Apply for UMBC STRiVE 2012

Apply for UMBC STRiVE 2012 STRiVE is a highly regarded, 5-day student leadership retreat, but none of those words really conveys the wonder of the thing. I've been a facilitator at each of the annual SGA- and Office of Student Life-sponsored retreats, and each has been a highlight of my entire UMBC experience. At STRiVE, student participants (and staff and student coaches) who start as strangers rapidly form and learn from the experience of creating an incredibly strong community. STRiVE is fun, energizing and, for many, life-changing. I know it has been for me.

Through games, activities and reflection, STRiVE participants hone leadership skills, develop campus and social change projects and build networks. Participants emerge feeling confident, inspired and connected. Participants' ratings of the retreat have been off the charts: 100% of participants say they'd recommend STRiVE to a friend.

STRiVE 2012 will take place from January 9 - 13, 2012, at the Skycroft Conference Center in Middletown, Maryland (participants will travel by bus from the UMBC campus). A team of 12 UMBC staff members and student leaders will serve as facilitators for the retreat.

To learn more about STRiVE and complete the application, go here: http://tinyurl.com/umbcstriveapp2012.

You can also read my post-STRiVE reflections and check out some photos from STRiVE 2011 (here), STRiVE 2010 (here), and STRiVE 2009 (here).

The application is due by Friday, November 11^th at 5:00 p.m. If you have questions about STRiVE, send me an email: dhoffman@umbc.edu.

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STRiVE is a highly regarded, 5-day student leadership retreat, but none of those words really conveys the wonder of the thing. I've been a facilitator at each of the annual SGA- and Office of...

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Here are the rest of the life lessons I mentioned in a previous post: Things I had not yet worked out or did not feel confident about when I was in college, but began to gain clarity about later as a result of reflecting on my experiences.

Most of these ideas also have been written about by other people, but my understanding of them is the product of personal experience.

What lessons of your own can you add? Please share in a comment.

College is not merely preparation for life. It is life.

People always respond to the entire context of a communication, not just to the words it contains.

Criticism reveals and reflects upon the critic.

In-the-moment negative emotions such as guilt or fear can be extremely useful in illuminating a situation. They can provide clues about the motives, understandings, insecurities and emotional states of other people, especially those whose behavior is sparking the negative emotions. They can deepen self-understanding. The trick is to learn to read these emotions without either suppressing or being overwhelmed by them.

Sometimes the hardest thing in the world to see is what is right in front of you.

People sometimes view choices you make for yourself, but which they would not (or did not) make for themselves, as judgments against them. This is all the more true if the path you choose is one which, at some level, they regret not having chosen. It is easy to be confused by their resulting hostile reactions, but it would be a mistake to be deterred by them.

Every new insight subtly alters your knowledge and perspective about everything you thought you already knew. Each new experience subtly alters your perspective on every aspect of your past.

You aren’t really from somewhere until you go somewhere else.

Changing the world for the better does not mean seeking a stable point beyond which the world stops changing. People need to be involved in ongoing, challenging, cooperative work to advance the common good. An essential aspect of being human is confronting and contributing to the mitigation of life’s imperfections.

Love involves giving and receiving permission to be who you truly are.

A mouse trapped in a maze never sees the maze, only a series of straight paths and corners.

Knowledge derived from breaking things or processes down into their smallest component parts is incomplete. It excludes the broadest patterns, most subtle and profound connections and deepest meanings.

All people yearn, at some level, to become whole, connect authentically with the universe, be who they really are and fulfill their potential.

What feels like inability and weakness may actually be undiscovered or unrevealed talent and strength.

Winning an argument is not the same thing as achieving progress toward the objective at the heart of the argument. Sometimes winning an argument can hinder such progress.

Staying too close to an admired person for too long can stunt one’s growth. When the admired person is nearby, adopting the person’s admirable behaviors and thought processes may feel presumptuous or unnecessary.

All conscious perceptions involve value judgments and assumptions, as do all descriptions of things or situations in the world. No word can precisely express any objective meaning.

A part of the judgment involved in human perceptions is the filtering and prioritization of inputs. In order to focus on the highest-priority information, people take vast portions of their experiences and environments for granted. They adapt to their environments unconsciously, absorbing and relying on a common set of values and assumptions, some of which they might reject if they ever became fully aware of them.

