The Dissertation House at UMB ends today.  We thank the staff of the Writing Center (Gerry Lardner, Jane Sellman, and Almeta Sly-Thompson) and the Counseling Center (Douglas Chay.) The following photos give you a glimpse of the activities that students participated in over the past few days.

UMB Dissertation House Group June 2010

Dr. Pollack works with Almeta Sly-Thompson of the UMB Writing Center

Lunch in the DH @UMB

Jane Sellman from the UMB Writing Center brings gifts

Dr. Carter coaches a student in a one-on-one session

Dr. Pollack talks with guest speaker, Dr. Calvin Williams (UMB Alum, Former PROMISE Peer Mentor, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology)

UMB opened the summer season of the Dissertation House on Monday with several students in the on-campus session, and others joining online.  The day opened with comments by Dr. Judith Pollack (PROMISE Coordinator at UMB), Dr. Renetta Tull, Dr. Erin Golembewski, and the Dissertation House’s own Dr. Wendy Carter. UMB’s Writing Center provided the afternoon mini-lectures on “Keeping it simple” and “Overcoming Writer’s Block.”Thanks to Gerry Lardner and Jane Sellman for their time.  Sellman also provided students with gifts from the Writing Center — good old-fashioned pens and paper … in various colors to stimulate the brain.

The UMB campus is preparing for it’s first Dissertation House.  We are looking forward to welcoming participants to the SMC Campus Center, Room 353 at 9 AM. The UMB Writing Center is co-sponsoring this event with PROMISE.

UMB Dissertation House announcement

Items to bring:

• Computer
• Power Strip  for your computer (there are never enough wall outlets for everyone’s computers.)
• Casual clothing for writing
• Hard copy of the draft that you will be working on.
• Jumpdrive to transfer your files when you need to print.
• CD player/iPOD if you like to listen to music while you work with earphones
• Books and articles necessary for your writing project
• Style sheet you will be using for your project–MLA, APA, etc.
• UMB’s guidelines/templates for writing dissertations (Reference UMB’s Writing page.)

Southern Management Corporation Campus Center, 621 W. Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

• to Gaby Arevalo, Nimit Bhatt and the writers and editors of The Retriever Weekly, for going the extra mile to educate and entertain the campus community even in the face of serious behind-the-scenes challenges;

• to the Student Events Board, for superhuman efforts to produce inspired events that enrich campus life; and especially to Katie Dix, a graduating senior who has been an SEB leader and also organized this year’s student Homecoming events;

• to James McCauley, Jen Kent, Christine Paul and Josh Michael, all seniors who are concluding four years of SGA involvement having made a real difference for UMBC students;

• to Savita Moses, Damani Lewis, Kaylesh Ramu, Collin Wojciechowski, Nathan Rehr, Rosy Chirayath, Yasmin Radbod, Saqib Ashraf, Mitch Case, Alex Gaines, Reema Sharma, Joey McElroy, Steve Reckard and the other first-year students who have plunged into campus service and leadership roles with both feet—on the First Year Council, in SGA and SEB, at the STRiVE leadership retreat, and across the spectrum of student involvement;

• to Corey Jennings and the SGA Election Board for a job well done;

• to everyone who had the courage to run for a position in SGA;

• to Delana Gregg, my teaching partner and creative colleague in the cause of promoting civic agency and social entrepreneurship;

• to Elliot Hirshman, Nancy Young, Michele Wolff, Ed Orser, Lee Boot, Greg Simmons, Kriste Lindenmeyer and Yasmin Karimian, campus leaders and brilliant educators who took the time to share their insights with the students in my Civic Imagination and Social Entrepreneurship course last fall;

• to Vivian Armor and the Kauffman Faculty Fellows for supporting campus entrepreneurs,

• to Roy Meyers for moral support and for inviting me to connect with UMBC’s scholars of the present and future,

• to Diane Lee, Bev Bickel, Joby Taylor, Pat Scully, Kim Leisey and Robert Deluty, all of whom make vast contributions to the campus as members of the faculty and administration, and all of whom accepted my invitation to join my doctoral dissertation committee and devote their time to helping me develop as a scholar;

• to Collier Jones, Karin Readel and the Office of Information Technology for their creativity and responsiveness;

• to Rose Huber, Stanyell Bruce and many others in the Office of Institutional Advancement who are working to build a sense of community that encompasses everyone affiliated with UMBC (and good luck to Rose, who is leaving UMBC next month);

• to Elan Schnitzer, Ross Dixon, Mark Stewart and the other UMBC alums who have kept in touch with me despite having moved on;

• to Jill Randles, Janet McGlynn and the Office of Undergraduate Education for tireless work to support student learning;

• to the Physical Plant staff for extraordinary efforts during the Snowpocalypse;

• to the staff of The Commons for behind-the-scenes work we all rely on without always noticing and appreciating;

• to my Office of Student Life colleagues Lee Calizo, Jen Dress, Corin Gioia, Nick Lennon, Jerilyn Johnson, Lisa Gray, Erica Johnson, Sheryl Gibbs, Kate Meyer and Dusty Hogenson for teaching and caring for me and so many others;

• to everyone who reads and leaves comments on this blog,