The Key, October 2021 Edition

A newsletter for students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends NOAA will continue its twodecade commitment to support the next generation of marine scientists and researchers at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

The federal agency, through its Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions, announced Sept. 23 its renewal of an agreement that will provide $30 million in grants over five years to support the Living Marine Resources Science Center headquartered at UMES. The university’s LMRCSC is one of two NOAA Cooperative Science Centers at historically Black colleges and universities that train and graduate students in coastal and marine ecosystems as well as in living marine resources science and management — core science fields for the federal agency.

The UMES center’s mission is to educate and provide research opportunities related to NOAA Fisheries and NOAA’s healthy oceans research and management, while at Florida A&M University the Cooperative Science Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems focuses on resilient coastal communities and economies.

“These grants will strengthen the federal workforce by promoting and advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility,” Dr. Rick Spinrad, NOAA administrator, said. “This funding will directly benefit students at minority serving institutions who we hope will join the future NOAA workforce and who will contribute to U.S. global economic competitiveness.”

“We are excited about this new center award and are deeply grateful to NOAA for its continued confidence in this endeavor,” UMES President Heidi M. Anderson said. “This investment will be invaluable in enabling the University of Maryland Eastern Shore together with its partner institutions to build on its excellent record of training and graduating a diverse future STEM workforce, particularly in marine and fisheries science.”

The LMRCSC led by UMES is a consortium of seven partner universities

October 2021

that includes Delaware State, Hampton, Oregon State, Savannah State, University of Miami and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Scientists and students collaborate on research and educational projects related to NOAA’s mission.

In the past five years, the LMRCSC has trained 60 graduate students and 64 undergraduates, and graduated 18 undergraduates and 24 graduate students, while another 48 students are currently pursuing degrees, according to UMES’ Dr. Paulinus Chigbu.

“LMRCSC alumni are pursuing successful careers and making significant scientific contributions in academia, state and federal agencies, including NOAA,” said Chigbu, the center director. “More than 57% of those (who) received bachelor’s degrees from the center have enrolled in graduate schools.”

Detbra Rosales, who earned a doctoral degree in the marine-estuarine-environmental sciences (MEES) at UMES in 2020, currently is a National Science Foundation Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology post-doctoral fellow in UMES’ Center for the Integrated Study of Coastal Ecosystem Processes and Dynamics.

Rosales is working alongside UMES and NOAA researchers on a project analyzing the effects of comb jellies on the abundance of Vibrio spp. bacteria and harmful algae species in tidal bays along Maryland’s Atlantic coast.

“The MEES graduate school community at UMES was very welcoming,” she said. “We took similar classes, worked together on projects and attended field trips, all of which we most likely would not have had access to if we weren’t in the program.

“Additionally,” she said, “the NOAA Experiential Research Training and Opportunities internship exposed me to working and conducting research at a NOAA facility that influenced my future career plans.”

UMES receives $30 million to continue training a diverse NOAA workforce

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Delight Essays

Art gifted by C. Payne Lucas

Dedication to former UMES Educator

- Gail Stephens

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Essay: Hispanic Heritage Month

Student Profile: Samata Bhetwal

Alum Profile: Ambrose Jearld

Employees of the Month Gas Pipeline Update

Remembering Roger Brown

Athletics

Page 12 Save the Date Homecoming

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Delight Essays In Ross Gay’s book The Book of Delights, the UMES common reader for the 2021-22 academic year, Gay writes, “The more you study delight, the more delight there is to study.”

That might sound like a nightmare to a student – MORE to study – but with delights, the exponential joy, the amplification of attention, all of it builds to a mindset of appreciation and reflection, something we need after the Voldemortian year we had, And students are responding.

They are reflecting on their moments of delight and where they find joy. It might not be surprising that for many, UMES is a place that provides boundless delights.

For others, it might be the delight of being in one’s body and celebrating how joyous it is to move with health through the world.

