UMUC Achiever Magazine, 2015

WWW.UMUC.EDU | 1 | ACHIEVER

EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE | 2015

World Affa ir s Council , Wash ington, D .C .

University of maryland university college

ACHIEVER | 2 | UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

CONTENTS

FEATURES

10 THE CLASS OF UMUC: HISTORY MAKERS BY MENACHEM WECKER Seven UMUC graduates who have changed the world.

19 THE CLASS OF UMUC: LEADERS IN THEIR FIELDS BY MENACHEM WECKER Eleven UMUC graduates who have risen to the top of their respective professions.

26 PILLARS OF STRENGTH BY MENACHEM WECKER Caregivers of injured military personnel receive full scholarships to UMUC.

28 TALES OF THE ACADEMIC FOREIGN LEGION BY GIL KLEIN Veterans of UMUC's overseas operations look back on teaching careers that were measured in miles.

36 TEACHING OUT OF A SUITCASE BY BROOKE BROWN UMUC's new traveling faculty model builds on years of tradition—and continues to attract instructors with a thirst for adventure.

38 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FUTURE BY JAVIER MIYARES UMUC President Javier Miyares makes the case for a university that is portable, flexible, and adaptable to the needs of individual students.

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Dear Friend:

OUR SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS ENRICHED when the opportunity arises to celebratethe success of a student, faculty mem-ber, or graduate of UMUC. Theiraccomplishments fill us with pride and energize us to be the best we canbe for our university. It is with just such pride that we introduce this edition of Achiever, which is dedicated to the history makers, indus-try leaders, and other members ofthe UMUC community who have distin-guished themselves at our university and in their careers. We feature, for example, Gen. John W. Vessey Jr. ’63 (U.S. Army, Ret.),who was appointed the 10th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff byPresident Ronald Reagan and later received the Presidential Medal ofFreedom. He is one of 18 distinguished alumni profiled in this issue. Much of our history can be traced to the women and men whosecommitment to teaching led them to Europe and Asia—and to war zonesin Vietnam, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan—as members of our “AcademicForeign Legion.” Their stories are legendary and are embedded in theuniversity’s DNA. Today’s faculty share that same dedication to our troops abroad andembody a desire to serve our men and women in uniform that is upliftingand inspiring. We have also earned our share of bragging rights over the past year,including a world championship won by our cyber competition team, a #1ranking from Military Times for our academic programs and supportservices for veterans, and the honor of being named Educator of the Yearby the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C. These accolades shine a spotlight on UMUC and illuminate our reputation for excellence and innovation. They also serve as a link between our proud past, our present success, and our bright future. There would be no cyber competition team—and, hence, no worldchampionship—if UMUC had not established the first online cybersecuritydegree programs in 2010. We now have more than 7,000 studentsenrolled in cyber-related programs—and more than 2,000 graduates. The World Affairs Council recognized our leadership in academicinnovation, particularly our work in learner analytics and competency- based education. Just as UMUC was a pioneer in online education, so too are we at the forefront of data analytics and competency-based models that are transforming our understanding of how people learn and what we know about our students in order to help them succeed. Perhaps U.S. Senator Ben Cardin summed it up best when hesaid—during a recent visit to our Academic Center at Largo—“UMUC isnot only a great state asset, but an important national treasure.”

Sincerely,

Javier MiyaresPresidentUniversity of Maryland University College

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY RANDY GLASS; ILLUSTRATION BY KATHRYN RATHKE; ILLUSTRATION BY JON TOMAC; PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES OLVERA.

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28

NEWS AND UPDATES

2 UMUC’s Championship Season

3 UMUC Partners with OPM

3 Maj. Gen. Lloyd “Milo” Miles Joins UMUC

4 VIPs Visit UMUC

6 Kalb: Scalia and Ginsburg, Woodward and Bernstein

7 Student Veterans Lounge Opens at UMUC

7 UMUC and Jiffy Lube Create Pathways to Degrees

8 Augustine: Applying Breakthrough Ideas in Higher Education

BACK OF THE BOOK

40 Class Notes

42 Faculty Kudos

19


PRESIDENT

Javier Miyares

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS,AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Michael Freedman

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT,COMMUNICATIONS

Heather Date

EDITOR

Chip Cassano

ART DIRECTOR AND PHOTO EDITOR

Cynthia Friedman

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Gil Klein, Bob Ludwig, Menacham Wecker

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Scott Eury

Call 301-985-7200 with comments and sug-gestions, or e-mail [email protected]. University of Maryland University College subscribes to a policy of equal education and employment opportunities.

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Washington, and other universities. There were other, equally notable highlights. In November 2014, Military Times published its annual “Best for Vets: Colleges” list for 2015. UMUC—which has served military populations for more than 65 years—topped the list. “We are pleased and proud that Military Times has recog-

nized our efforts to provide the best education and the best services to vet-erans as they pursue their higher education goals,” said UMUC

President Javier Miyares. “Serving the military and

veterans is in our DNA.” Also in November, the World Affairs Council (WAC) announced that UMUC would be honored with the Educator of the Year Award at the WAC’s Global Education Gala, in Washington, D.C., with Miyares offering the keynote address (see story, p. 38). The WAC cited UMUC “for its role as a leader in innovative education models” in announc-ing the award. One area of innovation that has drawn specific attention has been the university-wide move to adopt open-source

World Champion, Best for Vets, Educator of the Year: UMUC’s Championship SeasonPresident Javier Miyares called the past year “UMUC’s cham-pionship season”—and with good reason. On September 29, 2014, UMUC’s competitive team of cybersecurity experts—the Cyber Padawans—won the Global CyberLympics in Barcelona, Spain, topping the defending championship team from the Netherlands. “This was an amaz-ing experience,” said Jeff Tjiputra, the team’s coach and the program chair of the undergraduate cybersecurity program at UMUC. “We swept through the regional competi-tion, but the world final was very, very tough.” The Padawans were up to the challenge, and just one month later, UMUC teams won the student and professional divisions at the 4th Annual Maryland Cyber Challenge in Baltimore. They weren’t done yet. On March 26–27, 2015, they added a first-place finish in the policy-oriented Cyber DiploHack competition, going up against teams from Oxford, Georgetown, George

N E W S & U P D A T E S

educational resources, replac-ing costly publisher textbooks and passing the savings along to students. And in March 2015, UMUC received the prestigious President’s Award from the Open Education Consortium (OEC), which praised the univer-sity’s “exceptional leadership” in its large-scale effort to adopt open-source material in all classes by fall 2016. The award is granted by OEC’s Board of Directors to an individual or institution that shows exceptional leadership and commitment to open-source education. Finally, in May 2014, the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) renewed UMUC’s status as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance and Cyber Defense Education for the academic years 2014–2021. The designa-tion has been adjusted over time as the fields of information assurance and cybersecurity have evolved, but NSA and DHS have designated UMUC as a leader in cybersecurity educa-tion since April 2002. “UMUC is a leader in cyber-security workforce education

and development,” said Amjad Ali, associate vice president and

cybersecurity advi-sor to the president. “Providing innova-tive and world class

cybersecurity pro-grams is one of the

major strategic goals of UMUC. To ensure and maintain our leadership in the area of cybersecurity education, achiev-ing and maintaining this des-

The world-champion Cyber Padawans with Dr. Jeff Tjiputra (third from right), team coach and program chair of cybersecurity in The Undergraduate School.

C


ignation is a must, and it fits very well into the university’s larger academic efforts in the area of cyber-workforce educa-tion and development.”

UMUC Partners with OPM to Offer Tuition Discount to Federal EmployeesThe U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and University of Maryland University College (UMUC) signed a first-of-its-kind agreement in April 2014 to provide a 25 percent discount on out-of-state tuition rates on courses, certificates, and degree programs to all current federal employees, spouses, and their legal dependents. The discount applies to all undergraduate programs and most graduate programs that the university offers. In addition to this discount-ed rate, the alliance allows federal subject matter experts to work with UMUC curriculum developers to infuse a public sector perspective into courses designed to prepare students for possible future federal employment. “Partnering with UMUC increases all federal employ-ees’ access to high-quality and affordable educational resources,” said OPM Director Katherine Archuleta. “In addition, it fosters a high-performing, well-trained workforce with the necessary skills to ensure the mission of government is met efficiently and effectively day-in and day-out. We need to make federal employment attractive to our nation’s top talent and this alli-ance does that as well. Every day, the dedicated men and women of the federal work-force provide excellent service to the American people, and OPM is working hard to make

sure they have the tools they need to do their jobs.” ”We are extremely proud to partner with OPM on this innovative approach to strengthening the federal gov-ernment’s workforce and its talent pipeline,” said UMUC President Javier Miyares. “In fact, our mission and OPM’s goals are in perfect alignment. UMUC has a long history of providing working adults with quality, affordable programs that improve their career opportunities, as well as partnering with organiza-tions to develop their talent.”

Committed to Service: Maj. Gen. Lloyd “Milo” Miles Joins UMUCWhen Maj. Gen. Lloyd “Milo” Miles (U.S. Army, Ret.) joined UMUC in January 2015 as senior vice president for Military and Veterans Operations, he was already well acquainted with the university. “Everywhere that I’ve been deployed, UMUC has had a presence there,” said Miles, who holds an engineering degree from West Point and who retired from the mili-tary in 2012 with 32 years of service. “In my mind, that tells you something about the organization: Where the troops are, they are.” One of eight children in a family of limited means, Miles is also intimately familiar with the challenges facing many UMUC students as they pur-sue an education. “My parents always knew the value of education, but they couldn’t afford to attend themselves, and they really couldn’t afford to send us to college,” said Miles. “Two of us received scholarships, and the other

six did it the hard way, like most UMUC students—they studied at night, they worked at the same time, and they got their degrees that way.” In fact, his oldest sister—the first in his family to graduate from college—earned her degree from UMUC. And the family’s commitment to edu-cation extended past graduation. Miles’ older brother is super-intendent of the Dallas Independent School System, and an older sister worked as a teacher, principal, and later superintendent in the school system in Phoenix, Arizona. “The idea of serv-ing, of giving back to society, has always been something that my parents pushed and something that I think my siblings and I have always believed in.” That commitment to service was tested almost 20 years ago, when—in a catastrophic

accident during a live-fire exercise—a grenade explod-ed at Miles’ feet, severing his left leg below the knee and leaving him with severe damage to his right leg and arm and shrapnel throughout his body. “I spent a year in Walter Reed as an inpatient and another year as an outpatient as the docs worked hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again,” Miles said. Faced with a long and uncertain road to recovery, some suggested that he consider a desk job, but Miles balked at the idea. “I didn’t want to stay in the military if I couldn’t serve in the infantry,” Miles said. “My love for the military was with the soldiers who did that sort of work.”

Maj. Gen. Lloyd “Milo” Miles (U.S. Army, Ret.)

Total graduates worldwide

10,825

Undergraduate degrees

7,050

Graduate degrees

3,775

Total graduates stateside

9,023

Total military-affiliated graduates

4,338

Oldest graduate

80 years

Youngest graduate

17 years

Average age

35 years

Total countries represented

20 (including the United States)

Total states represented

50 (plus the District of Columbia and Guam)

COMMENCEMENT 2015 BY THE NUMBERS


roundtable lunch, during which Hoyer had the opportunity to speak with more than 20 UMUC students and alumni. “Having someone of his stat-ure [visit UMUC] . . . is really empowering,” said Timothy Rochford, a student who attended the lunch. “It makes you want to be a better person. It made me want to step up my game.” Hoyer voiced support for UMUC’s mission and acknowl-edged the role that lawmakers must play.


Eventually, he was granted the opportunity to return to his previous post as a battalion commander—but he would have to pass the physical fitness test, which included a run, a road march, and more. “It wasn’t easy,” Miles said, with characteristic understate-ment, “but I was able to do it.”He would go on to become onlythe fourth individual in any branch of service since the American Civil War to reach the rank of general officer as an amputee. Now Miles is focusing his efforts—and considerable abilities as a leader and strate-gist—on UMUC’s military and veterans operations. In that role, he will work to further unify the university’s stateside and overseas operations, improve its service to active-duty person-nel, expand its outreach to the growing veteran population, and more. He sees it as just one more opportunity to serve. “For many of my peers, when they transition from the military, they often enter the defense industry. But when I read about UMUC’s history with the mili-tary, I saw this as another way of giving back. “In my last position [as senior commander of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in Washington state], in an organization that had 42,000 servicemembers and about 60,000 family members, you get to see their dreams, their challenges, and how they want to make their own lives better. So being able to serve those men and women who have served this country, for me, rep-resents the best of both worlds.”

Local and National Leaders Visit UMUCWith adult higher education gaining prominence on the

national stage, UMUC was proud to conduct tours for VIPs visiting from the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and Maryland county government. UMUC welcomed the

minority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD), to the university’s Academic Center at Largo on January 24, 2014. A walk-ing tour of the facility high-lighted UMUC’s long history of service to the military, highly regarded cybersecurity programs, state-of-the-art student services, and innova-tive approaches to providing workforce-relevant education programs to adult students. The tour concluded with a

“It is incumbent upon us as policymakers and fellow citizens to try to enhance access to college,” Hoyer said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people in Washington know the cost of this, but not the returns.” U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) visited the Largo loca-tion on October 14, 2014, for a similar tour, including a briefing on the university’s efforts to address the rising cost of a college education and Maryland’s degree-completion goals. (UMUC’s Maryland Completion Scholarship allows graduates of Maryland’s 16 public com-munity colleges to complete a four-year degree for a total cost—including the cost of the associate’s degree—of $20,000.) “Senator Ben Cardin is a loyal friend to UMUC, to stu-dents across Maryland, and to all of higher education,” said UMUC President Javier Miyares. “His keen interest in and understanding of the unique challenges facing adult learners have long posi-tioned him as a champion for our students.”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Congressman Steny Hoyer greets UMUC Provost Marie A. Cini as President Javier Miyares looks on; Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker (center) tours the Academic Center at Largo; and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (center) meets members of the Cyber Padawans as university leaders look on.

WWW.UMUC.EDU | 5 | ACHIEVERWWW.UMUC.EDU | 5 | ACHIEVER

UMUC stands on the cutting edge of cybersecurity education and offers

students like Johnathan Arneson the tools and skills to achieve their dreams.

Through undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs in

cybersecurity, UMUC is producing cyber warriors to protect the nation against

cyber attacks. And your support makes it all possible. With your help, our

students can make a better future for themselves and for our country.

Help our students get started creating their Moments at UMUC.

Cardin—a longtime advo-cate for military personnel and their families—spoke via web conference with UMUC students on military bases in Germany, Turkey, and Bahrain, as well as at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The students were able to share stories about their expe-riences at UMUC and about the challenges of juggling families and military service.

“UMUC is a great state asset but also a national trea-sure,” said Cardin, following the tour. “They are providing a quality education to our heroes and the families of our heroes.” Most recently, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker visited the Academic Center at Largo on January 22, 2015. The visit offered an opportunity

for UMUC to highlight its increasingly prominent role in Prince George’s County and to show off the LEED-certified Academic Center, which houses administrative and faculty offices and also features one of the state’s largest collections of work by Maryland artists. A highlight of the tour for Baker was meeting with two student veterans in the

university’s new Student Veterans Lounge (see story, p. 7), which had opened just two days earlier along with the university’s new online Veterans Resource Center. Although it was Baker’s first visit to the Largo facility, he is no stranger to the uni-versity. In 2013, he served as the commencement speaker at UMUC’s graduation cer-emony in Okinawa, Japan,

“I study cybersecurity at UMUC.

The people in that program

are the sharpest on the planet.

Our competition team won the

Global CyberLympics—world

champions. Super cool. That

was my Moment.”

JOHNATHAN ARNESONUNDERGRADUATE STUDENT, CYBERSECURITY

CALL MICHAEL RICHMOND, DIRECTOR, ANNUAL GIVING PROGRAMS, AT 301-985-7127 OR VISIT UMUC.EDU.

Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland University College

Achiever | 6 | University of Maryland University College

the bench they are close per-sonal friends, and they sparred good-naturedly over their vary-ing interpretations of the law. The second, on October 20, was entitled ”Writing History: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and Journalism’s Finest Hour“ and offered a first-person perspective on the Pulitzer Prize-winning


where he spent time growing up in a military family.

The Kalb Report Hosts Scalia and Ginsburg, Woodward and BernsteinThe Kalb Report—jointly pro-duced by UMUC, The National Press Club Journalism Institute, the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, and the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park—hosted two landmark shows in 2014. The first, entitled ”45 Words: A Conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the First Amendment,” on April 17, brought together two of the most prominent members of the Supreme Court to discuss the Constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition one’s government. Though Scalia and Ginsburg are often at ideologi-cal odds with one another, off

coverage by then-Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein of the greatest political scandal in U.S. his-tory. What began as a botched burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquar-ters in the Watergate Hotel eventually led to the resigna-tion of Richard M. Nixon as the 37th president of the United

States, and Woodward and Bernstein shared vivid recol-lections of what it was like to cover a historic story during the heyday of print journalism. “The Kalb Report has introduced UMUC to new audiences in Washington and across the nation,” said UMUC President Javier Miyares. “It has also pro-vided exciting educational and enrichment opportunities for our students, faculty, and staff by taking full advantage of our proximity to current leaders and history makers.” The Kalb Report—which airs live from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.—is moderated by legendary journalist and scholar Marvin Kalb. Michael Freedman, UMUC’s senior vice presi-dent for Communications, is executive producer of the series, and Heather Date, associate vice president for Communications, serves as senior producer. Full episodes of The Kalb Report can be viewed on

Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg with legendary journalist and scholar Marvin Kalb on The Kalb Report.

UMUC’s new Student Veterans Lounge is designed to offer veterans access to resources, support, and camaraderie that will aid them in reaching their educational goals.

www.umuc.edu | 7 | Achiever

UMUC’s Global Media Center website at www.umuc.edu/globalmedia.

UMUC Opens Student Veterans LoungeUMUC celebrated the grand opening of its Student Veterans Lounge at the Academic Center at Largo on January 20, 2015, expanding its commitment to the thou-sands of veterans attending the university. The lounge offers comput-ers and Internet service—for convenient access to the online UMUC Veterans Resource Center—and pro-vides a gathering place for student veterans to relax and collaborate with one another. The goal is to help veterans, separating service-members, and their families navigate the post-military transition and gain insight that will help them make informed decisions. “[Veterans] deserve our dedicated support, our

steadfast encouragement, our every effort to ensure that their path back to civil-ian life and their pursuit of the American dream are not marked by unneces-sary obstacles,” said UMUC President Javier Miyares. “I believe that this Student Veterans Lounge will be a means to those ends—a place where veterans can find the resources, support, and camaraderie that will smooth their path forward.” In 2014, some 4,000 veter-ans who live within 35 miles of the Academic Center at Largo enrolled at UMUC—and 12,000 veterans globally took classes at UMUC. Tens of thousands more have furthered their education at UMUC since its founding in 1947. Maj. Gen. Lloyd “Milo” Miles (U.S. Army, Ret.), UMUC’s new senior vice president for Military and Veterans Operations, spoke at the grand opening and invoked Abraham Lincoln’s call “to care for those who have borne the battle” to describe UMUC’s steadfast and ongoing mission to meet the needs of student veterans.“No institution of higher learning does it better than UMUC,” Miles said. “The Veterans Lounge is just one more tile in the mosaic of UMUC’s service to veterans.”

UMUC and Jiffy Lube Create Pathways to DegreesJiffy Lube International rankedfirst in Training magazine’s 2014 Training Top 125, thanks in part to its partnership—announced in March 2014—with University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Under the agreement, Jiffy

“In Nigeria, deaf people are really never expected to succeed in education. Many deaf children, especially girls, end up on the streets. . . . Since I can remem-ber, my family believed in me. They truly believed that deafness could not and should not prevent me from dreaming and doing.”

STUDENT SPEAKER KUDIRATU USMAN, MASTER OF INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

“Whatever you do, it’s never too late. I know, because I turned 70 this year.”

STUDENT SPEAKER BEVERLY BUTLER, BACHELOR OF ARTS, COMMUNICATION STUDIES

“Less than two years ago—on what would have been an otherwise quiet Friday evening in October 2012—I was driving home from work when . . . I was rear-ended at full speed by a fully loaded 18-wheeler. As I stuttered my words and tears rolled down my cheeks, I thought about my education and career goals as a doctor told me I had suffered a traumatic brain injury.”

STUDENT SPEAKER LUCY LARAMIE, MASTER OF SCIENCE, MANAGMENT

COMMENCEMENT 2014MEMORABLE QUOTES

Lube service center employ-ees can transfer Jiffy Lube University credits to UMUC to earn an under-graduate certificate in management foundations. At UMUC’s recom-mendation, Jiffy Lube had the American Council on Education (ACE) review its training pro-gram to provide a pathway to an undergraduate certificate

and eventually a degree. “Training is one of the cornerstones of success

for Jiffy Lube International,” the company’s president, Steve

Ledbetter, told Training maga-zine’s Lorri

Freifeld. ”Jiffy Lube will con-

tinue to make training a top priority to further drive excellence.“ G

Late Breaking NewsAs this issue of Achiever went to press, UMUC received word from the U.S. Department of Defense that the university had been awarded a new educa-tion contract to continue providing instruction to U.S. troops in the Asia Pacific region. The con-tract is renewable over a period of five years and includes under-graduate coursework in liberal arts and business and—for the first time—UMUC's highly regarded MBA program.

SM



have decided to disinvest in higher education, he said, in effect privatizing state universi-ties. But state institutions have not amassed huge endowments like their private counterparts. In the past five years in the U.S., there has been a 32 per-cent decline, on average, in state funding per student. This shortfall has been sub-stantially offset by increases in federal Pell Grants. But theaverage increase in stated tuition at public universities has increased by 90 percent over those five years, he said, while family income has increased by only 5 percent. “Clearly we are moving into unsustainable ground finan-cially,” he said. Maryland has maintained state support for higher educa-tion at levels far beyond what most other states provide, he said, but pressures on the state budget will make this increas-ingly difficult. And as the cost of servicing debt and funding entitlements engulfs the federal budget, states will not be able to count on the federal govern-ment to pick up the tab. He noted that funding to pub-lic universities has shifted from

APPLYING BREAKTHROUGH IDEAS IN HIGHER EDUCATIONFormer Lockheed Martin Chairman and USM Regent Norman R. Augustine looks at higher education and sees “enormous opportunities to be found in periods of change.”

BY GIL KLEIN

Higher education institutions must accept that fundamental change is coming and adapt to it or face failure, said Norman R. Augustine, former chairman of Lockheed Martin and a member of the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents. Augustine was the featured speaker at UMUC on March 25 at the annual Orkand Chair Distin-guished Lecture Series. His pre-sentation—“Innovation Lessons from Industry: Applying Break-through Ideas in Higher Educa-tion”—drew on his experience at the helm of one of the biggest defense conglomerates as it weathered radical transformation at the end of the Cold War. When the Berlin Wall fell, the free world’s aerospace busines-ses collapsed along with it.Within about five years, Augustine recalled, 40 percent of the aerospace employees (about 640,000 people) and three-fourths of the companies in the industry were gone. “That is what I call change,” he said. At that time, Augustine was chief executive of the aerospace firm Martin Marietta. It was clear to him that if the company was

going to survive, it needed a clear strategy and a strong commitment to carrying it out. That strategy—which includ-ed combining with competitors, eliminating inefficiencies, andconcentrating on capturing market share—worked. Martin Marietta merged with Lockheed and emerged as Lockheed Martin, a dynamiccompany with 180,000 employ-ees—including 82,000 engi-neers—when Augustine retired as CEO in 1997. “The trick is to preserve one’s core values while changing just about everything else around you,” he said. For Lockheed Martin, he said, those core values were to “operate ethically, take care of your customers, and treat people with respect.” Other corporations were not so lucky. Giants such as Kodak, Montgomery Ward, Penn Central Railroad, and Woolworths declined or simply vanished because they could not adapt to changing technol-ogy and business practices. Of the 100 largest firms in 1900, he pointed out, only one remained in existence at the beginning of the 21st century. Augustine related the lessons he learned in industry to the challenges facing higher educa-tion as it looks to the future and tries to innovate. Few things are more hide-bound in their traditions than academia, he said, but it mustunderstand five realities that rapidly are challenging it. “The essence of this,” said Augustine, “is to truly under-stand the world as it is and like-ly to become, not as you would wish it to become—even though that may seem rather harsh.” The reality is that most states

a state-supported model to a tuition driven model. But higher education is a difficult institution to change, he said. Because of such prac-tices as tenure, changing the workforce is problematic. It is harder to measure results in academia. Education is a fundamental, long-term under-taking, while business is short term and often shortsighted. Arguably, no institution has more successfully resisted change over the past two cen-turies than higher education, he said, with the possible excep-tion of the church. “It’s even been said that higher education celebrates 200

Norman R. Augustine pres-ents the keynote address at the Orkand Chair Distinguished Lecture Series as university lead-ers and distinguished guests (below) look on.


years of tradition unimpeded by progress.” However, there are very few institutions in America that are more important to the future of the nation than higher education, he emphasized. The good news, he said, is that there are enor-mous opportunities to be found in periods of change. UMUC has been dynamic in making change, he said, but this process is complicated by its being lumped together with for-profit education companies that don’t hold themselves to

the same high standards that the University System of Maryland demands of UMUC. The second reality of higher education that cannot be wished away is the impact of technol-ogy, he said. While UMUC has been at the forefront in distance learning for decades, it is not immune to the massive disrup-tion underway. “The ultimate outcome will be some form of blended learning,” he said, “but the nature of that blend is not clear to me.” If the outcome is lower cost and more accessibility, he said, it will be a good change. The third reality, he said, is the advent of knowledge-

based certifications that give students credit for knowing things without having to sit through a class to learn them. Industry will accept these cer-tifications if they are confident that they really attest to the knowledge the students have. UMUC is poised to take advantage of this shift, he said, as long as it has the backing of the university system. The fourth reality, he said, is the education gap and the huge influx of immigrants coming to the United States. Given current trends, by the 2040s, minorities will repre-sent a majority of the U.S. population. Students in the top quartile academically of their high school class who come from parents at the bottom of the economic ladder have a harder time graduating from college than students coming from the bottom quartile of their class academically but whose par-ents are more affluent. The inequality of education is one of the greatest threats to the nation, he said, but UMUC is best prepared to provide an educational pathway for many of America’s less fortunate, less wealthy—but nonetheless capa-ble and motivated—citizens. The fifth reality, he said, is that only 43 percent of students graduating from high school are ready for college work, according to the College Board, and just 15 percent have the skills to study engineering. If the U.S. wants to produce one PhD in engineering by 2030, it must start with a pool of 3,000 eighth graders today, Augustine said. In K–12, the problem is not money, he added, because the

United States spends more per pupil in kindergarten through 12th grade than any other country except Switzerland. UMUC is positioned to take advantage of all of these new realities to provide a top-leveleducation for students at a rea-sonable cost, he said. But it faces two hazards. First, as the leader in online education, UMUC may question why it needs to change. And second, as the leader in the field, everyone else is making UMUC a target. If UMUC is convinced it is the leader, challenging the status quo is difficult. But not challenging the status quo will lead to failure as others catch up and surpass it. One important way to bring about change is to gather differ-ent perspectives on a problem, Augustine said. A particularly important lesson he learned from industry became one of what he calls “Augustine’s Laws.” That law states that the “best way to think outside the box is to listen to someone who isn’t in the box.” Take nothing for granted and always be on the lookout for discontinuities, he said, such as those technological innova-tions that have disrupted the newspaper industry, changes to public policy that impacted the airline industry, or changes that swayed the nation’s attitude and behavior toward smoking. At the same time, Augustine encouraged universities to look for synergies across two or more disciplines that seem unrelated, which can foster new ideas and innovation. Even as higher education institutions implement change, Augustine sees even more disruption. “We’ll see more pri-

vate, small universities follow the dinosaur,” he cautioned. “We’ll see more public uni-versities that will seek to trade government financial support for more freedom in such areas as compensation and procurement. “UMUC is enormously well prepared to take on what is an enormous challenge,” heconcluded. “The organiza-tion is well led and has many strong ingredients of what is needed. There will be a premium in this new world on knowledge and on lifelong learning, both things at which UMUC is very good.” The principal trend in edu-cation in the years ahead, he said, will be personalized adap-tive learning, where a com-bination of faculty and tutors will be available to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing in essence a personal tutor, he said. “Simply trying harder to do what you’ve been doing all along is a formula for failure.” ___________________________

Norman R. Augustine attend-ed Princeton University, where he graduated with a BSE and MSE in Aeronautical Engineering. He has served as under secretary and act-ing secretary of the Army, CEO of Lockheed Martin, and lecturer with the rank of professor on the faculty of Princeton University. Augustine was chairman and principal officer of the American Red Cross for nine years. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations, and a fel-low of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Explorers Club. G


GEN. JOHN W. VESSEY JR.


HISTORY MAKERS

The Class of UMUC

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HAS MADE history in its almost 70 years of operation. Founded in 1947 to serve adult students, in 1949 the university was among the first to send faculty overseas to teach U.S. troops stationed in Europe following the Second World War. In 1956, it expanded its operation into Asia. In the mid-1990s, it was quick to embrace online instruction, and today it ranks as the largest online public university in the United States. UMUC’s alumni, now more than 180,000-strong, have also made history, changing the world in significant and measurable ways. Here are seven of their stories.

Gen. John W. Vessey Jr. (U.S. Army, Ret.)A NATIVE OF MINNEAPOLIS, John W. Vessey Jr. was so anxious to join the Minnesota National Guard that he lied about his age and enlisted as a 16-year-old high school student in May 1939. He received a battlefield commission in World War II, and in 1963, as a 41-year-old lieutenant colonel, earned his bachelor’s degree from UMUC in military science. “I got an awful lot of help from UMUC and from the education that I got there,” Vessey said in a 2009 interview with the university. “It’s a huge benefit to the armed forces to have well-educated soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, and it’s a huge benefit to society, as well.”

BY MENACHEM WECKER Illustrations by Randy Glass


In fact, Vessey said that he has tried to pattern his own life after a lecture by Nicholas Murray Butler, “Five Evidences of an Education,” that Vessey first heard discussed in a UMUC classroom. The lecture praised the correct use of language, refined and gentle dealings with fellow human beings, the power and habit of reflection, the power to grow, and the power to act with efficiency and effectiveness. That template served Vessey well, even as he continued to study and advance his career. In 1970, he graduated from Army Helicopter School as a colonel—and its oldest student by a decade and a half. He achieved the rank of general in 1976 and—in 1982—became the country’s high-est ranking military officer when President Ronald Reagan appointed him as the 10th chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. When Vessey retired in 1985 with 46 years of ser-vice, he was the last four-star World War II combat veteran on active duty and the lon-gest serving member of the Army. Now 92, Vessey continues to give back to his undergraduate alma mater. He served in 1995 as the first chair of UMUC’s Board of Visitors and later established the General John W. Vessey Jr. Scholarship Fund. The fund awards scholarships to degree-seeking students of UMUC’s Undergraduate School, with preference given to Purple Heart recipients, active duty military personnel and members of their immediate families, military personnel who are currently tran-sitioning to civilian life, and students with demonstrated financial need.

Richard F. Blewitt (see p. 25)—who is himself a UMUC graduate and who succeeded Vessey as chair of the Board of Visitors—noted that the general is an engaging storyteller who is also distinguished by his humility and self-deprecat-ing sense of humor.

“

I have always considered him the nobility of UMUC success,” Blewitt said. “Gen. Vessey is the greatest pride and joy of a UMUC product. I don’t know anyone who tops that. He personifies what you can do with a UMUC degree.”