Instincts, intuitions, emotions and dreams are extremely important sources of knowledge. The knowledge they reveal is intrinsic: located within the unconscious mind and relatively untainted by conditioning. Much intrinsic knowledge relates to people’s own true identities and deepest yearnings. The suppression of intrinsic knowledge causes depression and anxiety, and stunts personal growth.

Symbols need not take the form of words, numbers and pictures. All things, people, actions and failures to act are symbols. Symbols can reveal fundamental truths because the unconscious mind invokes intrinsic knowledge to decode them.

The contributions of the greatest scientists, poets, authors, artists, builders and leaders change not just our experience but our capacity to imagine. As a result of great works, there are more available thoughts.

Great teachers empower students to think new thoughts, and expand the scope of their free will.

Excellent teaching is not primarily about transmitting academic content from the mind of the teacher to the mind of the student, but about liberating knowledge and capacities already present in the student.

True teaching transforms the teacher. True leadership transforms the leader. True love transforms the lover. True life is transformation.

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Here are the rest of the life lessons I mentioned in a previous post: Things I had not yet worked out or did not feel confident about when I was in college, but began to gain clarity about later...

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Over the next few weeks, UMBC will host two organizations that are looking to fill postdoctoral positions in the Biomedical Sciences. Gladstone Institutes, affiliated with the University of...

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I was a sensitive young man, sometimes confused by social situations and dynamics, trying hard to understand. In the years after college I finally started to see patterns in circumstances that had baffled me or caused me pain. I began to write them down, so that I would not forget. And after several years, I had compiled the collection set forth below.

I first published my list on Co-Create UMBC four years ago, and have re-posted it each year. I hope you find something that resonates with you. There is a second list, compiled since I arrived at UMBC in 2003, which I'll post in the coming week.

A very large portion of people’s behavior is driven by insecurity. And a very large portion of the behavior that stems from insecurity can look like confidence.

In many situations, people face a choice between doing something in a way that feels right, resonates, comes from the heart, makes sense, and fits the moment; or doing the thing in the way that they think they are supposed to do it. Examples: Giving a speech; proposing marriage; dealing with somebody’s emotional crisis; disciplining a child; interviewing a job candidate; responding “heroically” to a threat. More often than not, the genuine approach produces more satisfying results. And more often than not, people instead choose to do what they think they are supposed to do. (Part of the problem is that people’s sense of what they are supposed to do comes from many sources, including media, that present the relevant situations in misleading ways. For example, the media may capture the mechanical aspects of an effective speech but not the way the words match the emotions of the moment).

Situations take a while to play out. There’s no need to panic, or to assume that what initially seems to be true will always be true.

People tend to overreact.

A situation that has been imagined, read about, etc. may not be easily recognized when it becomes a real situation. This is because the feel of the imagined situation may have been very distinctive, but the real situation feels much more like every other real situation. Examples: “corruption,” “falling in love,” “heroism.”

In many situations, a variety of motivations drive people’s choice of actions. These motivations can range from deeply spiritual to simply practical. However, over time, the more abstract motivations tend to be forgotten, and the more practical motivations remembered and acted upon. It’s hard to cling to a concept; but practicalities—deadlines, costs, etc.—are hard to forget, and create their own inertia. As a result, people repeatedly find themselves going through the motions: continuing to do things that they once made the choice to do, but without retaining any sense of connection to their deepest needs and motivations. They feel lost, and their activities provide no real sustenance.

People are not their roles.

Many situations apparently resolved through formal processes, such as hiring staff, or creating legislation, are really resolved through a complex combination of formal and informal processes. Very often, the informal processes—which may be unacknowledged and hidden from view—are the more important ones.

The key to effective communication is to understand one’s audience. And a lot of people can’t or don’t bother to understand many audiences for their communications.

People may have to hear the same good idea many times before it enters their consciousness.

Ideas are not appreciated or rewarded in proportion to their truth, beauty, explanatory power, or even social value. Other factors typically matter more. Among them: The credentials of the idea’s originator (however arbitrary their connection to the idea); the prospect that somebody can turn a profit from the idea; and the degree to which the idea departs from, or even improves upon, accepted wisdom (the more it does, the less likely it will be appreciated and rewarded).

