•

Memoirs Project Update

As the Memoirs Project approaches an amazing 200 submissions, we want to update you on its possible future. What have been pleasant experiences in nostalgia for many of us also tell inside stories of how faculty and staff met the day-to-day challenges of a major innovation in American higher education: taking the University of Maryland around the world.

This 1949 Maryland experiment was the first step in establishing a comprehensive network of university branches to serve deployed U.S. military students throughout Europe and Asia. Our memoirs vividly provide the detailed stories of this achievement in ways that appeal to both academic and general interests. We are committed making the stories available as the central pieces of a book on the overseas programs.

We are trying to fill in a few blanks in the existing memoirs. For example, has anyone had experience in the Atlantic Division, the lesser-known partner of the European and Asian Divisions? Additional memoirs comparing teaching overseas and on campuses in the United States would be helpful, as would ones describing how you overcame difficulties to teach strong courses.

To help round out the collection, we hope you’ll submit a memoir on your experiences. Whatever you write will be welcome, and we’d like to hear from both first-time and repeat contributors.

------

For info regarding submitting a memoir, please read the Memoir Project Guidelines.

(April 11,2025)

•

LIFE AFTER MARYLAND
(Round 2)

Thanks to the popular demand of members, OMA will hold the Zoom Gathering “Life-After-Maryland: Round 2” on Saturday, June 7, 2025, from 12:00 to 1:45 PM (EDT).

This virtual Gathering will feature an exciting, brand-new panel of OMA colleagues who went on to pursue passions and careers built on their Maryland overseas roots. With a love of travel, education, history and foreign cultures, they established successful careers as educators, authors, tour leaders and more. We invite you to join the Gathering to hear how Maryland European and Asian Division faculty shaped distinguished professional lives based on their overseas experiences. The floor will be open for your questions and comments following the presentations. Registration for this event will open March 30, 2025, on the OMA website.

What’s next? With the successful 2024 San Diego Gathering in OMA’s rearview mirror, the coordinating group is exploring the possibility of a face-to-face Gathering in CONUS during autumn 2025. An announcement will be forthcoming as soon as plans are completed.

(March 30, 2025)

•

OMA Members Went West to San Diego Gathering

Forty OMA members and their guests enjoyed a spectacular weekend at the OMA Gathering in San Diego. The panel of UMGC current students and graduates was a special highlight celebrating UMGC's 75th anniversary and Veterans Day. Our sincere gratitude goes to Renee Kilmer for her leadership in planning the event. The next OMA gathering will be a virtual gathering June 7, 2025. 
(November 10, 2024)

•

75th Anniversary

UMGC established university programs for the U.S. military overseas on October 2, 1949.  That is the day, 75 years ago, that seven University of Maryland faculty members flew to Germany to bring education and opportunity within the reach of American servicemembers stationed in postwar Europe. 

Click here to read the story on the UMGC website.
(October 2, 2024)

•

The Joe Arden Overseas Marylanders Scholarships

“As an active-duty member of the Air Force…pursuing my education has been difficult.  Your scholarship provided me an extra gift of encouragement, and I am truly appreciative.”

This note comes from a Maryland student at Aviano Air Base in Italy who needed our help to complete his degree.  OMA scholarships have been assisting military members and their families since 2017. Scholarship recipients resemble students we all worked with in the overseas programs. With uncertainties in Tuition Assistance and family members’ jobs on base and off, the need continues.

Click here to make a contribution via credit card.  Your donations go only to support OMA overseas student scholarships. Contributions to the Joe Arden Endowed Scholarship helps build the endowment; contributions to the Joe Arden Scholarship Program support scholarships given in the current year. Thanks to everyone who has already donated or who plans to make a donation.
(1/1/2024)

•

In a Heartbeat!

The sixth OMA Worldwide Virtual Gathering is in the books.  We heartily thank panel members Rodney Romig, Vernon Taylor, Claudine Weatherford, Anand Krishna and moderator Thomas Hale for discussing “Life After Maryland.”