AMB. EDWARD PERKINS


“I have always considered him the nobility of UMUC success,” Blewitt said. “Gen. Vessey is the greatest pride and joy of a UMUC product. I don’t know anyone who tops that. He personifies what you can do with a UMUC degree.”

Amb. Edward Perkins THE YEAR AFTER VESSEY RETIRED, another UMUC alumnus—Edward Perkins—rose to public promi-nence under the Reagan administration. Perkins, a career diplomat and former U.S. Marine, in 1986 was named the first black ambassador to apartheid South Africa. In a 2006 interview with NPR, Perkins recalled that when the Secretary of State approached him about the ambassador-ship, he gave Perkins just one night to think it over, warn-ing him that the appointment was so controversial that he couldn’t talk to anyone about it other than his wife. “My wife was the one who said, ‘You took an oath of office to go where needed when needed,’” Perkins said. “So how can you say anything but, ‘Yes, I’ll go’?” Perkins, who was serving as U.S. ambassador to Liberia at the time, was no stranger to controversy or intolerance. He grew up in Louisiana in the 1930s, served in the recently desegregated military beginning in the 1950s, and aspired to a career in the overwhelmingly white Foreign Service. While working in Taiwan, he met and fell in love with Lucy, a beautiful woman from a very traditional Chinese family. When Perkins proposed, Lucy’s father initially locked her in the house and told her brothers to make sure she stayed there. In all cases, Perkins eventually overcame the opposition he faced, and his diplomatic skill and courage would serve him well in the charged political environment of South Africa under then-President P. W. Botha. When Perkins presented his credentials after first arriving in the country,

Botha shook his finger in his face and warned him, “I don’t want you getting involved in our affairs.” But Perkins did get involved, even going so far as to publish an article in a South African journal, pointing out “a growing realization that a valid political system here must be one that correlates with the demographics of the country—not merely black participation or black cooperation, but a government that truly represents the majority of South Africans.” While the United States insisted that this had been its policy all along, Time magazine called the statement “pure dynamite” and a “breakthrough.” And despite the concerns of many who questioned Reagan’s sincerity in appointing Perkins to the ambassador-ship, Reagan stood firm behind the diplomat. “The Afrikaaners tried many ways to go around me to get to him,” Perkins said, “but Reagan’s response was always, ‘The U.S. ambassador speaks for the American people and this administration.’” Although Perkins left South Africa before he had the satisfaction of seeing the apartheid government dismantled, it was clear that he had helped plant the seeds of change. He went on to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, then to Australia, and in 1989 was named director general of the U.S. Foreign Service. Since 1996, Perkins—who speaks French, Japanese, and Thai—has served as the William J. Crowe chair and execu-tive director of the International Programs Center at the University of Oklahoma. He has been generous in his praise of the education he received at UMUC, calling his profes-sors among the best he has ever seen. “Their presentations were challenging and the interest they generated among the students was genuine,” Perkins said, in a previous interview for this magazine. “One instructor I remember was probably one of the best math and statistics professors in the world. He actually made mathematics come alive.”


Mark GerencserWHILE PURSUING HIS MS IN TECHNOLOGY management at UMUC in the early 1990s, Mark Gerencser learned about leadership, ethics, and project management—exactly the skills he wanted to develop to advance in his career at Booz Allen Hamilton, from principal to partner. The hard work paid off, and Gerencser retired from Booz Allen in 2013 after 31 years at the company, where, as an executive vice president, he served as the managing director of the firm’s Global Government business with over 20,000 employees and most recently as managing partner of the firm’s Commercial Business. His successes were met with awards, accolades, and prestigious special assign-ments along the way, including a White House appointment to the National Security Education Board—which is chaired by the Secretary of Defense—and his service on the National Security Agency Advisory Board’s Acquisition Panel. He was named one of the “Top 25 Consultants 2007” by Consulting magazine, one of the “Top 10 Beltway Game Changers to Watch” by ExecutiveBiz in 2009, and one of the “Top 25: People to Watch” by Virginia Business in 2011. He is also a successful writer, having co-authored the Washington Post best-seller Megacommunities, which defines how leaders in government, private sector, and civil soci-ety can tackle global challenges together. Today, Gerencser chairs UMUC’s Board of Visitors, while also serving as chairman of

the board at CyberSpa and on the boards of Sotera Defense Solutions, ALTA IT Services, Multi-Flex Pipe Systems, and Orion Systems Integrators. “I probably overcommitted,” Gerencser joked. “I’m keep-ing busy, but I don’t really have a job. If I apply for a credit

“ The education I received has played a significant role in my career and continues to serve me well,” Gerencser said. “I owe a lot to UMUC for my success.”

MARK GERENCSER


card or mortgage, it’s kind of like, ‘Are you working?’ ‘Well, sort of.’” Looking ahead, Gerencser—who has broad experi-ence across the technology, energy, environment, and transportation sectors—is keeping close watch on two developments: the need to rebuild and reimagine U.S. infrastructure to remain globally competitive, and the convergence of cyber, digital, and big data analytics in ways that will create new opportunities. And for the man who is proud of bringing a “corpo-rate board flavor” to the Board of Visitors, it keeps com-ing back to UMUC. “The education I received has played a significant role in my career and continues to serve me well,” he said. “I owe a lot to UMUC for my success.”

Vivek KundraTHE RANKS OF UMUC ALUMNI include other presidential appointees, one of the youngest being Vivek Kundra who, in 2009 at age 35, was named the country’s first federal chief information officer. The new role gener-ated significant buzz, particularly in the technology sector, with Scientific American referring to Kundra as the “digitizer in chief” and the “information czar.” Kundra, whom one New York Times blogger dubbed “a youthful, Indian-born techno-whiz,” came to the fed-eral position with a short but sparkling résumé. He held a master’s degree in information systems management from UMUC and taught briefly in The Undergraduate School. He had also served as director for infrastructure technologies for Arlington County, Virginia; as the Commonwealth of Virginia’s assistant secretary of commerce and technology; and as chief technology officer for the District of Columbia, where he championed a “digital public square,” modeled after Thomas Jefferson’s concept of the public square.

Among his goals in the federal position, he said, was “to shatter the assumption that government technology auto-matically must lag behind the private sector.” Kundra served as federal CIO until 2011, overseeing an annual technology budget of $71 billion. In announcing his departure, the White House credited him with having “cracked down on wasteful IT spending, saved $3 billion in taxpayer dollars, moved the government to the cloud, [and] strength-ened the cybersecurity posture of the nation while making it more open, transparent, and participatory.” Kundra’s career continues to advance quickly. After serving as a fellow at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, and in its Berkman Center for Internet & Society, he accepted a position in January 2012 as executive vice president at Salesforce.com, where—according to a com-pany spokesperson—he focuses on increasing awareness and adoption of cloud computing in emerging markets.

VIVEK KUNDRA


“ Other schools have [sports] teams. What we have are good educators. We need to be proud of that. Education is our credo,” said Paige.

Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige Jr. (U.S. Army, Ret.)BORN IN 1931, LT. GEN. EMMETT PAIGE JR. (U.S. Army, Ret.) was only 16 years old when he left high school to join the merchant marines. While in port in Jacksonville, Florida, a fire aboard ship made him rethink life at sea, and he headed home, where he met a visiting recruiter and joined the still-segregat-ed U.S. Army. It was a humble beginning to a distinguished 41-year military career. Paige would go on to become only the 13th black officer to attain flag rank in the Army and the first to reach flag rank in the 116-year history of the Signal Corps. When he was promoted to lieutenant general, he became for a period of time the senior black officer in the Army. He told a military historian that he never forgot the words of his commandant, who took time to explain the harassment Paige received in Leadership School in 1951: You are the first Negro to go through here. You have set the standard for those that follow. . . Unfor- tunately, you have to be not just as good as your white contemporaries; you have to be twice as good. I am not telling you that it is fair. It is not fair. I am not telling you that it is right; it is not right. But it is a fact of life. It is a reality. I want to be sure that you are prepared for it. Paige was prepared. Over the course of his career, he would help shape the very foundation of military communications. In 2013, Gen. Dennis Via—commanding general of U.S. Army Material Command and the first Signal Corps officer to achieve the rank of four-star general—called Paige “one of the true heroes of our Army and our Signal

Corps. He is a gifted leader, a soldier’s soldier, and an innova-tor whose service set conditions for the success of today’s army and the way we communicate. . . . Our current warfighters are able to communicate better, faster, and more effectively as a result of his legacy.”

LT. GEN. EMMETT PAIGE JR.


Though Paige retired from the military in 1988, his career was far from over. He accepted a position as presi-dent and chief operating officer of OAO Corp., an aero-space and information systems company in Greenbelt, Maryland, but took a leave of absence in 1993 when President Bill Clinton appointed him assistant secretary of defense for command, control, communications, and intel-ligence. He served in that role until 1997, then returned to the leadership of OAO Corp., which was subsequently acquired by Lockheed Martin. A member of UMUC’s Leadership Circle, Paige has always been a proponent of education, and called his UMUC degree “my passport to success.” He was named a UMUC Distinguished Alumnus in 1988, and Maryland Governor Parris Glendening named him to the Maryland Higher Education Commission in 2002. Of UMUC, Paige said, “Other schools have [sports] teams. What we have are good educators. We need to be proud of that. Education is our credo.”

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)LIKE MANY UMUC STUDENTS, Thom Tillis—the junior U.S. senator from North Carolina—came to higher education later in life. The Charlotte Observer reported that, though he was elected student body president in high school and graduated near the top of his class, he immediately left home to get a job, explaining that he and his siblings “weren’t wired to go to college.” Tillis enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, but a car accident left him with lingering injuries and a right hand that required sur-gery, and he was granted an honorable discharge. Instead of pursuing a military career, he took a minimum wage job as a warehouse records clerk. Tillis advanced quickly, driven by a work ethic he learned from his father, a boat draftsman who lived an itinerant lifestyle

and moved wherever job opportunities arose. In 1996, Tillis had already become a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, but he was also raising a family and studying at night toward his bachelor’s degree from UMUC. He completed his BS in tech-nology and project management in 1997, at 37 years of age. A campaign spokesperson cited that story as one that the senator is proud to tell. Shortly after graduating from UMUC, Tillis moved to Cornelius, North Carolina. There, he made his first foray into politics, serving on the park board and lobbying for a local bike trail. Once again, his career advanced swiftly. He ran for the town’s Board of Commissioners in 2003, served as president of his daughter’s high school PTA, and in 2006, won a seat in North Carolina’s House of Representatives after first defeating a Republican incumbent. He was named Speaker of the House in 2011 and reelected unanimously in 2013. Tillis had promised earlier that he would serve no more than four two-year terms in state government, and in 2014,

U.S. SEN. THOM TILLIS


he announced that he would not seek reelection and would instead run for the U.S. Senate. His candidacy was endorsed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney. On November 4, 2014, Tillis won a tight race against Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan—and became the first UMUC alumnus to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. Currently, Tillis serves as a member of the Armed Services Committee and Veterans’ Affairs Committee, as well as the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee; Judiciary Committee; and the Special Committee on Aging.

Saman ArbabiWHEN SAMAN ARBABI and his family left his native Tehran for Rockville, Maryland, he was 12 years old, and his family wanted to avoid his being drafted into the Iranian military. In America, he expected Disneyland. He

encountered a very different reality, but that didn’t mean his dreams wouldn’t come true. The executive producer and host at Voice of America (VOA) began his college career as a biology major. Unsure of his career path, he took a year off, working as an intern at the rock station WRQX MIX 107.3 FM in the nation’s capital. “Once I started, I knew my future was in media,” Arbabi said in a 2011 interview with this magazine. He went on to earn a BS in communications with a minor in art from UMUC in 2000. Following graduation, Arbabi went to work in radio, then print, and eventually in video and television. Finally, VOA called. “They knew I had experience in media, and they wanted me to help the Persian service launch as a TV station,” Arbabi said. “I became

the first video journalist they had.” He would soon report from Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Bahrain. When another Iranian—Kambiz Hosseini—joined VOA, he and Arbabi became friends, venting over drinks about developments in Iran. Both men enjoyed satire, and they began writing down ideas for a satirical news show that would focus on Iran. InMay 2008 VOA’s first satirical show—Parazit—launched as cultural commentary, with Arbabi as executive producer and Hosseini as host. The focus soon shifted to politics. With Facebook and YouTube helping to drive awareness, popularity soared. A January 2011 profile in the Washington Post noted that Parazit’s Facebook page had been viewed more than 17 million times the month before, and its YouTube channel was generating 45,000 hits a week. Then came an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

SAMAN ARBABI

continued on page 47


LEADERS IN THEIR FIELDS

BY MENACHEM WECKERIllustrations by Kathryn Rathke

The Class of UMUC

From sports to technology and media to engineering, UMUC alumni have built upon the skills and connections they developed during their time at the university, and they are using these advantages to lead in their respective fields. Following are 11 profiles of UMUC alumni whose professional achievements have set them apart from their peers.

Janice Glover-Jones

Janice Glover-Jones, who earned a BS in information systems manage-

ment from UMUC in 2011, serves as chief information officer (CIO) for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). In announcing her appointment, the agency cited Glover-Jones’ “years of experience, keen leadership skills, and expert knowledge.” Glover-Jones came by that experience and expertise the old-fashioned way, working her way up from the federal govern-ment’s lowest pay grade as an

administrative assistant at the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1984. Twenty-eight years ago she joined DIA, accepting a series of increasingly responsible

positions, as budget analyst, intelligence officer, senior program manager, deputy chief

financial executive, and deputy CIO. Today, as chief information officer for DIA, Glover-Jones oversees 4,000 employees and a budget of some

$1 billion in a role that supports more than 60,000 customers globally.

Ed Foster-Simeon

When a prominent conser-vative columnist referred

to soccer as un-American, UMUC alumnus Ed Foster-

Simeon—president and CEO of the U.S. Soccer Foundation—took to CNN to file the op-ed

“Soccer Is Now Part of the New America.”

JANICE GLOVER-JONES


While soccer used to belong to Europeans, South Americans, and Africans, Foster-Simeon wrote, “Today it is our game too, bringing the nation together in a passionate embrace of its athleticism, its skill and, yes, its excitement.” As that transformation occurs, Foster-Simeon is positioned to play a key role in the process. The U.S. Soccer Foundation—the charitable arm of the nation’s soccer programs—was founded in 1994 and reports that it has already “awarded more than $100 million in financial sup-port to soccer organizations and field-building initiatives nationwide,” and through its Passback program, has collected and dis-tributed some 900,000 pieces of equipment to needy children worldwide. Beyond advocating for and supporting the sport, the foundation champi-ons “the power of the game to make a difference.”

Foster-Simeon is a U.S. Navy veteran who earned a BS in journalism from UMUC in 1986. He has led the Foundation since 2008, after first serving as as president of Prince William Soccer, a Virginia club with some 3,000 players, and later as vice president of the Virginia Youth Soccer Association. Prior to those roles, he served as a deputy managing edi-tor at USA Today, overseeing Washington, political, and for-eign news operations. In the course of a 15-year career at the paper, Foster-Simeon opened a Beijing bureau and organized coverage and logistics while reporting on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, the paper also called on him to plan and lead coverage of the 1998 World Cup in France. In 2011, Foster-Simeon received the Community Leadership Award from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and

Nutrition. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Campaign to End Obesity.

Karen Acton

Karen Acton, who served as chief financial officer and

chief executive officer of Post Community Media—part of Jeff Bezos’ investment firm, Nash Holdings LLC, which also owns the Washington Post—is no newcomer to the financial world. She also served as chief financial

officer at Post-Newsweek Media, and before that, as controller and publisher of Southern Maryland

Newspapers. The UMUC alumna earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business

management in 1982 and returned to the university to earn a master’s degree

KAREN ACTON

ED FOSTER-SIMEON


in finance, which she completed in 1999. She described the draw of local news in a 2012 conversation with this magazine. “You get to meet the people in the community. You tell their stories. You are the historians for the communities you are serving,” she said. “You are providing the information they need every day to live their lives and have the information they need to make good decisions for their families.” In her more than 30 years in media, Acton found that every day is different. UMUC, with its flexibility, helped set her up for further professional success. “It prepared me well for the work I need to do,” she said, “and in the end, that is what a degree is supposed to do.”

