Between the Columns at the University of Marylandapril 2012

in this issue AN ADVOCATE AND

INSPIRATION RETIRES PG. 3 / BEING

NEIGHBORLY PG. 5 / ACCOLADES PG. 6 / HEARING FROM HISTORICAL WOMEN PG. 8 /

STAFF ADVISORS SUPPORT UNDERGRADS

IN SERVICE DURING SPRING BREAK PG. 4

btc APRIL 20122 Photography by John T. Consoli

14TH MARYLAND DAY TO EMBRACE NEW, OLD

Rubber duckies will soon be bobbing in the ODK Fountain, children will devour liquid nitro-gen ice cream, and 9,000 of us in matching T-shirts will welcome guests to our campus.

The 14th annual Maryland Day on April 28 will feature old favorites among the 450-plus events, as well as new themes and activities.

This year’s open house will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act that established our land-grant status. Booths will showcase our modern mission of service to the state in agriculture, engineering, entrepreneurship and more.

Also new is an international village in front of Holzapfel Hall, tempting passersby to assemble a giant map of China or test their knowledge of world geography and history.

A 65-member planning com-mittee has been organizing the university’s biggest event since September, and staff and faculty will be demonstrating research and talking up their programs and students. “I love the planning, coor-dinating, organizing and then the joy of seeing it all come together,” says volunteer Tom Steen, assistant director of the Division of Letters and Sciences. efforts at the Institute for

Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at the Universities at Shady Grove, and expanding coursework on

that campus in health, law, human services and the STEM fields (science, technology,

engineering and math). A dean will be appointed to oversee the

campus and institute.

COMBINING

the University of Maryland Scholars Program to allow students from each institution to participate in

research led by faculty at the other institution.

LAUNCHING

tools to make it easier for faculty to get joint

appointments and submit joint grant applications,

building on a successful seed grant program between

UMB and UMD.

DEVELOPING

University of Maryland Ventures from

the two institutions’ existing offices that promote technology transfer and commer-cialization. The new joint institute will take

discoveries and innovations from cam-pus laboratories to the marketplace.

ESTABLISHINGand formalizing the

pipeline between College Park’s academic programs, including pre-law and pre-med, and the professional

schools in Baltimore.

STREAMLINING

RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.

STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES. All are about to expand through a new partnership between the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

University of Maryland: MPowering the State combines the strengths of both institutions to increase efficiencies and collabora-tion, expand academics and research in Montgomery County, and enhance their service to the state. Changes on the way include:

the Collaborative School of Public Health through

combining and expanding the master’s of public health programs in Baltimore and

College Park.

CREATING

Photography by John T. Consoli 3APRIL 2012 btc

After nearly half a century on campus, Lutheran chaplain Beth Platz will retire at the end of May—but her influence will live on.

“There are touches of Beth every-where,” says Marsha Guenzler-Stevens, director of the Stamp Student Union, who has worked with Platz for 30 years. “She is the consummate campus citizen.”

As the Lutheran community’s spiritual leader, Platz made students a priority, even cooking dinner for many of them each week. But her efforts went beyond the church: She repurposed abandoned bikes and collected boxes of household items for international students, provided ice

cream for the Mighty Sound of Maryland practicing on a sweltering August day and helped students get to Langley Park to tutor elementary school students.

“It’s just a fascinating experience,” she says, “the way that the small things you do can enrich the community.”

She was ordained in 1970 as the first female Lutheran minister in the country, and she found Maryland to be welcoming during a time of national change. As a long-standing member of the President’s Commission on Women’s Issues, Platz has fought for fairness in tenure, female lead-ership and, most fervently, child care at Maryland. It remains one of the few things

she feels hasn’t come to fruition during her time here.

“We need good family policy,” she says, “It’s an overarching issue that affects grad students, faculty and more. It’s important for recruitment, retention and productivity.”

Ray Ranker ’04, who will take over as chaplain, says her holistic view will influ-ence his role here.

