For questions or more information, contact Heather Gleason in the Office of the Alumni Relations at 410-455-6353 or gleason2@umbc.edu.

Today is Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD!) Come out and check out the cool things your peers have been working on lately all day today.  Be sure to check out the poster presentations in the UC Ballroom between 10AM-3PM, where students will be on-hand to talk about their research on a one-to-one level.

It’s a great experience for anybody who is interested in research in their own field or others, or even people who have no interest in research at all.  The things UMBC undergraduates are capable will blow you away!  Check out the full schedule for a full listing of events, including oral presentations, several exhibits, and readings from Bartleby.

The topic of UMBC’s name has been widely discussed lately. As most of you know, Baltimore Sun recently came out with an article in which it suggested a name change for the school. The idea quickly found a lot of support in UMBC student community. Most students seem to agree that the current name (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) makes the school sound a lot like a satellite campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. It has caused a lot of confusion and controversy lately, which was especially evident after UMBC team recently won the Final Four Chess Competition and numerous out-of-state media sources came out with headlines such as “Maryland Wins the Chess Title”, etc.

The discussion quickly spilled over to the Facebook, and some UMBC students started a facebook group called Petition to change UMBC’s name to Maryland State University or MD Tech.

It was created on Thursday night (April 15, 2010), and in just 3 days, by Sunday night (April 18, 2010), it already had 1000 members in it. It is widely expected to continue to grow.

The discussion topics on the group wall include numerous suggestions for the proposed name change, but “Maryland State University” seems to get the most support. “Maryland Tech” is also a popular choice. However, some students fear that “Maryland tech” would alienate many social sciences, humanities and arts students. There are also some less frequently mentioned but still very intriguing suggestions for a new name, such as “Maryland International University”, “Maryland Research University”, “Chesapeake State University”, and others. On the other hand, some students advocate for keeping the acronym UMBC but changing the “Baltimore County” part to “Baltimore Campus”.

What is your opinion on this topic? Is there enough momentum in UMBC student population to demand a name change from the administration or is it not realistic to expect it at this time? Please let us know!

April is STD Awareness Month. In honor of this, one of our very own Peer Health Advocates from University Health Services has entered UMBC into a nationwide campus challenge hosted by MTV: The Get Yourself Tested (GYT) Campaign.

“The campus that builds the largest amount of GYT supporters relative to the size of their student body will be featured by MTV News. Students on the winning campus will win a trip, accommodations, and tickets to see Cobra Starship, Travie McCoy, and more in Summer 2010.“

UMBC currently holds the #1 spot in the nation!!!  You don’t have to go anywhere or spend any money, just click, type, and invite!

We’re known for our academics and our chess team, let’s be known for being on MTV and supporting STD Awareness Month!

I am encouraging all of you to sign up. Please enter the contest and join our UMBC Facebook group to rally our numbers.

Go UMBC!!

UMBCtv just did a massive overhaul on their website to make things look all nice a pretty. In addition, a pilot for the new UMBCtv weekly news show is up in 1080p HD. Also be sure to check out all of the old events and things we have filmed.

Check it out at www.umbctv.com

Got some constructive criticism? Want to be part of UMBCtv? Just want to know what we are working on? Send an email to info@umbctv.com and lets us know or stop by a meeting every Wed at 3:45 in Commons 328.

So apparently, some people were never taught ‘if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all’. It has come to our attention, we vigorous news hounds, that our beloved student-run school newspaper has been using a student organization, unceremoniously, as a punching bag. I don’t think I have to specify which one.

The increasingly nasty articles and editorials clearly express a bias that is disconcerting. The Retriever Weekly claims as unbiased reporting as possible. Why hasn’t there been an article about the positive aspects of this organization? Or even a real story about them? Instead the intelligence of the UMBC student body is continuously insulted by false reports of injuries (03-31-10 [editor's note: there was no 3-31 edition, but there was on 3-30-10]) and wild accusations of interference with the daily lives of students (04-06-10). Many of the more astute readers may realize that many of the articles referred to were featured in the “deceiver weekly” edition of the paper, but that just reiterates the point; that a sanctioned student organization should not be made into the weekly paper’s own little whipping boy.