Steven Schupak

Steven Schupak is executive vice presi-dent and chief operating officer of

Maryland Public Television. He used a UMUC degree to make the transition from reporting to management. He interned at ABC in college, then took a full-time position at an ABC affiliate before moving on to Comsat Video Enterprises. He found himself drawn to the business of media and turned to UMUC, where he completed an MS in management with a marketing specialization in 1995. He points to a class that focused on negotiation as an example of the relevance of the UMUC curriculum. “I do that [negotiate] almost every day,” he said. “I did not understand how important negotia-tion and deal-making were in

daily business deals. You can’t do anything in pub-lic television without partners.” Public television today is enjoying a “bit of a renaissance,” said Schupak, under whose watch MPT has won no fewer than 58 Emmy Awards. Public television, he said, represents a unique platform. “What other channel has membership? What other channel has people leaving money to them in their wills? Not very many.”

Chris Carpenter

When the communications office for the U.S. Secretary of Defense uses a

variety of platforms to reach internal and external audiences, it relies on Chris Carpenter, director of Security Operations, to make

sure those communications are secure. Carpenter, a former chief informa-

STEVEN SCHUPAK

CHRIS CARPENTER


tion security officer for the U.S. Mint, earned a BS in informa-tion technology from UMUC in 2008 and won one of the university’s first graduate cybersecurity scholarships. An Air Force veteran, Carpenter previously worked in IT at the Executive Office of the President, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the FBI. One of the things he found most appealing about his studies at UMUC, he said in a 2011 interview with this magazine, was the absence of “fluff” courses. “At this point in my career, I know how to do my job,” he said. “I want to learn something that applies to my career. “UMUC’s classes seem like they’re actually focused on real, hands-on, useful information that’s relevant to doing my job,” he added.

Jack Gumtow

Janice Glover-Jones (see p. 19) is not the only UMUC alum-nus in a senior position at the Defense Intelligence Agency

(DIA). In fact, Jack Gumtow—previously chief of cyber and enterprise operations for DIA—in February 2015 took over

the deputy CIO position that Glover-Jones vacated when she accepted the position as CIO. Gumtow, who holds an MS in technology management from UMUC, is a former chief information officer for the Office of Naval Intelligence and project manager at the security and tech-nology company ManTech. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served for six years as a cryptologist, Gumtow is a two-time recipient of the Navy’s Superior Civilian Service Medal.

Mark Banash

A carbon nanotube is a tiny tube of perfectly interlocking carbon molecules, tens of thousands of times thinner than

a human hair. They are light, unbelievably strong, and highly conductive of electricity and heat, and potential applications in defense, technology, medicine, and sports are as exciting as

MARK BANASH


tion security officer for the U.S. Mint, earned a BS in informa-tion technology from UMUC in 2008 and won one of the university’s first graduate cybersecurity scholarships. An Air Force veteran, Carpenter previously worked in IT at the Executive Office of the President, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the FBI. One of the things he found most appealing about his studies at UMUC, he said in a 2011 interview with this magazine, was the absence of “fluff” courses. “At this point in my career, I know how to do my job,” he said. “I want to learn something that applies to my career. “UMUC’s classes seem like they’re actually focused on real, hands-on, useful information that’s relevant to doing my job,” he added.

Jack Gumtow

Janice Glover-Jones (see p. 19) is not the only UMUC alum-nus in a senior position at the Defense Intelligence Agency

(DIA). In fact, Jack Gumtow—previously chief of cyber and enterprise operations for DIA—in February 2015 took over

the deputy CIO position that Glover-Jones vacated when she accepted the position as CIO. Gumtow, who holds an MS in technology management from UMUC, is a former chief information officer for the Office of Naval Intelligence and project manager at the security and tech-nology company ManTech. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served for six years as a cryptologist, Gumtow is a two-time recipient of the Navy’s Superior Civilian Service Medal.

Mark Banash

A carbon nanotube is a tiny tube of perfectly interlocking carbon molecules, tens of thousands of times thinner than

a human hair. They are light, unbelievably strong, and highly conductive of electricity and heat, and potential applications in defense, technology, medicine, and sports are as exciting as

JACK GUMTOW

MARK BANASH

28139_Magazine.indd 22 5/22/15 6:27 PM


they are diverse. Cost is one of the few remaining barriers to adoption, and Nanocomp Technologies in New Hampshire is one company at the fore-front of efforts to dramatically lower those costs. “Our chief technology officer thinks we’ve just scratched the surface when itcomes to all of the possible applica-tions,” said Mark Banash—vice presi-dent and chief scientist at Nanocomp—in a 2008 interview with this magazine. Banash, who holds a PhD in physical chemis-try from Princeton, came to UMUC with specific goals in mind. After earning his MBA, he agreed to teach in the program, while maintaining his focus on those same goals. “One of the reasons I agreed to teach AMBA 604 [Technology and Operations Management] was because I wanted to absolutely learn it, and there’s no better way to do that than to teach it to someone else,” Banash said. “And it’s worth learning well. Operations management isn’t particularly popular in business, but it has to be done right if the business is going to succeed.” Banash has had ample opportunity to hone his skills. At Zyvex Corp., one of the world’s first nanotechnology companies, Banash managed the company’s manufacturing operations, including the design and construction of its pilot plants. As a senior scientist at Millennium Chemicals, he worked on product development and manufacturing, help-ing to incorporate the company’s pigment products into dif-ferent polymer matrices. Now he is positioned to drive Nanocomp to new heights, and in 2014, the company received $18.5 million in new

funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to move ahead with construction of the nation’s largest volume manufacturing facil-ity of materials the agency has deemed “critical for national defense.” More recently, the company received a grant through the University of New Hampshire’s Innovation Research Center. “Sometimes there’s a huge disconnect

between what comes out of the R&D lab and what a customer wants, or between what the sales team promises and what the factory can pro-

duce. I live in that space,” said Banash.

Mary Rakow Tanner

The National Zoo—one of Washington, D.C.’s, most

popular tourist attractions—is part of the world-famous Smithsonian Institution, and by

itself attracts some 2 million visitors each year. But when Mary Rakow Tanner joined the zoo in 2002,

as deputy director, she found an organization in crisis, crippled by 15 years of government downsizing. Tanner—a 1978 graduate of UMUC’s undergraduate busi-ness program—was neither a scientist nor an animal expert, but she was nonetheless instrumental in helping return the zooto a firm financial footing, with increased government funding, private support, and a series of high-profile corporate partnerships. “My job is to make sure that the people who really know how to care for the animals and how to help increase the popu-lation of endangered species have what they need to get their jobs done,” she said, in a 2007 interview with this magazine. “That’s what I’m here to do.” She would later serve as co-chair of the zoo’s animal welfare committee, and she remains a special assistant and volunteer at the zoo. Previously, she was associate director of the Museum of Natural History.

MARY RAKOW TANNER


Her job at the zoo, she said, was easily the most challenging she had ever had. But, she added, the mission made the sacri-fice all worthwhile. “It might be kind of hard to see sometimes, from the outside,” she said, “but the passion that goes into caring for the animals and the passion that goes into the work that the scientists do, it’s just so uplifting.”

Ron Siarnicki

For UMUC alumnus Ron Siarnicki, firefighting is more than a vocation.

His grandfather and both parents were volunteer firefighters, and in a 2004 interview with this magazine, Siarnicki explained, “I was raised with the fire service as a family ideal, a way of life, a kind of family business. . . . Firefighters are some of the finest people I know.” Siarnicki earned a BS in fire science and an MS in technology management from UMUC, then joined the university’s fire science faculty in 1997. “I love teaching all those young, energetic, bright-eyed kids and preparing them to become the fire service leaders of the

future,” he said. “It’s a way I can give something back to all of those who did the same for me.” He retired in 2002 as fire chief for Prince George’s County, Maryland, after a 23-year career with the county’s fire and emergen-cy medical services department. Today, he serves as the executive director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which was created by Congress in 1992 to provide relief and assistance to the families of fallen firefighters, as well as to surviving fire department members. He also serves as president of the United Communities Volunteer Fire Department in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. In 2013, Siarnicki received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the National Eagle Scout Association and the CFSI/Motorola Solutions Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership Award from the Congressional Fire Services Institute. “I cannot think of a more qualified and deserving individual than Chief Siarnicki to receive this award,” wrote Congressman

BARRY WEST

RON SIARNICKI



Steny Hoyer in his letter supporting the latter award. “He has earned it through a lifetime of service and a level of leadership that will surely inspire others to follow.”

Barry West

When Barry West accepted the position of chief information officer (CIO) at

the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2006, he was one of the youngest CIOs of a cabinet-level government agency, and oversaw a budget of $1.5 billion. He didn’t lack for experience, however. He had previously served as CIO of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Today, he is CIO and chief pri-vacy officer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). West, who holds an MS in information technology from UMUC, also completed the university’s CIO executive certificate program and has served as an adjunct assistant professor at the university. He credited UMUC with teaching him that technical ability was only one facet of a CIO’s job—and not the primary one. “I learned that the most important requirements are to be an excellent communicator and listener, have the strength to be a leader, and then be a technical person when necessary,” he said in a 2006 interview with this magazine.

Richard F. Blewitt

Richard F. Blewitt grew up around the newspaper business. While his father served as general manager of the Scranton

Times in Pennsylvania, the younger Blewitt did everything from

peddling papers, eventually working his way up to reporter. After high school, Blewitt took his first classes at UMUC in Japan while serving in the Navy as a journalist. After returning to the states, he completed his UMUC degree while juggling work and a young family.

“It was then that I learned the value of UMUC,” Blewitt said. “It was there

when I needed it.” His deep affinity for the news business and the importance of public

dialogue drove a successful career in public relations and

eventually led to a partnership with former NBC News Correspondent

Ford Rowan in Rowan & Blewitt, one of the most sought after crisis communica-

tions consulting firms in the country. Blewitt burnished his reputation in crisis management in an appear-

ance on 60 Minutes, in which he successfully defended the company he was representing in an interview with legendary—and famously dogged—Mike Wallace. Rowan & Blewitt went on to guide and counsel more than 30 Fortune 100 companies during some of the highest profile crises of recent corporate history, including ExxonMobil in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill; American Airlines fol-lowing the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; and Ford Motor Company during the Firestone Tire controversy. “We didn’t have a plan to create a mammoth company,” Blewitt recalled. “We just wanted to fill a niche.” That sentiment also drives Blewitt—who created a family foundation after selling his consultancy—in his philanthropic endeavors. The Blewitt Foundation has focused its support on initiatives that involve wounded soldiers and their families, and most recently has been instrumental in creating the Pillars of

RICHARD F. BLEWITT


28139_Magazine.indd 25 5/22/15 6:27 PM


VANESSA ENGELHARDT HAD JUST ATTENDED the funeral of a Green Beret—a teammate and close friend of her then-boyfriend, Eric—in February 2009 when her phone rang. It was Eric, calling from Afghanistan. He checked to make sure that she wasn’t alone before telling her that a roadside bomb had blown up the armored vehicle he was riding in. Three more teammates and an interpreter were dead; Eric was the sole survivor. His tailbone and back were broken, one leg was shattered, the other was broken, as well, and he had sustained serious burns. “You prepare mentally and physically for the worry of separa-tion in deployment. What you cannot prepare for is the call,” Engelhardt told attendees at an April 25 National Press Club event honoring recipients of Pillars of Strength Scholarship Fund awards. “Our lives as they had been no longer existed.” Engelhardt entrusted her children to friends, put her real estate career on hold, and flew to Germany. She remained at Eric’s side while he was treated there, then accompanied

Caregivers of Injured Military Personnel Receive Full Scholarships to UMUC

Pillars of StrengthBY MENACHEM WECKER

him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. “I did not leave his room other than to shower,” she said. Eric and Vanessa are now married, but because they weren’t at the time of Eric’s injuries, Vanessa, who hadn’t completed a college degree, didn’t qualify for benefits. A caregiver, who selflessly and exclusively devoted herself to helping a loved one who was injured in combat, she also is part of a too-often ignored demographic. That’s where the Pillars of Strength scholarship program came into play. The program, supported and managed by The Blewitt Foundation and the Yellow Ribbon Fund, in association with University of Maryland University College, supports the volunteer caregivers of injured service members, help-

ing those caregivers achieve their educational goals by providing full scholarships to UMUC. The April 25 event honored two scholarship recipients: Engelhardt and Michelle Yi, a registered nurse whose husband, Chi Yi, was diagnosed with severe PTSD and traumatic brain injury after combat in Iraq. Most people assume that the G.I. Bill or programs like it pro-vide for caregivers, such as Engelhardt and Yi, said CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier, the event’s keynote speaker. Dozier is a journalist who was reporting for CBS News in Iraq in 2006 when a car bomb killed her cameraman and soundman, an

FROM LEFT: Mark Robbins, executive director of the Yellow Ribbon Fund; Vanessa Engelhardt, scholarship recipient; Kimberly Dozier, CNN global affairs analyst; Michelle Yi, scholarship recipient; Javier Miyares, UMUC president; and Richard F. Blewitt, president of The Blewitt Foundation.


PILLARS OF STRENGTHSCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMSupporting volunteer caregivers of injured service members

The Yellow Ribbon Fund and The Blewitt Foundation in association with University of Maryland University College

PILLARS OF STRENGTHSCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

PILLARS OF STRENGTHSCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMSupporting volunteer caregivers of injured service members

The Yellow Ribbon Fund and The Blewitt Foundation in association with University of Maryland University College

accompanying Army captain and his translator, and left her criti-cally injured. Dozier faced a grueling fight as she sought to regain her health, learn to walk again, and ultimately return to work. Since her injury, Dozier has met or interviewed many care-givers who selflessly devote themselves to an injured loved one. “They often go unappreciated and unrecognized,” she said. “The reason I think about the caregivers’ mission is because those who were taking care of me—my loved ones—kept me going at the hospital at really dark moments, and I saw it take a lot out of them. . . . They were going through their own exhaust-ing battles,” she said. And when most people see a servicemember—particularly one who is injured—and his or her spouse, they tend to focus on the servicemember rather than the spouse’s sacrifice along the way. “They’re not living inside that world,” Dozier said. “The spouse learns to put aside their own needs over and over and over, and in the long term, that’s not good for the longevity of the relationship. The couple needs to keep moving forward together. This program balances out the mission, so both of them have the skills to move forward.” Retired U.S. Army Major General Lloyd “Milo” Miles, who joined UMUC in January as senior vice president for Military and Veterans Affairs, also attended the event. “Being an injured servicemember myself—an amputee—I know about some of the challenges these families are confronted with,” said Miles. During the year he spent as an inpatient and then another year as an outpatient, his then fiancée—now wife—and his parents, siblings, and friends came by to encourage him and to help him look forward. “Without that support, the future is really bleak,” he said. “I really

appreciate what this organization is trying to do.” UMUC President Javier Miyares, speaking at the luncheon, emphasized that the university’s interest in and concern for military families represents a longstanding tradition. “At UMUC, serving the higher education needs of the military is in our DNA,” he said. To those who have supported this cause, Miyares added, “your generosity is making the differ-ence, and I just want you to know that you inspire our stu-dents, our faculty, our staff—and you inspire me.” Richard F. Blewitt (see p. 25) serves as president of The Blewitt Foundation—which supports the severely injured mili-tary and their families—and emceed the event. A former chair of the UMUC Board of Visitors and himself a graduate of the uni-versity, Blewitt co-founded the Pillars of Strength program with Mark Robbins, executive director of the Yellow Ribbon Fund, who also participated in the April 25 event. In speaking of the caregivers’ sacrifice, Blewitt told the gathering, “They deserve so much more than a scholarship, but it’s a start.” That start, Vanessa Engelhardt said, makes a huge difference. “Armed with a UMUC degree in gerontology and aging services,

I believe that I’m on a wonderful path to a great new career future.” Concluding her emotional remarks, Englehardt said: “By being a part of the Pillars of Strength Scholarship program, by sharing our journey, I hope it will help other caregivers, and us, to get through it together.” For more information, or to support the Pillars of Strength scholarship program, visit umuc.edu/pillarsofstrength. G

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Kimberly Dozier (left) with scholarship recipients Michelle Yi (center) and Vanessa Englehardt (right); Richard F. Blewitt; Kimberly Dozier signs copies of her book, Breathing the Fire, for guests at the scholarship luncheon.


