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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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OMA 2022/2023 Scholarship Challenge

In 2021, OMA successfully met the challenge of three generous donors and raised some $31,000 for the Joe Arden Scholarship. As the Annual Donor Report notes, scholarships were awarded this past year to nine very deserving active-duty service members, spouses and veterans who are studying with UMGC overseas … exactly the kinds of  students we all worked with.

We are pleased to report that three OMA members have stepped forward anonymously to build on this success by pledging $15,000 if, together, OMA members can match that amount. The challenge campaign will run from November 2022 through June 2023, covering two calendar/tax years. Donations are tax deductible and donors receive an official letter from UMGC for use when filing taxes. 

UMGC has agreed to manage OMA-member donations which, as always, will be treated confidentially. If you are willing and able to make a donation, please use this direct link to apply your gift to the Joe Arden Scholarship operating fund and/or the endowment fund: OMA Giving Form

We can do this!  The goal is to obtain additional donations by June 30th sufficient to access the full $15,000 matching donations. Thanks for your careful consideration of this opportunity and, we hope, your financial support. 

Paula Harbecke and Doug Lemmon
OMA Co-Chairs
(December 2, 2022)

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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.
 

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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)

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June 4 Worldwide Virtual OMA Gathering Recap

Around 60 OMA members gathered via Zoom on June 4th to hear the panel presentation, Teaching in a Combat Zone.  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.  Stories of life on front-line military installations, in pictures and words, and of spending time with their students both in and out of the classroom provided a captivating insiders’ look at some of Maryland’s more challenging locations amidst dangerous world events.  

For those unable to attend, a recording of the panel presentation will be available soon to view.

For those who did attend, we’d value your feedback by completing a short survey. Please click here to take the survey.

The meeting ended with an announcement to “save the date” for OMA’s next Gathering that will be held in person in Adelphi, Maryland, on November 11/12, 2022.
(June 6, 2022)

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Grand Opening of Mark Twain Center in Heidelberg

OMA members who live in the Heidelberg area will be well aware of the Town Council’s decision to raze what was once the American housing area and create a German mixed-use neighborhood that will be integrated into the rest of the city. At the same time, in deference to history, they’ve chosen to retain the name “Mark Twain Village” and to reserve several of the existing buildings to pay tribute to the American-German relationships of the past and to nurture future exchanges.  And, as OMA members know, for many years Maryland’s headquarters in Europe was just around the corner.

The building that has now become the Mark Twain Center (MTC) was constructed during the Nazi period and used as the officer’s mess hall. When the American Army moved in, they expanded the building considerably and turned it into the central command center for the American forces in Europe, the Keyes Building. Together with the Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg and the relatively new Department for American Studies at the University of Heidelberg, the MTC has the potential of positioning Heidelberg as Germany’s main center dedicated to the American presence in postwar Germany.

The grand opening for the public of the MTC was Sunday, May 22nd. We encourage OMA members to make a point of introducing themselves to Dr. Uwe Wenzel, the MTC Director.  The MTC is located directly cross the street from the former U.S. Military Chapel at Römerstraße 162.

For more information about MTC:  https://www.heidelberg.de/1316186 .
(May 13, 2022)

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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)

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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)

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OMA SCHOLARSHIP UPDATE

OMA is pleased to announce that the 2021 fundraising campaign for the Joe Arden Scholarship Fund was a resounding success!  Three OMA members challenged the group to match their combined gift of $15,000 and the membership delivered.  The final amount added to the OMA scholarship fund was $31,240 – $8,800 going to the operating fund and $22,440 to the endowment fund that as of December 31, 2021 had a balance of $94,070.
 
