Occupy Wall Street arrived in Baltimore this week, with Occupy Baltimore participants gathering at McKeldin Square (at Light and Pratt Streets). Protestors have mentioned causes such as fighting income inequality, corporate greed and corruption, but the broader movement has not yet released specific goals. Laura Hussey, assistant professor of political science, told the Baltimore Business Journal, “We can look at some of the contemporary social movements today, social rights movements, anti-war, labor unions… Their policy demands are fairly specific. This seems to be a broader coalition and their demands are very vague.” Hussey said both left-wing and libertarian protesters are involved.
All posts by: UMBC News Staff
Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun
Maryland Democrats currently control both of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats and six of eight House seats, “and now they’re looking to make it seven,” writes Thomas Schaller, professor of political science, in his latest Baltimore Sun column. Although the GOP controls the process of drawing Congressional maps across much of the nation, the reverse is true in Maryland.
In the last ten years, the state population has grown 9% to nearly 5.8 million residents. Schaller writes, “That growth was anything but uniform statewide, of course. Continued population shifts away from Baltimore City toward the Baltimore suburbs, Washington suburbs and especially toward the outlying portions of the state are changing the geographic power calculus.” He argues that Democrats undertook a redistricting strategy “in the hope of flipping the 6th District.”
Two Catonsville Companies in the Running for “Hottest Tech in Town”
In early July, the Greater Baltimore Tech Council launched a search for companies with the most unique, innovative and creative technologies. A panel of judges reviewed the applications and compiled a list of the top 10. Two Catonsville-based companies made the list, including one located at bwtech@UMBC.
Now you can vote for those two Catonsville companies, Via Place and Rogue Networks, to be named the Greater Baltimore Tech Council’s “Hottest Tech in Town.”
Via Place develops mobile GPS apps and is an affiliate company of chamber member Mindgrub.
Rogue Networks develops cybersecurity solutions in the Cync incubator at bwtech@UMBC.
Voting is open until October 13 here.
Roy Meyers, Political Science, on NPR and in USA Today
NPR’s Morning Edition reports the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on a temporary measure — or “continuing resolution” — to keep the government funded through mid-November, after having missed its appropriations deadline for the 14th year in a row. Congress uses continuing resolutions when they can’t complete work on appropriations bills before the start of a new fiscal year. UMBC political science professor Roy Meyers told NPR, “What that means is that there’s a great deal of uncertainty when you’re running a program about how much money you have to hire people or to sign contracts and the like, and that creates lots of inefficiencies.”
A USA Today article on the same topic focused on proposals to improve the budget process. However, not everyone is optimistic about the suggestions. Meyers is wary, telling USA Today, “When members of Congress don’t want to confront the difficult policy decisions, they start talking about process, and we may be in that phase now.”
Dalton Tolliver ’15 Named Volleyball Rookie of the Week
Dalton Tolliver ’15 was named the America East Conference Volleyball Rookie of the Week for matches ending October 2, 2011.
Tolliver amassed a team-high 28 kills in two matches and hit .323 in a 3-0 win over Binghamton and a 3-2 setback versus Albany. She totaled one solo block and recorded four assisted blocks. Her 16 kills versus Binghamton tied a season high.
She is the second Retriever freshman to earn the first-year player award in 2011. Hannah Schmidt ’15 was the league’s recipient on August 29 and September 6.
Read the full press release here.
Leslie Morgan, Sociology and Anthropology, in the Baltimore Sun
“When an older family member needs supportive housing, there’s often a rush to find a place with the ‘best quality,'” wrote Leslie Morgan, professor of sociology, in a Baltimore Sun op-ed. “But what is quality?” she asked. “Do family or friends value the same things as the future assisted-living resident?”
In searching for assisted living for a family member, Morgan recommends looking beyond a facility’s cosmetic factors to attend to the individual habits, interests and needs of the person who will live there. “What are their priorities?”; “How important is flexibility in their daily routine?”; “What about continuing lifelong behaviors, like having a drink before dinner, attending religious services or spending time outdoors?”
To learn more, read “Questions to Ask Before Choosing Assisted Living.” Leslie Morgan is UMBC’s Lipitz Professor of the arts, humanities and social sciences for academic year 2011-2012 and one of the nation’s foremost scholars on aging.
Retriever Fever is Spreading
Retriever Fever is Spreading
Each year, Retriever Fever begins with a simple spark.
Around dusk, a crowd gathers on Erickson Field to light the annual bonfire – a towering spectacle signifying not just the start of UMBC’s Homecoming, but the energy of a collective college experience.
Still relatively young (UMBC celebrates its 45th year this fall), the university is in the process of building traditions like the bonfire. Add in a Homecoming weekend chock full of athletic events, picnics, performances and reminiscing, and it’s easy to see why students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends come together to celebrate UMBC.
“Our focus has been building an experience that students will think about when they are here – and that makes them want to come back as alumni,” said Jen Dress, assistant director of major events in the Office of Student Life. “Take the bonfire. Students initially had skepticism about it. But you look at pictures and see how students are real close at the beginning and then have to move back as the bonfire ramps up. They now see it’s a much bigger thing.”
