Catonsville personalities remembered what they were doing on and after September 11, 2001, in a Patch.com story entitled “Recalling the Days After September 11, 2001.”
Among those that remembered their reaction to the day was Rebecca Adelman, assistant professor of media and communication studies. She remembers how she was struck by how everyone was processing what they were seeing, and that interest eventually led her to study the imagery of the War on Terror.
As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Humanities Forum presents a lecture by Ilan Stavans, the Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture (Spanish) at Amherst College, who will speak on “Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language,” Wednesday, October 5, 4 p.m., on the seventh floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library.
Stavans will explore the cultural and linguistic significance of this distinctly American language, comparing it to other languages of minority groups in America such as Yiddish and Black English. He will explain who speaks Spanglish, why it has so many varieties and what its existence says about the United States. He will also speculate on whether it will ever become a standard language.
Stavans has taught courses on a wide array of topics such as Spanglish, Jorge Luis Borges, modern American poetry, Latin music, Don Quixote, Gabriel García Márquez, Modernismo, popular culture in Hispanic America, world Jewish writers, the cultural history of the Spanish language, Pablo Neruda, the history of the Spanish language, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Yiddish literature, Jewish-Hispanic relations, cinema, Latin American art, and U.S.-Latino culture. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
This event is sponsored in part by the Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication and the Language, Literacy & Culture Ph.D. Program.
Rebecca Boehling, professor of history and director of the Dresher Center for the Humanities, appeared on Philadelphia’s WIP-AM on Sunday, September 11. She discussed her new book, “Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust” on the program “Conversations with Peter Solomon.”
In a story entitled “Scientists Hint at Why Laughter Feels So Good,” the New York Times reports on a study that attempts to pin down exactly why laughing until it hurts feels so good.
The study suggests that the pleasure lies in the physical act of laughing. The simple muscular exertions involved in producing the familiar “ha, ha, ha,” he said, trigger an increase in endorphins, the brain chemicals known for their feel-good effect.
Robert Provine, professor of psychology and a noted expert on laughter, said he thought the study was “a significant contribution” to a field of study that dates back 2,000 years or so.
Tyson King-Meadows, associate professor of political science, was elected president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS), effective March 17, 2011.
King-Meadows joined UMBC in 2003 as an assistant professor of political science and recently earned promotion to the rank of associate professor with tenure. He is a Faculty Fellow of UMBC’s Honors College and is an affiliate of the UMBC’s Department of Public Policy and the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR). His service to UMBC includes membership on the Shriver Center Faculty Advisory Board, on the Honors College Advisory Board, on the committee for the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD), and on the President’s Commission for Women. He recently became co-chair of the CAHSS Black Faculty Committee as well as chair of the Honors College Advisory Board.
His research addresses legislative politics, racial representation, political parties,
elections and public opinion. He is co-author with Thomas F. Schaller, a colleague in UMBC’s Department of Political Science, of “Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-first Century” (2006), and he is sole author of “When the Letter Betrays the Spirit: Voting Rights Enforcement and African American Participation from
Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama” (2011). He was recently nominated to appear in the “People” section of PS: Political Science and Politics, an academic journal published by the American Political Science Association (APSA).
King-Meadows has received prestigious research awards and recognition for teaching and community service. His current projects examine public attitudes about redistricting and the success of black candidates in contests for the U.S. Senate.
From President Freeman Hrabowski and Interim Provost Philip Rous
We are delighted to let you know that UMBC has again been recognized as a national leader in innovation and undergraduate teaching in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges guide.
For the third year in a row, UMBC tops the U.S. News ranking of national universities everyone should be watching—a designation recognizing that we consistently find new ways to improve students’ educational experiences.
U.S. News also ranks UMBC fourth on the list of top national universities “where the faculty has an unusual commitment to undergraduate teaching.” UMBC is tied with Yale University and ranks just ahead of Brown and Stanford universities.
Our faculty and staff lead the way nationally, finding new ways to understand and enhance student learning and to engage students in the process of discovery.
For example, the University has redesigned its foundational science, engineering, and psychology courses to promote student engagement. The changes have not only produced higher pass rates, but also have encouraged more students to prepare for careers in these fields. Model scholars programs for undergraduates in the humanities, arts, and social sciences also promote engaged learning.
The culture of innovation at UMBC is possible because of the hard work of our faculty and staff, who strongly support the success of our students, and because of our students, who inspire us every day. This national recognition also results from the support of the Governor, the Legislature, and our alumni and friends.
Thank you for all you do to support UMBC.
UMBC public policy faculty have offered valuable perspectives on local politics in the lead-up to the Baltimore City primary election, appearing in print media as well as on TV and radio. Most recently, Eric Zeemering, a new assistant professor of public policy, spoke about the role of Baltimore’s city council president on WYPR. He noted, “a lot of power can come to an individual through their ability to persuade and lead other people towards decisions. And the council president can exercise that persuasive power both on the City Council as a whole and on the Board of Estimates.”
Donald Norris also appeared on WYPR, discussing the always-contentious issue of redistricting on the program “Maryland Morning” with Todd Eberly, a UMBC alumnus and now assistant professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Norris also reflected for the Baltimore Sun on the final push for votes in city’s mayoral primary as well as early fundraising by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman ahead of the next statewide election.
From Freeman Hrabowski and Philip Rous
As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the campus is noting the significance of this time in several ways. Our community is remembering the victims and the far-reaching impact of the attacks with a number of campus events designed to support reflection, service, and healing.
