• This Week @ UMBC
  Posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 in Campus Life by Daedalus
  Got some free time, but not sure what to do with it?  Check out a few of the things going on around UMBC this week.Monday, February 1st Involvement Fest, 11AM-2PM Commons Mainstreet, Come meet the members of student organizations at UMBC and get involvedTuesday, February 2nd Involvement Fest, 11AM-2PM Commons Mainstreet, Come meet the members of student organizations at UMBC and get involved Celebrate Black History Month by watching the movie Good Hair in the Patapsco lobby, 7PMWednesday, February 3rd Involvement Fest, 11AM-2PM Commons Mainstreet, Come meet the members of student organizations at UMBC and get involved Parking Forums, 6-7PM UC Ballroom.
• Parking Forums - What’s your take?
  Posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 in Campus Life by Daedalus
  I’ve updated the weekly events post below to reflect the parking forums that will take place this week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.The Governor’s capital budget for FY2011 has been announced, and includes $37.4 million for the construction of the new Performing Arts and Humanities Facility, covering a broad range of subjects like Dance, Music, and Theatre.

The Governor’s capital budget for FY2011 has been announced, and includes $37.4 million for the construction of the new Performing Arts and Humanities Facility, covering a broad range of subjects like Dance, Music, and Theatre.  With this funding secured and plans to break ground this summer, the school is hosting student forums on parking (an issue we’ve covered before) to hear from the student body.

What experiences have people had in the last semester that might give fresh perspective on this issue?  Personally, I’ve heard a few murmurs about the overflow lot filling up recently.  What are your thoughts?  Join the discussion and get yourself ready to ask these questions in a true forum this week.  Be heard, UU!

Monday, February 1st

• Involvement Fest, 11AM-2PM Commons Mainstreet, Come meet the members of student organizations at UMBC and get involved

Tuesday, February 2nd

• Involvement Fest, 11AM-2PM Commons Mainstreet, Come meet the members of student organizations at UMBC and get involved
• Celebrate Black History Month by watching the movie Good Hair in the Patapsco lobby, 7PM

Wednesday, February 3rd

• Involvement Fest, 11AM-2PM Commons Mainstreet, Come meet the members of student organizations at UMBC and get involved
• Parking Forums, 6-7PM UC Ballroom.  Come make your opinions heard on the parking issue at UMBC

Thursday, February 4th

• Parking Forums, 1-2PM UC Ballroom.  Come make your opinions heard on the parking issue at UMBC
• Ballroom Dance Club’s Jam Session, 6PM - 9PM Commons Mainstreet.  Music, dancing, food!
• Deadline to submit an application to be on the Student Activity Fee Review Board!
• Zombieland, 10PM Lecture Hall 1, Tickets $2 at the CIC
  

Friday, February 5th

• Service Learning Fair, 11AM-1:30PM Commons Mainstreet - Academic credit for volunteering?  Sweet!
• Parking Forums, 12-1PM Lecture Hall 7.  Come make your opinions heard on the parking issue at UMBC
• Zombieland, 8PM Lecture Hall 1, Tickets $2 at the CIC

Saturday, February 6th

• Women’s Basketball VS Maine, 12:30 PM RAC
• Men’s Basketball VS Vermont, 3:00 PM RAC
• Zombieland, 8 PM Sports Zone, FREE!

Something not up here that should be?  Love it?  Hate it?  Use that comment box down there and let us know, or send in an article and we’ll get the word out for you.

• What’s going down this week?
  Posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 in Campus Life by Daedalus
  Welcome back for the Spring 2010 semester!  UMBCUnderground has been hibernating for two months, but we’re back now.  Start sending in your topics for discussion and we’ll get the ball rolling on some great publications.  To start you off, here’s a list of upcoming events this week:Wednesday, January 27th Men’s Basketball vs.

Wednesday, January 27th

• Men’s Basketball vs. Binghamton - RAC 7 PM, FREE with your red ID!

