A newsletter for students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends February 27, 2015

“Powering Maryland For(e)ward” proved a well-received theme at the 2015 edition of “UMES Day in Annapolis,” an annual advocacy event that brings together state lawmakers and university constituents in the state capital.

Visitors and well-wishers dropped by the Miller Senate Office building for a midday reception featuring exhibits that demonstrate how UMES “fuels economic growth and opportunity … by producing highly trained professionals and solutions for Maryland’s leading industries.”

The theme of the event was an escapist play-on-words – the six booths featured practice putting greens in recognition of the university’s PGA golf management program, the only one of its kind at a historically black institution.

INS

IDE Page 2

Bryan Collier ExhibitPat Kiah Shares

Journey

Page 3Historic WalkWhite House Recognizes

Faculty Member

Page 4Honor Student CompetesAll Stars Qualify to

Compete

Page 5Alumni Give BackStep ShowConcert

Page 6MEAC

Page 7Newspaper Editor

SpeaksConcert Choir PerformsUMES Mission

UMES student is burgeoning inventor

UMES senior Jean-Paul Badjo grew up the youngest of nine siblings in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. dreaming someday of becoming a video game designer.

His father, a retired civil engineer, was not keen on that career path.So the dutiful son enrolled at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to study something

more traditional – old school, if you will; electrical engineering.And now, Badjo just might be on the cusp of a breakthrough that would merge the impressive

technological knowledge in his head with that long-held desire in his heart to explore new frontiers in the cyber world.

Enter the “Badjo Suit.”For the past two years, Badjo has spent his free time tinkering with bringing to life his vision

of cyborg-style characters in video games that could have chameleon-like attributes across a spectrum of uses.

Badjo, who was born in Togo, occasionally trots out the “suit” from a workshop in an obscure corner of campus for demonstrations.

Onlookers don’t know what to make of it. He’s programmed it so one of the hands functions as a taser that is capable, he insists, of producing up to 10 million volts of electricity. The suit also has the ability to shoot flames.

And anyone who has ever been inside a mascot suit can appreciate another innovation he’s tried to build into the suit: air conditioning.

For all his expertise in this high-tech gadgetry, Badjo insists “I’m more of an art person.” He says he likes to draw, paint and create digital imagery.

INVENTOR / continued on page 6

Page 8Calendar of Events

ANNAPOLIS / continued on page 6

UMES Dayin Annapolis

(Left) Sen. Robert Cassilly, Harford County, and Kimberly Dumpson, UMES’ executive vice president.

(Below) Dr. Juliette B. Bell is pictured with Del. Charles Otto, Somerset County.

2 The Key / February 27, 2015

The Black History Month exhibit at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Mosely Gallery features the works of Pocomoke native Bryan Collier, an award-winning illustrator and writer with a unique style of watercolor and collage.

The works on display through March 12 are from six of the 27 children’s books he has illustrated and include: “Rosa,” “Visiting Langston,” “I, Too, Am America,” “Lincoln and Douglas,” “Knock, Knock,” and “Martin’s Big Words.” Collier will read from the collection March 3 to local school children.

Collier, who spent seven years of “going door-to-door” to get his first book deal, spoke to a group of UMES’ fine arts students about perseverance. “I was a student once and (I’m here) to tell them my history and story and give them encouragement that they can make it as well,” Collier said.

One of his early breaks was winning first place in a national art contest some 30 years ago. The attention he gained earned him a scholarship to the Pratt Institute in New York where he graduated in 1989 with a bachelor’s in fine arts. His work has earned Caldecott Honors, Coretta Scott King awards

and the 2014 U.S. nomination for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Being a new artist, he said, is “about being seen and heard and being taken seriously.” His advice to students: “Keep telling the world you’re an artist and you have something to say.”

Collier volunteered at the Harlem Horizon Art Studio in the Harlem Hospital Center while an undergraduate, discovering a passion for children’s books. He served as program director for 12 years before focusing his full attention to his art.

Quinton Walker, a UMES senior majoring in applied design, found meeting Collier “very inspirational and informative.” “It shed light on the art industry from the business aspect

and how to get your name out to the masses of people,” Walker said. “It was good to see an African-American male doing something positive in the community and for black history.”

The Mosely Gallery, located in the Thomas-Briggs Arts and Technology building, is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Groups wanting to schedule a book reading March 3 can call 410-651-7770.

Princess Anne native Pat Kiah told UMES students earlier this month that determination and pursuing what “makes you happy” should be guiding principles in achieving success in life after college.