These scholarships make a tremendous difference in the lives of overseas service members and their spouses, both in terms of helping them in the here and now and as an investment in their future.  OMA members know how important education is in helping them achieve their goals.  On behalf of these students, thanks to everyone for supporting OMA’s scholarship effort.
(Jan 28, 2022)
 

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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)
 

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December 4, 2021 Virtual OMA Gathering Recap

OMA ended calendar year 2021 holding its third virtual gathering with over 50 participants joining in the zoom call – from the east coast to the west coast,  Europe, Asia, Africa and all point in between.   The group was updated on the OMA scholarship match campaign that is nearing its goal to reach $15,000 by the end of 2021, the memoirs project that has become an OMA fixture with submissions still being sought, and the establishment of the Trosper Gallery that will house UMGC’s collection of Japanese prints donated over the years by Emory Trosper, long-time Marylander in Asia and avid collector, and other OMA members. 

Small breakout groups organized by geographic area then shared stories about their most stressful/difficult or their most rewarding/enjoyable experience with Maryland overseas, which included car accidents on the autobahns of Germany!

The meeting ended with the official changing of the guard from Paul Hamlin and Julie Porosky-Hamlin who co-chaired OMA for the past two years, to Paula Harbecke and Doug Lemmon who will succeed them as co-chairs this coming year.   
 

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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.

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Joe Arden OMA Scholarships Need Your Help

“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.

Contributions this year will be essentially doubled, as three OMA members have pledged to match up to $15,000 in all donations. We are on track to make the match but need your help to get across the finish line.

 Click here to make a contribution via credit card.  Your donations go only to support OMA overseas student scholarships.  Thanks to everyone who has already donated or who plans to make a donation soon!
(10/22/2021)

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OMA Scholarship Announcement Follow-Up

Overseas Maryland students need our help as never before.  The pandemic continues to affect them, especially in countries like Germany and Japan where restrictions persist. Military spouses have seen their jobs both on and off base curtailed, and many can no longer afford tuition. Their situation is highlighted in the annual Military Families Survey produced by Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families. (The report, Blue Star Families’ 2020 Military Lifestyle Survey, is found under “Publications” in the “Research + Analytics” tab.)

Please consider donating to OMA’s Joe Arden Scholarship Fund. This year three OMA members have promised to donate $15,000 if the rest of us together give the same amount. We are almost halfway there, and your gift will help put us over the top and add scholarships where they are needed.
It’s easy to donate. Just click here and follow the directions. Thanks to all who have donated and to OMA members who will join them.

 Julie Porosky Hamlin
 Paul Hamlin
 OMA Co-Chairs

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Overseas Positions OMA Participants Might Find Interesting

Some of you may itch to get back in the overseas academic world. If so, you might be interested in The School for Field Studies, the nation's oldest and largest provider of undergraduate environmental study abroad programs, with field research centers in Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Chile (Patagonia), Costa Rica, Kenya, Panama, Peru, Tanzania, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. You can check out the SFS website at www.fieldstudies.org

Jim Cramer, an OMA member who served with Maryland in Europe, Asia, and Adelphi, is the president of SFS and reports that after a year of hibernation due to the COVID crisis, programs are resuming in the fall and spring. There will likely be faculty openings at some of the centers from January 2022 forward, and possibly at SFS headquarters in Beverly, MA. If your specialization is biology, botany, marine science, natural resource management, or environmental policy, and you find the prospect of teaching upper-division undergraduates and mentoring them in environmental field research alluring, you can send Jim an e-mail with your CV and letter of interest. He can be reached at jcramer@fieldstudies.org

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Joe Arden OMA Scholarship Challenge

We have a new challenge for your contributions to the Joe Arden OMA Scholarships. Three anonymous donors have pledged to match the first $15,000 given in 2021 to the scholarship funds, which exclusively support active-duty military students and their families serving overseas. In addition, you will now have the option of giving to a fund that will be used immediately or, alternatively, to an endowed fund in which earnings from the principal will be used for scholarships. Donations are tax-deductible, and you will receive acknowledgement of your gift for income tax purposes. Click on this link to make a contribution.

A large number of Maryland overseas students receive no form of tuition assistance, and a scholarship can make a difference, providing a needed boost towards completing a degree.