UMES students Leah Parker and Charles Smith here reflect on delight as part of their Honors Seminar: “Selves and Others.”

As we move through this year, as we get back to joy, we will hear more from students, faculty and staff as they ruminate on joy compiling, in part, a campus wide UMES original book of delights.

School News

By Leah Parker As I walk across the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s campus, I see excellence all around me. I see those who look like me being celebrated and recognized for who they are.

I see representation.

As my feet trod the concrete, I think of those before me who walked this very same campus — alumni, artists, entrepreneurs, doctors.

That is pure excellence.

I then think of how people fought for schools just like UMES to exist. HBCUs are a place for minorities to feel connected, and closer to their ancestors and those who look like them. The power and strength of those before them seemingly seeps out of the walls and into students’ bodies.

They dare to stand proud and represent themselves and others.

Everyone is welcome, no matter their color or race. Everyone has a chance to shine like the stars they are. These walls leave no room for racial oppression. We all stand tall, thanks to those who stood up for the ones who were initially supposed to fall.

HBCUs make hiding and faking the funk to “fit in” for fear of being judged an almost nonexistent option. Everyone can be who they are. I can be who I am.

I find pure delight and joy knowing colleges in the world are devoted to making everyone feel included. Despite the racism that tried to deny minorities an education, institutions have developed to help everyone soar. Whether they represent a hawk, bison or bear, all HBCUs have provided the wings students need to help their dreams take flight.

By Charles Smith III It’s me chilling in the house and hearing a basketball bouncing outside that gets me going. When you just have to get up and see who it is, only to respond with “He ain’t better than me.”

It’s second nature or an unwritten law, but either way, it must be done. I try to relax and stay chill, but the repeated bounce of the ball just pulls me along. It must be some sort of magnet or something. Maybe since it’s, you know, round it could be a mini planet and I’m just getting caught in its

School News

By Carmen Parks

The Key / October 2021

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Some waved to me, including a child, who waved the arm of her doll, and I waved back. The music began, piped into the parking lot on speakers from the sanctuary. Instead of clapping after the song, everybody blew their horns. It was as if we were all letting the world, and each other, know we were there.

We honked enthusiastically again after the hope-filled sermon, and when it was time for Communion, we were told to turn on our blinkers if we’d like one of the masked and gloved volunteers to deliver an individually wrapped small cup of juice, topped with a tiny wafer, to our window.

Sharing this commemorative meal with others, undoable via Zoom, was something I sorely missed.

When it was time, we all, temporarily unmasked, held up our little cups, as if toasting each other, before drinking the juice and eating the bread together.

It was a moment of close connection and pure joy.

Afterwards, we drove up to greet Pastor Dennis.

When I rolled down my window to thank him, I asked, “Aren’t you cold, doing this out here for us?” He showed me the blinking light on the battery-powered hunting vest beneath his parka.

“I’m toasty warm,” he told me. “See? It’s heated!”

I couldn’t see his mouth under his mask, but his eyes held an unmistakable smile, and he offered me an air hug as I drove away.

Happy and no longer lonely, I remembered what my father said on that long-ago trip in the mountains. I still loved Jesus, and now I also loved “hillbillies,” and I had a feeling that Jesus loved them, too.

Decades ago, on the way to a Blue Ridge Mountains’ vacation, as I squirmed impatiently in the back seat of our station wagon, anxious to arrive, I spied a handpainted sign on a rusty chain-link fence in front of a modest house.

As a first-grader, I was proud of my ability to read and showed off at every opportunity by reading everything in sight, so I read it out loud: “Honk If You Love Jesus.”

My father praised my reading, but disappointingly, did not blow the horn. We loved Jesus, didn’t we? I learned about Him from the nuns at Holy Trinity School; so, since my other favorite hobby, aside from reading, was asking questions non-stop, I asked, “Dad, how come you didn’t honk?” and – as often happened – was mystified by his reply: “Only hillbillies do that.”

