in this issue SMARTER COMMUTE PG. 2 / IN SYNC PG. 2 COUNTERING EXTREMISM PG. 3 / ENDURANCE TEST PG. 6 SURVEY RESULTS PG. 7 / ARTISTIC INFLUENCE PG. 8
between the columns a newsletter for faculty & staff of the university of maryland FEBRUARY 2018
A WALK TO
REMEMBER New Tour Explores African-American History on Campus PG.4
Smarter Commute Awaits Via Vanpool BY LIAM FARRELL
ARE YOU TIRED OF BATTLING THE BELTWAY to College Park
on your own? The UMD Department of Transportation Services (DOTS) might have the solution for your frayed nerves. In the newest initiative of its Smart Commute program, DOTS has partnered with Enterprise Rideshare to help neighboring groups of five or more staff and faculty members who live more than 15 miles from campus travel to work. For a monthly fee, riders will get a vehicle to drive and cover maintenance, insurance, gas and 24-hour roadside assistance provided by Enterprise Rideshare. The exact cost will vary depending on the number of riders, type of vehicle and miles traveled. “Outside of cost savings, a vanpool can create community by introducing you to other university employees,” says Anna McLaughlin, assistant director of sustainability at DOTS. “Our new vanpool program will help alleviate parking congestion on campus as well as push the university toward its carbon neutrality goals.”
Here’s how else DOTS will help: • The first four vans that start will have their entire costs covered for six months. Subsequent vanpools will have no cost in the first month, and be half price for the second month. • Free parking for all registered vanpools. • Ten free daily parking permits for vanpool participants for days when you have to drive. • Registration in the Guaranteed Ride Home Program, which provides a free ride home for emergencies. More information on Smart Commute, which aims to promote environmentally friendly transportation choices and cut UMD’s carbon footprint, can be found at transportation.umd.edu/smartcommute.html.
Common Threat Researchers Study What Makes Our Brains Work Together BY CHRIS CARROLL
WANT TO GET PEOPLE IN SYNC? Threaten them … even pretend threats will do. University of Maryland psychology researchers have shown for the first time that people’s brain waves synchronize with each other when danger arises. Distinguished University Professor Michele Gelfand and postdoctoral associate Yan Mu had pairs of Chinese students at Peking University in Beijing read a fictional news story about a serious threat from regional rival Japan. Then they had each pair repeatedly attempt to silently count in unison for a predetermined number of seconds, tapping a computer keyboard when finished. Gelfand and Mu compared the difference in their timing with other pairs who had read an alternate article about conflict between African nations as well as with others in a control group that had read about electric cars.
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They discovered that some subjects were able to keep time with each other much better than others. “We found that when they read about threats facing their own country instead of the other stories, their brains exhibited greater synchrony,” Mu says. Meanwhile, as reported in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience in October, hyperscanning EEG measurements taken during the test showed that in both subjects, gamma brainwaves, which are related to fear and oscillate at a frequency of about 28 cycles and above per second, were synchronizing to help coordinate on the threat. The experiments are part of Gelfand’s broad-ranging study of her “tightnesslooseness” theory concerning the power of social norms among different populations that was first published in Science. China has a long history of external threats and has evolved to have strong norms to help people coordinate, Gelfand says. Further research planned beyond China could show gamma-wave brain synchrony cuts across human populations equally. “My sense is that this is such an important evolutionary process that when there’s threat, people become coordinated no matter where they are from,” Gelfand says.
MONITORING HATE
ADL Provides On-Campus Training to Counter Extremism BY CHRIS CARROLL
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND IS ADDING programming to
build resilience at a time when hate groups increasingly try to disrupt and recruit on campuses nationwide. The Washington, D.C., regional office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a leading group monitoring hate and extremist organizations, conducted a series of briefings on extremist groups’ motives and tactics last fall to President Wallace D. Loh’s cabinet, to deans and other academic leaders on campus, as well as to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents. While wrapping themselves in a mantle of protecting white people’s civil rights and free speech, extremist groups often seek to provoke reactions that inflate their power and presence beyond their actual numbers, says Doron Ezeckson, director of the ADL’s D.C. office. “The tactics they use are varied and evolving, and what the university and the students have to understand is that if we allow this to result in a major disruption to campus and academic life, it’s exactly what the haters want,” he says. The best response is one of solidarity in opposition to such messages while respecting constitutional free speech guarantees, Ezeckson says, and to “ultimately counter hate speech with good speech.” Ezeckson is working with university leadership to develop informational programs for student leaders, part of an increasingly broad spectrum of activities to counter hate overseen by UMD’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI). The push follows incidents such as postings of racist hand-
bills as well as the killing of a visiting Bowie State student. A Maryland student who joined a racist page on Facebook has been charged with murder and a hate crime. ODI and the university's new Center for Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education also sponsored a Thought Leaders Summit from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, featuring dozens of scholars, administrators and advocates from around the country. “There are many benefits to working with the ADL, given their expertise in this area,” says Roger Worthington, interim associate provost and chief diversity officer. “It fits into a broader plan of changing the way we do business when it comes to hate and bias on campus.”
