CSM Receives INSIGHT Into Diversity 2015 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award
The College of Southern Maryland has received the 2015 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the annual HEED Award, a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, CSM will be featured along with 91 other recipients in the November 2015 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
“This is a great honor as we have worked hard to ensure that CSM is a welcoming place to work and get an education. We have become a leader in providing programs and services that meet the needs of our diverse community,” said CSM President Dr. Brad Gottfried.
“The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion. We take a holistic approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being accomplished every day across a campus,” said Lenore Pearlstein, INSIGHT Into Diversity’s publisher.
One of 11 community colleges in the nation to receive this designation, CSM was only one of four higher education institutions within Maryland awarded the HEED. CSM is a comprehensive tri-county regional community college that fosters academic excellence and enhances lives in Southern Maryland with the guiding principles of diversity, excellence, innovation, integrity, knowledge, respect and teamwork. Recognized as a leading practitioner in diversity and inclusion, CSM has previously earned the Alliance for Workplace Excellence’s Diversity Champion Award for creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive culture.
The college has created initiatives and programs, for example, such as the Diversity Institute, which addresses pressing social issues that face Southern Maryland as well as modeling how a community can address diversity issues in a productive manner; a Men of Excellence mentoring initiative to improve recruitment, retention, graduation and transfer rates for African American males who enter CSM as first-time students; and Choose Civility Southern Maryland, a community-wide campaign to enhance respect, empathy, consideration and tolerance.
“Diversity is about ensuring that everyone has a voice and that members of our community (students, faculty, staff and members of the administration) feel like they matter and that they belong. The college has taken a proactive approach to provide an open environment by welcoming community partnerships, being a resource to employees at CSM and creating a climate where the values of diversity and community are a reality for all,” said CSM Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity Makeba Clay.
Through CSM’s Institutional Equity and Diversity Office, CSM provides academic enrichment and celebrates diversity awareness through programming for Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, African-American Heritage and Women’s History months, as well as other cultural celebrations.
INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine is the largest and oldest diversity publication in higher education today and is known for its annual HEED Award, the only award recognizing colleges and universities for outstanding diversity and inclusion efforts across their campuses. In addition to its online job board, INSIGHT Into Diversity presents timely, thought-provoking news and feature stories on matters of diversity and inclusion across higher education and beyond. Articles include interviews with innovators and experts, as well as profiles of best practices and exemplary programs. Readers will also discover career opportunities that connect job seekers with institutions and businesses that embrace a diverse and inclusive workforce. Current, archived and digital issues of the magazine are available at www.insightintodiversity.com.
For information about the 2015 HEED Award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com. For more about CSM, visit www.csmd.edu.
CSM NowForce puts Incident Reporting in Hands of Students
In Emergencies, Smartphone App Connects Caller, Campus Security, First Responders
The College of Southern Maryland will provide students, faculty, administrators and staff with a free, state-of-the-art personal safety app beginning with the fall semester.
“We’re very pleased to be able to make available this technology that promotes safety for anyone visiting our campuses, including our students, employees and guests,” said CSM President Dr. Brad Gottfried. “The app will allow individuals to connect directly with our public safety office.”
The app is designed to help CSM’s public safety officers minimize response times during both emergency and routine security/safety situations, according to Don Frick, executive director of CSM’s public safety and preparedness department. Developed by NowForce, a maker of mobile and cloud-based rapid emergency response solutions, the CSM personal safety app will contain an “SOS” (panic) button, and the ability to report an incident through a “see something, say something” functionality.
“The NowForce app differs from the college’s CSM.txt alert services,” Frick said. “We still want our students to register for our CSM.TXT alert service, in which we advise our students of instant information on emergencies and campus closing, but this app expands on that and will help our students connect with us directly. The app is like a hand-held, personal emergency phone that connects the caller directly with our public safety officers so we can send assistance as quickly as possible.”
Students will be able to use the app to request escorts or report security incidents, harassment, medical emergencies, fires, alcohol or drug violations, and a host of other issues, Frick said. The app is based on the user’s location and assists the officers in quickly identifying where the incident is being reported. The campus is surrounded by a "geo-fence" and if callers are outside of the boundaries of the campus the call is re-routed to a 911 dispatcher.
The application is available for download either from the App Store or Google Play.
To register, visit http://register-csm.nowforce.com and a text message will be sent to the user’s smartphone with the link to download the application as well as a link through which the user can add emergency contacts for the user to have these contacts receive an alert when the user reports an emergency.