“I learned a lot from her about the Christian love for neighbor,” he says, both as a student and working with Platz this tran-sitional year. “She’s a daily visible reminder about what it really means to serve others.”

“There are touches of Beth everywhere. …She is the

consummate campus citizen.” — MARSHA GUENZLER-STEVENS, Stamp Student Union director

DEVELOPING

ESTABLISHING

3APRIL 2012 btc

Retiring Pastor Inspires Campus / By karen shih

btc APRIL 20124 Photography by John T. Consoli4

Through oyster restoration work, tree

sapling planting and sleeping in sandy

tents, Azarm combined her love of the

environment with her interest in learning

with students.

With a good mix of education and

direct service, the trip was designed “to

move people along on an active citizen

trajectory” she says.

“I left thinking that I could do more

in my everyday life,” she says. “And I liked

seeing the students becoming more aware

of how small actions, and big ones, can

change things.”

Students went bowling with survivors of

sexual slavery, sharing with them a rare

night of normalcy and laughter. They

learned more about human trafficking

and debt bondage—a modern-day form

of indentured servitude for immigrants—

when sprucing up a safe house and hearing

how flight attendants are identifying

potential victims.

“It really grabbed me how serious a

problem this was and how little most of us

know about it,” Englebert says.

For his first Alternative Break trip, Lim

supported students volunteering in a

health center for AIDS/HIV residents. They

played card and Wii games or just talked,

with Lim watching initial hesitancy turn

into friendships.

“It was nice to see [the students]

question their privilege, to see the dis-

sonance and them try to resolve it,” he

says. “And it was very heartwarming. The

patients opened up and showed us their

lives. Students were crying on the last day

because we had to leave.”

MIRA AZARM, assistant director for client publications, University Marketing and Communications WATERSHED CONSERVATION,

CHESAPEAKE BAY REGION, MD.

Spring into Action

MARK ENGLEBERT, doctoral candi-date in philosophy and instructor in the College of Arts and Humanities

HUMAN TRAFFICKING,

WASHINGTON, D.C.

UMD Staff Members Guide Students through Alternative Breaks

MERZ LIM, Asian Pacific American Student Involvement & Advocacy Program Coordinator, Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy HIV/AIDS, NEW YORK CITY

5APRIL 2012 btcSketch Illustration by Brian G. Payne; Cover art by Catherine Nichols 5

WHILE SOME OF US SPENT SPRING BREAK ON FAMILY TRIPS, working in our yards or catching up on sleep, others were out changing the world, if just a little bit. Sixteen university staff members served as advisers in the Alternative Breaks program, heading to sites as close as Baltimore and D.C. and as far as the Dominican Republic and South Dakota.

Volunteers underwent a year of training, focusing on logistics and sup-port, so undergraduates could do community service and get perspective on issues such as poverty, domestic violence, human trafficking and envi-ronmental conservation. Here are a few of this spring’s trips:

JEREMY HANSON, master of public policy candidate and writing coach in the School of Public Policy Environmental Finance Center

RURAL COMMUNITIES AND POVERTY,

BLAND COUNTY, VA.

Approximately 150 students, staff and community members painted the Northgate and Lakeland tunnels, picked up trash along the Paint Branch Trail, put down mulch for the Paint Branch Elementary School play-ground and planted trees in the North Gate Park for the second annual Good Neighbor Day on March 31. Organizer Gloria Aparicio Blackwell, associate director for community relations in the Office of the Vice President for Administrative Affairs, says that county, parks department and business partners helped make the day a success. U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer ’63 dropped by to thank the volunteers. More photos, including before and after shots can be found at: ter.ps/mt.

Southwest Virginia may not sound far, but the

diverse group from Maryland faced culture

shock while working at a church food pantry in

an isolated, Christian, poor community.

The volunteers also learned about Native

American culture while working in the local

Indian museum.

Hanson says the residents’ curiosity about

the volunteers sparked great discussions on

culture, religion and socioeconomic status.

“It was really and incredible chance to

learn. The people were so friendly and they

enjoyed having some fresh faces,” he says.