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UMGC GRADUATION NUMBERS UP IN EUROPE AS LOCKDOWNS BOOST ENROLLMENTS.

The Stars and Stripes published an article May 1, 2021 highlighting how the panademic has resulted in increased UMGC enrollments in Europe and around 200 more graduates in Europe this year compared to last. You can read the full story on the Stars and Stripes website.

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Memoirs Project Zooms

The Memoirs Project continues to soar. Submissions are approaching 135 from OMA members all over the world, and they cover six decades of the Maryland academic adventure. OMA’s first virtual meeting, held December 5, 2020, focused on these memoirs and attracted some 90 participants. The overseasmarylander.org website has likewise shown exceptional activity, as members read and discuss one another’s memoirs.  

Given this interest and responding to several suggestions, the deadline for memoirs’ submission has been relaxed.  Volunteer OMA readers welcome your submissions for the indefinite future and will continue to post them on the website until further notice. Please look over a few of the stories now on the site to get an idea of length and focus.  Once your memoir is ready, just complete the submission form and send your work to the UMGC Archive, OMA’s partner in collecting these works. 
 

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NEW UMGC PRESIDENT ANNOUNCED.

The University System of Maryland has announced the appointment of Dr. Gregory Fowler as UMGC's newest president.

Details are in the this message from UMGC Interim President Dr. Larry Leak, and this message from the USM Chancellor Jay Perman.

Dr. Fowler begins his new role with UMGC on January 4.

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Memoirs Project Announcement 

The Memoirs Project is doing better than anyone anticipated as we approach 80 submissions! Thanks very much to those of you who have responded or are about to do so.

With a number of OMA members contemplating or writing memoirs, it seems sensible to extend our deadline for submission to the end of November.  All memoirs are welcome, but we are particularly interested in your thoughts on teaching and students.  Also of interest, how did working overseas with the University of Maryland affect your life?   Finally, we’d welcome some words on  Asian study tours to match the excellent submissions on European versions.

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UMGC President Miyares Announces Retirement Plans

University of Maryland Global Campus President Javier Miyares has notified the chancellor of his intention to retire upon the appointment of a successor. Read his letter to the UMGC community here.

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Memoirs Project Takes Off! 

In response to our initial announcement of the project, we have begun to receive memoirs of Maryland overseas experiences you won’t want to miss. A thanks and salute to the early submitters. 

With this message, we will begin to add memoirs, a few at a time, to a special section of gypsyscholars, and we hope yours will soon be among them. To further encourage you, we are relaxing the 4,500-word guideline in case any of you has a Gone with the Wind-length overseas experience that simply must be shared. 

We also welcome humor. Not to be overlooked are the comedic aspects of some of the situations we got into or absurdities we endured while trying to live up to the Maryland overseas faculty and staff watchwords of “flexibility” and “resilience.” 

We hope having time to sit down and write your recollections will be an upside to the pandemic confinement everyone is experiencing right now. We look forward to hearing from you!

We will add selected Memoirs to the OMA website over time. You can read the current memoirs by clicking the Memoirs Project menu item on the left side of this page.

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Announcing the Memoirs Project: CALL FOR PAPERS

Inspired by the documentary film Over There celebrating the European Division's 70th anniversary, the OMA members listed below are seeking memoirs of the overseas experience. We want to assure that this unique chapter in higher education is fully documented and our stories are never lost. UMGC’s Archive shares our interest, hoping to enliven its extensive overseas records with memoirs. (read more) 
 

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SAN DIEGO GATHERING CANCELLED

We are cancelling the gathering in San Diego this early June due to the spread of the coronavirus. OMA leaders thought that we should cancel immediately to give people the maximum amount of time to change their plans.

Over the next weeks will be monitoring the situation to plan our next gathering. Perhaps we will be able to meet in San Diego this October or November. In any case, we will update you about developments on the OMA website and via emails. (3/13/2020)

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New OMA Co-Chairs 

Tom Hale completed a very successful term as OMA’s chair at the October 25-27 gathering in Heidelberg. Paul Hamlin and Julie Porosky Hamlin, the organization’s first co-chairs, then took the helm of OMA’s volunteer leadership. Both bring considerable experience in overseas programs to their new roles. 