As a staff member of the Retriever Weekly, I can tell you that this constant bad press is, unfortunately, not wholly unintentional. A fellow staff member requested to write a real account of the Club’s hosted games on our campus, and she was, unceremoniously shut down.

That this, and only this organization was selected to be used as the excuse for all of campus’s ills is disturbing. Does UMBC not advocate a community of tolerance? Where do these editorial writers get off? If it’s not accusations of childish behavior, for having fun, at players, it’s wildly inaccurately accusing players of attacking innocent bystanders! I’m sure players of this activity would love to remove all human error from their game, but it’s just not possible. Does Ms. Hunter, author of the latest slanderous and insulting comments wish that all UMBC students make themselves into robots? Didn’t think so. Her accusation that “too many unsuspecting victims get caught in the crossfire” is way off. I’ve never been hit by a stray dart, neither has anyone I have asked about this. And no one those people ever heard of were ever hit.

As a student at UMBC, I find this constant disregard for the standards that legitimate media outlets use to report news fairly to be disgusting. It does not matter who is being targeted on our campus, as long as someone or some group is, students cannot stand for such injustice.

We of S4FM will no longer meet quietly. This is merely the latest in a long line of extremely biased reporting and poor coverage of actual campus news. As a result of the ever-decreasing quality of writing, and coverage, and due to the outrageous amounts of anti-organization bias, We of S4FM are speaking out.

As most of you probably know, UMBC chess team won the Final Four tournament, making all of us proud once again for our school. UMBC has been working really hard both in sports and academic fields, and this win will definitely help us to highlight our name throughout the nation once again. Or will it?

This week, several serious and reputable sources came out with headlines claiming that, in fact, it was Maryland that won the title!  Obviously, they do not really understand that Maryland is a nickname which historically refers to University of Maryland, College Park and is never really used in reference to UMBC!

For example, here is NPR’s article (Maryland Emerges as Champion Of Final Four Chess Tournament):

Or the story on the front page of the United States Chess Federation (Final Four: Maryland beats Brownsville to retain title):

Even though they specify in the body of the article that they are, in fact, talking about University of Maryland Baltimore County, the damage is effectively done and many readers who do not bother to read the entire article are left to believe that UMD (a.k.a.-Maryland) won the chess title.

What’s your opinion on this subject? Is it UMBC’s destiny to forever get mixed up with UMCP? Should we fight it or embrace it?

P.S.: The subject is further examined in a recent Baltimore Sun article

• Academic Integrity
  Posted on Sunday, March 21st, 2010 in Academics by uu_stringer
  There has been growing concern that a professor at UMBC is doing more harm than good to academic integrity because of their fervent methods of enforcement. This professor requires all of their students to use the website Turnitin.com while schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton have all denounced the practice.

Furthermore, current rumors suggest that students have been falsely accused of cheating and were failed without hesitation. From my personal experience and from the conversations I’ve had with students who have this professor, I do not doubt the possibility. How does everyone else feel about this?

• UMBCUnderground Week in a nutshell: 28th February - 6th March, 2010
  Posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 in Uncategorized by admin
  Here’s a quick rundown of the past weeks postsThird Eye Blind to Play at Quadmania 2010Posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 in Campus Life by SparkyI have just stumbled across a facebook event advertising Third Eye Blind as part of SEB’s Quadmania this April 16-18.
• The 2010 Census!
  Posted on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 in Academics by IBeCheerful
  The time is upon us for the second decennial U.S. Census of the 21st century, and I for one am excited. It is the first time in many of our lives that we will have a chance to participate in the single largest population enumeration event conducted by our nation.