This year’s Homecoming – UMBC’s 11th – brings back many such popular events from last year, including:
- Midnight Madness, Men’s Soccer Game, 5K Dawg Chase and other athletic events
- Community Picnic, Taste of UMBC, RATT Reunion and other social events with great food
- Outstanding Alumni of the Year Awards
- Comedy Night, featuring Donald Glover of NBC’s “Community”
- Student Talent Show, Pep Rally and Bonfire
The weekend also includes several new events, including a Homecoming dance; an Art and Humanities Afternoon, featuring UMBC alumni filmmakers; celebrations of the Women’s Center’s 20th anniversary; and specialized reunions for student leaders, the Shriver Center and other groups.
And, in the spirit of building traditions, current students decided to add a community parade just before this year’s bonfire. Students can decorate parade floats, and spectators can join a musical march leading up to activities on Erickson Field.
“We wanted to create an event that every member of this campus could be a part of,” said senior Divya Patel, student chair of Homecoming.
The full Homecoming calendar of events, along with online registration, opportunities to volunteer and more, can be found at www.umbc.edu/homecoming.
(10/04/11)
Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College, in the New Yorker
This week, the New Yorker published a letter from Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, regarding an essay on the Oxford philosopher Derek Parfit. Spitz compares a literary device used by the writer to one used in “The Tin Woodsman of Oz.”
Her letter can be read here.
UMBC Research Proves Valuable to Large Companies
One of UMBC’s top revenue-generating technologies has just been licensed for the third time, this time to GE Healthcare. This demonstrates that the University’s strong efforts to commercialize its research are paying off.
“UMBC benefits from technology transfer not just in measurable dollars from licensing revenue but also by building relationships with companies,” said Wendy Martin, director of technology development at UMBC.
The technology allows companies to use an external sensor to measure a range of environmental factors including pH, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in cell culture. The sensor peels and sticks to the inside of the plastic or glassware. The entire vessel is then sterilized and sold to the customer. The sensor works by looking for a specific fluorescent signature associated with each environmental factor.
“It works much like a bar code scanner,” said Govind Rao, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, who developed the technology after almost 20 years of research.
Prior methods required scientists to use something like an “electrical dipstick.” That is, said Rao, “they had to place a corded, electrical probe into the cell culture,” risking contamination of the entire culture. “It’s like moving from a corded phone to a cordless phone,” he said.
Because the adhesive probe allows scientists to avoid costly contamination, it saves companies millions in labor and materials. For the general population this means that the time to market for new drugs can be reduced—an innovation that positively impacts human health.
Image Transfer: Pictures in a Remix Culture (10/6-12/10)
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) presents “Image Transfer: Pictures in a Remix Culture,” curated by Sara Krajewski and co-organized by Independent Curators International and the Henry Art Gallery, on display October 6-December 10.
“Image Transfer: Pictures in a Remix Culture” spotlights evolving attitudes toward the appropriation, recuperation and repurposing of extant photographic imagery. Artists, as both producers and consumers in today’s vast image economy, freely adopt and adapt materials from myriad sources. Images culled from the Internet, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, television, films, personal and public archives, studio walls and from other works of art are all fair game. “Image Transfer” brings together artists who divert commonplace, even ubiquitous, visual materials into new territories of formal and idiomatic expression.
Artists featured in the exhibition include Sean Dack, Karl Haendel, Jordan Kantor, Matt Keegan, Carter Mull, Lisa Oppenheim, Marlo Pascual, Amanda Ross-Ho, Sara VanDerBeek, Siebren Versteeg, Erika Vogt and Kelley Walker.
An opening reception will be held on Thursday, October 6, 5-7 p.m., and the exhibition will open for regular hours on Friday, October 7.
Admission to the exhibition is free. CADVC is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and is located in the Fine Arts Building. For more information, call ext. 5-3188.
Roy T. Meyers, Political Science, in the Washington Post
In the face of another political stalemate on Capitol Hill, Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein turned to Roy T. Meyers, professor of political science, to understand the possible impact of a government shutdown. Meyers, a former Congressional Budget Office analyst, argues that we may underestimate the costs of shutdowns by not accounting for the value of lost work hours, decreased federal parks revenue or the reduced pace of IRS audits.
Klein writes, “Meyers suggests that contractors might start charging the government a premium after shutdowns to compensate for the uncertainty of their payments. And a large body of work shows that unstable budget processes at the state level raise borrowing costs. Add those together and a real, sustained shutdown would cost much more than the $1.6 billion that separated this week’s two bills.”
The article, “Government Shutdown Would Cost Much More Than the Two Parties are Fighting Over,” appeared September 26.
Christopher Corbett, English, in the Baltimore Sun
Christopher Corbett, professor of the practice of English, may be from Maine, but the author enjoys traveling through America’s West and is currently teaching a course entitled “America’s Road Trip.”
The Baltimore Sun recently interviewed Corbett for a story entitled “UMBC Professor, Author Heeds Call of the West” in which he describes the experience of traveling through these deserted parts of the country.
“You can see enormous distances—the road in some spots is so straight that your eye almost can’t comprehend the distance you are taking in. It just melts into the horizon. You’re so far out in the middle of nowhere, you can’t get anything on the radio; the dial just keeps spinning around,” Corbett says.
The story appeared in the Sun on September 23.