Fast-forward to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was now a widow, living alone, and, while I certainly still loved Jesus, I could not stand one more Sunday of sitting home alone, watching an inanimate church service on a computer screen. A friend had told me about a gathering in a church parking lot near her home, and, in desperation, I decided to go. I doubted I would like it – it was so untraditional – but I really needed to be with fellow human beings.

Pastor Dennis, a self-identified “hillbilly” from West Virginia, pulled his Toyota Tundra pickup under the portico and climbed up in the bed to speak to us.

It was winter and the air was frosty cold, but he was bundled up and held a microphone, and we could hear him on a closed-circuit station on our radios.

The parking lot was full, and people rolled down their windows to stick out their hands and wave.

The author is a retired elementary school educator who joined the UMES faculty as an adjunct lecturer in the fall of 2019.

gravitational pull. I think that’s what it is. Anyway, my chill time has become shortened due to the li’l planet passing by. Now what do I do?

Rushing into my room, bursting open the drawers, maybe even flying closet doors, I gather my clothes to ball in. All that cardio: those suicides, down and backs, and sidelines, all in my room. It brings me back to when the season was in action. It’s funny and well, umm, kind of crazy at the same time, how fast those li’l planets drag me along.

I mean, what can I say? Once you’re in a gravitational pull, it’s hard to get out. Sometimes I don’t want to — well, most times I don’t want — ugh, there is rarely a time when I truly want to get out of those li’l worlds.

There. I said it.

But those worlds are unique. Whenever I get caught, there’s always something different that happens. No two planets are the same, and that’s what brings me joy.

Alumnus Gift

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A treasured gift from an equally treasured alumnus

Africare donated artwork collected by the late C. Payne Lucas, class of ‘59 The University of Maryland Eastern Shore unveiled a small sample of African art donated on behalf of a distinguished alumnus to coincide with the 2021 Founders’ Week celebration.

The university held a low-key reception at the Frederick Douglass Library Sept. 15 to give invited guests a peek at an impressive collection of some 250 pieces of art assembled by the late C. Payne Lucas Sr. Lucas, a 1959 graduate, was a co-founder of Africare, a non-government organization Photo: Africare that veterans of the Peace Corps formed in 1970 to address “African development and policy issues by working in partnership with African people to build sustainable, healthy and productive communities.”

Known to friends and associates as “Luke,” he was the son of North Carolina sharecroppers who became the non-profit’s second president, holding the post from 1971 until 2002.

Along the way, he collected African art from nations across the continent where Africare operated, which in turn became part of the organization’s cultural holdings.

UMES President Heidi M. Anderson told reception guests the university was humbled to accept the artwork from Africare because she said she hopes it might inspire students and alumni to make a

difference on a global scale in careers they choose. Lucas’ humble beginnings and earning a UMES degree, she said, prove demonstrably that hard work will lead to success.

Lucas spent four years in the Air Force, interrupting his pursuit of an undergraduate degree in history at then Maryland State College.

After receiving a master’s degree in government from American University in 1961, he accepted a job with the Peace Corps. He rose through its ranks to serve as assistant country director in Togo, country director in Niger, director of the Africa Region and director of the Office of Returned Volunteers.

“It was in the Peace Corps and in the years he spent in Africa, guiding predominantly white volunteers in transcending race and culture that Luke began to shape strong feelings regarding ‘diversity,’” wrote friend and colleague Kevin G. Lowther in a tribute when Lucas retired.

His death in 2018 was reported on by the nation’s major newspapers; those who worked with him or admired his work also offered heartfelt tributes.

Africare announced in August 2020 it was relocating from the United States to Senegal, where it now operates as PanAfricare and “will continue … implementing programs with a commitment towards ‘improving lives and building futures’ on the African continent.” In preparation for the move, the organization arranged to share its art holdings with UMES and the Smithsonian Institution as a lasting tribute to its co-founder.

Dedication

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UMES salutes a foundational faculty member UMES leaders renamed a first-floor seminar room in the Food Sciences & Technology Center in honor of the late John Valentine Strickland, a pioneering faculty member credited with launching modern poultry science studies at the university.