Creating a Better Climate THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND WANTS YOUR HELP in creating a more inclusive, diverse and safe community. Through Feb. 28, UMD faculty and staff can take the Campus Climate Survey to share their experiences and perspectives and help shape the culture of our institution. The survey, available at go.umd.edu/climatesurvey18, is confidential and takes approximately 25 minutes to complete. For additional languages, translation or special accommodations, please contact campusclimate@umd.edu.
FEARLESS IDEAS Every issue of Between the Columns features stories of our staff and faculty transforming the student experience. Here, we highlight those efforts with a ( ). We do the same in other issues on our efforts to turn imagination into innovation, discover new knowledge and inspire Maryland pride.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MATT LAUMANN
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f
rom its antebellum founding through the present day, the University of Maryland has been shaped by more than just those who wrote the official version of history. There was a time when students and visitors of color were outsiders here, but through the sacrifices and perseverance of earlier pioneers—reflected in our campus fabric—today each brick and blade of glass belongs to them as well. The university this month is launching “African-American History and the University of Maryland: A Campus Landmark Tour,” commissioned by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. It highlights campus landmarks associated with the impact of African Americans at the University of Maryland and throughout history. The self-guided walking tour expands on a presentation that Kim Nickerson, assistant dean, equity administrator and diversity officer in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, has shared on campus. The tour, excerpted here, also draws from reports by campus colleagues; University Libraries; and other sources. The full tour is available at umd.edu/blackhistorytour.
THE ROSSBOROUGH INN: MEMORIAL BENCH
A WALK TO
New Tour Explores AfricanAmerican History on Campus
The university was founded as the Maryland Agricultural College in 1856 by Charles Benedict Calvert, a slaveholding planter, agriculture booster and politician. He sold a portion of his 428-acre Rossburg Farm property, including the Rossborough Inn, for the campus’ site. The 2009 “Knowing Our History” report by an undergraduate research team was unable to find written evidence of slaves clearing the land, constructing the buildings or working in the dining halls. But since the college was established when Maryland was a slave-holding state, slave labor undoubtedly helped create the wealth that made this college possible. A bench outside the inn remembers and honors those held in slavery whose forced labor was part of the university’s founding. MAIN ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: TREE AND MARKER
John B. Slaughter was the first African-American leader of the campus, from 1982–88, and among the first African-American chancellors of a major, predominantly white university in the U.S. He is credited with making major advances in the recruitment and retention of African-American students and faculty, especially in science and engineering. Slaughter left Maryland to become president of Occidental College in California.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSIT Y ARCHIVES
MORRILL HALL
Morrill Hall is named for Justin Smith Morrill, the congressman and senator from Vermont who sponsored the original legislation creating land-grant institutions. The Morrill Act of 1862 solidified the young Maryland Agricultural College as one of the nation’s first land-grant institutions. The Second Morrill Act passed by Congress in 1890 required states to either remove race restrictions on admission at land-grant colleges or designate a separate land-grant institution for students of color. The University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, a historically African-American institution founded four years earlier, later filled this role, as African Americans were not admitted to College Park at that time. STAMP STUDENT UNION: PHOTOS OF WHITTLE AND JOHNSON
Future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP successfully represented Hiram Whittle, a transfer student who in 1951 became the first African-American undergraduate admitted to the University of Maryland; Whittle left after a year and did not graduate. Elaine Johnson enrolled in 1955 and was the first African-American woman to enroll and graduate, despite frequent mistreatment from peers. PARREN J. MITCHELL ART-SOCIOLOGY BUILDING
Parren J. Mitchell M.A. ’52 was UMD’s first African-American graduate student to take all of his classes on campus and receive a degree. Represented by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP, Mitchell successfully sued the university after he was banned from attending classes on this campus because of his race. Mitchell went on to become a civil rights leader, Maryland’s first African-American member of Congress and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. The Art-Sociology Building was renamed for him in 2015.
DAVID DRISKELL CENTER
The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora honors the legacy of an emeritus professor, painter, art collector and curator, and leading authority on AfricanAmerican art. Established in 2001, the center provides an intellectual home for artists, museum professionals, art administrators and scholars in the field of African diaspora studies. The Driskell Center also collects, documents and presents African-American art. MARYLAND STADIUM
COLE FIELD HOUSE
Maryland Stadium opened in 1950 and for 65 years was named for Harry Clifton “Curley” Byrd, one of the most influential and controversial figures in university history. Byrd graduated in 1908, then returned four years later as football coach. He was promoted to athletics director, vice president, then president, a position he held from 1935–54. He is credited with strengthening the university’s athletic programs and expanding the university’s stature. Byrd, however, actively opposed racial integration of the campus, leading to several court cases that the university lost. In 2015, his name was removed from the stadium.