Often people want things for reasons they can’t quite put their finger on. It’s just something that they feel—maybe the subtle combination of a number of subjective factors (“I want Chinese food—even though we had Chinese last night;” “I want to go home now;” “I want this job despite the fact that it pays less than the other one”). Because they are personal impulses rather than the products of reasoning, these desires can be difficult to assert or defend. In forums where a collective decision is being made, logical arguments may be favored and impulsive arguments dismissed. But the impulses are real, and their connection to people’s welfare is real as well. It is perfectly legitimate to act on such impulses, and to resist the people who try to defeat them with arguments.

Many actions appear to reflect clear, easily inferred motives but in fact do not. People and institutions do all sorts of things that may seem planned, polished and connected to a strategic agenda, but actually are the products of inertia, laziness, whim, jittery responses to incomplete information, or other motives more complex or confused than they seem.

Social change happens in a gestalt—not as the result of any single well-conceived, well-executed program, policy or intervention. There is no single initiative that will save the world. This is because people, institutions, relationships and cultures are extremely complex. Any single action aimed at social change, however well-conceived and widely supported, is likely to be challenged, diverted, thwarted, misunderstood and/or misapplied in a thousand different ways. But honest, thoughtful efforts can have a cumulative effect. Slowly, person-by-person, relationship-by-relationship, they shift the underlying culture and expectations. So the good that we do is not always the immediate good that we intend.

People express opinions for a lot of different reasons. That they really, deeply believe in what they are saying is only one of them.

Overly zealous advocacy of a certain perspective alienates people who might otherwise have adopted that perspective in due time.

The most insidious way to attack or undermine an idea is to call something else by its name.

There are many situations that feel rotten, even when handled perfectly. (Examples: consoling somebody on the death of a friend; apologizing for a mistake that caused a lot of harm). So it is a mistake to assume from the rotten feeling that you have said or done the wrong thing.

A picture left in the same place on the wall long enough will become invisible.

Some things can be learned only through experience.

When the true relationship between cause and effect is unknown, very simple patterns can appear vastly more complicated than they really are.

Perceptions freeze more easily than situations. Once a person has formed a perception of a situation, he or she is likely to miss the fact that the situation has shifted subtly or gradually over time.

Ambiguities in the early part of an arrangement can be costly to resolve. They may be the only things making the arrangement possible. Business deals, marriages, friendships—all may depend on the parties failing to reveal and resolve conflicts in their perceptions about the facts behind their transactions. If one of the parties, at the commencement of an arrangement, sees that these unresolved conflicts may exist, it can be very tempting to keep quiet about them and hope for the best. But the cost of cleaning up the messes that can arise when these conflicts come to light later, long after all parties have begun to take actions consistent with their own perceptions, can be far, far greater. In general, it is much better to name and attempt to resolve ambiguities on the front end of an arrangement rather than risk the catastrophe of having them derail the arrangement later.

Justice is often associated with equality. “Splitting the difference” has a ring of fairness to it. Exhibiting “balance” in reporting on a situation—for example, devoting the same amount of journalistic space to each side of a controversy—seems evenhanded. But in situations in which there actually is a fundamental underlying inequality, treating people equally is fundamentally unjust. For example, if two people disagree about ten aspects of a transaction, but one of the two people is correct about all ten aspects and the other is simply lying for his or her own gain, it would be unjust to conclude that each person must be right about five of the ten sources of disagreement, or to simply “split the difference.”

The two major sources of happiness are self-expression and love. And in truth, they are the same things.

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I was a sensitive young man, sometimes confused by social situations and dynamics, trying hard to understand. In the years after college I finally started to see patterns in circumstances that...

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Collin is the third UMBC student in the past nine years to serve as the Student Regent. Will you be next? Apply now to serve as Student Regent for 2012-2013. The application form is here; additional background information about the position and selection process here. The completed application form and essays are due Friday, October 28th at 5:00 P.M., and letters of support due the following Friday, November 4th at 5:00 p.m. Submit application materials in hard copy to my (David Hoffman) mailbox in the Office of Student Life, Commons 336, and also email the application form and essays to me at dhoffman@umbc.edu. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

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UMBC junior Collin Wojciechowski is many things: a student, a writer, an active participant in Maryland politics. But when he travels to any other campus in the University System of Maryland...