Her message to members of the Richard A. Henson Honors Program: “I came from a family that said you can do what you want to … and instilled in us the importance of education and self-determination.”

Kiah grew up on the UMES campus, the daughter of Maryland

State College education professor T. Waldo Kiah and his wife, Lois. Her grandfather, Thomas Henry Kiah, was the fifth leader of the institution when it was known as Princess Anne Academy.

She traveled cross-country from her job in Los Angeles, where she is the art department coordinator for the popular CBS drama, NCIS, to share with UMES students “My Journey from Social Work to Show Business.”

A Morgan State graduate with a degree in sociology, Kiah talked candidly about challenges she faced in her first job as a social worker who struggled to help people down on their luck, constrained by burdensome regulations and limited resources.

“I was looking for something more creative,” she said during a keynote address that also attracted a handful of childhood friends. So, she moved to New York, the heart of the fashion industry, where she could nurture a need to find “visual stimulation.”

“It was fun. It was exciting. It was bloody hard work,” she said.That experience led her to a new career path as photographer agent,

and a move to London, where she met her husband of nearly 30 years. Andy Shuttleworth is a widely respected camera operator in demand from producers of television shows and film, so the couple eventually moved to Los Angeles, where steady work in that specialized profession is more reliable than England.

Kiah has worked behind the scenes in the art department for 10 years on NCIS, one of broadcast TV’s most popular shows since it went on the air in September 2003. “This is where the fun happens,” she said.

She tracks the expenditures of four departments responsible for daily production, a crucial task in the highly competitive industry of entertainment television.

Pat Kiah returns home to share the story of her life’s journey

UMES fine arts students Nathan Tanner and Destiny Smith meet Bryan Collier during the opening reception of the artist’s exhibit in the Mosely Gallery.

Illustrator returns to Shore for Black History Month exhibit

KIAH / continued on page 7

Circling the Oval

UMES People The Key / February 27, 2015 3

Les Franklin will embark on a 54-mile walk from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and some 8,000 demonstrators in the historic 1965 march.

For a budding student of change and a lover of history and the outdoors, it is the marriage of several interests.

“Being down there and passing through those small towns where there is so much history—good and bad—will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Franklin, a UMES sophomore majoring in education, said. The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in particular he said “has a lot of energy” when it comes to civil rights landmarks.

Franklin will join a group of 300 U.S. citizens selected through an application process for the National Historic Trail’s March 20-25 “Walking Classroom” commemorating the 50th anniversary of the protest. The week-long event focuses “on the march, the responsibility of all Americans to participate fully in the democratic process and how the…march, its events and people led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

One of Franklin’s professors, Dr. Kathryn Barrett-Gaines, describes him as: “a sensitive, caring, conscientious, informed and empowered college student and citizen who has begun to organize his friend and peers to work locally for justice.”

Franklin sees participating in the event “as a training opportunity and way to build a foundation” for the local activism that he would like to be a catalyst for. “Salisbury

UMES student participates in historic walk(his hometown) is ‘The Crossroads’ of Delmarva and I believe it could be the perfect place to start.”

Franklin and a group of friends met at the corner of Rt. 50 and West Main Street in Salisbury to join in the national protest against police brutality brought about by spotlight on the cases of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Erick Garner and Tamir Rice.

“We didn’t know what we were doing and didn’t have the skills to get people to join in,” Franklin said. This opportunity, he said, could show

him what they could do better to increase their numbers and get their message across.

Franklin will spend five nights camping at the halfway point between Selma and Montgomery at the Lowndes Interpretive Center in Hayneville, Ala.—the site of the original “Tent City.” From there, he will be taken to the leg of the walk to be accomplished each day.

As for the physical part: “That’s nothing,” Franklin said, “I’m always outside walking trails.” Last month he hiked a mountain

trail in Arizona when he was there for the Pro Bowl. He also enjoyed a two-year stint with the National Park

Service at Assateague Island working in interpretive education leading walks and kayak tours.

“Our whole university community will benefit from his engagement in this life-changing pilgrimage,” Barrett-Gaines, said. “We will follow him every day as he shares his experiences (through social media) and public presentations to our university and community (on his return).

UMES math professor Rob Johnson was among 11 African-American college educators recognized this week as a national “Champion of Change” teaching at historically black institutions.

Johnson was excused from jury duty Tuesday to attend the White House ceremony, one of a series of events organized to focus attention on President Barack Obama’s goal of challenging the nation “to lead the world in college completion by 2020.”

Since joining the UMES faculty in 1999, Johnson has focused “on identifying, securing, and establishing resources that create awareness and stimulate interests in the vast opportunities that exist in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” collectively known as the STEM fields.