Recruited from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Paul Hamlin joined the European Division in 1975 as a faculty member in psychology. He taught at locations around Europe for two years. After teaching, he became Area Director for North Germany and Benelux. Returning to College Park in 1981, Hamlin headed national recruiting for the overseas programs in Europe and Asia. He completed his UMUC career in 1998, taking early retirement from his last post, Dean, Undergraduate Programs. Paul holds an A.B. from Hamilton College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in psychology from Rutgers University. 

Julie Porosky Hamlin’s UMUC work followed a somewhat similar path from teaching in the European Division to administrative work in College Park. She began as an English instructor in the European Division in 1971, joining its administration in 1975 and transitioning to College Park in 1978. Here she held several administrative posts, including a three-year stint with the University System of Maryland. She completed her UMUC career as Senior Vice President in 2001 and currently is director of MarylandOnline, a consortium of 20 public and independent colleges and universities that collaborate in online education. Julie holds a B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in higher education policy from University of Maryland College Park.
 

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In 32 Years Overseas, Holowenzak Served Students and Community

The UMGC website's Global Media Center recently posted an interesting article about one of our OMA colleagues, Stephen Holowenzak.

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OMA CHALLENGE GRANT

Greetings,

We had a wonderful Gathering in Adelphi -- what a blast!  Several good things came out of it.  

One is, Julian Jones announced that two anonymous OMA members have challenged our organization by pledging up to $10,000 to our Joe Arden Scholarship Fund, if others, collectively, match up to that amount.

UMUC/UMGC has agreed to manage the donations for us. Your donation will be treated as confidential. The point is to obtain additional donations sufficient to ensure that we are able access the full $10K Matching Grant. All donations go into the endowment fund, which will start paying out scholarships when a $25K threshold is reached. I would guess we're within $10K of that, so this Challenge will put us over the line.

Donations are Tax Deductible and may be made by credit card. You will get an official thank you letter from UMUC to be used at tax time.

If you are willing and able to make a donation, please contact UMUC/UMGC at: impact.umuc.edu/give

When you go to that page, scroll down, you’ll see the Joe Arden Overseas Marylanders Endowed Scholarship, and where you input the amount of your donation.

The deadline for taking advantage of this Challenge Grant is December 31, 2019. Of course, you may make a donation after that date, but the idea is to take full advantage of the Matching Grant. 

Thanks for giving this opportunity some thought. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
 
Tom Hale
OMA Chair

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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

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INTRODUCING "UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND GLOBAL CAMPUS"

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Joe Arden Overseas Marylanders Association Scholarships

The Overseas Marylanders Association (OMA) brings together faculty and staff who served in UMUC’s worldwide overseas program since its 1949 founding on U.S. military installations in occupied Germany.  In April 2016 OMA members established the Overseas Marylanders Association Scholarships to offset educational costs for active duty students and family members deployed abroad.  In October 2016, at a large OMA meeting in Heidelberg, Germany, a group of participants suggested naming these scholarships in honor of the highly respected and long-serving overseas director, Dr. Joseph J. Arden.
 
Joe Arden devoted his career to Maryland overseas and touched positively the lives of countless students, faculty and staff.  His service with University of Maryland University College spanned four decades, beginning 1967 in the midst of the Vietnam War.  Following eight years as a government and history lecturer in Asia and Europe and as the Benelux, Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa Area Director, Joe was appointed Director of UMUC’s Far East Division.  Over the next 32 years he not only became the longest serving overseas director (Far East Division 1975-81, European Division 1981-96, Asian Division 1996-2007) in UMUC history but also one of its most esteemed. 
 