“This recognition is made possible by a generous gift from Dr. Roger Estep, D.V.M., an esteemed university alumnus, 1951, and protégé of Mr. Strickland,” reads the hallway plaque.

Estep has been among his generation’s most loyal alumni, and it’s not the first time he’s stepped up with a gift to support the university.

Another generous donation inspired the university to thank him by naming a Hazel Hall conference room for the School of Agriculture and Natural Sciences after Estep’s wife, Romaine, who died in 2004.

Strickland’s teaching career in Princess Anne spanned nearly three decades and as many name changes.

He joined the Princess Anne College faculty in 1938 before moving on in 1940 to Lincoln University of Missouri.

President John T. Williams, looking to build a top-flight faculty around its traditional land-grant mission, lured Strickland back to Princess Anne in 1948 when the institution became Maryland State College. One of his first students in his second faculty tour was young Roger D. Estep.

Strickland retired shortly after Maryland State College was renamed the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and in the spring of 1973 he was awarded faculty emeritus status. A private road on the east side of

campus – not far from where he minded and studied poultry flocks – bears his name.

Strickland died in 1998.

Meanwhile, Estep dedicated the better part of his adult life trailblazing in academia.

He earned a master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee Institute.

Like his mentor, Estep started off his career teaching “poultry husbandry” at Penn State in the late 1950s before moving on to Howard University’s College of Medicine, where he taught physiology and was a research veterinarian.

He eventually moved into administration to serve as Howard’s executive assistant to the vice president for health affairs in 1970 and finally as the executive assistant to the president in 1971 before leaving for a short stint with the National Institutes of Health.

In 1972, Estep returned to Howard, where he served nearly two decades as vice president for development and university relations, spearheading the institution’s first $100 million fund raising campaign.

A long-time Washington, D.C. area resident, after retiring from Howard Estep shifted his energies to helping UMES, accepting an appointment in 2007 to be senior advisor for government relations. He also served on his alma mater’s fundraising advisory committee and assisted the institution in meeting its fundraising goals.

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Hispanic Heritage

Is Hispanic Heritage Month an inclusive term?

A 2021 UMES alumna weighs in on what it means to her

The Key invited Angélica Maria Garcia, a May 2021 graduate, to share her thoughts Recognizing on the meaning Hispanic of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Heritage Month

Sept. 15 - Oct. 15 When I hear ‘Hispanic Heritage Month,’ I tend to cringe a little. There are so many opinions about this topic within the Hispanic/Latino communities and beyond. Many feel it is impossible to capture the true richness of our many diverse cultures within one title, and for many, the term ‘Hispanic’ is the issue.

I once heard a speaker at a Latino conference say: “I am Latino.

Maybe someday I will accept being called Hispanic.”

This stuck with me because he was referring to his identity and indigenous roots, and the Spaniards’ colonization of the Americas.

‘Hispanic’ is mostly used to acknowledge Spanish speakers or people from Spain, but the misconception is that all Latin Americans speak Spanish, which is not the case.

Never mind the dialects indigenous peoples of Mexico, Central and South America speak. I understand it is easy to group us into one category and call it a national appreciation month, like a Hallmark holiday, but even then, the awkwardness of it landing in the middle of September to the middle October is strange.

I am a first-generation American born to a Mexican father and a mother from El Salvador. I have roots in three countries and I am a mixture of all three – I can’t fully claim either one. This is what it’s like to be a SalvaMex-American.

I truly appreciate my parents struggle and hard work to get to this country – they

are the ones I celebrate daily because without them paving the way for my siblings and me, we would not have the privileges we have today.

I wanted to attend and support a non-white university and sought an experience that would help me learn beyond the classroom. Being a person of color is in fact a different experience than for someone with light skin. The more we educate ourselves about people’s lived experiences, histories, realities, identities, languages and cultures, the wiser we become and the better we can help others.