For information on the college’s resources and emergency procedures, visit ready.csmd.edu.
CSM Athletes Excel on Field, in Classroom
13 Student-Athletes Named to MDJUCO All-Academic Team
Thirteen student-athletes from the College of Southern Maryland were recently named to the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference’s (MDJUCO) All-Academic Team. To be eligible, students must maintain a 3.5 grade point average while simultaneously participating in at least one season-long sport.
Recipients of this award include, Micaela Ada of Waldorf (women’s lacrosse), Adrian Carkhuff of Mechanicsville (volleyball), Krysta Chotkowski of Indian Head (women’s lacrosse), Jacqueline Clark of La Plata (cross-country), Diana Cruz of Lexington Park (softball), Samantha Culver of Dunkirk (women’s soccer), James Day of Mechanicsville (men’s basketball), Kelly Flaherty of Brandywine (volleyball), Kayla Ruiz of California (women’s soccer), Sydney Schultz of Waldorf (women’s soccer), Laura Shaner of Leonardtown (women’s soccer), Alejandro Smith of Prince Frederick (cross-country) and Eric Stamp of Waldorf (baseball).
A number of these athletes were honored earlier this year at the athletic awards banquet. Freshmen lacrosse players Ada and Chotkowski earned the CSM Coaches Award. Ada also earned the All-MDJUCO Honorable Mention.
From women’s soccer, sophomore Shaner was the CSM Student Athlete Scholar of the Year. Sophomore Ruiz earned the CSM Coaches Award.
From cross-country, sophomore Clark was named to the Women’s XC All-MDJUCO First Team and was the Overall Region XX Women’s Individual Championship winner. She also earned the CSM Most Valuable Player Award.
From volleyball, sophomore Flaherty earned the CSM Sportsmanship Award. From men’s basketball, sophomore Day earned the CSM Coaches Award.
To view gallery of CSM MDJUCO All-Academic Team, visit http://csmphoto.zenfolio.com/mdjuco.
For more information on CSM Athletics and the fall schedules, visit www.csmd.edu/Athletics/.
CSM Fall Gardening Courses For Late Bloomers
University of Maryland Extension Program Offers Expertise
This fall, the College of Southern Maryland is partnering with the University of Maryland Extension’s (UME) Master Gardeners program to offer two, one-day gardening courses on CSM’s Leonardtown Campus, “Fall Gardening” Oct. 3 and “Home Landscaping” Nov. 7.
According to the National Gardening Association, 42 million households were growing their own food in home and community gardens in 2014, which is an increase from 36 million in 2008. People aged 18 to 34 contributed largely to that figure, as the number of millennial gardeners increased from 8 million in 2008 to 13 million in 2013.
“Our gardening classes are fairly new and haven’t had a high number of enrollments in the past, but I am excited to see how the fall gardening classes with UME go,” said Shaunda Holt, program coordinator for adults and personal enrichment programs. “With the number of millennials showing an increasing interest in growing their own food in home and community gardens, these fall gardening courses will help provide essential cold-month tips, such as bulb maintenance, mulching techniques and determining which crops thrive in cooler weather.”
“Fall Gardening” is from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Oct. 3 and will teach students to maintain their garden during the cold months or to start from scratch. Students will also learn techniques involved in growing and harvesting fall vegetables, planting bulbs for spring flowers and composting.
“Home Landscaping” is from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Nov. 7 and will teach students practical ways to develop a functional ecology in their home’s landscape as well as techniques that contribute to healthy waterways. Other topics covered include improving a landscape’s appearance, decreasing the workload and improving the local watershed.
Registration for the courses is accepted up to the day prior to the start of class and can be made online, through walk-in registration at any campus and the Waldorf Center or by mail using a downloadable form.
For information on these courses as well as others offered this fall, visit http://www.csmd.edu/CommunityEducation/ or contact 301-539-4760 or conedops@csmd.edu.
Get in the Kitchen, Have Fun with CSM Courses
Ethic Foods, Craft Beer, Cake Decorating, Chef Skills Offered on all CSM Campuses
This fall, the College of Southern Maryland will offer a variety of cooking, cake decorating and beverage tasting courses as part of its continuing education program. These courses, located on CSM’s La Plata, Leonardtown and Prince Frederick campuses, as well as at off-site locations, begin Sept. 1.