The discussion revealed that there is indeed life after Maryland and that the skills and overseas experiences in Asia and Europe translated readily into varied successful careers.  The last question to panelists  – “Would you do it again?” – was a question to which every Marylander connecting virtually from four countries and eighteen U.S. states knew the answer: “In a heartbeat!”

At the end of the panel discussion, Renee Kilmer previewed the next OMA Gathering to be held face-to-face in San Diego this coming November 8-10, 2024.  Registration for San Diego and additional details will be coming soon.
(June 1, 2024)

•

Resolution Honors UMGC Mission.

The Maryland General Assembly issued a resolution designating Monday, Feb. 19, as University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) Day. The resolution cited “the contributions and legacy of UMGC students, faculty, staff and alumni in Maryland and around the world.” Click here to read more.
(April 2, 2024)

•

LIFE AFTER MARYLAND

We are pleased to announce that OMA will hold a Gathering for members via Zoom on Saturday, June 1, 2024, from 12:00 P.M. to 1:45 P.M. (EDT).  The theme will be, “Life After Maryland.“

This virtual Gathering will feature a panel of OMA colleagues who went on to pursue new passions and careers built on their Maryland overseas roots.  With a love of education, travel, history and foreign cultures, they established successful and often distinguished careers as educators, authors, diplomats, business leaders and more.  We invite you to join the Gathering to hear the panel explain how Maryland European and Asian division experiences helped shape their futures.  There will be time for questions and comments following the presentations.  Registration for this event will open March 1, 2024, on the OMA website.

What’s next?  With the successful 2023 Heidelberg Gathering in OMA’s rearview mirror, the coordinating group is exploring the possibility of holding a face-to-face Gathering in CONUS during autumn 2024.  An announcement will be forthcoming as soon as plans are completed.
(February 1, 2024)

•

Third Heidelberg Gathering is in the History Books

Beautiful sunny weather greeted the 65 attendees of the September 15-17 OMA Gathering in Heidelberg. The events included the traditional Neckar boat ride and an unexpected walk-through of the old Maryland HQ offices at Im Bosseldorn 30. This was the third (2016, 2019, 2023) OMA gathering in Germany.

You can see pictures of the event by clicking “Heidelberg 2023 Photos.”  Note that you have to be signed on the OMA website to see the pictures.
(September 17, 2023)

•

Japanese Prints Collection

UMGC recently published an online article about the November 2022 opening of its Japanese art prints collection.  The event took place at the Veterans Day OMA gathering on the UMGC home campus in Adelphi, MD.  Julian Jones, a past director of UMGC Asia, described how Emory Trosper built this valuable collection with assistance of other overseas Marylanders.  In accordance with Emory’s wishes, it was donated to UMGC upon his passing. Click here to read the article.
(February 23, 2023)

•

UMGC Achiever Magazine Spotlight

UMGC is highlighting individual stories that were in the 75th anniversary edition of the Achiever magazine. The first stories they selected to highlight are five memoirs from the OMA Memoirs project. Click this link to see the Achiever magazine article.
(February 14, 2023)

•

Overseas Marylanders Honor Veterans, Celebrates Art Exhibit At Reunion in Adelphi.

UMGC recentely posted a news article about our November OMA gathering in Adelphi. Click this link to read the article.
(December 18, 2022)

•

Adelphi Gathering Pictures.

On November 11-12, 2022 in conjuction with Veterans Day, OMA helped celebrate the 75th anniversary of UMGC with a gathering at the home campus in Adelphi, MD. UMGC graciously hosted 53 OMA members for the two day gathering. Some OMA members travelled long distances to attend including from 19 states (AZ, CA, FL, HI, IA, IL, MA, MD, MT, NC, NJ, NM, NY, PA, SC, TX, VA, WA and WV) and internationally from Thailand.

There also was quite a collection of talent in attendance as the OMA members present in total worked for UMGC from 1967 through 2022, or a total of 55 years of UMGC's 75 years.

Click here to see pictures from the November 11-12 gathering.
 