I honor all Black, Indigenous and people of color who came before me and paved the way for those of us trying to contribute not just to this country, but to humanity on a global level. This is why I enrolled in an HBCU and now attend a tribal college. Education about different people, histories and cultures matters. There is no excuse to group everyone in the same category when we have the opportunity to learn or to ask.

My story is the story of Mexico and Central America, but it is here. I view Hispanic Heritage Month as an opportunity to have a conversation about my culture and identity as a Latina – even if the title and awkward date make me shake my head.

At least we are being recognized and appreciated and that’s a good start.

Editor’s note: Views and opinions expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Any content provided by authors are their opinion, and are not intended to malign any religious or ethnic group, club, organization, company or individual.

Student Profile

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‘It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves’ Nepali student takes on the challenge of an American graduate school

Samata Bhetwal traveled 7,700 miles to make her dream of pursuing a degree at an American college a reality.

Home for the first-year graduate student in food science at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal in south Asia.

“I’ve always wanted to have a graduate degree from a university in the U.S.,” the 27-year-old said.

Bhetwal, who is fluent in English, arrived in Philadelphia in early August a year later than planned because of travel restrictions implemented to fight the pandemic.

Her first impression of America?

“There were (paved) roads everywhere, and the sky – the horizon just seemed to be right there, so low, you could touch it,” she said, seated on a bench in front of UMES’ Food Sciences building and gazing skyward at cumulous clouds.

Born in the Chitwan region of tropical western Nepal, a far cry from the Himalayan Mountains and Sagarmatha – known as Mount Everest in the Western Hemisphere, Bhetwal said her family were farmers who grew rice, wheat, corn and potatoes.

Nepalese potatoes apparently are not as sweet as those grown in North America.

Bhetwal becomes animated describing how she has had to adjust to the different food culture.

If relatives want to follow her and study in America, “I would tell them to bring your spices,” she said with a laugh.

“I fully expected to be surprised, and challenged,” Bhetwal said.

Two months into her experience as an American college student, Bhetwal is growing more comfortable

in her new environs, starting with Dr. Byungrok Min’s food chemistry lab.

“We don’t have the fancy equipment back home,” she said. “I’m getting used to it.”

Exploring the world of food chemistry, so far, has been exciting. “I love that,” Bhetwal said.

It was Min whom she contacted electronically when she was ready to resume her education after earning a bio-technology degree from the Study of Ancient and New Nepal (SANN) International College. She is the first in her immediate family to earn a college degree.

Food has interested Bhetwal since her teen years, and she thought about becoming a chef but was dissuaded repeatedly by her family.

A food science course in her junior year at SANN provided clarity on her career path.

Fueled by her desire to come to America and armed with a computer connected to the Internet, she focused on finding the right fit to study food science.

From what she’s seen and experienced so far (on campus), “the university has a completely different system (of operating) than I’m used to.

And that’s good for an active learner.”

One of her goals is learning to drive, and perhaps acquire a car to become more independent. Back home, the primary source of transportation is motorbikes, which her husband uses to get to his job as a civil engineer for the Nepalese government.

Bhetwal said fellow UMES students have graciously helped her get around, especially grocery shopping, where again, finding the right ingredients for meals-forone have been a challenge.

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Alum Profile

Researcher, Educator, Mentor and Advocate for Diversity and Inclusion 1965 Maryland State alumnus Ambrose Jearld Jr. retired in 2016 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after a distinguished 38-year career at the agency’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass. This summer, NOAA published a profile on Jearld as part of its 150th anniversary, excerpted here with the agency’s permission: Ambrose Jearld was the first black researcher with a doctorate degree hired at (NOAA’s) Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

“I had an interesting career, with a lot of support from various people within the center at many levels,” Jearld said.

He had a passion for education and working with people within the center and in other organizations. In his role as a fisheries biologist and administrator, he provided NOAA with leadership on national and international affairs.