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I’m asking some of the people you might encounter on the UMBC campus, including students, faculty, staff and alumni, to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. These are their responses.

Name: Craig Berger

Hometown: Salem, Ohio

Q: How long have you been at UMBC?

A: This is my first semester at UMBC.

Q: What is your current title (job or student organization position)?

A: Coordinator of Campus and Civic Engagement

Q: In 12 words or less, what role(s) do you play on campus?

A: I encourage students to learn through identifying and solving common problems collaboratively.

Q: What aspect of your UMBC role(s) do you enjoy most?

A: I enjoy listening to each student's story and observing students discover their power and agency.

Q: What is the most important or memorable thing you learned in college/have learned at UMBC?

A: While I have not been at UMBC for too long yet, the most important thing I learned in college is that learning requires risk-taking; we have to be willing to put our comfort on the line in order to receive a pay-off that might not be guaranteed. It's a scary proposition, but it's necessary.

Q: Complete this sentence: "I am a big fan of __________"

A: blogging!

Q: Do you have any UMBC stories, little-known facts about UMBC, favorite spots on campus, or anything else you’d like to share?

A: While shopping at the grocery store my first weekend in Baltimore, I discovered that some distant relative of mine makes amazing cookies ("Berger" cookies?) -- I picked some up on that trip, and now I'm addicted!

BONUS VIDEO QUESTION: What else would you like to share? Ask yourself a question and answer it.

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I’m asking some of the people you might encounter on the UMBC campus, including students, faculty, staff and alumni, to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. These are...

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Where I'm from, there are no snow days, no autumn bonfires lost to wind and showers. The sun rises over land and sets over water, and palm trees line the boulevards. Where I'm from, the interstate highways are never called "I-this" or "I-that," but always "the 405" or "the 5." When locals share where they're from they never mention counties or high schools, only cities and communities. There is no unifying regional cuisine, no equivalent to the Maryland crab or Old Bay seasoning, although restaurants everywhere else try to evoke the place with avocado and sprouts.

Where I'm from is the backdrop for movies and television: My high school and college appear as their generic equivalents in countless films and shows. The most famous local landmarks are known more for their appearances on the silver screen than for their history in the actual world.

Where I'm from, the locals can seem sunny but insincere. They can attend too much to appearances; they mock the unfashionable and unkempt. Their superficiality alienates many poetic young souls, and spawns subcultures at the margins: of yearning for independence, of depth.

Where I'm from shines through me every day without my conscious thought or intention. Whether I embody its folkways or epitomize resistance to them, the me that emerges is defined in large part by that faraway place.

Where I'm from is where I'm headed for a little while: the San Fernando Valley, and the City of Angels.

Where are you from?

--
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Very soon I'll be traveling to my hometown. I haven't been back in more than six years. I'll see my family, and one or two old friends who still live within a few hours' drive, and I'll take...

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We are increasing our professional development offerings so that we can assist with preparing you for careers both within and outside of academe. As part of our “PROF-it: Professors-in-Training”...

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Name: Mickey Arora

Hometown: MoCo, MD

Q: How long have you been at UMBC?

A: 3 years

Q: What is your current title (job or student organization position)?

A: Health Education Coordinator at UHS.

Q: In 12 words or less, what role(s) do you play on campus?

A: I help to promote health & wellness across the UMBC campus.

Q: What aspect of your UMBC role(s) do you enjoy most?

A: Interacting with different students at programs and events. Also, supervising the Peer Health Educators - they are some of the best students I have ever known and keep me motivated at work.

Q: What is the most important or memorable thing you learned in college/have learned at UMBC?

A: The biggest thing I remember about my undergrad career was how involved I was. I was involved with over four different student orgs, was a Peer Educator, and also interned on campus... and I loved it! I would never have been able to meet the people I met, or know the things I know now without those experiences. I hope that all college students get the chance to become involved on their campuses, no matter how big or small; and at UMBC, I've learned that the possibilities for students, staff and faculty to get involved are endless!

