks about Henrietta Lacks’ cells and science in this video:

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Former PROMISE Peer Mentor, Dr. Jocelyn Reader, postdoctoral fellow at the Greenbaum Cancer Center, will meet us for breakfast at 7:30 AM at UMB prior to the seminar. Our office and representatives from PROMISE at UMB will post any additional information on this thread. Please register for your free ticket, and write a short post below to let us know that you plan to attend.

Our thanks to Dr. Erin Golembewski, Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate School at UMB, organizer of the PROMISE “meet-up” for this event.

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PROMISE teachable moments:

All researchers working with human or animal subjects should have CITI certification and be well versed in responsible conduct of research.  Know the rules, maintain ethics, and be a responsible researcher. Don’t ever be swayed by any lure of fame or fortune that will compromise your integrity.

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.