He was involved in NOAA science and technical support for six West African countries around the Gulf of Guinea.

He was Chief of the Fishery Biology Investigation, what today is known as the Population Biology Branch.

Jearld conducted and published research and served as an administrator and manager. In 1985, he became Chief of the Research Planning and Evaluation Section. In 1997, he was named Chief of the Research Planning and Coordination Staff.

“Although I didn’t get to do as much research as I would have liked, I realized that if you want to advance in your career you have to see where the opportunities are, and sometimes it involves taking on administrative positions,” said Jearld, who grew up on a farm. “That was hard, as I had a passion for animal behavior and loved research.”

In 2004 he was named Director of Academic Programs at the

Northeast Fisheries Science Center, a role he held until his retirement in 2016.

Throughout his career, he was a strong advocate of NOAA’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in employment. He devoted much of his career to foster NOAA’s goal of maintaining a workplace in which all people are respected as individuals and valued for their contributions.

He worked to connect NOAA with higher education institutions — especially historically Black and other minority serving institutions — and with scientific organizations like the American Geophysical Union and National Science Foundation.

(Numerous UMES students have benefited over the years from summer internships thanks to Jearld’s advocacy.)

Those efforts helped make oceanography and marine sciences more accessible to a diverse body of students and research faculty.

“We are still finding opportunities to get the story of Blacks in fisheries and the environment as complete as possible,” he says. “We have many hidden figures and unsung heroes who have contributed in some way to bring NOAA Fisheries to where it is today.”

In 2017, the Woods Hole scientific community honored him by naming an annual lectureship on diversity and inclusion in his honor.

“We all are a part of the environment, not adjacent to it,” Jearld said when asked about NOAA Fisheries’ 150th anniversary and the Woods Hole Laboratory’s founding. “We all have interests in the water, in the fisheries, in living marine resources. It doesn’t belong to one group or people of one skin color, it belongs to us all.”

“It took many people from many different backgrounds to build what we have today, and we must continue to work together to build upon that legacy as we move forward,” he said.

UMES News

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EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH Crystal Sankar was awarded Employee of the Month for the month of August for her Exceptional Contributions to the Institution by General Counsel, Mr. Matthew Taylor. In addition to serving as Executive Administrative Assistant to the General Counsel, Mrs. Sankar has been assisting the Office of the President as the search for a permanent person continues.

Mrs. Sankar has been with UMES since 2014 in numerous roles, but always as a loyal employee. Beyond her assigned duties, Mrs. Sankar serves as a mentor to students with difficult circumstances. In addition to her supervisor, several students sent in letters of support.

LaChanda Snead, Director of Administrative Computing, was named Employee of the Month for September for her Exceptional Contributions to her Unit. Ms. Snead has been with UMES for over 20 years and took over the reigns as Director two weeks prior to the COVID-19 shut down in 2020. She kept all of the projects on track and all of the necessary systems up and running during a most challenging time for IT. In his nomination letter, CIO, Jerry Waldron wrote, “She has quickly developed leadership and management skills critical to supporting her area and providing services to the campus.”

UMES’ long wait for eco-friendly energy source is close to reality Installation of pipeline that will enable the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus to switch to natural gas as its primary source of energy is heading into the homestretch.

Since late summer, contractors have meticulously fused together dozens of 40-foot long sections of 6-inch yellow-striped black pipe, which has snaked its way along the western and southern perimeters of campus.

Chesapeake Utilities laid the groundwork – literally – to serve the UMES campus by extending an 11-mile natural gas pipeline along U.S. Route 13 from Eden to near Westover, where a medium-security state prison will also benefit from the conversion.

In December 2020, the three-member state Board of Public Works voted unanimously to approval a wetlands license clearing the way for the pipeline to be extended south from Salisbury, crossing three tidal tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Environmental groups opposed the permit, predicting the $11 million project could someday lead to ecological disasters, but Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford defended the decision.

Pipeline opponents, he said, were attempting to block economically disadvantaged Somerset County from being served by a

needed energy resource much of the rest of the state already enjoys.

