Ever since Governor O’Malley implemented budget cuts, Maryland universities have had to scramble to make some adjustments in utilities, such as classes and awards. Aside from lessening faculty morale, UMBC has not suffered much impact, according to UMBC’s Vice President of Research, Dr. Geoffrey Summers.

The University receives most of its research funding from other sources besides the state. Last year UMBC received approximately 88.8 million in funding, 48.7 million of which was federal funding. 26.5 million, nearly half of the federal funding, comes from NASA. In fact, UMBC remains in the top three universities in the country that receives grants from NASA. The funds support UMBC’s Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center (GEST), Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), and Center for Space Science and Technology (CSST). These three centers together brought in more than $31,000,000 in 2009.

After NASA, the second largest sponsor alternates yearly between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Other sponsors include the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Education.

The academic departments that currently receive the most research funding include Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, as well as Biological Sciences and Chemistry. Many other departments also receive substantial external funding.

This alternative funding was not left unscathed. Foundations have been funding less than previously due to the drop in the value of their assets and the resulting loss of income. Many corporations have been hit hard by the recession, affecting their ability to sponsor research. For example, these outside sources put funds toward sponsored activities such as the Hilltop Institute and the Shriver Center Choice program, “a community-based, family-centered case management approach to delinquency prevention and youth development.” The Shriver Center Choice program was dropped last year due to depleted funds caused by the nation-wide economic recession, which Summers believes had a more drastic effect on research funding. “[Although] UMBC received an approximated total of $15,000,000 from Maryland State agencies last year, it has seen a decline in funding from non-Federal sources such as foundations and corporations-many [of which] have seen their funding drastically cut this year,” Summers explains.

The Facilities and Administrative costs on these grants and contracts are used to help further support the research efforts on campus. Last year this amounted to approximately $13,000,000. Half of these funds go to the general fund and are used among other activities to help support the research infrastructure such as the Office of Contract and Grant Accounting and Office of Sponsored Programs. The other half of the indirect costs are called Designated Research Initiative Funds (DRIF). They are used to start up funds for new faculty, support the library, fund undergraduate research, and support departmental research, says Summers.

Despite the economy’s harmful effects on UMBC’s research funding, Summers continues to hold high hopes for the future. “UMBC research funding from Federal sources continues to grow and has compensated for the loss of funding from other sources, so UMBC is expected to increase overall sponsored research funding again this year in spite of the economy,” he concludes.

Jessica Ji, Rosalyn Chirayath, Sekinah Hassan, Morgan Russo, and Tehmeena Hassan were elected to the Finance Board. Also, Chidiebele Agha, Vikram Bambawale, Sumit Bose, Dylan Cook, Alexander Gaines, Gift Jayakar, Toby Le, Damani Lewis, Matthew McNey, Jasmine Batchelor, and Benjamin Smith who were appointed to the Senate.

All four referendums were passed as well. Referendum A aimed to “make more students eligible to serve in SGA” was the most closely contested with 59.5% of the votes for it, and 40.5% of the votes against it. The other referendums B, C and D were the SGA Non-discrimination Clause, SGA Finance Board Authority to Participate in Amending Guiding Documents and Approving Appointments, and SGA Supreme Court Restructuring respectively all passed with over 75% of the undergraduate vote.

UMBC had 23.8% of the Undergraduates Vote in the Student Elections, totaling in 2,368 votes, the second largest vote total ever for a UMBC SGA election. This total is greater than both University of Maryland College Park that had 17.8% and Towson University that had 13.3% of their undergraduate vote according to their campus websites.

Smithsonian Institution Secretary G. Wayne Clough and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer have been chosen as this year’s Commencement speakers. Clough will speak on May 21 at the graduate ceremony, and Hoyer will speak three days later to the undergraduates.
Clough left his position at the Georgia Institute of Technology as President in July 2008 to serve as the Smithsonian’s secretary. He is the only graduate of Georgia Tech to go on to become the school’s president. He’s also occupied a number of different positions, including professor, dean, and provost at different universities throughout his career. “We look forward to continuing to develop UMBC’s relationship with Dr. Clough and the Smithsonian,” commented associate vice president Lisa Akchin.

Hoyer has represented Maryland’s 5th Congressional District for 30 years. He is also recognized for being the highest ranking member of Congress from Maryland in history.

Typically, commencement speakers receive honorary degrees from UMBC, which is the case for Clough. Hoyer, however, will speak but not receive a degree, because university policy discourages awarding honorary degrees to sitting elected officials.

The Provost’s Office receives recommendations from the campus community each year in order to create a pool of possible honorary degree recipients. President Freeman Hrabowski and Provost Elliot Hirshman then review the candidates based on the opportunity to create partnerships for the university, achievement, commitment to values important to UMBC, and others. Finally, the selected candidates are reviewed and approved by the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.

The ProveIt! Selection Committee has chosen the competition’s 6 finalists….now it’s your chance to choose the winner! Visit www.umbc.edu/proveit to get more information on each of the 6 proposals, then log into blackboard to vote for the idea that you think deserves $35,000. The proposals selected to be finalists this year are:
-Outdoor Basketball Court
-Community Garden
-Revamping Fine Arts 306
-Outdoor Fitness Center
-Biodiesel Production Facility
-Undergraduate Research Experience

Voting will take place from April 1-10 on Blackboard, and the winner will be announced at a ceremony in the UC Plaza at 12 p.m. on April 12.

Feel free to contact Jennifer Kent, ProveIt! Co-Chair, at jkent1@umbc.edu with any questions.

Tickets for the concerts will go on sale Wednesday, March 10 at the Commons information center.

For more information on this and other quadmania events, visit the UMBC Student Events Board website.

