Securing the Future With CyberSecurity

UBALT graduates show that there’s more than one way to craft a cybersecurity career

BY KATIE COTTINGHAM
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL GLENWOOD

person with key walking through a keyhole landscape

Almost everything about us is online. Social media posts display our personal thoughts and photos. We move money online between bank accounts and from credit cards to retailers. Even our medical records are digital, accessible through web-based portals and apps.

These conveniences make our lives easier, but it also makes it easier for criminals to take over many aspects of our lives. “Bank robbers don’t have to show up at a bank now to steal your money,” said David Doggette, MBA ’03, president and CEO of 2HB Incorporated who is also a principal system engineer in a cybersecurity role at the company. “Your identity can be stolen and there’s so much opportunity for theft.”

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President’s Letter 2023 – OLD COPY

Kurt Schmoke “Leaders are made, they are not born.” Though renowned, these words from Vince Lombardi never resonated with me as much as another turn of phrase from the legendary coach: “Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it.”

Students have come to The University of Baltimore to build professional capacity for almost 100 years. Through innovative academic programs, experiential learning and community immersion, they acquire the knowledge and skills to navigate the demands of a modern workforce.

From boardrooms and classrooms, our faculty are practiced leaders whose experience and expertise make them uniquely equipped to ensure our students succeed. But there’s more to a UBalt education than preparing students to sit for the bar, pass the CPA exam, defend their doctoral thesis, present their research to the community, or produce their own books, portfolios, ventures, and more. We cannot overlook the other qualities they are endowed with during their time here.

Communication, mentorship, organization, motivation and innovation are all considered “soft skills.” They are also vital competencies for leaders. For this reason, I am reluctant to refer to leadership skills as “soft.” As you will read in the following pages, these skills have all been hard-earned by our students and alumni.

If you review a UBalt course catalog, you’ll find a handful of classes that include “leadership” in the title. However, if you enroll in any course at The University of Baltimore, you’ll find leadership embedded in the fabric of our curriculum. We don’t provide our students with a how-to guide; we believe each of our students already has the capacity to lead, and we instill in them the willingness to use it.

The stories in this issue represent a mere fraction of our capable and willing UBalt alumni. They c0me from different backgrounds, have taken different paths and have different titles, but they were all forged in the same fire. Whether you’ve been a leader in your field for 50 years or haven’t yet settled on a program of study, there is something to be learned from the lessons within this issue.

When we say “Leaders learn here,” what we mean is that leaders are made here. And we will continue to make strong, thoughtful, resilient leaders to meet the challenges of our times.

Sincerely,

Kurt L. Schmoke
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Turning a Dream Job into Reality: Kyle Holtgren, B.S. ’06

BY EMILY HALNON

JOHN DAVIS

BIO

  • B.S. ’06, UBalt’s Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences
  • Transfer student from Anne Arundel Community College
  • Art director, integrated design, FX Networks
  • Credits include Shōgun, The Bear, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

When Kyle Holtgren, B.S. ’06, showed up for his first day of work at Warner Bros. Pictures, he was instantly transported back to his seven-year-old self.

He looked up at the historic water tower, branded with the classic WB logo, and remembered watching Tim Burton’s Batman as a kid, after the studio released it in 1989.

Batman transformed my life,” he said. “The marketing for that movie changed the game for superhero movies in a way that’s still rippling through the industry today.”

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Speaking Up For New Americans: Giuliana Valencia-Banks, B.A. ’21, M.P.A. ’23

BY CHRISTIANNA McCAUSLAND

CHRIS MYERS PHOTOGRAPHY

BIO

  • B.A. ’21, M.P.A. ’23, The University of Baltimore
    College of Public Affairs
  • Advocate for immigrant and new Americans
    University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • Chief, Immigrant Affairs program for Baltimore County
  • Member, Baltimore County’s New Americans Task Force

When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in March, Giuliana Valencia-Banks, B.A. ’21, M.P.A. ’23, knew without being told that it was immigrants who were working on the road that night. Her first concern was that there be interpreters onsite, something she was pleased to see the FBI handled well. Her next thought was to work with partners to ensure there were culturally competent, bilingual trauma counselors available for the affected families.

In an email statement reported in The Baltimore Sun at the time of the collapse, Governor Wes Moore stated, “This is an all-hands-ondeck moment for our state and we are thankful for leaders like Giuliana who are putting their passion and their skills to work on behalf of our fellow Marylanders.”