“Many of the people … most concerned about it do not live on the Lower Shore,” Rutherford said. “Many … already have access to natural gas at home ... and they’re not subjected” to greenhouse gas emissions from the university, which for years has relied on diesel fuel or petroleum, and the nearby prison, which employs wood-fueled boilers for energy.

UMES President Heidi Anderson said affording the university the opportunity to convert to natural gas will allow UMES to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 38% and ECI to reduce its emissions by 65%.

“This natural gas project will allow UMES and … residents of Somerset County to get rid of the dirtiest oil fuels that we are now using as energy here on the Eastern Shore,” Anderson told the Board of Public Works.

Using special trenching equipment, installers have been discretely burrowing the serpentine pipeline along UMES Boulevard, College Backbone Road and University Boulevard behind Hazel Hall, connecting the university’s steam plant adjacent to Carver Hall to the main source of natural gas at Route 13.

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Remembering

Remembering Roger Brown

Legendary Hawk athlete (& DJ) died Sept. 17

Photo credit: Stephen M. Katz The Virginian Pilot

Roger Lee Brown, a towering figure as an undergraduate during his days in Princess Anne and for a decade in the National Football League, died Sept. 17 in his native Tidewater-area Virginia.

He was 84.

Six feet 5 inches tall, Brown was one of professional football’s first players who routinely weighed 300 pounds.

He was a six-time Pro Bowler in the NFL and was a member of the Hawks Hall of Fame (1982), the College Football Hall of Fame (2009), The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame (1997) and the Black College Football Hall of Fame (2014).

“I thought he was just one of the great characters in professional football,” UMES athletics Director Keith Davidson said. “The fact that he was from our campus … just made spending time with him more special.”

In Portsmouth, Va., he was well known in post-retirement as owner of Roger Brown’s Restaurant and Sports Bar, where he was a gracious host to those who would visit from the university.

A social media post from Brown’s restaurant noted “the legacy he’s created has made him a valued member of our community and he will be deeply missed. Those of us who have had the privilege of knowing and working with Roger have lost a dear friend and inspiring mentor.”

Born in Surry County, Va., Brown grew up in Newport News and went on to attend school in Nyack, N.Y. After graduation, he enrolled at then-Maryland State College with a goal of working on his academics and transferring to a larger school. But he often said he fell in love with the tiny campus and stayed.

Brown played collegiately from 1956-59, when his teams had a record of 24-5-1. He led the Hawks to a Central Intercollegiate

Athletic Association title in 1957 and was a small college All-American in 1958 and 1959.

While at Maryland State, he and some classmates started a pirate radio station that was short-lived. He also moonlighted as disc jockey at two Salisbury radio stations, using the pseudonym Big Nyack.

“He was always an entrepreneur even before he retired and he talked about that,” Davidson said. “He talked … about managing singing groups, working at a club. He was even involved in the music industry while he was playing in Detroit.”

Brown was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1960 and he played alongside Alex Karras, Darris McCord and Sam Williams to form Detroit’s “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line.

Traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1967, Brown replaced Rosey Grier on the Rams’ better known defensive line comprised of Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones, all of whom predeceased him.

After Brown’s death, the Bleacher Report reported the Los Angeles Rams’ Tom Mack recalled his first run-in with Brown when he played for the Lions. ”I dove at him and hit him too high, and it was like hitting a solid wall,” the Hall of Fame guard said. ”He slapped my helmet so hard it almost tore my head off.”

Yet those met him in his post-playing days recalled a kind, gentle, affable man.

Brown played in 138 NFL games, starting 124. Brown was chosen for the Lions’ all-time 75th anniversary team in 2008. He had 75 career sacks, two interceptions and three safeties.

The UMES athletics department contributed to this article.

