Firm Foundations – Books & Bytes

Feb 15, 2016 / 5 minutes of reading

The ways that universities physically store knowledge – and allow the community to access it –are at the heart of the enterprise of learning and research. What is a university without its library – and its mainframes? The UMBC story usually begins with its doors opening for classes in September 1966. But, that’s skipping ahead a chapter. Or 25,000 chapters, to be precise. On February 1, 1965, UMBC’s very first employee arrived on campus. Fresh out of graduate school and six months of active duty in the Army Reserves, 24-year-old John Haskell was hired to build what we know today… Continue Reading Firm Foundations – Books & Bytes

Firm Foundations – Biology & Family

Feb 15, 2016 / 3 minutes of reading

Over the past 42 years, Susan Schneider has worked at UMBC, left, and returned several times. She has witnessed the arc of the university’s growth. In fact, Schneider knew the hillside selected as a home for UMBC before the campus was designed and built. Growing up in the Catonsville area, she remembers when the area was mostly fields. When she first started driving, Poplar Avenue was a “dark” and “spooky” route that ran directly to Walker Avenue. Schneider took her first job at UMBC in 1974, working as a secretary for then-vice chancellor Sallie Giffen and comptroller Edward Minion. Though… Continue Reading Firm Foundations – Biology & Family

Firm Foundations – Betty Glascoe

Feb 15, 2016 / 3 minutes of reading

Betty Glascoe Hired a few weeks after UMBC’s first graduating class emerged into the working world, Betty Glascoe was the trailblazer in career services at UMBC. In her 35 years at the university, she developed the reputation of UMBC as a go-to university for businesses and government agencies. What follows are edited excerpts from a recent UMBC Magazine interview with Glascoe. Read our full story about how staff built UMBC’s infrastructure for postgraduate success. On the early days of career services at UMBC: I started at UMBC in July 1970. It was a very different place…. At the time, I… Continue Reading Firm Foundations – Betty Glascoe

Firm Foundations – Earnestine Baker

Feb 15, 2016 / 4 minutes of reading

Earnestine “Ernie” Baker UMBC’s Meyerhoff Scholars Program, created in 1988, is one of the landmark contributions to student success at the university – and has become a national and international model for creating greater diversity in STEM disciplines through concentrated cohort learning. Earnestine Baker, served as director and later executive director of the program before turning over the reins to her successor, the late Lamont Tolliver, who was succeeded by Keith Harmon. What follows are edited excerpts from a recent UMBC Magazine interview with Baker. Read our full story about how staff built UMBC’s infrastructure for student success. On transition… Continue Reading Firm Foundations – Earnestine Baker

At Play – Winter 2016

Feb 15, 2016 / 5 minutes of reading

New Tricks The stories on the sidelines of a college basketball game aren’t just huddled strategy sessions or fevered debates with referees. Often, they involve relationships nurtured over years in play as well. One such story is that of UMBC men’s head basketball coach Aki Thomas, and his assistant coach Frankie Allen – whose relationship spans 15 years. Thomas, 36, played for Allen, 66, at Howard University from 2001 to 2002, after transferring from the University of Colorado. After a two-year stint in professional ball in Venezuela, Thomas took his first coaching job as a member of Allen’s staff at… Continue Reading At Play – Winter 2016

Back Story – Winter 2016

Feb 12, 2016 / 4 minutes of reading

A university is only as good as its library, and the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery is at the heart of UMBC’s intellectual enterprise. The library has been built by a dedicated staff over 50 years, so UMBC Magazine asked two of its longest-serving employees –acting director Joyce Tenney ’79, ancient studies, and chief curator Thomas Beck – for their perspectives on this essential campus institution. UMBC’s first employee was a librarian, and the library is the place on campus where the staff members connect most directly with students and faculty. What role have staff members played in building… Continue Reading Back Story – Winter 2016

Winter 2016