APRIL 2012 btc

TO LEARN ABOUT FUTURE AB

TRIPS, VISIT TER.PS/KS

btc APRIL 20126 Photography by John T. Consoli6

accoladesPhyllis Dickerson Johnson, director

of communications for the Division

of Information Technology, has been

named to the National Capital

Chapter of the Public

Relations Society of

America’s board of

directors. She will serve

for a year.

Maryland’s Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps Detachment 330, led by Professor

of Aerospace Studies Col. Robert E.

Pecoraro, was recognized as the No. 1

large detachment in the nation for 2011

and awarded the Right of Line Award,

besting 51 detachments that have 111

or more cadets. The unit was evaluated

based on the number of officers

commissioned, education, recruiting

and retention, university/public

relations, and cadet activities.

The Army Reserve Officers Training Corps Terrapin Battalion,

led by Lt. Col. Sam Cook, won one of

eight MacArthur Awards presented by

the U.S. Army Cadet Command and the

Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation.

The award is based on the achievement

of the school’s commissioning mission,

its cadets’ performance and standing

on the command’s national Order of

Merit List, and its cadet retention rate.

Marty Ronning, assistant director

of the A. James Clark

School of Engineering’s

Distance Education

Technology and

Services, received the

Conference for Industry and

Education Collaboration Best Session

Award for his “Comparing Tools for On-

Line and Blended Programs,” presented

at the February 2011 conference. He

was recognized at this year’s gathering.

Laura MacPherson, associate

director of the Center for Addictions,

Personality, and Emotion Research, has

been selected by the Behavioral and

Integrative Treatment Branch in the

Division of Clinical Neuroscience and

Behavioral Research at the National

Institute on Drug Abuse to receive the

Outstanding Early Career Investigator

Award for 2012.

Thomas Cohen, associate chair

of the physics department, and

adjunct professor Paul Lett of the

National Institutes of Standards and

Technology, were chosen as two of

149 new American Physical Society’s

(APS) Outstanding Referees for 2012.

The program recognizes scientists who

have been exceptionally helpful in

assessing manuscripts for publication

in the APS journals.

Donna Wiseman, dean of the

College of Education, has been named

a member of a new national

Commission on Standards

and Performance Reporting

to raise standards for teacher

preparation.

Lei Zhang, a civil engineering

assistant professor, has been awarded

a National Science Foundation Early

Faculty Career Development Award for

his project, “Reliability as an Emergent

Property of Transportation Networks.”

 126 INDIVIDUALS

296 PARTICIPANTS

170+

Faculty and staff participating in the 31-day Campus Recreation Services and Wellness Coalition’s Walk for Wellness Challenge boasted some impressive numbers:

University President Wallace Loh joins Food Recovery Network

members (from left) Andy Xin, director of public relations; Ben

Simon, co-president; Jeremy Kugel, board of directors member;

Loh; and Mia Zavalij, co-president, as they pick up food at 251 North

to deliver to the homeless at a D.C. shelter. The student group

recovered nearly 15,000 meals from game concessions and campus

dining halls last semester.

TOTAL TIME

18,746 HOURS

Loh Joins in Food Recovery

Loh photo by John T. Consoli; blended learning illustration by Brian G. Payne

AT LEAST 67 OFFICES AND

DEPARTMENTS REPRESENTED IN THE CHALLENGE

PARTICIPANTS ON TEAMS OF 5

7APRIL 2012 btc

Blended Learning Courses Toss Tradition Architecture major Jessica Kent contributes to her class dis-cussion at 2 a.m. via a Wiki thread. Economics major Jeni Huezo views most of her lectures online at a dedi-cated Vimeo site, allowing for a quick replay of any course material giving her trouble.

Both students are taking “Environmental Geology,” one of 10 undergraduate courses introduced this spring in  a new “blended learning” format. The classes, most of which are taken half online and half in the classroom, feature social media tools like blogs, Wikis and Twitter that are complimented by live discussions using high-tech graphics.