PHOTOGRAPH BY CEDRIC ARNOLD

Joe Arden“I literally thought there must be some mistake. I thought I should have been paying Maryland rather than Maryland paying me.”


For decades, University of Maryland University College hired traveling faculty, who deployed for eight weeks at a time to teach at U.S. military bases worldwide. They adopted an unofficial motto—Have Syllabus, Will Travel—and they offered courses from Iceland to Antarctica, from London to Okinawa, from the jungles of Vietnam to the deserts of Kuwait and Iraq to the mountains of Afghanistan and the civil war in Bosnia. For PAULA HARBECKE, who led both the Asian and European divisions during her UMUC career, the task of ensuring that an instructor was available anywhere in the world was like “filling in a big puzzle.” Wars and volcanoes were not acceptable excuses for canceling a class. Nonetheless, finding instructors to take these jobs was never difficult, Harbecke said. The spirit of adventure united them. They could have taught at conventional universities. They could have made more money in more traditional jobs. But one after another, they said that nothing com-pared to seeing the world while teaching highly motivated students in the U.S. military. “At the personal level, I was and still am in love with far away places with strange-sounding names,” said JOE ARDEN, who joined the Far East Division faculty in 1967 and taught his first 20 terms in eight countries. Only once did he remain in the same location for more than eight weeks. “It allowed me to satisfy this wanderlust in a very fundamental way,” said Arden, who

TALES OF

THE

They call themselves ”the Academic Foreign Legion,“ and they have stories to tell.

BY GIL KLEIN

Academic Foreign Legion

Paula Harbecke

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Paula Harbecke; then-European Division Director Joe Arden greets a faculty member in West Germany; mem-bers of the university senior staff in Heidelberg, West Germany, 1972.


went on to serve as director in both Europe and Asia in his 40-year career. “I literally thought there must be some mistake. I thought I should have been paying Maryland rather than Maryland paying me.” In 1968, when Arden had some time between assignments in Japan, he decided to take the Trans-Siberian Railroad across the Soviet Union. He was the only American aboard. At the same time, Serge Shewchuk, who taught Soviet studies for UMUC, set off from Germany in a Volkswagen bus, heading east to Moscow with his wife and baby daughter.

By chance, the two Marylanders met in the American Embassy. “We grabbed a copy of The Marylander and had a picture taken of us with the embassy in the background,” said Shewchuk. Read on for more tales from UMUC’s Academic Foreign Legion.

STEPHEN HOLOWENZAK taught at 125 military bases in 14 countries—including Bosnia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iceland, Japan, and Korea—reaching military personnel in all four branches of service. He called his time at UMUC a “marvelous experience . . . and a wonderful life journey.”

“What a beach party it was. We had to fill 14,000 sandbags, put them on flatbed trucks, then bring them into the camp and place them around buildings to protect the soldiers and civilian instructors against snipers.”

Stephen Holowenzak

PHOTOGRAPH BY KATHRYN LAM

BERT


Hugo Keesing

“The first day on base I went to the education center to pick up my class rosters and the education officer said, ‘These are also for you.’ I was handed a flak vest and a helmet.”

“Before going to Bosnia, each assigned group went through essential U.S. Army training in southern Germany for dangerous assignments. We learned such things as what to do if you find yourself in the middle of a minefield and how to test for booby traps in the woods. “In our tent was a potbelly stove with long tin pipes that shot up through the top of the tent. The tent was fine until a thaw and rain. We were sleeping in our skivvies after midnight once during a hard rain. The solid ground became mud, and the tent collapsed into a waterfall. We popped out of sleeping bags to shore up the tent. Two hours later, we were back in the sack. “I was the first professor to teach mathematics in Lukavac, Bosnia (April 1, 1996), in a place called Camp Punxsutawney. To accommodate our classes, we built a little plywood and tent schoolhouse. We were provided with no furniture, but I was not going to have my soldier/students sitting on a wooden floor. We built desks out of 10-foot long and four-foot wide chalkboards, and constructed benches and hung hooks so soldiers could hang their flak jackets, machine guns, and helmets. “I collected 256 rocks from around the camp and placed them in a perimeter around the schoolhouse. Once the course was about over, I told my students to each find a perimeter rock and sign their name on it with a marker. They took the rocks home as a remembrance of this first class in Bosnia. “One day, a chief sergeant major visited the camp and came to the schoolhouse to talk to me. He said he had heard wonder-ful things about my teaching and wanted me to come teach at his campsite in Olovo, Bosnia, close to Sarajevo. He came personally to pick me up. While in the Humvee caravan, driving to Olovo, he said to me, ‘You have to come to my beach party next week.’ What a beach party it was. We had to fill 14,000 sandbags, put

them on flatbed trucks, then bring them into the camp and place them around buildings to protect the soldiers and civilian instruc-tors against snipers. “We thought we were safe and secure. When the Army searched the camp during the wintertime, they thought they found all of the mines. Then spring came and the ground thawed. One day we came out of our tent to find an area cordoned off with an unexploded mine that had slid down from high ground to rest smack dab in the middle of a dirt road.”

HUGO KEESING began his UMUC career teaching in the Far East Division, including a term in Vietnam in 1970–71. He arrived shortly after he had marched in antiwar protests as a graduate stu-dent in New York. While later assignments took him to Europe and stateside, he never forgot his experience in Vietnam and now spends his time promoting and analyzing the music that shaped the Vietnam era. “I was teaching psychology in Vietnam. The most controversial topic I taught was in a social psych course. We had a unit on authori-tarianism, blind obedience, the work of Stanley Milgram, and others. “One of my students was an F-4 pilot who came to class in his flight suit. It reached the point where we were [asking]: What if you get shot down and it ends up the U.S. doesn’t win the war and you find yourself in a tribunal much like the Germans found themselves in in Nuremberg? I said, ‘What will you say when you are asked why you were dropping bombs on civilian populations in Hanoi?’ “He didn’t like that question at all. But I was young, and I felt like I needed to make a point: “I was just following orders” did not sit well in 1945–46 at the Nuremburg trials. I really wanted to get students to face what was happening in Vietnam.


“I was against the war and knew that when I signed up with Maryland one of the conditions of employment was that I would spend a term in Vietnam. I thought I could do more good there as a teacher to get people to think than I could being over here and protesting, so I went there. “The first day on base I went to the edu-cation center to pick up my class rosters and the education officer said, ‘These are also for you.’ I was handed a flak vest and a helmet. So that kind of set the tone: I am in a differ-ent place under different conditions. I will teach. I will have good students. But I know I am in a war zone. “I was at Phan Rang Air Base, 120 miles north-northeast of Saigon, eight miles from the beach and about 25 miles by air from Cam Ranh Bay. “We had been briefed beforehand that if the sirens went off—the big voice in the sky as we called it—we were to shelter in place, because there were sandbag bunkers, but they were not entirely safe. People had rushed into them at night and found razor blades embed-ded between the sandbags, and they had been cut up pretty badly. At Phan Rang we were encouraged not to leave base and certainly not at night. You didn’t know who friend and foe were. I only got off base a couple of times. “Most of the trailers had a revetment, a double brick wall about five feet high. We didn’t have one of those, so my roomie—Mike Gottlieb, who was also a Marylander—and I decided we would protect ourselves by drinking beer and soft drinks, filling the cans with sand, and putting them inside the wall. It didn’t make much sense, but psychologically it seemed to make us feel safer. “When the base was attacked, we both ended up sitting in the bathtub. We took to heart that we shouldn’t leave our trailer, and we figured the bathtub was safer than anywhere else. So, flak vests on, helmets on, we sat in the bathtub waiting for the ‘all clear.’ “I was 26 or 27 and had just finished a lot of years of school. I had marched in antiwar demonstrations in New York. I was pretty liberal in my political views, compared to the military, anyway. And in order to set myself apart, I had grown muttonchops. The funny thing I still recall is that when we were briefed, we were told we were expected to have standard military haircuts, and we said, ‘No way.’ We were civilians and we wanted to accentuate that. “I had an ID card that made me a GS-12 equivalent—a major—so I could use the officers’ mess. The first night, as I was

walking out into the adjoining officer’s club, an inebriated pilot walked up to me, breathed alcohol in my face, and said, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I was caught a little bit by surprise and said I was just finishing dinner. He said, ‘What’s that s*** on your face?’ “I was smart and said, ‘Well, I usu-ally have heard this referred to as hair.’ Wrong response. Within seconds, there was a circle surrounding us, waiting to see what might happen. Within 10 or 15 seconds, the circle broke and the base commander walked in and said, ‘What’s the problem here?’ I said, ‘Sir, no prob-lem whatsoever.’ My buddy said, ‘Why don’t we just leave?’ “The next morning, the education officer said, ‘I understand you were in a fight last night.’ I said, ‘No ma’am, no fight.’ She said, ‘I heard from General Clay at Fifth Air Force headquarters that a Maryland professor was in a fight last night.’ I said, ‘The general has wrong information. No fight.’ And she said, ‘The general said you need to get your hair cut and shave off your sideburns.’ “I had not yet taught a class. I went to class that evening, and some of the younger students said, ‘Mr. Keesing, we heard about

last night.’ News travels fast. They said, ‘Don’t cut your hair. Don't shave your sideburns.’ I did not. I trimmed them a little bit, but there was nothing in the contract with the Air Force that said I had to. I was making my silent protest. “One of the last days I was there, three months later, a colonel walked over to me and said, ‘Are you Mr. Keesing? I just wanted to tell you I have heard nothing but good things about your teaching. Thank you.’ “To me, it meant I was now being judged not by the length of my hair and my sideburns but by the fact that I was there as a teacher and had been effective in my job. To me, that was the nicest thing I heard in Vietnam.”

SERGE AND SUSAN SHEWCHUK went overseas in 1966, one of only three couples to do so that year. Instructors often had to bunk in the Bachelor Officer Quarters (BOQ), travel via military transport, and pack up and move quickly and often. It wasn’t an environment that was suited to spouses, let alone children, and most traveling faculty members at the time were single males.

Serge Shewchuk

“One morning we were awak-ened by a thunderous rumbling. All of the furniture in the apart-ment shook and the crystal and china rattled and fell. It was a military exercise, and in the street below, 40-ton U.S. tanks were driving by. ”


Bruce Janoff“At one of the faculty meetings, someone argued that if our base was being hit by sappers and there was shooting going on while we were teaching, we should get combat pay. ”

“We had the audacity of going over when Susan was preg-nant,” said Serge. “I didn’t tell anybody. So we also had the dis-tinction of having the first child born in the program.” Said Susan, “I was just the wife who went along. I had two children along the way. I think we figured out we lived in 17 dif-ferent places in four years. That was a challenge. We sometimes lived in the Volkswagen bus that we purchased in Hanover. We named it Ulysses and traveled through nearly every European country—about 78,000 miles in four years. If possible, we would just move into a BOQ, but sometimes the bus served as both transportation and home until we could find something better. “I learned to set up house in about two hours. We took the middle seat out of the van and used the sides for our belong-ings—books and notes, clothing and bedding, pots, pans, butane stove, emergency groceries, shortwave radio—in steamer trunks with enough room in front to stretch out sleeping bags if we couldn’t find a room. Our son was born in Landstuhl and we acquired a Doberman puppy, so we left [the United States] as two and came back as five.”

It was exciting, but it wasn’t always easy. The couple’s initial assignment took them to Karamazel, Turkey. “My wife said, ‘Turkey? That’s what I had for Thanksgiving,’” said Serge. “But once we did Turkey, we could handle anything. “I was teaching history and political science, and my major field was the Soviet Union. One of our postings was in Berlin, and we had to travel along this route that the military kept open across the Soviet zone. One morning we were awakened by a thunderous rumbling. All of the furniture in the apart-ment shook and the crystal and china rattled and fell. It was a military exercise, and in the street below, 40-ton U.S. tanks were driving by. “In 1968, I was stationed in Bremerhaven, and one of my students just disappeared. Students often had to leave during the middle of a course, and we gave them an ‘incomplete due to mili-tary assignment’ that could be rectified afterwards. “Three semesters later, this student showed back up. His face was all disfigured. It looked like he had dark blue freckles all over his face except near his eyes.


“What happened was that one night after he left class, his wife said, ‘The post called up and said you have to be ready to leave in 24 hours.’ While they were eating dinner, a knock came at the door, and he was asked if he was ready to leave. “He was one of two people qualified in communications who flew from Bremerhaven, Germany, on the North Sea all the way to the southern tip of Spain. There, they walked out to the end of a wharf. They flipped a coin, and only one had to go on this mission. My student had to go. “That ship was dispatched to the Mediterranean. While they were cruising in international waters, Israeli warplanes and naval ships attacked, killed 34, and wounded 171 Americans. My student just happened to be coming off duty and walked upstairs with a master chief. And as they opened the door, an explosion blew them back into the hall. He had glasses on, so his eyesight was saved. All of the fragments from the paint pockmarked his face. The man behind him was blinded. It was a dastardly thing, but the Israelis said they didn’t know it was an American ship. “It was that kind of experience with our students. They weren’t out there on R&R. They were out there on the front lines. “The times and the students were extraordinary. They were very inquisitive. Many of them were married with families and kids. It was an exciting time.”

BRUCE JANOFF taught English near the end of the Vietnam War to military students on American air bases in Thailand and to troops stationed in Japan, South Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Turkey. But just because they weren’t in Vietnam didn’t mean that they were out of the action. “I was on Air Force bases at Ubon and at Udorn in Thailand in 1973 and 1974. Ubon was almost on the Vietnamese border and Udorn was near the Laotian border. American pilots would fly F-4 Phantoms to support troops in Vietnam. At both bases, sappers [communist-friendly guerrillas] would launch attacks on the bases in the evening, often when we were holding classes. “There were big sirens all over the base, lights would flash, and we would dismiss class for the evening and evacuate the building. These poor guys had to fight all during the day and they were trying to take classes during the evening. “At one of the faculty meetings, someone argued that if our base was being hit by sappers and there was shooting going on while we were teaching, we should get combat pay. The proposal went all the way to the Maryland deans and of course the answer came back, no. But those were the scariest places. “When I taught in South Korea, I was on a base at Kunsan on the eastern side of the country near the Yellow Sea. An officer, who was not my best student, sidled up to me and wanted to show me around. He took me to the coast and we looked at this beach,

which was lined with razor wire. He said if I walked into the surf I would get blown up because the whole place was mined against an attack from North Korea. “Another time, I bought a motorcycle from an American stu-dent of mine in Japan and we got to be friends. I ran into him again when he took one of my classes at an air base in Thailand. But halfway through the class he just disappeared. Someone said he was killed; someone else said he was wounded. I never saw him again, and I will never know.”