Joe’s commitment to maintaining high academic standards by employing outstanding faculty members and providing full support for their teaching regardless of how large, small or remote the location kept UMUC at the forefront of overseas voluntary educational programs for the U.S. Military.  In 2001, educational leaders from universities across America honored Joe by inducting him into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.
 
Making a gift to support the Joe Arden Scholarship Fund is easy.  To make a gift by credit card, follow the link impact.umuc.edu/give and scroll down a few lines to OMA Scholarships.  If you’d like to give by check, transfer of appreciated securities or discuss charitable gift annuities that return around 6% equivalent annual income, please contact Cathy Sweet at cathy.sweet@umuc.edu. Gifts are tax deductible.

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UMUC NAME CHANGE.

Interesting article published in Inside Higher Ed regarding an upcoming name change for UMUC and its new goal of growing nationally.

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"Over There" Documentary Wins Awards and "Over There" Extra Interviews

The Television, Internet and Video Association (TIVA) of Washington, DC held it's annual Peer Awards ceremony recently and "Over There" won the Gold Award for script-writing and the Bronze Award for documentary!  I'm pretty sure the people who were interviewed provided their own script, and the rest of us are implicated in the Bronze Award. It's quite an honor.
 
UMUC also sent us a link for additional interviews from OMA members (and others) which were not used in the documentary, but still, they are very interesting, and are about us.  Click here to view the entire documentary. And click here to view the additional interviews.
 
You're sure to enjoy both.  

That is all.
 
Tom Hale
Chair, OMA

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See the Overseas Program’s New Documentary Film
 
You can now view Over There: The Adventures of Maryland’s Traveling Faculty by following the link to https://tinyurl.com/overtheredoc.  Maryland Public Television showed the film in April 2018, and the link takes you to its site.  We understand the link will be available for at least a year.  OMA members played central roles in conceiving and shaping the film, and many contributed to its content through their interviews.  We are told that the film may be shown on other public tv stations around the country, but you can enjoy it online before any showing in your area.

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“Over There” on Maryland Public Television in April, by Gil Klein

Documentary about the History of UMUC’s Overseas Traveling Faculty to Air on Maryland Public Television April 15 and April 18 University of Maryland University College’s (UMUC) rich history of globetrotting professors came to life recently with the private screening of a documentary that follows the university’s seven-decade mission of educating military personnel stationed overseas. Entitled [read the rest of this article]

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OMA Membership Outreach
Please Keep Spreading the Word!

As you probably know, the number of OMA members has been growing but not as fast as we would hope. Our current active membership of nearly 400 represents only a small portion of the many who worked with UMUC’s Asian or European Division or on one of the international campuses. We want to grow our membership to make OMA an even larger and more diverse community of people who shared the exciting experience of bringing outstanding university programs overseas.

What you may not know is that 'word-of-mouth' is the only way OMA can spread word of its existence. UMUC, with which OMA is not directly affiliated, cannot legally provide us with its contact lists of former overseas faculty and staff.

But ‘word-of-mouth’ has worked extremely well. Our experience is that when former overseas Marylanders hear about OMA they are almost always keen to become members. Each current member is likely aware of at least two or three former overseas faculty/staff have not yet joined OMA. Thus, we urge that each of us reach out to these former colleagues, inform them about OMA, encourage them to join and point them to our website, www.gypsyscholars.org. We are confident that if we make this appeal it will significantly swell our ranks.

If you have other suggestions with regard to informing folks of the existence of OMA, please let us know. In the meantime, use your social media and other sleuthing skills to find at least 3 (three) of your former overseas colleagues and encourage them to join!

Thanks a lot.

Tom Hale, OMA Chair
Joe Arden
John Golembe
Paula Harbecke
Rosemary Hoffmann
Julian Jones,
Bill Keller
Doug Lemmon

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UMUC’s 70th Anniversary Web Pages 

OMA members will be interested in sections containing historical photographs, video links to interviews with faculty and staff who recall their overseas experience, an historical time line by decade and a preview of the documentary film on overseas programs now under production.  You will find all this at UMUC.edu/70years.