•

Teaching in a Combat Zone Recording

The recording of the June 4th panel discussion Teaching in a Combat Zone is now available for viewing. Click here to view the recording. Moderated by Joe Arden, the panelists – Hugo Keesing (Vietnam), John Nolan (Balkans), Gae Holladay (Kuwait/Iraq) and Tommy Akhavein (Afghanistan) – shared their experiences teaching for Maryland.
(June 20, 2022)

•

OMA Co-Chairs at UMGC for Presidential Inauguration

On March 9-10, Paula Harbecke and Doug Lemmon represented OMA at the event marking the
investiture of UMUG’s seventh present, Greg Fowler.  The ceremony was attended in person by a small crowd of some 150 participants, with hundreds more attending virtually from around the globe.  In his inaugural address, President Fowler made specific mention of reading Beyond the Ivory Tower written by Sharon Hudgins that details UMGC’s overseas history.  He also indicated his intent to build on our many years of serving students “where they are” during his tenure.
(March 12, 2022)

•

Emory Trosper Japanese Print Gallery to Open in Adelphi

About twenty-five years ago, long-serving faculty member and administrator in the Asian program, Emory Trosper, began donating his collection of postwar Japanese prints to UMGC’s Arts Program. He had collected them over four decades of Maryland service in Asia and had guided many of us in this avocation. As Emory’s gifts became known, other Asian program veterans joined him in donating prints they had collected. The collection grew, and several artists in UMGC’s holdings are also found in major collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery in Washington and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

A group of OMA members wondered why these striking prints were not on public display at UMGC. Several hung in inaccessible Adelphi locations, but most were in storage. With the cooperation of the UMGC Arts Program, OMA brought in Allison Tolman, whose New York gallery specialized in Japanese print art, to evaluate the collection and make recommendations. UMGC’s leadership agreed to her suggestions both to display its notable holdings in a public location and to name it for Emory Trosper. We are happy to announce the collection will open later this year, and a dedication of the new gallery is planned for November 11, 2022.

If you would like to join other Asian program veterans in donating Japanese prints to the Trosper Gallery, please contact one of the OMA members below with details on what you have: 

Joe Arden (arden_joe@hotmail.com); Jim and Mary Jane Cramer (jim.cramer10@gmail.com); Paula Harbecke (pharbeck@yahoo.com); Julian Jones (juliansjones@gmail.com); Kate Pulling (kpulling@embarqmail.com).
(March 7, 2022)

•

OMA LEADERSHIP TRANSITION

With the start of 2022, OMA is transitioning to a new leadership team.  Julie Porosky Hamlin and Paul Hamlin, who led the organization over the past two COVID-filled years, created and launched Zoom gatherings that for the first time made possible the participation of OMA members worldwide.  Meetings ranged from 60-80+ OMA members who joined their colleagues from across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and even Africa.  Breakout groups provided an opportunity for members to meet by decade, region, and to discuss several of the memoirs written to capture the history of Maryland overseas.  General consensus seems to be that such meetings should continue even after in-person gatherings are again possible.  Thanks, Julie and Paul!  

As of January 1, Paula Harbecke and Doug Lemmon became OMA’s next co-chairs. They are looking forward to working with OMA members in the year ahead and to finding even more ways for them to connect and reminisce about our shared experiences as Overseas Marylanders. Click here to read more about Paula and Doug’s Maryland background.
(Jan 28, 2022)
 

•

Memories from 5 Years Ago

Below is the group photo from first OMA gathering in Heidelberg held 5 years ago in October 2016. Our last face-to-face OMA gathering was October 2019, also in Heidelberg. Due to the Covid pandemic, our 2020 San Diego face-to-face gathering was cancelled, and the virtual worldwide OMA gatherings began. With good fortune, maybe there will be an OMA group photo at a 2022 face-to-face gathering.

•

UMGC'S PHOTO GALLERY OF OMA GATHERING IN ADELPHI. 

Here is the link to pictures taken by the UMGC photographer during the June OMA Gathering in Adelphi.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZoKGW1FpacUKetNb8