SHARON HUDGINS and her husband, Tom, served as traveling faculty from 1975 through 1995 in both the European and Asian divisions. She taught film and mass communications, and he taught economics and film in Germany, Spain, Greece, Japan, and South Korea. In their final three semesters overseas, they were among the first group of faculty sent to teach in UMUC’s groundbreaking program for Russian students at two state universities in Irkutsk and Vladivostok. After returning to the United States in 1995, Sharon wrote two UMUC histories: Never an Ivory Tower and Beyond the Ivory Tower, as well as a memoir, The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East. “Even though we never worked in a hot-war zone, we had a lot of Cold War experiences,” said Hudgins. “We were sent to Spain a month after Gen. Francisco Franco died. We were in Prague with a UMUC study tour during the Velvet Revolution and joined the demonstrations in Wenceslas Square against the Communist regime. “Terrorist bombings seemed to precede us—and sometimes fol-low us—from assignment to assignment. We would joke that when-ever we heard about a terrorist bombing somewhere in Europe, we knew that place would be our next UMUC assignment. “During the late 1970s and early ’80s, the Red Army Faction ter-rorist group operated throughout Europe. Our first assignment was to teach at Lindsey Air Station in Wiesbaden the same week that sev-eral vehicles on base were damaged by a bomb. “UMUC sent us to Athens a week after an American car had been destroyed by a terrorist bomb in front of the BOQ where we were assigned to live. We were in Berlin in 1986 teaching a course when a disco popular with U.S. soldiers was blown up. The Libyans were responsible for that attack. “Another time I was teaching at Ramstein Air Base in the early 1980s. A terrorist bomb badly damaged the headquarters building shortly before I arrived one evening to teach class. About 20 minutes into my class, an armed MP wearing a flak jacket and a helmet burst into my classroom and started yelling, ‘Out now! Move! Move!’ “We were told to run as fast as we could to a nearby forest and stay there until we were given the all clear. We spent at least an hour and a half in the forest sitting on logs waiting as the military scoured the base. Sure enough, they found two more incendiary devices.


still claim to be professors, but . . .’ In the Russian program, we taught the first term in Vladivostok and then took the Trans-Siberian Railroad 2,500 miles in winter to teach the next term in Irkutsk. It was like a scene from Dr. Zhivago. Then we took the Trans-Siberian Railroad back to Vladivostok for the next term. We traveled so much on the Trans-Siberian Railroad that year that we called it ‘our commuter train.’ “UMUC sent seven professors to open the Russian program, but living and working conditions were so bad—heat, electricity, and water cut off at odd times; rival gangs blowing up each other in Vladivostok; cultural differences in the classroom—that at the end of the first term, only my husband and I and one other crazy professor remained. We felt we were watching history being made both in the classroom and out in the streets. It was a great adventure and we wouldn’t trade it for anything.” G

“Our German friends could never understand that legitimate American pro-fessors would be sent to teach university courses on military bases overseas and also [be willing to] move to a different base and even a different country every eight weeks. They thought we worked for the CIA and UMUC was our cover. “Once, a German couple invited us to a dinner. The only other guest was a former member of a German counterterrorist team that had carried out a famous raid to res-cue passengers on a jetliner after terrorists had hijacked it to Mogadishu. Our hosts invited us because they thought, since all of the guests would be undercover agents, we would have plenty of stories to swap around the dinner table. We just couldn’t convince them that we were legit. “When we were assigned to move half-way around the world to teach in the new Russia program shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed, that just confirmed their suspicions. They would say, ‘We know you

Faculty members Tom and Sharon Hudgins in Irkutsk, Siberia, 1994.

“We felt we were watching history being made both in the classroom and out in the streets. It was a great adventure and we wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

SharonHudgins

PHOT

OGRA

PH B

Y JA

MES

OLV

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GREAT PROFESSORS OFTEN COMBINE A PASSION FOR teaching with a passion for helping others. But passion only begins to describe what it takes to pack up one’s life every two months to travel and teach wherever servicemembers and their families are deployed—from the United Kingdom to Japan and anywhere in between. Not every professor would follow students overseas and become entrenched in the military community, teaching servicemembers exhausted from long hours on the flight line or military spouses who are struggling to balance classes with work and childcare. Even fewer could imagine teaching classes downrange in sweltering desert heat, weapons strewn beside students’ combat boots, and continuing to teach after an incoming fire alert forces the class into a bunker for hours on end. That is exactly what 31 collegiate traveling faculty members from University of Maryland University College have signed up for, however—and they couldn’t be more excited. The team members boast an array of extraordinary backgrounds—most hold PhDs, some are themselves veterans or military spouses, many have already taught for UMUC overseas, and most have experience teaching at other state universities or military academies. Deborah Arangno spent her first term teaching mathematics in Southwest Asia and was recently reassigned to Naples, Italy. She holds a PhD in pure mathematics and has invented several devices, systems, and meth-odologies. She previously taught mathematics and physics at the U.S. Air Force Academy and worked as a professional mathematician and systems analyst for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Space Defense Initiative. Arangno worked previously for UMUC Europe, teaching at military bases

BY BROOKE BROWN

Teaching OUT OF A Suitcase

in Italy, Iceland, Kosovo, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. “I really feel passionate about teaching the troops,” she said. “What they do for their country is awe inspiring. This is the only way I can truly show my gratitude.” She recalled one student from her Math 103 class in Kosovo, a chief master sergeant who was only one class shy of earning his bachelor’s degree but who had made several unsuccessful attempts to pass the class.

“HE’D BEEN TO WAR, but [he] was afraid of Math 103,” she said, “but then he took my class and learned math.” Once he realized that he had passed, she said, “He was so proud. I’ll never forget the tears of joy at his own success. That was a huge accom-plishment for me.” UMUC’s traveling faculty model is in fact one that the university has used successfully in the past. When the university’s European

Division was established overseas in 1949, the first group of seven faculty members taught classes throughout Germany, wherever ser-vicemembers needed them. The model allows UMUC to meet the needs of students in military communities across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, bringing the necessary classes while offering a larger variety of on-site courses and teach-ing styles. “This model will be good because it will circulate these diverse influences, enriching the student experience,” said Arangno. Christian Mahoney is a U.S. Army vet-eran with three master’s degrees and a PhD in comparative literature. He spent his first term in the United Kingdom and is cur-rently teaching in Germany. Mahoney has taught English, speech, and humanities for

New traveling UMUC faculty span continents to teach military overseas

Christian Mahoney, who teaches English, speech, and humanities.


UMUC in Asia, Europe, and stateside, and has taught in a num-ber of downrange locations. One vivid memory is of a speech class he was teaching in Kuwait. “The class was in danger of being canceled because the students were all from the same unit and their unit was called out to do train-ing in the desert,” Mahoney said. To ensure that the class could con-tinue, Mahoney followed them into the desert and finished teaching the class there. “It never gets boring,” he laughed. A retired veteran of 24 years, Christine Wettlaufer-Adcock earned two master’s degrees, including a Master of Fine Arts, and a PhD in learning management, all while serving in the military. “I know exactly what our students go through when trying to balance family, education, and a military career,” she said. “I have been there.” Having worked as a military police officer, drill sergeant, recruiter, and public affairs officer in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves, and later as patrol commander in the Coast Guard, Wettlaufer-Adcock said that teaching the military is a natural passion. “Military people are my people,” she said. “I’ve been a part of the military in some form or another since I was 18 years old.” To date, she has taught writing courses in Naples, Italy, and Bavaria, and at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Emine Houston also finds the experience of teaching in military communities rewarding. “I would not do any other job,” she said. “Bettering their lives—that’s real education. It’s the most important part.” A military spouse of 25 years with a mas-ter’s degree in mathematics, Houston has lived on four different continents and is not ready for the adventure to be over just yet.

“My husband was in the Army, and I’ve spent my life following him. Now he’ll be following me. He’s going to be my dependent,” she said with a smile. Currently, Houston teaches statistics and math-ematics in the United Kingdom. The traveling faculty model requires instructors to live a nomadic life and be prepared to uproot every two months. Until the schedule is finalized for the upcoming term, they can’t be certain which of the 50 military communities they’ll be heading to next. The job demands an adventurous spirit and is a perfect fit for those who thrive in an unpredictable lifestyle and are comfortable living out of a suitcase. Chizoba Udeorji is excited for the challenge and adventure. She teaches communications studies, including intercultural communica-tions, and has already taught courses in Wiesbaden, Germany, and RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom. She holds a master’s degree in communications and culture and previously taught at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York.

Hailing from a Nigerian immigrant family, Udeorji said she enjoys working with the unique diversity found in military communities. “Every day will be a learning experience,” she said. “There’s nothing else like the military community.” While some faculty members take their families with them, others have left loved ones behind in the United States. The team mem-bers consider the personal and professional sacrifices a meaningful way to give back to a student population that has given so much to their country. “We could be home doing research,” said Arangno, “but we are making sacrifices because you are. We are doing this to thank you for your service. We ask only that you

commit yourself to your own future.” GEmine Houston, who teaches statistics and mathematics.

The job of a traveling faculty member is perfect for those who thrive in unpredictable situations and are comfortable living out of a suitcase.


THE GREAT ENGLISH THINKER JOHN LOCKE, who penned one of the most influential books in the history of learning—Some Thoughts Concerning Education—argued in favor of the concept of tabula rasa: the mind as blank slate. Student minds were to be molded—filled with the superior knowledge and ideals of learned faculty. For more than 300 years this has been the typical perspective in higher education. While I am not sure how well this perspective has served us, I am sure that it is not valid in today’s world. Indeed, the world of higher education is being driven to change. Costs are up. Funding is down. Demographics are shifting. And global demand for access to higher education is growing. The reality is that the traditional model of higher education is not scalable to meet the demand at an acceptable cost. Thus, it is no surprise that the so-called traditional college experience is not traditional anymore: Students just out of high school who attend college full-time and live on campus are now the minority.

The whole of higher education is being disrupted, but my per-spective on disruption may differ from that of others. When I fled Cuba on the Fourth of July in 1961 at the age of 14, I had no money and I had no connections. What I had was a desire to learn—and a willingness to change and adapt. Little could I have imagined that coming to this land of free-dom and opportunity would eventually lead me here, speaking on behalf of University of Maryland University College, the larg-est public online university in America. But here I am, a beneficiary of disruption and change, leading a university that itself was built on a foundation of change. When American college classrooms were stretched to capacity by “the greatest generation” returning to civilian life after World War II, the University of Maryland stepped forward to accom-modate these so-called nontraditional students. They were older, more experienced, with jobs and families and a burning desire to get an education so they could improve their lives. My predecessors established an adult education program

The University

OF THE FUTURE

ILLUSTRATION BY JON

TOMAC


On June 9, 2015, UMUC President Javier Miyares accepted the Educator of the Year Award from the World Affairs Council on behalf of UMUC. The following is drawn from his prepared remarks at the awards ceremony.

BY JAVIER MIYARES

that took the learning experience off campus and into the com-munity, and that program grew to be today’s UMUC, with some 90,000 students worldwide. In 1949, when the U.S. Department of Defense called for a university to set up classrooms for military personnel stationed in Europe, again University of Maryland answered the call. Today, more than half of our students are active duty military, their fam-ily members, reservists, or veterans. In all of this, change has been the watchword and the com-mon currency. This is why, to someone whose life has benefited from disruption, the future of higher education has never looked darker or brighter, because these changes that bring disruption have the potential—if embraced—to open pathways to success for a greater number of students. As I have learned, disruption and change can open doors to opportunities. Three recent developments—driven by technology—have converged to create the potential to design learning experiences that are far superior to traditional models. Online technologies, big data, and learning science have combined to turn evolution into revolution in higher education, bringing a new level of quality and access within reach of anyone who is ready to match determination with ambition. Today, the classroom is now untethered by time and space. In the mid-1990s, UMUC was among the first institutions in the world to see the potential of the Internet to make education more

accessible. Today, we have some 250,000 online course enroll-ments each year—more than any other public university. Meanwhile, the power of big data is being applied to higher education. For instance, on the first day of an online class at UMUC, data analytics tell us—with better than 85 percent accuracy—whether any given student will pass or fail, and we can intervene to help at-risk students stay on track. Adaptive learning—which utilizes intelligent software that interacts with the student and facilitates learning—carries the promise of individualized yet scalable education. UMUC has designed pilot courses that include adaptive learning—with promising results. Additionally, at UMUC we have adopted open-source, online educational resources in place of traditional textbooks. These are high-quality, embedded digital materials created by faculty and other subject-matter experts that replace publisher textbooks, resulting in significant cost savings for our students. We are also introducing competency-based education, allowing students to achieve prescribed competencies at their own pace. At UMUC, our adult students come to us, not as blank slates—not as Locke’s tabula rasa—but as collections of previ-ous formal instruction, military training, and professional and life experiences. And we recognize and honor the learning acquired through these different channels. This presents new challenges and new opportunities for our faculty. Today, they are adding to their portfolios the roles of guide and mentor, helping point the way to accurate informa-tion, content mastery, and the practical application of theory. Some people still measure the online experience against

their memories of studying in ivy-covered buildings, and they may view technology as a distraction. At UMUC, our standard of measure is different: We measure learning and believe that technology is a gateway to a learning experience that—for many reasons—could not happen in a traditional 20th-century brick-and-mortar classroom, with the teacher imparting his or her knowledge to the students.

This is vital to our nation and the world: Under the tradi-tional model, there are not enough resources to accommodate all who seek to be educated. President Obama has called for reforms in higher educa-tion, lower costs, and greater accountability, along with higher degree attainment rates. I am proud to say that, at UMUC, the president’s message is our mission.

EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE | 2015

World Affa ir s Council , Wash ington, D.C .

University of maryland university college



David Buckley ’87Springfield, Virginia, who served for more than four years as inspector general of the CIA, joined KPMG LLP as managing director in its Forensic Advisory Services.

David Hatfield ’89Severn, Maryland, was named to the board of directors of PANDORA Org, which works to alleviate the suffering caused by neuro-endocrine-immune diseases. He is president and CEO of RANDAVE LLC, a small business startup firm that offers professional consulting services in organizational leadership, develop-ment, change management, strategic planning, and security.

Mark Chubb ’92Woodinville, Washington, who previously served as fire chief of King County Fire District #20 in Bryn Mawr-Skyway, Washington, was named chief safety officer of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.

John Johnson ’93Washington, D.C., recently published his first short novel, Murder at the President’s House, through Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Charles Berger ’97Long Island, New York, is the assistant special agent-in-charge at the FBI, where he supervises linguists and special agents who collect human intelligence. In addition to earning his Master of International Management from UMUC, he has studied at the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Naval War College. He is currently on sabbatical and serving as a National Intelligence Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

James Pressley ’97Fredericksburg, Virginia, retired from the AirForce after 23 years of service and now serves as chief of the Financial Operations and Reengineering Division of the Veterans Benefits Administration. His wife of 36 years is also a UMUC graduate—Keri Pressley ’00—and a22-year veteran of the Department of Defense. She currently works as an academic support spe-cialist at Marine Corps University, Command and Staff College, Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Jackie DeCarlo ’99Kensington, Maryland, was named execu-tive director of the Manna Food Center in Montgomery County, Maryland. She previ-ously served as manager of the program and resources unit for Catholic Relief Services.

Mark Seward ’03 & ’04Burlingame, California, was named vice presi-dent of marketing for Exabeam, a leading pro-vider of big data security analytics.

Pamela Cleere ’05Jackson, Tennessee, who retired in 1999 from a military career, now serves as a Certified Military Relocation Professional and real estate consultant with Keller Williams Honolulu. She has committed herself to assisting local heroes, including police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, military members, veter-ans, teachers, health care workers, and others who serve the local community.

Courtney Morrow ’06 & ’11Paso Robles, California, is a U.S. Army veteran and a top agent with State Farm, ranking in the top 4 percent of new agents and the top 14 per-cent of agents nationwide. She and her husband have a young son, Brock Thomas, who was born on Thanksgiving Day in 2014.

Robert S. Frey ’09Oakton, Virginia, published Increasing Your Success As a Small Business Leader: AllocatingResources for Optimal Organizational Perfor-mance (Scholars’ Press, 2013), which builds on his UMUC doctoral dissertation. This is his 11th nonfiction book. He is co-owner and principal of the northern Virginia-based Successful Proposal Strategies, LLC, a profes-sional consultancy that supports companies seeking to win contracts with the federal government or private-sector firms.

Sonya Howell Barrow ’10, ’12, & ’14Fayetteville, North Carolina, is a chief war-rant officer 4 in the U.S. Army with more than 22 years of service. Recently, she com-pleted her third UMUC degree—a master’s degree in cybersecurity—despite being diag-nosed with thyroid cancer while stationed

in Wiesbaden, Germany. She continued to study full-time while undergoing and recovering from surgery, and continued to serve on active duty, as well, joining the wounded warrior battalion.