Q: Complete this sentence: "I am a big fan of __________"

A: frozen yogurt! :)

Q: Do you have any UMBC stories, little-known facts about UMBC, favorite spots on campus, or anything else you’d like to share?

A: My mom always told me I should try to date someone "on my level" like at work or school, and I constantly told her I would NEVER be able to meet anyone like that at work... but after two years of knowing each other, I started dating another staff member at UMBC and it's been great! Moms apparently always know best. :)

--
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I’m asking some of the people you might encounter on the UMBC campus, including students, faculty, staff and alumni, to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. These are...

http://cocreateumbc.blogspot.com/2011/10/real-people-profiles-mickey-arora.html https://beta.my.umbc.edu/api/v0/pixel/news/9406/guest@my.umbc.edu/b33e92b36f617aad5f88b5d4efbefbb6/api/pixel real-people-profiles Co-Create UMBC https://beta.my.umbc.edu/groups/co-create https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/xsmall.png?1499890363 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/original.jpg?1499890363 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/xxlarge.png?1499890363 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/xlarge.png?1499890363 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/large.png?1499890363 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/medium.png?1499890363 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/small.png?1499890363 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/xsmall.png?1499890363 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/000/002/5b8f025dafb56cb8d3088b7259aadcfb/xxsmall.png?1499890363 Co-Create UMBC 52 9 true Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:31:00 -0400 Nicknames The first of them all was 'Little Hoffy.' I was 7 years old, and had been placed in a class full of older kids: 3rd and 4th graders, most of whom seemed world-wise and, relative to me, disturbingly large. After a playground game in which the bigger boys ganged up on me, the 4th grade girls decided to offer me some protection. I became their Little Hoffy (a play on my last name), tiny and adoring; they became my muscle. Being called Little Hoffy made me feel safe and wanted. But it was also a role I was playing: a little bit me and a little bit pretend. And of course it was socially limiting: I could never be an equal with the other boys or girls with a nickname like that.

My next nickname was given to me in 5th grade by the class bully. He handed out all the nicknames. I was new to the school and came across (at least to him) as kind of a brain, so he called me 'Poindexter,' after the glasses-wearing child scientist from the cartoon series Felix the Cat. I was grateful for this. I liked being considered smart, and a lot of his other nicknames were far less flattering: Cow, for example, or 'Where's My Shoe?' I was proud when a new student joined the class mid-year and, after we started hanging out together, he was given the nickname Poindexter II. But 'Poindexter' was like Little Hoffy: sort of affectionate yet also distancing. I wanted badly to be accepted by my peers, and the name Poindexter was more of an invitation to fulfill a 'nerdy kid' stereotype.*

There were other nicknames over the years, each implying its own combination of acceptance and distance, real and pretend. In high school I was 'Larry,' one of The Three Stooges (my two best friends were Moe and Curly). For a while in college I was Casper, as in The Friendly Ghost, a nickname I earned by being the rare white guy to participate in SGA election campaigns for certain students of color. I remember being surprised when my friend (and SGA President) Dean Florez told his supporters to stop calling me that because he believed it unfairly pigeonholed me. "David is a friend, and a member of our team," he said. "He's not just a Casper."

For a long time after college, the occasional nickname would be thrown my way, but I rarely took the bait. I was becoming more comfortable just being me, and didn't feel so much need to play a character in order to maintain the pseudo-acceptance of my peers.

In recent years, though, another name has emerged: some SGA members and other students call me 'D-Hoff.' The thing I like about D-Hoff is that it does not seem to encompass a subtle put-down. It names neither a character nor a version of me that is not the whole. D-Hoff strikes me as more a statement of affiliation, embracing my preference for being addressed informally: no 'Mr. Hoffman' for me, thank you very much. It's a nickname I feel no need to outgrow. At last.

How about you: Any nickname stories you'd like to share?

*Incidentally, Poindexter II (my friend John) wrote the movie Anonymous, about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays, which you'll probably see advertised quite a bit in the next few weeks.

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The first of them all was 'Little Hoffy.' I was 7 years old, and had been placed in a class full of older kids: 3rd and 4th graders, most of whom seemed world-wise and, relative to me,...

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