Contributing Writer

During the week that students had off from classes because of the snow, Facilities Management staff as well as dining service staff members had to live on campus and work long extended hours. A Residential Life e-mail sent February 10, 2010 during the blizzard week said “True Grit’s employees are as anxious as you are to have things ‘go back to normal,’ and are doing their best under the circumstances.” The Retriever Weekly had a chance to talk with Tom Deluca, Chartwells’ Resident District Manager who polled several of the employees who were staying overnight on campus and responded on their behalf.

The Retriever Weekly: How many people stayed over night?

Chartwells Staff: We had anywhere from 10 to 20 folks in the dorms during the snow storms.

TRW: Where did you sleep? How were the rooms?

CS: Some were in Chesapeake and some were in Harbor. The rooms were very nice. Residential life provided linens and we were all thankful for the hot showers every day.

TRW: Were you compensated for your extra hours of work and having to stay on campus?

CS: Many of our associates received multiple hours of overtime pay during the week and the management team is discussing several different options to reward those folks that stayed on campus and were dedicated to the UMBC community.

TRW: What was your overall opinion of this experience?

CS: I think everyone was very happy when things returned to normal on Monday. We battled many different issues throughout the week but the worst was the snow. The associates that did stay on campus worked from morning to night and did a phenomenal job. Keeping floors dry and safe in the kitchen and dining rooms was a challenge, we weren’t really sure when our suppliers would be able to get to us, but they did and for the most part we had a good supply of food. Milk and ice cream were the two items that we did run low on. I believe it was one of those situations that 10 years from now everyone will still be telling stories about the storm of 2010, but nobody really wants to do it again anytime soon!

Many students who were stuck on campus during this storm owe their full bellies to these True Grit’s staff members.

Comments can be sent to emjacks1@umbc.edu.

Early on the morning of January 28 2009, between 12 and 12:45am, the lights dimmed and flickered before plunging the entire UMBC campus into sudden darkness and confusion. The power outage, which ranged across the UMBC campus as well as parts of Rt. 40 in Catonsville, was the result of the loss “of two BGE (Baltimore Gas and Electricity) feeder cables that serve the campus [community] due to a vehicle striking a power pole at the corner of Security Boulevard and Colonial Drive,” said UMBC’s Vice President of Administration and Finance Lynne Schaefer. The outage lasted approximately 45 minutes, and power was restored before 1am.

Junior and Harbor Hall resident Allison Isberg said, “I was about to get on the elevator when all the lights went out. It was really unexpected, and I’m just glad I wasn’t in the elevator when it happened!”

Comments can be sent to emjacks1@umbc.edu.

I did not think it was a big deal at the moment because of note just under the link of the schedule of classes saying:

“Please note that additional classes will be posted to the Spring 2010 schedule in the coming days and weeks. Please continue to check back for updates.”

Because I wanted to make sure I would get in the class I continued to check back just about every day. But that note has not come off and the class has yet to be online. To make sure that the class was actually available next semester I emailed Dr. Chris Corbett, a member of the English Department in charge of journalism. He said the class was available and actually empty.

I doubt there will be many chances to have a class taught by a professional sports writer of Hyman’s caliber, so why would they shut students off to this opportunity.

While the class is still not online I began to think of how many other classes were not online anymore. What if there is a class that a student needs to graduate that is not online?

With only two weeks left before the spring classes begin when will they think to actually update their class list so students can actually have a chance to sign up for certain classes that have not been put online yet?

But, my problems with the office of registrar go much further than that. In mid-December while I was looking at my class schedule I discovered a big problem- I was no longer registered in any of my classes.

I immediately contacted the Office of Registrar and they said there was nothing they could do because they system showed I dropped all my classes. The only thing they could advise me to do was talk to all the teachers of classes I was planning on taking and ask them to let me into the classes.

While I did manage to get into four of the classes I originally signed up for, I am the 11th person on a wait list of my final class, which was the class I was most looking forward to taking.

So make sure you are in all of your classes you want to take before it is too late.

But the issue with the Office of Registrar this winter has been unforgivable. They may still be working out the bugs in the new system but they are dealing with Students who are paying to attend UMBC. If I were planning to graduate in the spring, but I was kicked out of a class by the registrars system, or I was not even able to get in the class because it was not online, I would not be in a good situation, possibly making me return, and pay, for an extra semester of classes.

On January 6, the prosecution entered a Nolle prosequi, dropping all pending criminal charges against UMBC chemistry professor Ramachandra Hosmane. The Catonsville District Court had charged Hosmane with second degree assault and fourth degree sexual offense in relation to an on-campus incident that occurred in September 2009.

Entering a Nolle Prosequi implies a state attorney’s decision to discontinue prosecution. A prosecutor may apply on the request of the accuser, no legitimacy of complaint, or even lack of evidence, but the defendant can be re-indicted within a specified statute of limitations.

The alleged victim, a Ph.D. candidate, had accused Hosmane of sexual harassment. She filed a peace order petition in September, but later requested dismissal. UMBC Police Officer Paul Torain filed a complaint, and the Maryland court formally charged Hosmane with criminal conduct in mid-September.

The 65-year-old professor denied all allegations prior to the trial, claiming he had been “falsely and maliciously accused of the crimes.” He told The Retriever Weekly he was confident the charges would be dismissed.

Hosmane was scheduled to teach chemistry this spring as of last semester. However, he retired from UMBC this January.

Sophomore premedical student Sonal Paul followed this case over the semester and said she is very surprised. “These kinds of cases are very complicated because other students and faculty members don’t really know the true story…it’s hard to determine who was at fault,” Paul told The Retriever Weekly.