UMES News

Baltusrol rolls out the red carpet ‘fore’ Lady Hawk golfers

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Tammye Jones, Briahna Willis, Nyla Myers and Elisha Jones on the tee at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. (Below L-R) Nyla Sims, Arria Gross, Briahna Willis, Tammye Jones, Tiarra Williams, Nyla Myers and Elishia Jones

Kiah descendent played a role connecting UMES with the golf club

The UMES women’s golf team traveled to Springfield, N.J. Columbus Day weekend – not to compete – but to get a behind-thescenes look at the inner workings of one of America’s best-known and historic golf courses.

The student-athletes accepted an invitation to visit Baltusrol Golf Club, which has played host to 17 major golf championship tournaments over its 126-year history.

Baltusrol member Tammye Jones arranged for the golfers to meet with the private club’s senior leadership team in a first-of-its-kind activity that also included a meet-and-greet reception, formal dinner and two rounds of golf.

“This is something I wanted to do personally,” Jones said. “I was looking for a way to expose (the students) to what Baltusrol is all about, how it operates – and provide them with a glimpse of the different roles and responsibilities they may pursue after school.”

The UMES delegation also returned with an $11,500 donation to support development of the university’s PGA-accredited golf management program. One of the contributors was the grandson of the late Dr. Thomas H. Kiah, the fifth leader of UMES when it was known as Princess Anne Academy.

Jones, a golf enthusiast who holds two degrees from historically black institutions, wants to see the game she loves embrace and promote diversity and earlier this year started casting about on the Internet in search of a nearby HBCU with a women’s golf team.

She happened upon UMES, which she discovered is also the nation’s only HBCU with an undergraduate degree program built around the golf industry. UMES golf management program prepares graduates for jobs ranging from resort management, club professional or working in the industry’s niche retail sector.

“It seemed like a perfect fit,” Jones said.

Jones reached out to golf management program director Billy

Dillon, who doubles as the women’s golf coach and after a series of conversations, a visit to Baltusrol was arranged. ”Baltusrol rolled out the red carpet for the UMES women’s golf team and treated (each of) them as celebrities,” Dillon said.

Joining Dillon was Dr. Pamela Allison, chair of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management under which the golf management program operates. ”The (club’s) members … were genuinely hospitable,” Allison said. “The players were welcomed and celebrated by all in attendance.

I truly believe these women will have an affinity for the Baltusrol Golf Club for a lifetime.”

One of those in attendance at the Friday reception and dinner was Leonard S. Coleman Jr., a Baltusrol member who advised the club’s diversity and inclusion committee on connecting with the institution his grandfather once led.

“I was glad to do it,” Coleman said. “I think everyone benefited from the experience.”

Jones surprised the UMES delegation at the Friday event when she announced she had raised $6,700 from like-minded lady golfers in her circle of friends. Inspired by that gesture, Coleman chimed in by offering to round up the donation to $10,000 with a $3,300 contribution.

The final amount ended up being $11,500 when two others also stepped forward with gifts after meeting the team.

“It was a glorious evening,” Jones said. “Everyone was so mannerly.

I can tell you everyone was very impressed by those young ladies. They are a credit to your university.”

The visit could also pay dividends down the road for both parties, which agreed to explore ways the club might support UMES with golf management internships, a degree pre-requisite.

University Relations 30665 Student Services Center Lane Princess Anne, MD 21853

SAVE THE DATE

Homecoming November 8 – 14, 2021

Meet the 2021 University of Maryland Eastern Shore cheerleaders helping to spread Hawk Pride this homecoming season.

Front Row (L-R): Ashley Leach, Reina Murphy, BriNya Maddox, Anjanique LaFontant, Inayah Mason, Gabriell Mebane-McLeod and Mia Richardson Back Row (L-R): Ariel Feruson, Jayla Carr, Indiya Hawkins, Alexa Beauford,

For more information and the Homecoming event schedule, visit www.umes.edu/homecoming.

Tiphany Smith, Zyah Anderson, Alexcia Cooper and Kasia Coleman Photo: UMES Athletics

The Key / October 2021

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