ABC’s of UMD: Letter X

X is for the X FILES!

X was a tough one! We could have talked about X-ray machines in the Health Center, xylophones in The Clarice or even the escapade involving the residents of Dorchester Hall and famous stripper Blaze Starr.

Instead we chose “The X Files.” The return of the sci-fi favorite to television for a six-episode mini-series led to the revelation that UMD biology professor Anne Simon has had a major role in the show’s success since its first season in 1993.

Dr. Simon has served as the show’s science adviser, making sure that all the scientific content of each episode is as plausible as it can possibly be, given the constraints of the story line. But how did she get such an exciting job?

Washington Post reporter Terrence McCoy got the scoop from Dr. Simon over the summer. Turns out she has a personal connection with “X Files” writer and director Chris Carter through a friend and neighbor of her mother’s. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!! You can read McCoy’s entire story here.

This is the 24th post in our series on Terrapin Tales called ABC’s of UMD! Posts will come out twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, throughout the semester. If you want to learn more about campus history, check back weekly to see what we’ve picked to highlight, and you can also visit our encyclopedia University of Maryland A to Z: MAC to Millennium for more UMD facts.

Do you have other ABC’s about campus? Let us know in the comments below!

Check back on Monday, November 23, for Letter Y!

ABC’s of UMD: Letter L

L is for LOH, as in PRESIDENT WALLACE LOH!

Dr. Wallace Loh is the 34th president of the University of Maryland. He arrived in College Park in 2010 after a career in both academia and public service.On the academic side, he previously held the posts of Executive Vice President and Provost at The University of Iowa; Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seattle University; Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculties at the University of Colorado-Boulder; and Dean of the University of Washington Law School.

While in Washington state, he also served as Director of the Executive Policy Office and chief policy adviser to Governor Gary Locke.

At Maryland, he holds a faculty appointment as a Professor of Public Policy. Previously, he was Professor of Law at Washington, Colorado-Boulder, and Iowa and served as Visiting Professor of Law at Cornell, Peking University (China), Emory, University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, and Vanderbilt.  His scholarship and teaching focus on law and social change and criminal justice reform.

As the university’s top administrator, Dr. Loh sets the tone for the campus. During his first five years at the university, among the priorities that he has emphasized are the globalization of UMD, international experiences for all students,  re-imagining the City of College Park, innovation and entrepreneurship. Dr. Loh also led the university’s move from the Atlantic Coast Conference to the Big Ten.

This is the 12th post in our series on Terrapin Tales called ABC’s of UMD! Posts will come out twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, throughout the semester. If you want to learn more about campus history, check back weekly to see what we’ve picked to highlight, and you can also visit our encyclopedia University of Maryland A to Z: MAC to Millennium for more UMD facts.

If you’d like more information on our current and past university presidents, visit the Past Presidents page.

Do you have other ABC’s about campus? Let us know in the comments below!

Check here for Letter M!

ABC’s of UMD: Letter J

J is for JIMENEZ!

Juan Ramón Jiménez

Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958), for whom Jiménez Hall was named in 1981, was a professor of modern languages at the University of Maryland from 1948 to 1951. He capped his distinguished career as a poet, professor, and novelist by winning the Nobel Prize for Literature five years later, only two years before his death in 1958. Graciela Palau de Nemes, a faculty member at the University of Maryland since 1949 and colleague and friend of Jiménez, prepared his nomination for the Nobel. The selection committee in its citation noted the his “lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity.”

Jiménez is one of six UMD faculty members who have won the Nobel Prize. The others are:

• Herbert A. Hauptman (Ph.D., 1955), co-recipient in chemistry in 1985
• Raymond Davis, Jr., (B.A. 1937, M.S. 1939), co-recipient in physics in 2002
• William Phillips, 1997 recipient for his work in atomic physics. Phillips is also the first Nobel Laureate to be appointed to a full-faculty position in the history of the University of Maryland.
• Thomas Schelling, emeritus distinguished university professor in the Department of Economics and the School of Public Policy, recipient in economics in 2005 for his research in game theory.
• John C. Mather, adjunct professor, co-recipient in physics in 2006 for his measurements of cosmic background radiation immediately after the birth of the universe

This is the 10th post in our series on Terrapin Tales called ABC’s of UMD! Posts will come out twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, throughout the semester. If you want to learn more about campus history, check back weekly to see what we’ve picked to highlight, and you can also visit our encyclopedia University of Maryland A to Z: MAC to Millennium for more UMD facts.

Do you have other ABC’s about campus? Let us know in the comments below!

Take a quick guess at Letter K and click here!

Noted Marine Biologist Eugenie “Shark Lady” Clark, Former UMD Professor, Dies at 92

The university mourns the loss of marine biologist Eugenie Clark,who passed away on February 25 in Sarasota, Florida. Dr. Clark taught marine biology at the University of Maryland from 1968 until her retirement in 1992. Born in New York City on May 4, 1922, to a Japanese mother and an American father, Clark would later become a pioneer in the field of marine biology and break down many barriers for women in the field.

23 photo courtesy of Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium

 

Although Clark researched other fish, discovering several species and having a few named in her honor, she focused mostly on sharks. Her fascination began in her childhood at the age of nine when on visits to the New York Aquarium at Battery Park in lower Manhattan, she’d press her nose to the shark tanks and imagine herself inside, swimming with the sharks. She would later go on to earn a B.A. in zoology from Hunter College in 1942 and a master’s and Ph.D. from New York University. She conducted underwater scientific research completing 70 deep dives in submersibles. During one dive in the Sea of Cortez, she rode the back of a 50-foot whale shark, the largest fish in the sea. It’s no wonder why she was referred to as the “Shark Lady.”

photo courtesy of Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium

Clark wrote the best-selling book Lady with a Spear in 1953 about her experiences conducting research in the South Pacific, which inspired many people to work in marine biology, particularly women. She went on to found the Mote Marine Laboratory in 1955, which focuses on research concerning sharks, wild fisheries, coral reef restoration, marine biomedical research, and other issues.

photo courtesy of David Doubilet for National Geographic

Eugenie Clark was well respected and loved by her colleagues at the University of Maryland. Arthur Popper, professor emeritus and research professor in the Department of Biology here at the university had this to say of her:
“Genie was an amazing communicator of science and was able to make science exciting to everyone from children to colleagues. Genie was in high demand as a speaker around the world, and her talks combined great science and infectious enthusiasm for science. Indeed, I recall one week when I heard Genie give a talk on her work to a spell-bound group of 10 year olds in my daughter’s elementary school class, and then she gave a very similar talk to an equally spell-bound group of scientists,  including Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Leaky. Genie was able to captivate audiences, and impart an excitement of science, and a love of science, that was powerful and unique. I know a number of people, including a good number of women, who decided on careers in science or science-related fields after being inspired by Genie.”

Eugenie Clark will be missed by everyone at the University of Maryland as well as the scientific community at large for her contributions to the field of marine biology and her wonderful spirit.

The Women of Maryland

While March may be Women’s History Month, the University of Maryland recognizes and preserves the history of women on the campus all year round.  Click below on the image of Charlotte Vaux, first co-ed to graduate from Maryland in 1918, to read about some notable women at the university.

Digitized Resources: Outlook

Did you know we’ve digitized Outlook, the faculty-staff newspaper? Beginning in the 1980s, the Office of Institutional Advancement issued a weekly paper. We have digitized all of the issues contained in the University Archives from 1986 to 2004. You can page through each issue, search for names and events, or download your own PDF copy through this site.

Click on these newspapers to see what faculty and staff were up to in 1986, 1995, 2000, and 2004!