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Telling Our History: Frances Murphy Draper (Toni), D.MIN., CERT ’80, MBA ’81

BY IJEOMA NWATU

CHRIS MYERS PHOTOGRAPHY

BIO

  • Certificate ’80, MBA ’81, The University of Baltimore
    Merrick School of Business
  • Family matriarch/li>
  • Board chair, president and fourth-generation publisher, The AFRO American Newspapers
  • Founding pastor, Freedom Temple African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

In the early 1980s, The University of Baltimore’s Certificate in Women’s Management might have been regarded as something of a novelty, but Frances Murphy Draper (Toni), D.Min., CERT ’80, MBA ’81, recalled her time as a student in the program fondly saying, “I remember how supportive it was.”

At the time, Draper was juggling many responsibilities—including being a working professional, mother and wife—and appreciated the intentionality of the course and its removal of barriers for women like herself. The 14-month program alternated weekends and helped to develop her leadership skills. “It was very, very unique; the thoughtfulness around how women learn and lead, how women have to juggle so many things.” For example, she recalled a particularly impactful lesson about how to be assertive in the boardroom without being labeled aggressive.

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Power House: Ebony Thompson, J.D. ’13

BY CHRISTIANNA McCAUSLAND

LARRY CANNER PHOTOGRAPHY

BIO

  • J.D. ’13, The University of Baltimore School of Law
  • First woman and openly gay city solicitor, Baltimore City
  • Reservist, United States Marine Corps
  • Secured $1.2 million settlement with a ghost gun manufacturer

When F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “There are no second acts in American lives,” he clearly hadn’t bet on Ebony Thompson, J.D. ’13. Thompson, 46, did not even graduate from law school until she was 34. Yet today she is Baltimore’s first woman and first openly gay City Solicitor, sworn in last January, and she has already successfully tackled some of the city’s most pressing issues, including vacant housing and ghost guns.

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CLASS NOTES

Class notes featured were received from May 1, 2023 through April 30, 2024. 

Several UBalt graduates were recently appointed to positions by Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Congratulations are extended to:

Peter S. O’Neill, J.D. ’84, Leslie Florestano Peek, J.D. ’91, Nicole D. Love-Kelly, J.D. ’95, and Liset Collazo-Dingle, J.D. ’03, who now serve on the statewide Appellate Courts Judicial Nominating Commission.

Julia A. Minner, J.D. ’90, and Joanie Raymond Brubaker, J.D. ’95, who were named judges for the Frederick County Circuit Court.

Jennifer Sue Hollander Fairfax, J.D. ’97, who serves as a judge in the Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Ginina A. Jackson-Stevenson, J.D. ’01, who was appointed a magistrate in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.

Jason G. Downs, B.A. ’04, who was named to the Howard County Trial Court Judicial Nominating Committee.

Erika Garrott Johnson, J.D. ’08, who was appointed to the Washington County Trial Court Judicial Nominating Commission.

Levi Stuart Zaslow, J.D. ’08, who was named as a judge on the Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Alan Carl Lazerow, J.D. ’10, who was appointed a magistrate in the Baltimore City Circuit Court.

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In Memoriam

1940s

Laura M. Stack Fallon, LL.B. ’43
Charles F. Haugh Jr., A.A. ’48
John W. Jenkins, A.A. ’49

1950s

Martin R. Fischer, B.S. ’50
Herbert Sweren, B.S. ’50
Charlotte R. Bianco, A.A. ’51
Jacob Matz, J.D. ’51
Irene A. Wilson, LL.B. ’51
Carl J. Amrhein, A.A. ’52
W. Wade Homesley, A.A. ’53, J.D. ’70
Ruth Muhlbauer, B.S. ’53
Dudley K. Chism, B.S. ’54
Gordon J. Kelly Sr., J.D. ’55
Mary R. Gill, LL.B. ’56
Lee G. Rudolph Jr., B.S. ’57
Lloyd J. Hammond, LL.B. ’58
Adolph J. Siedlecki, B.S. ’59