“We must ensure more African-American students graduate from college,” the White House said. “The college graduation rate for African-American students is 34.3 percent, compared to 47.1 percent for Asian students, 46.2 percent for white students, and 41.05 percent for Hispanic students (according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 2015).”

A White House synopsis notes Johnson and fellow UMES faculty members “have secured over $3 million in federal, state and industry funds to aid students in completing financial obligations related to collegiate study, gateway course completion, completing intense research projects and matriculation to graduation.”

From 1999-2009, Johnson was director of the UMES Summer Transportation Institute supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation / Federal Highway Administration. “That program,” the White House said, “assisted over 200 high school students in honing essential academic and social skills necessary for successful entry into collegiate environments and matriculation through STEM disciplines.”

In addition to his administrative duties as chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Johnson has been active in faculty governance, assists in coaching the university’s club football team and was recently named UMES’ Faculty Athletic Representative to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the NCAA.

The 11 honorees, the White House noted, were recognized during a Black History Month-themed event because they “drive the college completion agenda. These leaders work with students, families, higher education leaders, and policymakers to build paths to graduation.”

White House recognizes UMES faculty member

School News4 The Key / February 27, 2015

Mariah Dennis, a junior majoring in biology, earned a $500 scholarship as runner-up in the recent Ford (Motor Company) Black College Quiz in Atlanta, Ga.

Dennis, representing UMES, competed against participants from 12 other Historically Black Colleges. The competition in late November encourages “an appreciation of African-American heritage by all people in an entertaining quiz show format.”

“It was different than what I expected,” Dennis said. She and the other competitors, she said, were caught a little off-guard, which made it more interesting. There were four rounds of competition: multiple choice, a speed round “like the last round of ‘Family Feud’,” a ring toss game and a final round “like the last round of ‘Jeopardy.’

Dennis said participating in the event “allowed me to expand on my Black History knowledge,” which she hopes will help when she competes in the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge the last week in March. She said she was able to connect with some of the same competitors she will face at the national Honda event and they were able to share techniques for studying and preparation.

Look to the BET line-up for when the quiz show will air.

Dr. Kirkland Hall, a faculty member of 47 years in exercise science, was named the first “Hawk Hero” in a recognition series by the Frederick Douglass Library’s special collections/outreach department. Pictured at an opening ceremony of the exhibit, from left, are: Tracey Hunte Hayes, interim dean of the library; Hall; Tameca Beckett and Fredz Enomanyi, special collections staff. The display centers around Hall’s community activism and service; work with the Somerset County NAACP, renovation of the Oaksville baseball park, and awareness of the October 18, 1933 lynching of George Armwood in Princess Anne. The exhibit will be on display through mid-March.

Honors student places second in college quiz competition

For the third year in a row, a quartet of undergraduates will represent UMES next month at the 26th annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge National Championship Tournament.

Teams from 48 of the nation’s historically black institutions will vie for a $50,000 institutional grant in the quiz competition Honda has sponsored since 1989. Seventy-six teams participated in qualifying tournaments earlier this year hoping to earn a spot among the “Great 48.”

Senior Evan Bryant, juniors Aleaya Bowie, Mariah Dennis and Jonathan Wheeler will represent UMES. Wheeler, Bryant and Dennis competed a year ago; Dennis is a three-time team member.

“Our students take preparation for this competition very seriously,’ Coach James M. White said. “They understand it is an honor and privilege to represent UMES.”

“Returning to the national All-Star Challenge is a great chance for them to showcase themselves and their school,” White said.

Since it began competing in the event in the 1989-90 academic year, UMES has earned a cumulative $115,000 in grants, including $3,000 a year ago. The university’s best single-season performance was during the 2003-04 school year, when it came home with $26,000 for a strong performance in the national event.

“I’m so pleased our students have this opportunity to compete against some of our nation’s brightest HBCU students,” UMES President Juliette Bell. “Dr. White works very hard to make sure they are well-prepared, and I know they will acquit themselves well.”

The 2015 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge National Championship Tournament to be will be March 21-25 in Torrance, Calif.

Teams in the tournament each year visit Honda’s North American headquarters, which provides students with an up-close experience of how one of the world’s most progressive and innovative car manufacturers operate.

“Students come away from that experience impressed, let me tell you,” White said.

UMES qualifies to compete atHonda Campus All-Star Challenge Nationals in California

Kirkland Hall named “Hawk Hero”

The Seton Center’s Nicole Kurtz, left, Michele Canopii and Sister Eileen Eager this week accepted 300 lbs. of non-perishable food donated by the UMES community, a project organized by Walter Woods, the university’s coordinator for outreach and strategic initiatives.

