Kudos
News about your UMUC colleagues around the world

Alan Carswell, right, program director, Management Information Systems, successfully defended his dissertation in March and received his PhD from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, May 23. Carswell is shown here with his family. The title of his dissertation is "Facilitating Student Learning in an Asynchronous Learning Network."

Tana Bishop, associate dean, administration, and Claudine SchWeber, associate provost, Office of Distance Education and Lifelong Learning, wrote "UMUC's Online MBA Program: A Case Study of Cost Effectiveness and the Implications for Large Scale Programs" in Online Education: Learning Effectiveness, Faculty Satisfaction, and Cost Effectiveness, (J. Bourne, editor). Bishop also was quoted in a Feb. 16, 2001, Chronicle of Higher Education article about determining institutional costs for online programs.

Jim Gelatt, Graduate School program director, General Management, is working with the Virginia Department of Education to assist teams based at various colleges and universities in their analysis of major trends and their potential impact on educational programming at the local and regional levels. The project addresses issues such demographic trends, social concerns, generational issues, technology, and health care. His group is working to provide the teams with the tools needed to make sense of these trends, to assess which trends are the most important to monitor, and to develop strategies to address them.

Inez Giles, director of distance education online training, received the College of the Air Distance Education Consortium award in April as the Distance Learning Educator of the Year.

Graduate school staff members Don Goff, Steve Kerby, and Kimberly David-Chung presented a talk, titled "From Traditional Bricks to Internet Clicks: Organizing for Online Education," at the Syllabus Magazine Conference on Educational Technology.

Lucinda Hart-González, director of English, Humanities, and Modern Languages for the School of Undergraduate Studies, will appear as Mrs. Lopez in "In the Summer House," July 24-August 19 with the Washington Shakespeare Company.

Rosemary Hartigan, MBA program director, co-authored a case study, titled "When Golden Handcuffs Become More Than a Retention Strategy," with Nick Nissley in Advances in Developing Human Resources, Vol. 3, Number 1, February 2001.

JoAnne Hildebrand, adjunct associate professor and Fire Science program coordinator, has written the Propane Emergencies Student Workbook. The Workbook contributes to a comprehensive learning system that includes a textbook on dealing with propane emergencies, an instructor's guide, video, interactive CD, and Web site. The project is funded by the Propane Education and Research Council and the National Propane Gas Association.

Andrea C. Martino, APR, director, public relations, passed her certification examination to earn accreditation by the Public Relations Society of America's Universal Accreditation Board. The APR designation symbolizes knowledge of public relations practice, communications theory, management science, ethics, and understanding of the profession. Since 1964, approximately 6,000 public relations professionals have achieved Accreditation. Martino holds a master's degree in communications management (public relations) from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University.

Thomas Murphy, professor of history and government, UMUC - Europe, and author of A Land Without Castles (see Literary Corner, June FYI Online,) was featured in a May 9 Stars and Stripes article, entitled "Izmir teacher examines how Europeans have viewed U.S. throughout history."

Mark Parker, executive assistant to the provost, was invited to speak at the July 18 meeting of the Central Maryland Microcomputer Users Group in Columbia, Md., about how UMUC is using technology to extend educational opportunities.

General Joseph W. Ralston, center, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander in Chief, US European Command, spoke at UMUC's commencement in Heidelberg, Germany, on May 27. Before the commencement, UMUC President Gerald Heeger, left, and Lt. Gen.Andrew P. Chambers (Ret.), right, vice president and director, UMUC - Europe, presented Gen.Ralston with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from UMUC.

Gene Rubin, associate dean and program director, Master of Distance Education, and Ulrich Bernath co-authored a chapter, titled "Professional Development in Distance Education: A Successful Experiment and Future Directions," in the recently published Innovation in Open and Distance Learning.

Christina Sax, academic director of natural sciences for The School of Undergraduate Studies, Beverly Lucas, coordinator of special programs for Undergraduate Studies, and Sabrina Marschall, director, Education Program, Graduate School, held a professional development workshop for middle school science teachers in March. Forty science teachers from public and parochial middle schools in five Maryland counties or cities attended the day-long workshop, which was funded by a University System of Maryland K-16 Disciplinary Alliance Grant. The workshop featured hands-on sessions by UMUC instructors Matt Bobrowsky and Dan Ferandez.