Ronald L. Green ’11 & ’14Jackson, Mississippi, whose military career has spanned 31 years, was recently named the 18th Sergeant Major of the U.S. Marine Corps, which positions him as the top enlist-ed adviser to Marine Corps Commandant General Joseph Dunford. U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), met with Green personally in April 2015 to commend him for his service.

John Schlag ’11San Pedro, California, was accepted into the 2015 Teach for America Corps.

Dr. James Henderson ’12Bossier City, Louisiana, was unanimously named the 18th president of Northwestern State University on September 23, 2014, by the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System. He previously served as chancellor of Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Karen Kokernak ’12Baltimore, Maryland, was named a program specialist for the Maryland Council on Economic Education, which works to ensure that Maryland school children graduate from high school with the economic knowledge and decision-making skills they will need to function in the global economy.

Joseph “JR” Brown ’13Alexandria, Virginia, retired from the Navy in 1996 after 20 years of service. He is a 19-year veteran of VSE Corp., a sustainment and services company in Virginia. In May 2015, he was promoted to president of VSE’s Federal Services Group, where he will lead an 850-person team providing services to the various branches of the U.S. armed forces and other U.S. and foreign military clients.

C L A S S N O T E S


UMUC has helped thousands of students find their Moment—

when they feel confident that the knowledge and skills they’re

gaining are making them more valuable to their employers—

when the path ahead looks brighter. Be inspired by their journey

and inspire others with your own.

Take a moment to be an inspiration—share your Moment.

#UMUCMOMENTS

UMUC.EDU/MOMENTS

“I gave a presentation to 50 HR

professionals from Fortune 500

companies. I’m sure they were

thinking, ’What's this kid going to

tell me that I don’t already know?’ I had a lot to tell them. I had the

latest science in HR, and I learned

it at UMUC. When it was over, I did

not get the pity clap. I got a big

applause. That was my Moment.”

JOEY PRICE ’11MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT,HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SPECIALIZATION


Sheila Chickene ’13Mooresville, North Carolina, is vice president of manufacturing in the catalysts division of BASF. She was one of 130 women honored nationally by The Manufacturing Institute during the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Production (STEP) Ahead Awards gala on March 26, 2015, in Washington, D.C. The STEP Ahead Awards are sponsored by BASF and are part of a larger STEP Ahead initiative aimed at examining and promoting the role of women in manufacturing.

John Harbaugh ’13Pasadena, Maryland, a former senior execu-tive with the National Security Agency (NSA), has been appointed chief operating officer of root9B, a subsidiary of Premier Alliance (which subsequently rebranded as root9B Technologies).

DeShawn McGarrity ’13Schenectady, New York, was named execu-tive director of the SUNY College and Career Counseling Center in Elmira, New York.

Jason Read ’13Westfield, New Jersey, is the north New Jersey regional director of operations for Starbucks and was recently featured in one of UMUC’s “Moments” video spots. Said Read, “What was so powerful about my UMUC education was the fact that I was able to take what I had learned online and apply it almost immediately the next day at work. . . . My degree was worth it, it was relevant, it was useful imme-diately, and it enabled me to take care of my family and also propel my career.” G


F A C U L T Y K U D O S

Mir Assadullah, an adjunct faculty member in The Graduate School; Michael Brown, program chair for software engineering in The Graduate School; and Michael Pelosi, an djunct faculty member in The Graduate School, had their research paper, “Survivability Enhancement of Low Altitude Cruise Missiles,” accepted to the AIAA Defense and Security Forum 2015. Brown also collabo-rated with Pelosi and UMUC student Edna Tarverdian on a paper, “Selection of Direct and Derived Function Point Estimation Methods,” published in the International Journal of Computing and Business Research, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2015).

Zenobia Bailey, who teaches writing in The Undergraduate School, published “Student Success Defined: Lifelong Candescence,” in Moments of Clarity: Anthology of Stories from Faculty Who Teach for Success (Pentronics Publishing, 2014), pp. 47–49.

Bernadine Barr, who teaches behavioral science and sociology in The Undergraduate School, presented “The New Nature of Knowledge and the New Pedagogy of Online Education,” for use in teacher train-ing in India. She talked online to a confer-ence, “Preparing World Class Teachers Through Online Education,” held at the Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Education, in Coimbatore, India, April 2012.

Bernadine Barr and Helen Bond, who teach sociologically in The Undergraduate School,published (with I. Fotiyeva and F. Wu) Through Children’s Eyes: President Obama and the Future Generation (Key Publishing Group, 2012).

Dorothy Bendel, who teaches writing in The Undergraduate School, had her short story,“Buying a Used Lawnmower in Biloxi,” selected for inclusion in Microchondria 2, a collection compiled by Harvard Book Store. In 2013, another short story, titled “When I Was an Astronaut,” was selected as a winning contest entry and appeared in Green MountainsReview. Her chapbook, Expatriate, was pub-lished by Finishing Line Press in 2012.

Trudy Bers, an adjunct faculty member in The Graduate School, and Ronald Head, assistantprogram chair in the doctoral programs, pub-lished Budget and Finance in the AmericanCommunity College: New Directions for Community Colleges, James Palmer, ed. (Jossey-Bass, 2015).

Irena Bojanova, program chair for telecom-munications management in The Graduate School, published a World Cup article in the IEEE Computer Society’s Computing Edge (January 2015), a new online publication.

Mimi Bres, who teaches in environmental management in the Undergraduate School, published new editions of three books: Thinking About Biology, 5th ed. (Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2016); Human Biology: Condensed, 8th ed. (Education Resources, 2016); and Cooperative Learning: Making Connections in General Biology, 2nd ed. |(Cengage Learning, 2015).

Stephanie Brooke, an adjunct associate pro-fessor in psychology in The Undergraduate School, published The Use of the Creative Therapies in Treating Depression (Charles C. Thomas, 2015) and Therapists Creating a Cultural Tapestry: Using the Creative Therapies Across Cultures (Charles C. Thomas, 2015).

Courtney Brooks, who teaches behavioral sci-ence in The Undergraduate School, published “I’m Not Prepared to Die: Murdered-Girl Tunes in Appalachia,” in Violence in American Popular Culture, David Schmid, ed. (SAGE Press, 2015), and “The Maternal is Political: Appalachian Maternalist Protest Songs,” in Performing Motherhood, Amber Kinser, Kryn Freehling-Burton, and Terri Hawkes, eds. (Demeter Press, 2014).

Michelle Dacus Carr, who teaches writing in The Undergraduate School, presented “When Art Becomes an Event” at the Virginia Humanities Conference at Marymount University, in Arlington, Virginia, on April 10, 2015.

Daniela Dimitrov, adjunct assistant professor of human resources management in The

Graduate School, had a paper accepted for presentation at the 16th International Conference on HRD Research and Practice Across Europe, Cork, Ireland, June 3–6, 2015. She also published “Leadership in a Humane Organization,” in the European Journal of Training and Development,Vol. 39, No. 2 (2015), pp. 122–142.

Andrew J. Cavanaugh, program chair of writing in The Undergraduate School, co-authored (with Lyan Song of Towson University), “Audio Feedback Versus Written Feedback: Instructors’ and Students’ Perspectives,” which appeared in the March 2014 issue of Journal of Online Learning & Teaching.

Margo Coleman-Seiffert, a collegiate pro-fessor in psychology in The Undergraduate School, presented “Lessons Learned from Using CMU’s Open Learning Initiative Statistics Curriculum” at the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2014 National Conference; “Project Jumpstart:A Systemic Approach to Onboarding Adult Students,” with Beth Mulherrin, at the 2014 University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference; “Lessons Learned from Using the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) Course Materials”at the 2014 Online Learning Consortium International Conference; and “Jumpstart to Success: Creating a Personal Learning Plan to Improve Retention and Success for Adult Students,” with Beth Mulherrin and Alexandra List, at the 2014 Online Learning Consortium International Conference.

Catherine Davis, an adjunct associate pro-fessor in psychology in The Undergraduate School, received a three-year NASA grant and a one-year career development award from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

Marc De Simone, who teaches criminal jus-tice management in The Graduate School,co-authored (with Robert Dudley) a new book, Sam Smith: Star-Spangled Hero: The Unsung


UMUC’s career-relevant degree and certificate programs focus on the

needs of today’s workforce, so our students know that they are learning

the skills and knowledge they’ll need to perform well. Whether you’re

looking to improve your skills in business, management, IT, cybersecurity,

or education, UMUC has a program for you. Find out what a graduate

degree from UMUC can do for your career.

Get started creating your Moments.

“I'm a vice president at the

University of Maryland

Medical Center. We prepare

for the worst. My degree from

UMUC has allowed me to do

more for the people we serve.

You think I could have done

this with confidence before

UMUC? No way. Up on that

helipad high over the city that

I love—that was my Moment.”

MARIANNE ROWAN-BRAUN ’14MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT,EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SPECIALIZATION

LEARN MORE.

VISIT UMUC.EDU/GRADACHIEVER.


Patriot Who Saved Baltimore & Helped Win the War of 1812 (CreateSpace, 2014).

Maryann P. DiEdwardo, who teaches English in The Undergraduate School, presented“Student-Directed Pedagogical Models and 21st Century Themes Fuse to Ignite a LearningCommunity for Reflection, Discovery, and Social Networking to Motivate the 21st Century Student” at the Annual Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching, in Bethesda, Maryland, May 29–

June 1, 2014. She presented “Implementing Learning Strategies Based on Multiple Intelligence Theory, Life Story Writing, Studying Oral Histories, Writing Process Theory, Student-Directed Learning, and Metacognition,” at the National College English Association Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, March 27–29, 2014.

Takako Egi, who teaches Japanese in The Undergraduate School, presented “Proficiency-Based Activities: Bridging Intermediate

to Advanced Levels,” at the 2014 Annual Convention and World Languages Expo of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2014.

David Elliott, who teaches behavioral science and sociology in The Undergraduate School,wrote a chapter in The Global Capitalist Crisis and Its Aftermath, Berch Berberoglu, ed.(Ashgate, 2014), entitled “Impact of the Global Capitalist Crisis on the Eurozone.”



Mona Engvig, who teaches in the MBA pro-gram in The Graduate School, published a new book, Teaching Online: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Advice (Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2014).

Lysianne Essama, who teaches French in The Undergraduate School, presented “ImmerseYourself in Web 2.0” and “Flipping the Script in Immersion” at the 2014 Annual Convention and World Languages Expo of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2014; and “Flipping the Script in Immersion” at the FifthInternational Conference on Language Immersion Education in Salt Lake City, Utah, in October 2014.

Kenneth Feigenbaum, an adjunct professor in psychology in The Undergraduate School, had two papers accepted for presentation at CHEIRON: The International Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences 47th Annual Meeting—“The Struggle for Defining a Discipline: The Riesman-Hughes Letters,” and “A Bibliometric Approach to the Aging of Ideas in the Behavioral Sciences.”

Irving Franke, who teaches behavioral science and sociology in The Undergraduate School,published, “When Buying Peaches or Measuring Learning Complexities Abound,” in ASA Footnotes, Vol. 42, No. 1 (2014).

Kyung Lee Gagnum, who teaches German and Korean in The Undergraduate School, presenteda paper, entitled “A Discourse Among Kouhei Kadono’s Boogiepop, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra, and Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” at the 38th Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, in Kansas City, Missouri, September 20, 2014.

Kelly Gerald, who teaches English in The Undergraduate School, edited Flannery O’Connor: The Cartoons (Fantagraphics, 2012), which has since been translated into Spanish and is being distributed in Europe by Nordica Libros.

Amy Goodwin, an adjunct associate professor in psychology in The Undergraduate School,

published (with S. M. Lantz-McPeak, B. L. Robinson, C. D. Law, S. F. Ali, and S. A. Ferguson) “Effects of Adolescent Treatment with Nicotine, Harmane, or Norharmane in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats,” in Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol. 47 (2015), pp. 25–35; and (with T. Hiranita and M. G. Paule) “The Reinforcing Effects of Nicotine in Humans and Nonhuman Primates: A Review of Intravenous Self-Administration Evidence and Future Directions for Research,” in Nicotine and Tobacco Research (2015).

Antonino Gulli, who teaches English and writ-ing in The Undergraduate School, recentlypublished “The Simple Past Puzzle. A Study of Some Aspects of the Syntax and Semantics ofTense” in the peer-reviewed Linguistik Online, Vol. 65, No. 3 (2014).

Randy Hansen, program chair in teacher education in The Graduate School, had twopresentations accepted for the International Society for Technology in Education Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 28–July 1, 2015: “Playground: Personalized Learning Technology Joins Informal Learning” and “Workshop: Walk, Talk, and Learn: Augmented Reality and Informal Learning.”

Reece Harris, associate professor in computer science in The Undergraduate School, published“Momento Mori” in Antonio T. de Nicolas, Poet of Eternal Return (Nalanda International, 2014).

Rosemary Hartigan, associate vice dean and program chair of business and managementprograms in The Graduate School; and Monica Sava, assistant program chair of business andmanagement programs in The Graduate School (with Daniel T. Ostas) published “CriticalThinking and the McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case: A Pedagogical Note” in the Southern LawJournal, Vol. 24 (Fall 2014), pp. 337–364.

Jon Huer, who teaches sociology in The Under-graduate School, published Labor Avoidance: The Origins of Inhumanity (Hamilton Books, 2015).

Katherine Humber, chair of gerontology and social science in The Undergraduate School,

presented “The Art of Teaching Gerontology in a 2.0 World,” at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, Denver, Colorado, in February 2014. She presented two posters—the first (with I. Johnson) “On Being Female, Middle-Aged, and Back in School: Part 2,” and the second, “Undergraduate Gerontology Students: Who Are They, What Do They Want, and Why Should We Care?”—at the Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting, November 2014, in Washington, D.C. She presented a work-shop, entitled “Crafting State-of-the-Art Online Gerontology Courses: Trends and Technology,” at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, Nashville, Tennessee, in February 2015.

Kevin Hylton, who teaches behavioral sci-ence in The Undergraduate School, pre-sented (with J. Santiago-Valez) “Lessons Learned in Measuring and Evaluating the Cultural Competency of Behavioral Health Programs in the Early 21st Century,” at the 2013 American Evaluation Association Conference, Washington, D.C., on October 19, 2013. He presented (with G. Kraft, R. Mathew, and A. Gmyrek) “Implementation and Data Collection in Federally-Funded Multi-Site Behavioral Health Evaluations,” and (with R. Mathew, A. Gmyrek, and S. Hayashi) “Conceptual Approaches and Issues in Conducting Federally-Funded Multi-Site Behavioral Health Evaluations,” at the American Evaluation Association Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in October 2012.

Kelly Knight, who teaches natural sciences in The Undergraduate School, wrote a book chapter (with Claudette Davis and Padhu Seshaiyer), entitled “Females of Color in STEM as Change Agents,” to be published in Girls and Women of Color in STEM: Navigating the Double Bind (Information Age Publishing).

Sharon L. Levin, program chair of gradu-ate accounting programs in The Graduate


School, was elected vice president of the Virgin Islands Society of Certified Public Accountants (VISCPA). She was instrumental in the passage of the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) by the Virgin Islands Board of Public Accountancy.

Kathy Marconi, program chair for healthcare informatics and healthcare management in TheGraduate School, was elected academic liaison on the Maryland Association of Health CareExecutives (MAHCE) Board.

Andrea McCourt, who teaches sociology in The Undergraduate School, published (with M. Parent, D. Weiser, and A. McCourt) “So What Are You? Inappropriate Interview Questions for Psychology Doctoral and Internship Interviews,” in Training and Education in Professional Psychology (August 18, 2014).

Nina Mendez, who teaches behavioral science in The Undergraduate School, published with(M. E. Qureshi, R. Hort, and R. Carneiro) “The Intersection of Facebook and Structural FamilyTherapy, Vol. 1,” in The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 42, No. 2 (2013); (with H. J. Aponte) “The Challenge for the Person of the Therapist in Work with Disadvantaged Families,” in the European Journal of Psychology & Educational Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2014), p. 9; and (with M. E. Qureshi and F. Hort) “The Intersection of Social Media Sites and Narrative Therapy in Treating Substance Abuse in Urban African American Adolescents,” forthcoming in The Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly (2015).