Thursday, January 28th

• Women’s Basketball vs. Stony Brook - RAC 7 PM, FREE with your red ID!
• Open Mic Night - Sports Zone 8PM, FREE!  Open Mic Night returns, come strut your stuff.  Free wings!
• Where the Wild Things Are - 10PM in Lecture Hall 2.  Buy your ticket for $2 at the CIC.

Friday, January 29th

• Patapsco Addition Meeting - Harbor MPR NOON.  Learn what’s going on with Patapsco and make your opinion heard.  Free pizza!
• Nature Walk - Meet in Commons Circle 4PM, FREE!
  
• Where the Wild Things Are - 8PM in Lecture Hall 2.  Buy your ticket for $2 at the CIC.
• SEB Magic Show - Sports Zone 9PM, FREE!  Come check out some magic by Rusty Ammerman.
• SEB Live Music - Flat Tuesday’s 9PM, FREE!  Featuring Rosiere, Arden, and The Town Criers

Saturday, January 30th

• Where the Wild Things Are - 8PM in Lecture Hall 2.  FREE with your Red ID!
• Luau Dance Party - Flat Tuesday’s, 9PM, FREE!  Music, dancing, food!

What you see above is just a small sampling of the events going on.  Know about something that isn’t up there?  Send it on in and we’ll make sure people hear about it.  Have a great week and let’s kick the semester off right!

• UMBC BookScrooge Updates
  Posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 in Uncategorized by uu_stringer
  The BookScrooge staff sent in a little end-of-semester update today…Hope everyone had a good semester. Here are a few quick updates:1) Our student orgs fundraiser kicked off today. If you are part of a student org and want to get in on the action email bookscrooge AT gmail DOT com for more info.
• New Mascot Follow Up
  Posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 in Athletics by Sparky
  Hey all,After some recent questions regarding Daedalus’ recent post on the new athletics logo, I asked around and was put in touch with Miriam Tillman, Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services for UMBC. Ms. Tillman took the time to answer a few questions I sent her via email.

After some recent questions regarding Daedalus’ recent post on the new athletics logo, I asked around and was put in touch with Miriam Tillman, Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services for UMBC. Ms. Tillman took the time to answer a few questions I sent her via email. Here are my questions followed by her answers.

1) When did your office and Athletics decide to implement a new logo, and what led to this decision? Why change it now, as opposed to last year, or next year, or some other time?

The germ for this started back in April 08 when Jim Lord, UMBC’s Creative Services design director (and a UMBC Visual Arts alum), was watching the NCAA game and was bothered by how our mascot logo looked on the scoreboard next to Georgetown’s. He began sketching some new ideas and looking into what other schools–both in our division and in our region–were doing with their logos. He found that the style had changed a lot (see his paragraph about mascot logo design trends), and as our teams were getting more attention, he wanted the logo to look as good as it could. (He’d actually done the final design on the current mascot logo a number of years back, but since he’d inherited the design from someone else at the end of the process, he wasn’t able to give it the attention he’d wanted.) Last spring Jim approached Athletics to see if they’d be interested in a new mascot logo, and they were. With regard to your question, the only timing consideration was to start soon enough to have one ready for the bookstore’s annual order in January (see #3).

2) Students were able to vote on one of three choices listed on myumbc. Where did these choices originate? Were they finalists among a bigger sample, or were they the only choices from the beginning?

The choices came from a series that evolved over time as Jim spent the summer testing a number of variations with student athletes, coaches and Athletics staff, and adapting them as he got feedback. He also displayed some options in The Commons at Homecoming, where students, faculty, staff and alums voted on their favorites and gave him direct feedback. During the course of all these meetings and conversations, some folks were interested in a realistic dog, others in something more cartoon-like. Some wanted a fierce dog, others wanted one that evoked loyalty. So he created options that responded to the range of perspectives.

3) Where did the funding for this project come from? Strictly Athletics’ budget, or more out of general marketing for UMBC as a whole?

There’s no extra funding involved, since we’re phasing this in. We deliberately timed the process to coincide with the annual order that the bookstore places in January for the next fall. In other words, this will give the bookstore designs for their vendors but not create any new expense. As Athletics buys new uniforms or orders letterhead, they’ll roll this in, but not expend additional resources any time soon.