Cole hosted the 1966 NCAA Final Four, which ended with a historic showdown between Texas Western (now the University of Texas at El Paso) and Kentucky. The Miners became the first team with five African-American starters to win the national title when they defeated the powerhouse Wildcats, 72–65.
PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI
HORNBAKE PLAZA: FREDERICK DOUGLASS SQUARE
The abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass (1818–95), one of the most important figures in Maryland history, is honored with an 8-foot-tall bronze statue by Irish sculptor Andrew Edwards unveiled in 2015. Born into slavery in Talbot County, Md., he taught himself to read and write on the streets of Baltimore before escaping at age 20. Douglass went on to become a powerful voice against slavery and post-Civil War oppression against African Americans and was also a staunch advocate for women’s equality and suffrage. Since its unveiling in 2015, the Douglass statue has become a gathering point for demonstrations and calls for social justice as well as a spot for reflection and inspiration for the campus community. The stones surrounding Frederick Douglass Square feature several of his quotes.
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ENDURANCE TEST UMD Employee Embraces Ultra Fitness Challenges BY DANIEL OYEFUSI ’19
MOST NEWLYWEDS CHOOSE TO SPEND THEIR HONEYMOON relaxing, on a
beach or perhaps in some exotic locale. Tammie Garstecki and her groom each carried a 40-pound backpack while trekking 231 miles through the mountains of California. Garstecki, human resources and payroll coordinator for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been an ultramarathoner for the past six years. She had previously competed in Ironman Triathlons. “I decided I needed a new challenge,” Garstecki says. “I thought there was no better way to celebrate turning 40 than doing a new endurance event.” An ultramarathon is defined as any run that exceeds 26.2 miles; one of the most common races is 50 miles, with some extending to 100 miles. These grueling, punishing races can place runners in the middle of deserts, forests or conditions as extreme as snowstorms in the Alps.
Garstecki competes in three to four ultramarathons a year in locations as far as Hawaii and Costa Rica. “I like being out on the trails and out in the woods,” Garstecki says. “I like the community of ultrarunners. They’re very supportive, very friendly. When you go through the amount of things that you go through during an ultrarun, other people understand it.” With ultraruns testing the depths of one’s mental and physical strength and endurance, proper preparation, mentally and physically, is crucial. Since races typically start early in the morning, and a 50-mile run takes an average of 10 hours, Garstecki trains by going on long runs at night to get used to sleep deprivation and running on “tired legs.” She met her husband, Jeffrey, a
fellow ultrarunner, in a race in Frederick, Md., in 2015. “We started talking and hit it off and a few hours later after we were done running, we just continued everything,” Garstecki says. While the two considered more typical honeymoon ideas, backpacking through the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada was a no-brainer for the pair. For Garstecki, who says she’s not as competitive as she once was, the thrill of finishing a race continues to draw her back in. “A lot of people don’t run,” Garstecki says. “They can’t even fathom the idea of running 100 miles. Just knowing that you pushed your body and mind to the limit is probably the most rewarding part of all that.”
iving Day returns on March 7—and you can help make this the best year yet. The 24-hour giving marathon funds scholarships, research, the arts, athletics and more. What will you support? Staff and faculty can earn bonus dollars for their college, school or other unit through hourly challenges. NEW THIS YEAR: Visit TerpRide outside the Stamp Student Union for fun activities, special guests and giveaways.
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DOWNLOAD your Flat Testudo at givingday.umd.edu
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I SUPPORT
Find info on challenges and give at givingday.umd.edu.
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SNAP a selfie with him
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POST on social media with #GivingDayUMD and why you support UMD
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UMD!
