FIRST in CLASS It’S No Secret Why First-Generation College Students Thrive at UMBC
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MAGAZINE Fall 2020 FIRST IN CLASS It’s no secret why first-generation college students thrive at UMBC. Our staff and faculty from similar backgrounds make it the center of their work. – page 28 Call & Response – page 34 | On Thin Ice – page 22 | No Artist Stands Alone – page 42 08 A Semester Like No Other UMBC’s classes and campus life may look completely different this year, but the community pulled together to make the best of a challenging situation and to continue to offer an exceptional learning experience for students. By Jenny O’Grady Pictured: Backstage during an in-person socially-distanced theatre class. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS TO YOU 2 UP ON THE ROOF 3 12 DAWG’S EYE VIEW 4 Showing Up for the Season Amid strict protocols, men’s and women’s basketball planned to return to the court to THE NEWS 6 play a short season. Even if they can’t hear the roar of the crowd, Retriever Nation is still AT PLAY 10 rooting for the home team. By Kait McCaffrey DISCOVERY 14 IMPACT 18 HOW TO 50 22 ALUMNI ESSAY 52 On Thin Ice For UMBC alum and physicist Nathan Kurtz, the only thing scarier than a surprise visit from CLASS NOTES 54 a polar bear is a melting ice cap. By Daniel Oberhaus THEN & NOW 62 WILD CARD 64 34 Call & Response With the deaths of George Floyd and others, and the wave of protests that followed, many Retrievers are hearing the call to question what got us to this point and do everything they can to dismantle structural racism in our country. By UMBC Staff ON THE COVER We’re thankful for good camera lenses and PPE that allowed us to photograph this semester in a safe, distanced manner—like this shoot with first-gen studentJulia del Carmen Aviles-Zavala and her family. You’ll also 42 notice many self-submitted photos, because No Artist Stands Alone when you ask Retrievers to pitch in they’re ready to help. In isolation during the pandemic, many of us are consuming or creating art and media, but we’re having to reinvent how to share that Visit UMBC Magazine online year-round pleasure with others. at magazine.umbc.edu for plenty of By Johanna Alonso ’20, Randianne Leyshon ’09, and web extras! Thoughts, complaints, or Imani Spence ’16 suggestions about UMBC Magazine? Get in touch at [email protected]. 2 | MAGAZINE – FALL 2020 TO YOU OUR STAFF Editor Dear Retrievers, Jenny O’Grady By the time you read this letter, 2020 will almost be over. I Design Director sincerely hope that you and your families are safe and healthy Jim Lord ’99 during these challenging times. Assistant Editor It boggles the mind to think of all that has happened around Randianne Leyshon ’09 the world since we last spoke—and how quickly many of those News Editor changes occurred. Just days after our spring issue went to press, Dinah Winnick for instance, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to ravage Photographer our country, George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, Marlayna Demond ’11 and it felt like the weight of a second pandemic was upon us. Add to that a long and divisive national Video Producer presidential election, the continued pressures of working and schooling from home, and a wavering Corey Jennings ’10 economy, and, yeah...it’s been a year. Production Coordinator And yet, in the months of summer and fall, I have watched members of the UMBC community Emily Macenko come together in a way I’ve never seen in my 15 years here. While working from our homes, I have watched Retrievers grieve together, lift each other up, and think critically about history, activism, and Design Team Jill Blum allyship. I’ve seen professors dig deep to provide meaningful experiences online for our students. In our Layla Thompson-Koch communications, we are working to make sure our language is as inclusive as it can be—and that we’re Dusten Wolff ’13 flexible as those needs evolve. And many of us are anxiously cheering for an alumna who is literally Editorial Advisory Group working on a COVID-19 vaccine as we speak. (Our own University president is taking part in the Jill Blum clinical trials, by the way! See page 3.) All of this fills me with hope. Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque In this issue you will read about Retrievers speaking openly and thoughtfully about their responses Eddie Jenkins to the call to dismantle structural racism (page 34). You’ll meet inspiring first-generation college Randianne Leyshon ’09 students, faculty, and staff who fuel each others’ work (page 28). You’ll see scientists and teachers and Jim Lord ’99 Kevin McGuire artists and so many others doing their best to bring light to the world during a time of immeasurable Stanyell Odom darkness and loss. Jenny O’Grady I feel incredibly lucky to be able to share these stories and grateful for a world where we can still meet Dinah Winnick each other in a mailbox twice a year, even if not in person. As we reach together to shape the new year, I Contributors wish you peace, health, and all the grit you need to carry you through. May we all emerge stronger. Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque — Jenny O’Grady Nikoletta Gjoni ’09 Editor, UMBC Magazine Eddie Jenkins Megan Hanks Mastrola Sarah Hansen, M.S. ’15 Kait McCaffrey Tom Moore Daniel Oberhaus WEB FEATURES Jeff Seidel ’85 Michele Wojciechowski See web-only videos, interviews, and more—like this series of Retriever Educators—all year long at Editorial Intern magazine.umbc.edu. Morgan Casey ’22 Founding Editor Richard Byrne ’86 Administration Greg Simmons, M.P.P. ’04 Vice President, Institutional Advancement Lisa Akchin Associate Vice President, Engagement Stacey Sickels Locke Assistant Vice President, Teacher leads by example for A mission for fit, healthy Diversity officer, shaping Alumni Engagement and Development her students as a union rep. city kids equitable MBAs For more information on the Alumni Association, visit alumni.umbc.edu. To learn about giving, visit giving.umbc.edu. magazine.umbc.edu | 3 UP ON THE ROOF medical and scientific community towards Blacks in the past. But the question is, what do we do now? Right now we need this vaccine for everyone. And the encouraging news is that we can see people of all races involved in the development and the implementation of this plan for this vaccine. UMBC Magazine: You both clearly understand how important it is to set a good example. Jackie Hrabowski: It’s like the story of my dad growing up in rural Virginia. He and my mom were always out in the community helping people. We didn’t have a lot of money, but it was about giving our time and our effort...and supporting people as much as we can. And growing up, I was always there in the background, running with him, taking UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski to demonstrate it through our actions, not just somebody somewhere, giving them something. And so as I got to be a little older...I asked my and his wife recently volunteered to with our words. Jackie dad, why do we have to always be the ones going take part in a 25-month clinical trial of the Freeman Hrabowski: Exactly. We’re seeing and taking people and doing things for people? COVID-19 vaccine invented by alumna people of color and particularly African And he looked at me, and he just quietly said, Kizzmekia Corbett ’08, M16, biological Americans dying at higher proportions, higher “Because we can.” sciences, with her team at the Vaccine rates than anyone from this disease right now. And we need to help find the solutions. And Freeman Hrabowski: I just love that....It just Research Center at the National Institute of gives me goosebumps. And you know, there are Allergy and Infectious Diseases. We talked right now the vaccine our alumna Kizzmekia Corbett, has developed is very promising. And, certainly a lot of limitations about things that we with the Hrabowskis to learn more about as Jackie says, of those to whom much is given can’t do. We often don’t do as much as we can... why being a part of this historic trial is so much should be required. And we feel very but this is a time when we, as human beings, important to them both. fortunate to be in that position right now. I have have a responsibility to step up to the plate for been the beneficiary of so much support from so the public good, for the common good. This is UMBC Magazine: Why did you decide to many people that we want to do our part during the time when we need to be focused on people volunteer for this trial? this time. beyond ourselves. And of course many Black people will say, Jackie Hrabowski: Well, it’s for a couple Visit magazine.umbc.edu/vaccine-trial to see a of reasons, starting with the fact that this yeah, but we know about these studies. I grew video interview with Dr. Hrabowski about his pandemic has affected minorities, and African up with Tuskegee study. So, I recognize the participation in the vaccine trial. Photo courtesy of Americans specifically, more directly than most. prejudice that was shown and the abuse by the University of Maryland School of Medicine. And so, it’s important for us to be represented in the solution. If we’re looking for cures, we need to be involved and to be able to step up to that, “ Right now we need this vaccine for everyone.