“Cooking courses are one of the fastest-growing community education classes we offer,” said Shaunda Holt, program coordinator for adults and personal enrichment courses. “We have more than 300 enrollments each year in cooking classes alone.”
Among the food courses offered are “Cake Decorating Basics,” “Meet the Pasta,” “Secrets to Turkish Cooking,” “Knife Skills,” “Intergenerational Pizza School” and “Mastering Seafood.” Courses on beer and wine include “Craft Beer 101,” “Girls Night Out–For the Love of Chocolate” and “Wine Tasting.”
“Cake Decorating Basics” will teach students the fundamentals of decorating cakes for special occasions as well as techniques such as using different consistencies of buttercream icing, transferring patterns, star fill techniques and shell borders. The course is 6:30-8:30 p.m., Thursdays, Oct. 1-22 on the Prince Frederick Campus and 6:30-8:30 p.m., Thursdays, Oct. 22-Nov. 12 on the La Plata Campus.
Taught by native Italian instructor Simonetta Baldassari, “Meet the Pasta” will teach students how to make authentic Italian foods using raw ingredients, lasagna, manicotti, gnocchi, ragù, pesto and other famous pastas and sauces. This one-day course is 6-9 p.m., Sept. 10 at North Point High School.
“Secrets to Turkish Cooking” will be taught by Turkish native Sukriye Johnson and will teach students about the country’s traditional cuisine as well as its exotic array of spices, flavors and ingredients. Fire roasted pepper salad, lamb shish kabob, su böregi and Turkish köfte are among the dishes that will be made. This one-day course is from 6-9 p.m., Oct. 2 at North Point High School.
Students enrolled in the “Knife Skills” course will learn the uses and techniques specific to the chef’s knife, serrated knife, paring knife and slicer. De-boning a chicken, cutting fruits and vegetables, sharpening and cleaning are among the topics that will be covered. This course is 6-8:30 p.m., Nov. 5 at the Calvert Career and Technology Academy with chef Karl Hille.
Taught by Baldassari, “Intergenerational Pizza School” will teach students how to mix, knead and roll dough in order to make a variety of pizzas using fresh Italian ingredients. This course is an opportunity to allow families to bond over cooking. A child may accompany their parent, permitted the parent registers and attends and the child is at least five years old. This course is noon to 3 p.m., Nov. 14 at North Point High School.
Also taught by Baldassari, “Mastering Seafood” will teach students the finer points of making lobster, sea bass and rockfish. A surprise dessert consisting of lobster and ice cream will also be served. This course is 6-9 p.m., Nov. 19 at North Point High School.
“Craft Beer 101” will teach students how to discern aromas and flavors while enjoying the wide variety of craft beers available in Southern Maryland. The history of beer and beer pairings will also be discussed. Students must be 21 to register. The course is 6:30-8:30 p.m., Sept. 11 on the La Plata Campus, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Oct. 9 on the Leonardtown Campus and 6:30-8:30 p.m., Nov. 13 on the Prince Frederick Campus. The course is hosted by Mully’s Brewery, Southern Maryland’s first brewery.
Presented by professional chocolatier Eric Nelson formerly from Artfully Chocolate in Old Town Alexandria, “Girls Night Out–For the Love of Chocolate” will teach participants about the complexities of pairing wine with chocolate. Students will learn about the subtleties and flavor notes that need to be considered to maximize the flavor in a pairing. This course is 6:30-8:30 p.m., Oct. 8 and 6:30-8:30 p.m., Nov. 12. Both courses will take place on the La Plata Campus. Students must be 21 to register.
“Wine Tasting” will be 6:30-8:30 p.m., Oct. 1 on the Prince Frederick Campus, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Oct. 15 on the Leonardtown Campus and 6:30-8:30 p.m., Oct. 29 on the La Plata Campus. Students will sample local wines from Perigeaux Vineyard and Winery in Calvert County as well as learn the basics on growing grapes, wine-making techniques, tasting techniques, food and wine pairing, and proper service and storage. Students must be 21 register.
Registration for these courses is accepted up to the day prior to the start of class and can be made online, through walk-in registration at any campus and the Waldorf Center, or by mail using a downloadable form.
Students must register at least one day before the class begins. For information on these courses as well as others offered this fall, visit http://www.csmd.edu/CommunityEducation/ or contact 301-539-4760 or conedops@csmd.edu.