GIVE on MARCH 7
PHOTOS BY STEPHANIE S. CORDLE
In the Thriving Seat
ACCOLADES
Second Faculty-Staff Survey Shows Actions Matter ADVANCING A CULTURE OF ENGAGEMENT, INCLUSION AND EMPOWERMENT among faculty and staff across campus doesn’t have to cost a nickel. Instead, invest in a conversation. That’s one of the main takeaways following the second annual survey of university employees in the Thriving Workplace Initiative, a strategic effort sponsored by the Office of the President to make UMD the best place to work. More than 7,300 faculty and staff members—65 percent—participated in the workplace experiences survey conducted by Gallup in October, up from 54 percent in Spring 2016. Four thousand people took the survey both times, and those whose offices discussed and reacted to the first round of results showed a marked increase in their engagement scores. (Gallup defines engaged employees as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.) Conversely, doing nothing with the first survey’s results led to decreased engagement scores this time around. At a December meeting to discuss THRIVING WORKPLACE the findings with nearly 500 employees,
representatives from the president’s The Thriving Workplace Initiative office and the Center for Leadership hosts campus conversations on & Organizational Change said they cultivating a thriving workplace were pleased with the constructive throughout 2018, as well as conversations that campus employees monthly sessions to build your and supervisors are having about thriving workplace knowledge their workplace. and skills. “These are actionable items, and The next “Thrive Thursday” they’re not very complex or expensive installment, Brain Basics: things to increase people’s engagement What’s Your Brain Got to and feelings of being included,” says Do With It?, is from 9–10:30 Cynthia Kay Stevens, an associate a.m. Feb. 22 at the CLOC office, professor in management and Seneca Building, Suite 102. organization and associate dean in the Register by contacting Office of Undergraduate Studies who is thrivingworkplace@umd.edu. on the provost’s faculty TWI work group. But the Gallup data, which spans industries across the U.S., indicates that higher education institutions lag in assessing and improving employee engagement. Brandon Busteed, executive director, education and workforce development at Gallup, told the group in December that the No. 1 driver of student engagement is staff and faculty engagement, and that’s critical to the success of the university. “This is infectious, this thing called engagement, and we spread it invariably to students,” he said.
UNIQUE VENUES MAGAZINE SELECTED UMD as the 2017 Best Venue for Unique or Locally Sourced Catering, and, for a consecutive year, the Best Venue for Youth/ Sports Groups. THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION’S DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT was ranked #4 in North America among human development and family science Ph.D. programs by an Ohio State University researcher who has been compiling this list since 2014. KIMBERLY A. GRIFFIN, associate professor
in the College of Education, was named editor of the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. JOHN LEA-COX, professor in the Department
of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, earned the 2017 Experiment Station Section Excellence in Multistate Research award for managing irrigation for ornamental crops. IQBAL HAMZA, professor in the departments of Animal and Avian Sciences, and Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. DARREL L. WILLIAMS, adjunct professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences, received the 2017 William T. Pecora Award for outstanding contributions to using remote sensing to understand the Earth.
College of Information Studies Senior Lecturer RENEE HILL won the 2018 Library Journal/ALISE Excellence in Teaching Award. UMD School of Public Health Dean BORIS D. LUSHNIAK was honored by the American Medical Association with the Distinguished Service Award for his contributions in the field of public health. He is former acting surgeon general of the United States. Family Science Professor LEIGH LESLIE received the Kathleen Briggs Outstanding Mentor Award from the National Council on Family Relations. DAN CONWAY, professor in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, earned an Anderson Hopkins Award for Excellence in the Theater Arts.
UMD President Wallace Loh presents an honorary doctorate to U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings at the 2017 Winter Commencement. PHOTO BY EMILY CHASTAIN
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Kenneth Noland, In the Garden, 1952 Paul Klee, Kettledrummer, 1940
A DREAMY PAIRING
UMD Partner Phillips Collection Showcases Paul Klee and His Artistic Successors BY SALA LEVIN ’10
how to describe 20thcentury Swiss-German artist Paul Klee? Was he a Cubist? Sort of. A Surrealist? Partly. An Expressionist? Sure, that too. A new exhibit at UMD partner institution the Phillips Collection explores his legacy by presenting Klee’s work in dialogue with that of 10 American artists who were influenced by his complicated and diverse artistic styles. “Ten Americans: After Paul Klee” focuses on Klee and artists working after World War II. Curator Elsa Smithgall says that following the war's devastation, they "were looking for deeper ways to convey aspects of the human condition that
were more intangible—ways that were still in touch with life but tapped into the world of feelings and the unconscious.” Klee’s work, which blends the figurative and the abstract and often features dreamlike swirls of color and repeating shapes, inspired artists like Jackson Pollock and Gene Davis— both represented in the exhibit—to work intuitively, often without planning which colors to use or how to compose their pieces, says Smithgall. The exhibit, created in collaboration with the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland, focuses on several themes that were
central to Klee’s work and others who came after him, including what Smithgall calls “polyphonic rhythms,” or the idea that Klee’s work, in its popping profusion of shades and shapes, is a visual analogy for many voices singing together. On April 22, Associate Professor Joshua Shannon will be part of a symposium discussing Klee’s influence on postwar American abstract art at the Phillips. UMD students, faculty and staff can see the exhibit, open until May 6, by taking a free bus from campus to the Phillips Collection; it departs from Stamp Student Union every Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
IMAGES COURTESY OF THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION AND ZENTRUM PAUL KLEE , BERN , SWITZERLAND
BETWEEN THE COLUMNS is published twice per semester by the Office of Strategic Communications. Story ideas are welcome and should be sent to Liam Farrell, managing editor, at lfarrel1@umd.edu or by calling 301.405.4629. The mailing list is generated through University Human Resources. Any changes to names and addresses should be made through ares.umd.edu.
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