Teresa Milbrodt, who teaches writing in The Undergraduate School, published Larissa TakesFlight: Stories (Pressgang, 2014). The book was recently awarded the Whirling Prize by theUniversity of Indianapolis’ Etchings Press.

Robert “Bob” Mueck, who teaches in homeland security in The Undergraduate School, published “Revisiting the Staging Area Manager”online in the Domestic Preparedness Journal.

Janemarie Mulvey, an adjunct assistant profes-sor in health services management in TheUndergraduate School, authored Health Reform:

What Small Businesses Need to Know Now (CreateSpace, 2014).

John Munro, who teaches in environmental management in The Graduate School, pre-sented “Bringing Down Barriers for Research Implementation Across Borders,” and con-ducted a workshop, “Harnessing Potential Payoffs of Research Implementation Across Borders,” at the Transportation Research Conference, Washington, D.C., in January 2015. He co-chaired (with Barbara Lenz) a subcommittee presentation, “Mainstreaming International Perspectives and Promoting International Cooperation Networking, Cooperation, and Collaboration,”Subcommittee of Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on InternationalActivities, at the Transportation Research Board Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., in January 2015.

Vladimir Nacev, an adjunct professor in psy-chology in The Undergraduate School, pre-sented “A Model of Integrating Psychological Health: Practice-Based Implementation Network” at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association, and “Coping with Vicarious Trauma, Building Resilience, and the Ethics of Self-Care” at the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.

Les Pang, program chair in information systems and services in The Graduate School, presented (with Katherine Woodward, for-merly program chair of MEd in Instructional Technology at UMUC), “Educational Technology for the Digital Age,” at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Hawaii, January 5–8, 2014.

Sandeep Patnaik, program chair for market-ing in The Graduate School, published “How Digital Conversations Reinforce Super Bowl Advertising,” in the Journal of Advertising Research (December 2014).

Daniel Marsick, who teaches in environmen-tal management in The Undergraduate School, was elected a Fellow of the American Industrial

Hygiene Association in June 2014. He co-authored “Unknown Risks: Nanomaterials in Construction,” in the October 2014 issue of The Synergist.

Stephane Pillet, who teaches French in The Undergraduate School, organized theNineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium (NCFS Colloquium), in San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 16–18, 2014, where over 270 papers on French language and culture were presented.

Maria Plochocki, who teaches English and writing in The Undergraduate Schools, pre-sented “An Untraditional Education for the Success of All” at Pace University’s Faculty Institute, in Pleasantville, New York, May 15, 2014. Earlier, she presented “Is Everyone a Digital Native?” at Pace University’s Dyson Day Conference on April 11, 2014.

Pete Podell, who teaches in emergency management in The Undergraduate School, gave a two-hour presentation, entitled “Business Continuity, A Neglected Aspect of Emergency Management” in March 2015 at the annual Virginia Emergency Management Symposium.

Dee Preston-Dillon, an adjunct professor in psychology in The Undergraduate School,presented three clinician training sessions at the Play Therapy Training Institute and Expressive Arts Conference: “Symbols in the Sand: An Interactive Exploration for Play Therapists and Others”; “Self-Care for Play Therapists: Honoring the Self Through Sand, Symbols, and Narrative”; and “Sand Therapy Competencies: Core Principles & Practices for Clinicians.”

James Robertson, collegiate professor and program chair in computer science and software development and security in The Undergraduate School, presented a talk on threat modeling and secure software life-cycle development to the Army Information Technology Agency at the Pentagon on February 5, 2015.


Dennis Riege, who teaches biology in The Undergraduate School, published “GroundVegetation of Old-Growth White Pine Stands at the Huron Mountain Club Reserve and Estivant Pines in Upper Michigan” in The Michigan Botanist, Vol. 52 (2013). He pre-sented his research in October 2014 at the 3rd Science in the Northwoods Conference in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, and as an invited speaker at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. He also received a grant from the Michigan Botanical Club Hanes Trust to study effects of beaver cutting on forest structure and a 2015 grant award from the National Geographic for Iceland research to study natu-ral regeneration of exotic trees in Iceland.

Loreto Sanchez, who teaches Spanish in The Undergraduate School, published “Developing Foreign Language Teaching Excellence: A Qualitative Study of a Divided Language and Literature Department” ADFL Bulletin, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2014), pp. 101–111.

Jorge Santiago-Blay, who teaches biology and geography in The Undergraduate School,founded a new peer-reviewed, scientific jour-nal, Life: The Excitement of Biology (blaypub-lishers.com). He also co-authored papers on amber and plant exudates in scholarly venues and gave numerous talks popularizing science in the USA and Puerto Rico.

Gretchen N. Schwartz, an adjunct associate professor in biology in The Undergraduate School, received a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) special recog-nition award for valuable contributions in sup-port of the NIAID Clinical Trials Networks and two NIAID and one National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences merit awards in recognition of significant contributions and exceptional teamwork in facilitating the reviews of grant applications for clinical trial, immu-nology, and infectious diseases programs.

Claudine SchWeber, program chair for the Doctor of Management program in The Graduate School, has been selected as a Fulbright Specialist Program reviewer.

Kathleen Sindell, adjunct professor in finance in The Undergraduate School, has been named to the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Financial Planning. A widely published author and presenter, her best-selling reference book, Investing Online for Dummies, was listed for two consecutive years on the Wall Street Journal’s list of bestsell-ing business books. Her most recent book, Social Security: Maximize Your Benefits, has appeared in Amazon’s top 100 list of bestsell-ing retirement planning books. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Financial Planning Association, National Capital Area (FPA NCA), chairs the Metro Washington Financial Planning Day, and co-chairs the Pro Bono Pro Bono Committee.

Philip Smith, who teaches natural sciences in The Undergraduate School, presented “Needle Trap Sampling for Quantitative Assessment of Nearly Instantaneous Peak Standard Exposure Concentrations” at the 2014 American Industrial Hygiene Association Conference, in SanAntonio, Texas, in June 2014. He also authored (with three others) “Exposure of Unsuspecting Workers to Deadly Atmospheres in Below-Ground Confined Spaces and Investigation of RelatedWhole-Air Sample Composition Using Adsorption Gas Chromatography,” in Vol. 11, No. 12 (2014) of The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene.

Thérèse Smith, associate professor in com-puter science in The Undergraduate School,co-authored “Computer Science Students’ Concepts of Proof by Induction,” in Proceedings of the 14th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research (ACM, 2014).

Michael Szporer, who teaches in communications and English in The Undergraduate School, published a new paperback edition of Solidarity: The Great Workers Strike of 1980 (Lexington Books, 2014), part of the Harvard Cold War Series. He published “Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Era: The Myth Revived”

in the Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 16, No. 3 (2014) pp. 205–212; and “Jan Karski: Personal Reflections on the Life of a Saint” in The Polish Review, Vol. 59, No. 4 (2014), pp. 73–80. He was an invited speaker at the Jan Karski International Centennial Conference “Mission Complete” in Lublin, Poland, June 23–24, 2014, and a guest presenter (with Richard Pipes) at a centennial tribute to Jan Karski at Harvard University Hillel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 7, 2014. He presented a paper at the roundtable on the fall of the USSR at the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Conference (with John Mattlock, Vytautas Landsbergis, and Fredo Arias-King) in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2014.

Jennifer L. W. Thompson, program chair in psychology in The Undergraduate School, was selected to serve on the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education (CABE).

Catalin Tudose, associate professor in com-puter science in The Undergraduate School,published “Software Development Methods: A War-Strategy Perspective” online atscrumalliance.org, September 2014.

Victoria Kennick Urubshurow, a col-legiate professor in humanities in The Undergraduate School, presented a paper, entitled, “Wherefore the Tears, Prajapati? Moving Gautama Buddha’s Aunt from the Page into Cultural Context,” at the 11th Annual DANAM (Dharma Academy of North America) Conference, held in con-junction with the 2013 American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, November 22, 2013. The paper will appear in an upcoming special issue of the Journal of International Dharma Studies on Buddhist Women Masters.

Pat Valdata, who teaches English and writ-ing in The Undergraduate School, has a new poetry book forthcoming from West Chester University in 2015. Her book of persona



poems, Where No Man Can Touch, is writ-ten in the voices of women aviation pioneers and won a 2015 Donald Justice Award. She recently completed a writing residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and in March 2015 was awarded a Reveel grant for a writing residency at the Dickinson House in Olsene, Belgium.

Sarbani Sen Vengadasalam, who teaches writing in The Undergraduate School, pub-lished “A Learner Centered Pedagogy to Facilitate and Grade Online Discussions in Writing Courses,” in Writing & Pedagogy, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2013). She also published “Transposing Information Theory on The Calcutta Chromosome: A Critique of Ghosh’s Transhuman Futurological Vision,” in the International Journal of Arts & Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2013), pp. 249–260, and presented“Transposing Information Theory on Ghosh’s Dialectics: The Calcutta Chromosome MakesTranshumans,” at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences’ Conference, in Boston,Massachusetts, in 2013, and “Threads & Trees: Using Learner-Centered Pedagogy in Online Discussion Areas & Peer Review Boards,” in the Online Learning Conference at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 2013.

Denny Whitford, who teaches in natural sciences, biotechnology, environmental man-agement, and laboratory management in The Undergraduate School, was invited to present 23 formal natural science lectures as extra-university professional service. The lectures were presented at sea as part of the educa-tional programs on several cruise line’s World Voyages. He also received his third faculty teaching award—the UMUC 2014 Teaching Recognition Award.

Donna M. Wilson, who teaches Spanish in The Undergraduate School, has been elected vice president and state branch advocate to the American Association of University Women (AAUW) North Carolina for 2015–17. She currently serves as vice president of the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, branch of AAUW. G

THE CLASS OF UMUC: HISTORY MAKERScontinued from page 18

“You’re like our show, but with real guts,” Stewart said. “I’m proud to be considered in the fraternity of humorists that you guys are in, and I’m honored to have you on the show.” The relationship with Stewart didn’t end there. VOA launched another satiri-cal show, OnTen—with Arbabi as execu-tive producer and co-host—in 2012. This time Arbabi asked the questions, interviewing Stewart about his critically acclaimed 2014 movie, Rosewater, which tells the story of a Canadian Iranian jour-nalist and filmmaker who was arrested, accused of spying, imprisoned, and bru-tally interrogated in Iran. In 2013, OnTen won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award in the category of “Special Recognition for a Televised Series.”

CONCLUSIONWhether inspiring comedy great Jon Stewart with satiric guts, serving as the nation’s first chief information officer, or rising to pinnacles of achievement in business, government, or the military, these seven UMUC alumni have made their mark on history. In so doing, they inspire others to strive for greatness. G

THE CLASS OF UMUC: LEADERS IN THEIR FIELDScontinued from page 25

Steny Hoyer in his letter supporting the lat-ter award. “He has earned it through a life-time of service and a level of leadership that will surely inspire others to follow.”

Barry West

When Barry West accepted the position of chief information officer (CIO) at

the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2006, he was one of the youngest CIOs of a cabinet-level government agency, and over-saw a budget of $1.5 billion. He didn’t lack for experience, however. He had previously served as CIO of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Today, he is CIO and chief privacy officer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). West, who holds an MS in information technology from UMUC, also completed the university’s CIO executive certificate program and has served as an adjunct assistant professor at the university. He credited UMUC with teaching him that technical ability was only one facet of a CIO’s job—and not the primary one. “I learned that the most important Today, thanks in large part to technology, the Holy Grail of higher education—the nexus of access, afford-ability, and quality—is finally and fully within reach. And change will come—because at the very heart and soul of higher educa-tion are individuals who firmly believe in education’s power to transform lives, to revitalize economies, to advance learning opportunities far beyond the halls of power and privilege, so that we can build a stronger, wiser, better society. Idealism and realism will converge as the role of technology in education is recognized, not just as a threat to the status quo, but as a powerful tool, as well. As the economist John Maynard Keynes noted, “The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones.” As we embrace and harness the power of learning science and technology, we will see the university of the future emerge as the gateway to broader oppor-tunity and brighter horizons for all. G

ACHIEVER | 48 | UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGECONNECTING ALUMNI | BUILDING NETWORKS | STRENGTHENING UMUC

Link to the Power of your UMUC ALUMNI Network!

Network OnlineThe UMUC Alumni Association offers multiple ways to keep you virtually connected to the association, the university, and your fellow alumni.

• Become an Alumni Association member and expand your virtual network at www.umucconnect.org

• Learn about upcoming activities and networking opportunities

• Use your Alumni Facebook page to share your voice

• Join the Alumni Association’s official LinkedIn group

• Share your UMUC story at www.umucconnect.org

• Participate in virtual career webinars and job fairs

Network In PersonTap into your growing alumni network by attending events in your area.

• Alumni Association receptions

• Industry networking events

• Job fairs and career clinics

• Volunteer activities

TOP: UMUC Alumni Quarterly Mixer held at Bond Street Social

in Baltimore, MD; SECOND ROW:

left to right, 2013–2015 Alumni Board of Directors Members

Michael Jackson '08 and Joan W. Lee '97 & '06; Entrepreneurial Event alumni Panel Members

Nancy Slomowitz '98 and Joey Price '11; RIGHT: UMUC Alumni

Association Presidents Fran Volel-Stech '89 (2013–2015)

and Patricia Toregas '84 & '91 (2002–2003)

Stay Connectedwww.facebook.com/umucalumni

linkd.in/1pRvymv

www.twitter.com/umucalumni

www.youtube.com/user/UMUCTV

www.pinterest.com/umucalumni

www.instagram.com/umucpix


www.umucalumni.orgGET CONNECTED TODAY!

#UMUCAlumniStay connected with UMUC no matter where you are. Search #UMUCAlumni to stay up to date on university and career events unfolding in real time on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Then take your social skills to the next level. Help us spread university and career news and events by tweet-ing, retweeting, and posting. E-mail [email protected] to find out more about how you can become a social star to your fellow alumni.Alumni Career Mentor Program

As a working professional, you have valuable experience and knowledge to share with students or other alumni. Become a UMUC mentor and inspire, motivate, and support your UMUC community. Share what you know about moving your career forward. Learn more at www.umuc.edu/mentor.

Hiring Managers Want You! Did you know hiring managers are looking for you? Employers are using CareerQuest to find talented, creative UMUC alumni who can meet their needs. CareerQuest is a robust job search package that can help you find your next position. Boost your visibility to hiring managers by uploading your résumé to CareerQuest today at www.umuc.edu/careerservices.

You’re Invited

Now that you’ve earned your degree and framed your diploma, take advantage of your relationship with UMUC. Attend events—virtually and in person—that help you grow personally and professionally. For a peek at the full list of upcoming events, visit www.umucconnect.org and click on Calendar of Events.

Achiever | 50 | University of Maryland University College

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

UMUC

CyberGalaSupporting Tomorrow’s Cybersecurity Leaders

Saturday, september 12, 20157–10 p.m.

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

National Harbor, Maryland

Keynote Speaker

The Honorable james r. clapperDirector of National Intelligence

SAVE THE DATEfor an incredible evening to support scholarships

Help Fund Cybersecurity ScholarshipsMore than 2,700 students have

graduated from UMUC’s five cyber-

related degree programs and more than

7,000 are currently enrolled. With its

innovative educational programs, skilled

cybersecurity faculty-practitioners, an

award-winning cyber competition team,

and industry connections, UMUC is

changing the landscape of cybersecurity.

Plan to attend this festive black tie

reception, dinner, and silent art auction

and support the next generation of

cybersecurity innovators.

www.umuc.edu/cybergala

3501 University Boulevard East

Adelphi, MD 20783-8003

800-888-UMUC (8682)

www.umuc.edu

Documents

UMUC Achiever Magazine, 2015