UMES donates to the community

School News The Key / February 27, 2015 5

NATIONAL PAN-HELLENIC COUNCIL STEP SHOW

HOMECOMING CONCERT

Shy Glizzy

August Alsina

Alumni groups give back

their distance medley relay win. Fellow sophomore Jared Kerr took second team honors in the long jump.

Chouati nearly equaled Rmidi Kinini’s performance with a second and third place finish to go along with his win. He contributed 16½ points to the team’s total.

The Lady Hawks earned 64 points over the three-day event, and it was middle-distance and distance runners who were the big contributors. Junior Jheniel Kelly (Edgewood, Md.), senior Shantol Hemley (St. Catherine’s, Jamaica) and sophomores Rachel Halmon (Waldorf, Md.) and Barbora Blahutova (Slavkov, Czech Republic) combined in the distance medley relay

to give the women’s team its lone win, earning each first-team All-MEAC honors.

Kelly also registered a second place finish in the 800 meter race and a third place time in the mile. Blahutova picked up a third place spot with her performance in the 5000 meter run. Kelly scored 16½ of the team’s 64 points, while Blahutova tallied. 8½ points.

6 The Key / February 27, 2015 Athletics

UMES track and field athletes turned in strong performances at the 2015 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Indoor Championships earlier this month. The men placed third, their highest finish at the event since 2011, while the women took fifth, their best since 2012.

Top performers for the Hawks were sophomore Khalil Rmidi Kinini (Malaga, Spain) and senior Dillon Simon (Roseau, Dominica). Rmidi Kinini racked up 32½ points with four first place finishes, earning him the meet’s Outstanding Runner honors. He won the 5000 meter, 3000 meter and mile runs while assisting in the team’s distance medley win.

Simon earned the Outstanding Field Athlete award by winning the men’s shot put and weight throw. He broke his school as well as the MEAC championship meet record in the shot put with a toss of 19.22 meters (63 feet). Simon and Rmidi Kinini accounted for 52½ of the team’s 108 points.

Other Hawks honored included freshman Oussama Chouati (Manresa, Spain) and sophomores Taj Showalter (Anchorage, Alaska) and Sodiq Amusat (Lanham, Md.), who each took first-team honors for

ANNAPOLIS / continued from cover

With the day’s high temperature just 20 degrees (not counting the wind-chill factor) it momentarily conjured up visions of spring weather that can’t arrive soon enough. Plus, attendees got a one-of-a-kind souvenir golf ball, a marketing strategy reminder.

Golf management students manning the hospitality-tourism management booth were joined by counterparts from the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions as well as agriculture and aviation science, who talked up the university with a steady stream of visitors.

Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington area alumni also turned out to support their alma mater and to do some informal lobbying.

President Juliette Bell led the delegation that staged the reception, calling the event an important initiative to focus policymakers’ attention on UMES’ many positive contributions to the state’s quality of life.

The aviation booth was among the most popular stops because visitors saw up-close unmanned aerial vehicles – also known as drones – and heard how those mechanisms are incorporated in the university curriculum.

Educators and administrators who work on such outreach initiatives as economic development and in the University of Maryland Extension service, which works with the agriculture industry, also were on hand.

Del. Charles Otto, who represents Somerset County, was among several lawmakers who addressed the gathering as did state Sen. Addie Eckardt (Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot and Wicomico counties) and newly elected Del. Carl Anderton of Wicomico County.

Later that day, UMES also participated in the annual “Taste of The Eastern Shore,” an after-hours reception at an Annapolis hotel that showcases the region’s institutions and businesses and also attracts members of the Maryland General Assembly.

“Art gave me the imagination,” Badjo said. “The technology allowed me to actually create the suit.”

Badjo estimates he’s invested more than $8,000 in creating the suit and programming it. He started with a template by purchasing a video game costume online and then put his imagination to work.

He has his own web site, of course, and is dabbling in some informal marketing of the “Badjo Suit.”

That Internet exposure recently attracted attention from a cable TV producer pitching the idea of a reality show featuring young inventors. Badjo has been invited to produce his own audition tape and is awaiting word on whether the producer has secured a network commitment to produce a show.

Meanwhile, Badjo is also working with the University of Maryland law school in navigating the complexities of filing paperwork to secure a patent on his invention.

While the fantasy world of video games and movie characters provided the seed for Badjo to pursue the suit’s development, he envisions it potentially having wider applications, possibly in law enforcement, firefighting and the security fields.

