For the third consecutive year, UMBC has been named to the Times Higher Education‘s 100 Under 50 list of the world’s best young universities. This year, UMBC ranked #65, joining such institutions as the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Université Paris-Sud, University of Calgary and University of Warwick. THE‘s “100 Under 50” highlights colleges and universities established less than 50 years ago that have promising futures. Particular attention was given to institutions with strong research, innovation and an international outlook. Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings, said: “The academy’s traditional, ancient elite should be warned – many… Continue Reading UMBC Again Named to Times Higher Ed List of “Top 100 Under 50” Universities Worldwide
In a Washington Post op-ed titled, “Court ruling ignores India’s rich heritage of diversity,” UMBC mathematics professor Manil Suri critically examines the Indian Supreme Court’s recent decision to reinstate a 19th-century law criminalizing homosexual acts (Section 377), a law which had been repealed by a lower-court decision in 2009. In his analysis, Suri draws attention to how the ruling “criticized previous judges for relying too much on foreign precedents in their ‘anxiety to protect the so-called rights of LGBT persons.’” Suri argues that the foreign imposition in this case is actually the statute itself. He notes: “The statute was passed… Continue Reading Manil Suri, Mathematics, Writes Washington Post Op-Ed
Hilltop Senior Regulatory and Policy Advisor, Maansi Raswant, JD, gave a presentation titled The Affordable Care Act’s Impact on Small Business to the Catonsville Chamber of Commerce on October 30, 2013 at the Charlestown Retirement Community. In the presentation, Raswant gave an overview of the basic provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and described health reform implementation in Maryland; described the ACA mandates for coverage (who needs to have it and who needs to provide it); and discussed how to determine whether an employer is considered a large or small employer, how to purchase coverage through exchanges, new benefits… Continue Reading Hilltop Presents on ACA’s Impact on Small Business
In an October 1st tweet, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz suggested the current federal government shutdown will result in “$10 billion in costs to the economy per week.” Is that accurate? PolitiFact consulted with UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers to find out. The $10 billion figure Wasserman Schultz quotes is from the White House, which itself acquired the estimate from an August report from Goldman Sachs. To check this figure, PolitiFact went back to Meyers’ analysis of the 1995-96 government shutdown, which was estimated to cost $1.4 billion (mainly in back pay to furloughed workers). However, Meyers shares,… Continue Reading Roy Meyers, Political Science, on PolitiFact
“The federal government has shut down,” reads a new Baltimore Sun op-ed by political science professor Thomas F. Schaller. “And it’s the Republicans’ fault — period.” In contesting the House Republican’s use of legislation funding the federal government to block or alter the Affordable Care Act and its implementation, Schaller notes: The Constitution clearly establishes that a bill becomes a law if it passes both chambers of Congress and is signed by the president or if his veto is overridden by two-thirds supermajorities in both chambers. In 2010, Democrats in Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed, the Affordable Care… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, Op-ed in The Baltimore Sun
The threat of a government shutdown has become a reality and political science professor Roy Meyers is again in the news describing the direct and indirect costs of this action. NBC News shared Meyers’ finding that the 1995-65 closure of national parks, monuments and battlefields alone cost businesses and local governments $295 million by preventing seven million park visits. In MSNBC coverage of the shutdown, Meyers shared the importance of not just accounting for all of those costs, but also for those that are less measurable. “The real costs are really not in terms of consumer confidence or any of… Continue Reading Roy Meyers, Political Science, in The Hill, Washington Post, Le Monde, on NBC News and More
Although Maryland voters won’t elect a new governor until the November 2013 general election, six gubernatorial candidates are already “poised to start running in earnest — touring the state, signing up volunteers and raising millions of dollars for a spirited race,” reports The Baltimore Sun. “We’re moving into this phase when the policy and platforms are being rolled out,” says UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that voters want to be on that timeline.” Why the rush? Because of a change by the General Assembly in 2011, the primary will be held in June rather than… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in The Baltimore Sun
History professor Kate Brown’s recent discussion of Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore, Md., Sept. 18) is now available online through C-SPAN BookTV. In Plutopia, Brown writes about the “atomic cities” of Richland, Washington and Ozersk, Russia, where plutonium was first produced. To uphold secrecy during the nuclear arms race and compensate for the hazards of working in and around nuclear production facilities, the U.S. and Soviet governments offered generous salaries, educational and health care benefits in these “plutopias.” Brown argues that contamination to the cities and their surrounding environments occurred… Continue Reading Kate Brown, History, Book Talk on C-SPAN BookTV
President Hrabowksi’s new interview with reporter Sarah Gantz in the Baltimore Business Journal explores the role of technology in education across disciplines and how students benefit from having well-rounded educational experiences. President Hrabowski shares: …there are some skills [all students] need regardless of major — problem solving, knowing how to work in teams, knowing how to use technology as a tool in presenting and analyzing data. I am constantly encouraging students in STEM…to take courses in humanities and arts. We want arts and humanities students to take courses related to technology. The broader a person’s education, the stronger a person’s… Continue Reading New Q&A with Pres. Hrabowski in the Baltimore Business Journal
In “Why the 2014 Election Matters for Voting Rights,” the online magazine Facing South delves into analysis by UMBC’s Tyson King-Meadows on last week’s CBC Annual Legislative Conference panel “Protecting the Right to Vote.” King-Meadows is associate professor of political science and chair of Africana studies.The panel discussed voting rights issues in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent invalidation of Section Five of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). In his remarks, King-Meadows described two ways the VRA’s influence could shrink further, including underfunding for the attorneys who address claims relating to voter rights and appointing people… Continue Reading Tyson King-Meadows, Political Science and Africana Studies, on Facing South
Throughout the week, with a possible government shutdown looming, UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers has provided analysis for media from the Washington Post to USA Today on the costs of previous shutdowns and what is at stake this time around. On NPR’s Morning Edition today, Meyers noted that it’s hard to estimate the true cost of a shutdown: For example, what does it cost the American people when you tell somebody who leads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plan for a shutdown rather than try to reduce or eliminate public health threats. To me, the… Continue Reading Roy T. Meyers, Political Science, on NPR’s Morning Edition