4) Is there an expectation of the revenue generated from sales incorporating the new mascot to negate the initial cost?

Not an issue, since there’s no additional expense.

5) What affect did/does this have on student fees or athletic fees?

Ditto.

tl;dr: Jim Lord, the UMBC Creative Services guy behind this, wanted our mascot to look good since we’ve been getting more national attention. Initial options were displayed and voted on during homecoming. No additional cost because the new design will be implemented with the bookstore’s scheduled merchandise order.

Thanks again to Miriam Tillman for providing this information.

• New UMBC Mascot Logo
  Posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 in Athletics by Daedalus
  Sure, we’re a bit late to this, but if you didn’t know, there’s a vote on myUMBC (unfortunately only through midnight tonight), choosing between these three options (some are disappointed about an obvious omission from the vote)What do you think about these designs?
• Project Black and Gold Finalists
  Posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 in Campus Life by Daedalus
  The final eight options for Project Black and Gold (submitted by students, mind you) are up for vote on myUMBC now through December 18th.  They are as follows: “Be Proud, Be Bold, Be Black and Gold” “Black and Gold, Breaking the Mold” “Great Dogs Aren’t Just Born, They’re Bred” “In Dog Years, We’re almost 200!
• Student Email/Gmail Conversion
  Posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 in Campus Life by Sparky
  Ever logged into your UMBC email and wanted it to be simpler? Have you received emails informing you of recent spam/hacking in the UMBC emails, or been the victim of such? I have good news! Thanks to the SGA blog, I have discovered that the folks at DoIT are hoping to sign a contract with google and transition UMBC student email to gmail, google’s email service.
• Winter Grads Day - 12/9
  Posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 in Events by treeveins
  Today is Winter Grads Day — Kudos to all graduating this month! I just wanted to pass word along that there will be a shin-dig in The Pub tonight from 5-7 pm to celebrate all the soon-to-be alums. Expect free food (cheese, fruit and vegetables, wings –buffalo & BBQ, sweet & sour meatballs, sliders (hamburgers, chicken and vegetarian), cookies and brownies), music, games, and a complimentary drink to the first 100 to come through the door (must be 21+).
• Apply to ProveIt!
  Posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 in Campus Life by uu_stringer
  Hey everyone! The ProveIt deadline is fast approaching, but you still have time to submit a proposal! ProveIt! is a great opportunity for you to be able to make a real impact on this campus- and if that’s not enough, you can win $5,000 doing it!

ProveIt is a contest in which students are given the challenge to create a novel and innovative project, service, or event on the UMBC campus that makes everyone proud to be a member of our community. Students with ideas for projects fitting this description can submit these ideas to a selection committee which will evaluate each idea based on a variety of factors including contribution to campus and feasibility. The student body will vote on the top finalists, and ultimately choose the winning proposal!

The entrants will be competing for up to $30,000.00 of funding to support implementation of their idea, and an additional $5,000.00 as a reward for coming up with the winning idea and making it a reality.

What kinds of project, service or event will win this competition? The door is wide open. Five years ago SGA used $30,000 to transform the Student Organizations Area on The Commons’ 2nd floor into a hub of campus life. Three years ago SGA invested $45,000 in a GPS tracking system in partnership with UMBC Transit Services, which will enable anyone to monitor the exact location of UMBC’s shuttle buses from any computer. No more waiting outside in the rain for a late bus. The winner of the first ProveIt! competition created a greenspace on campus; an area where any student can sit outside to study, socialize, or just relax. The winning entry could be something like one of these projects . . . or something completely different. The important thing is, the idea must produce an important benefit for the UMBC community and make us all proud. What would you like to see improved, added, developed, used, celebrated, created or made available for every student on our campus?

The deadline is December 22, 2009. If you have any questions, or want to learn more about the competition, check out the website at umbc.edu/proveit, or email Jennifer Kent, this year’s co-chair, at jkent1 [AT] umbc.edu.