“With blended learning, we can offer an educational environment of the highest quality, while also making use of new technologies that allow quite a bit of innovation for teaching and learning,” says Ann Wylie, senior vice president and provost.

Saswata Hier-Majumder, an assis-tant professor who teaches the geology class, says the biggest benefit for stu-dents is the range of choices they have to interact with the course material. Some students prefer visual learning, he says, while others may want the option of listening to the lecture on their iPhone while they’re jogging.

“It’s just a better way to present the science,” he says.

Between the Columns is published twice per semester by University Marketing and Communications. Story ideas are welcome and should be sent to Monette Bailey, managing editor, at btwthecolumns@umd.edu, or call 301.405.4629. ¶ The mailing list is generated through University Human Resources. Any changes to names and addresses should be made through ares.umd.edu.

/ By tom ventsias

The Office of the Provost provided

$400,000 in support for faculty whose

instructional proposals were chosen to

launch the blended learning effort:

INTRODUCTION TO THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Luis Diego Quiros Pacheco, assistant professor of architecture

David Cronrath, dean of the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation

BUSINESS FINANCE

Susan White, Distinguished Tyser Teaching Fellow, Robert H. Smith School of Business

MOLECULAR GENETICS

B. Booth Quimby, associate director of the Honors College Integrated Life Sciences Program

Caren Chang, associate chair, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics

Zhongchi Liu, associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics

Steve Mount, associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics

Leslie Pick, professor of entomology

ESSENTIALS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Meina Liu, assistant professor of communication

PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS

Marianne Hayek, director, Department of Economics

Cindy Clement, economics lecturer and director of undergraduates studies

Robert Schwab, professor of economics

TECHNICAL WRITING AND ACADEMIC WRITING

Lea Chartock, English lecturer and director, Professional Writing Program

Linda Macri, English lecturer

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY

Saswata Hier-Majumder, assistant professor of geology

INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION

Ron Yaros, assistant professor of journalism

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Marcio Oliveira, research assistant professor of kinesiology

ADVANCED SPANISH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION

Roberta Lavine, associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese

Between the ColumnsUniversity Marketing and Communications2101 Turner Hall, College Park, MD 20742

P 301.405.4615 · F 301.314.9344

In one diary entry from April 1865, Abraham Lincoln’s assassina-tion is a “joyful circumstance for this country,” while a second calls it “the terrible event which has cast a gloomy shadow over the whole nation.”

Both books are part of a Libraries exhibition featuring women’s perspectives on the Civil War in observation of 150 years since its occurrence.

“Women on the Border: Maryland Perspectives of the Civil War,” a collection of letters, diaries, photographs, sheet music and rare books, is on display in Hornbake Library’s Maryland Room Gallery through July 13.

“We have never looked at our Civil War collections through the lens of women’s history before,” says curator Elizabeth Novara.

“And the war’s sesquicentennial pro-vided a wonderful opportunity to do so.”

The exhibit is complemented by a website, www.lib.umd.edu/civilwar-women, and a scholarly symposium on April 27 in Hornbake Library. Thavolia Glymph, associate professor of history and African American studies at Duke University, will pres-ent the keynote address.

For more information about the symposium and the exhibitions, contact Novara at enovara@umd.edu or 301.314.2712.

Discovering AdeleA NEW MINI-EXHIBIT about Adele H. Stamp, the university’s first dean of women, offers a peek into the life of this Maryland history maker.

The never-married Stamp spent 38 years serving the campus’ female stu-dents. She founded clubs for women, started a physical education club and an American Red Cross chapter.

The exhibit, made possible in part by recent gifts from Stamp’s great grand-niece Lori Sonderegger, will be in the Stamp Union Colony Ballroom lounge on Maryland Day, April 28. It will then be accessible online through the University Archives website: www.lib.umd.edu/univarchives.

Civil War’s Women SpeakExhibit Reveals Perspectives in Maryland By monette Austin Bailey