For those who may need support, counselors will be available in the Counseling Center from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Monday to talk with people about feelings related to 9/11.
The campus remains vigilant about suspicious activities and threats. The UMBC Police are regularly in contact with federal agencies and receive daily briefings from Maryland public safety officials regarding terrorist activities and threats. Currently, there are no credible threats against any Maryland colleges and universities.
Our campus has an emergency preparedness plan in place, and we encourage you to think about your own personal plans as well. A first step is to make sure that you are signed up to receive University text alerts on a mobile device. To register, please log on to your myUMBC (http://my.umbc.edu) account and click the “alerts” tab at the top.
It has been a big week for UMBC’s social science faculty in the national media. A new feature in the Chronicle for Higher Education highlights UMBC’s Erickson School, noting its success with attracting students to careers in aging services through new and engaging multimedia and interdisciplinary courses. Dean Judah Ronch says the number of students enrolled in aging-related courses at UMBC has grown from 290 to 750 over the past two years. Program graduates have moved on to work in industries from consumer goods to travel and transportation, in addition to traditional sectors like senior housing and medical services.
Also this week, UMBC economic professor Dennis Coates offered his expertise in sports economics for a Washington City Paper story on diminished seating at FedEx Field. Don Norris, public policy department chair, reflected on redistricting in Maryland for the Washington Post, arguing that those managing the process have placed political self-interest ahead of fairness and civic values: “It’s not about good government. It’s not about democracy. It’s about control.”
In the summer of 2001, Rebecca Adelman was fresh out of college, working a temp job and searching for a sense of direction. When terrorists struck the World Trade Center on September 11, the heart-wrenching footage of the wreckage, victims and first responders affected her deeply. I felt this sense of urgency, Adelman says. I needed to make some decisions about what was going to happen in my life.
Ten years and one Ph.D. later, Adelman explores imagery of the War on Terror as an assistant professor of media and communication studies at UMBC.
Its often said that the events of September 11 changed the course of history. To some UMBC faculty, particularly those early in their careers, the attacks also changed the course of their lifes work.
As the UMBC community remembers the 9/11 attacks through campus programming and reflection, it also notes how those events fundamentally impacted UMBC students, faculty and staff across all disciplines and university departments.
Seth D. Messinger, associate professor of anthropology, was a Columbia University Ph.D. student at the time of the attacks. He considered a career studying addiction, until hundreds of veterans began returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq as amputees. In 2004, my recollection is that there were 60 service members with traumatic limb loss, says Messinger. Today that number is over a thousand.
Messinger specializes in the social reintegration of US military service-members following traumatic injury. His work explores how veterans recovering from limb loss refashion their senses of self and identity during rehabilitation. He asks, How do you know youre well when youve lost a limb?
Jeffrey T. Mitchell, clinical professor of emergency health services, focuses on related questions. Namely, how can we support the mental health of first responders in crisis situations? Mitchell has become an authority on psychological first aid and stress management for emergency response personnel. His writing addresses topics ranging from suicide prevention in the military, to mitigating the psychological effects of terrorism, to mental health care in police departments after line-of-duty deaths.
Another UMBC professor developed a process that helps those first responders act more quickly. When letters containing a mysterious white powder showed up at media and government offices in the weeks after September 11, it took authorities about 48 hours to determine if the substance was anthrax. Today, a new process developed by Chris Geddes, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, with colleagues at UMBCs Institute of Fluorescence, can quickly identify bioagents such as anthrax and salmonella. (see a video of the process here)
The impacts of the 9/11 attacks are not just far-reachingnationally and globallythey are also deeply felt throughout the UMBC community. The UMBC Office of Student Affairs will host a series of commemoration events on campus to provide students with an opportunity to remember and reflect. For information on these programs, including a service project to benefit U.S. troops and a film screening with facilitated discussion, contact Fritzie Charne-Merriwether.
Read more about the events UMBC has planned to commemorate the anniversary.
(9/6/11)
A team of UMBC researchers has received a four-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an online infrastructure intended to vastly improve how scientists study land change. The new toolbox aims to allow researchers to rapidly share, compare and synthesize local studies and combine them with global datasets of human and environmental variables. A planned social-networking component would also allow researchers to more easily find one another and collaborate.
The simplest description: “A globally relevant Google scholar,” says Erle C. Ellis, the principal investigator on the grant and associate professor of geography and environmental systems at UMBC.
The toolbox, a “Global Collaboration Engine” (GLOBE), will facilitate the growth of land change science, an emerging field of study that is focused on understanding how human use of land affects the terrestrial biosphere, atmosphere and other Earth systems. You can read more about the work here, in Ellis’ own words.
The project is highly interdisciplinary, involving environmental, geographic, computer and information scientists at UMBC. Joining Ellis on the research team as co-principal investigators are UMBC researchers Tim Finin, professor of computer science and electrical engineering; Wayne G. Lutters, associate professor of information systems; Tim Oates, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering; and Penny Rheingans, professor of computer science and electrical engineering and director of the Center for Women and Information Technology.
The University of Pennsylvania Law School reports that Christopher DiPompeo ’04, economics, attained a highly-coveted clerkship in the U.S. Supreme Court for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. He started his clerkship in July.
DiPompeo earned his law degree from UPenn in 2009, having served nearly half of his law school career as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. Read the full article here.