1960s

Paul J. Hagner, B.S. ’60
Arthur H. Helton Jr., B.S. ’60
Lawrence L. Katz, B.S. ’60
Edward B. Kovens, B.S. ’60
Marvin S. Miller, LL.B. ’60
Arthur F. Pittenger, LL.B. ’60
Norman R. Stone Jr., J.D. ’60
Clarence W. Thompson, B.S. ’60
Robert F. Fischer, LL.B. ’61
James G. Byrnes, B.S. ’62
Edward P. Gallagher, J.D. ’62
T. L. Trockenbrot Jr., B.S. ’62
Taylor Bannan Anderson, B.S. ’63
Richard J. Hannigan, LL.B. ’63
Stuart M. Harrison, B.S. ’63, LL.B. ’67
Ronald C. Higgins, CERT ’63
Marion J. Minker Jr., A.A. ’63
Paul M. Mintz, B.S. ’63
Raymond F. Noon Jr., B.S. ’63
F. Brian Richter, A.A. ’63, B.S. ’72
Lee L. Shaver, B.S. ’63
Bernard J. Thomas, B.S. ’63
John R. Thompson, B.S. ’63
P. Joseph Amati, LL.B. ’64
Francis M. Chucoski, CERT ’64
Russell D. Coogan, J.D. ’64
Howard B. Gersh, LL.B. ’64
William Hughes, LL.B. ’64
Jeffrey A. Legum, B.S. ’64
Robert J. Smigal, LL.B. ’64
Walter D. Welsh, B.S. ’64
Robert C. Zacker, B.S. ’64
Stanley M. Asch, B.S. ’65
Alexander Beaumont, CERT ’65
Leroy M. Beck, B.S. ’65
Arnold N. “Tank” Cohen, B.S. ’65
Gilbert D. Marsiglia Sr., LL.B. ’65
Richard W. Moore, LL.B. ’65
Dorothy T. Sparrow, B.A. ’65
Lewis B. Steingold, J.D. ’65
Stephen P. Bourexis, J.D. ’66
Kenneth L. Cordrey, B.S. ’66
Thomas E. Donoho, LL.B. ’66
William J. Donovan, LL.B. ’66
Wayne R. Gioioso Sr., J.D. ’66
Joseph W. Mikos Jr., B.S. ’66
Randolph N. Bair Sr., J.D. ’67
Robert J. Dvorak, B.S. ’67
Michael A. Marley, B.S. ’67
George A. Quick, J.D. ’67
Edward F. Wilbourne, B.S. ’67
Donald E. Young, B.S. ’67
Stuart M. Felderstein, LL.B. ’68
Earl B. Heim, B.S. ’68, M.S. ’81
Harold F. Rew, B.S. ’68
William E. Schaeffer, B.S. ’68
Ronald W. Titus, B.S. ’68
Alan J. Wolfe, B.S, ’68
Fred W. Brehm, CERT ’69, B.S. ’71
Ronald F. Cardwell, B.S ’69
Harry R. Davidson, B.S. ’69
Arrie W. Davis, LL.B. ’69
Lloyd W. Deluke, B.S. ’69
Wayne C. Faupel, B.S. ’69
John T. Lyburn Jr., B.S. ’69
C. Jerome Moschetta, J.D. ’69
Donaldson L. Parker, J.D. ’69
Richard A. Percival, J.D. ’69
James L. Prichard, B.S. ’69, J.D. ’74
George L. Rayburn, LL.B. ’69
Joseph L. Ruppert, J.D. ’69
John B. Russell, B.S. ’69

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Remembering Two Leaders Who Shaped UBALT

President Kurt L. Schmoke shares his reflections on two influential leaders whose legacies endure at The University of Baltimore

Mebane Turner

DR. H. MEBANE “MEB” TURNER 1930–2023

I’ve been asked to describe exactly what H. MEBANE TURNER did for The University of Baltimore in his more than 30 years as president. In my letter to the community following his death last November, I wrote this:

“President Turner’s dedication to UBalt is instantly recognizable. Perhaps his greatest achievement was leading the University’s transition from a private institution to a fully accredited state university in 1988. This arrangement allowed UBalt to collaborate and share resources with its partner schools across the University System of Maryland and secured the institution’s future as not only a recognized leader in urban education, but also as a unique contributor to Maryland’s mix of top-notch undergraduate, graduate and professional-level institutions.

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B ONLINE

B is for Book List

Looking for your next great read? We’ve got you dust-covered with a list of all the latest and greatest by UBalt authors from the past year.

Our 2024 Book List includes a variety of literary works from members of the UBalt community, like alumnus Bob Parsons, B.S. ’75, D.H.L. ’08, who launched the book tour for his memoir, Fire in the Hole! at UBalt on May 6.

Welcome Dean Reed!

The University of Baltimore School of Law welcomed its first female dean, LaVonda Reed, at the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year. Read about her journey to UBalt Law in the 2024 issue of Baltimore Law Magazine, available now online.

Also featured this year, interviews with alumni AI entrepreneur, Tre Lundy, J.D. ’21, and TCAP volunteer and former first lady of Maryland, Katie Curran O’Malley, J.D. ’91, as well as a farewell from former law school dean, Ronald Weich.

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