Badjo said he’s tried to design the suit so it can be modified for multiple purposes, including the next generation of characters one might see at an amusement park.

“They’re always looking to update what they have, so I can see this suit being a friendly robot, or a lion with magical powers,” Badjo said.

INVENTOR / continued from cover

MEACPhoto by Megan Raymond

Jean-Paul Badjo

School News

Michael Killian, executive editor of The Daily Times in Salisbury, addressed an audience at UMES’ Richard A. Hazel Hall Feb. 12 as part of the School of the Arts and Professions Lecture Series. Killian spoke on the topic, “The Role of Media in a Changing Society.”

Killian, according to Dr. Todd Matthews, chair of the lecture series, discussed the historical and contemporary role of the media in serving as a “mirror” on the world. Killian said it is often a “highly imperfect mirror” that requires many different sources to get what he described as a “3-D picture of what is going on” with a news event or issue.

The editor talked about society’s ability to be news producers through social media and the responsibilities it undertakes when chosing to disseminate information through these channels. Killian also discussed recent events such as the Brian Williams reporting scandal and the response of the media coverage of the shooting in Ferguson, Mo.

Executive editor speaks to UMES students The University of Maryland Eastern Shore,

the state’s historically black, 1890 land-grant institution, has its purpose and uniqueness grounded in distinctive learning, discovery and engagement opportunities in the arts and science, education, technology, engineering, agriculture, business and health professions.

UMES is a student-centered, doctoral research degree-granting university known for its nationally accredited undergraduate and graduate programs, applied research and highly valued graduates.

UMES provides individuals, including first-generation college students, access to a holistic learning environment that fosters multicultural diversity, academic success, and intellectual and social growth.

UMES prepares graduates to address challenges in a global, knowledge-based economy while maintaining its commitment to meeting the workforce and economic development needs of the Eastern Shore, the state, the nation and the world.

Phot

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Mar

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Buer

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Also among her job responsibilities is coordinating intense research and fact-checking details in scripts based on current events. She said she has to ensure each scene a viewer sees has been vetted so images used to convey realism do not violate copyright and trademark restrictions.

She displayed personal photos of her posing informally with several of the show’s stars, but also included images of African-American co-workers that viewers never get to see.

Kiah said she wanted UMES students to see that minorities work in the entertainment field in support roles that also are exciting and rewarding jobs. Hollywood, however, is still not as racially diverse a place to work as some might believe, she said.

She described the production of a TV show as a time-consuming, intense undertaking that keeps her busy long hours 10 months a year.

The other two months – and on weekends – she indulges in a variety of activities that keep her physically fit, including power walking, spinning, hiking, camping, cycling and gardening. She also enjoys travel and politics.

As a product of Somerset County public schools prior to their integration, Kiah said she was fortunate to grow up in an environment that emphasized the value of education as the key to being successful in life.

“You can be who you want,” she said, “Do what you want, and go where you want. It’s totally up to you.”

Following her hour-long talk, Kiah visited the gravesite of her late grandfather and grandmother to lay a wreath in a small campus cemetery where they are buried.

KIAH / continued from page 2

THE UMES MISSION

UMES’ Concert Choir performed at Metropolitan United Methodist Church as part of its Black History Month activities.

Choir performs for Black History Month

Photo by Marilyn Buerkle

The Key / February 27, 2015 7

8 The Key / February 27, 2015 Calendar

Editors

Gail Stephens, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Publications Manager

Bill Robinson, Director of Public Relations

Ashley Collier,Public Relations Assistant

Design byDebi Rus, Rus Design Inc.

Printed by The Hawk Copy Center

Submissions to The KEY are preferred via email. All copy is subject to editing. The Key is written according to the Associated Press stylebook.

The KEY is published by the Office of Public Relations in the Office of the President

410-651-7580 FAX 410-651-7914 www.umes.edu

*Unless stipulated (*) all events listed are free and open to the public.

Submission dates:

March 4 for March 13 issue

March 18 for March 27 issue

April 1 for April 10 issue

April 15 for April 24 issue

April 29 for May 8 issue

marchMaryland Eastern Shore Spelling Bee 10 a.m.Ella Fitzgerald CenterTop spellers from local elementary and middle schools vie to represent the Lower Shore at the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition in Washington, D.C.410-621-2355

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5 24UMES Trombone Day7 p.m.Ella FitzgeraldCenter410-651-6571

Health & Wellness Festival 10 a.m.-2 p.m.Student Services Center BallroomHealth screenings and wellness informational displays. 410-651-6356

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