Policy & Society

Sonya Caesar, Language, Literacy and Culture on PBS Nightly Business Report

Oct 28, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Sonya Caesar, cohort 13, Language, Literacy and Culture, appeared on a PBS Nightly Business Report segment on student debt. Caesar is on staff at the Community College of Baltimore County, where she is spearheading a campus-wide financial literacy campaign. She discusses what students know and don’t know when it comes to taking on student debt – the challenges of managing their money and paying back student loans which are never erased from their records. The espisode aired on Tuesday, October 25, and can be watched here. The segment on financial literacty begins at about 17:00. Caesar previously wrote and co-produced… Continue Reading Sonya Caesar, Language, Literacy and Culture on PBS Nightly Business Report

Book by Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College, Translated to Serbian

Oct 26, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

“Art and Psyche,” a book by Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, has been translated into Serbian.Through the book, Spitz explores three principal psychoanalytic approaches to art. The first considers the relations between an artist’s life and work; the second focuses on the work of art itself; and the third encompasses the intricate relations between a work of art and its audience or beholders. To illustrate her discussion, Spitz draws on a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, literature, music, and dance.The book was originally published by Yale university Press, and has previously been translated to… Continue Reading Book by Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College, Translated to Serbian

Christopher Corbett, English, in the News

Oct 26, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Professor of the Practice of English Christopher Corbett’s latest essay in Style magazine discusses the complications surrounding recent improvements made to his home. “They say no jobs were added to our economy last summer but that is just simply wrong. Half my neighborhood was under construction. The other half was thinking about it. And I was doing my part, too. I have the canceled checks to prove it,” he concludes. The essay, “Home Improvements,” is featured in the November 2011 issue of the magazine. Corbett was also interviewed by the Associated Press about the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental telegraph.… Continue Reading Christopher Corbett, English, in the News

Jody Shipka, English, in “Master Hands”

Oct 26, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Jody Shipka, associate professor of English, is featured in a new work. “Master Hands, A Video Mashup Round Table,” is a unique experiment in digital publishing that is featured in George Mason University’s journal enculturation. Through the project, scholars created video mashups using the same source footage – a 1936 video entitled Master Hands – and respondents discussed the mashups. Artists had to use footage from Master Hands, could not provide a companion text, had to create a mashup that was no longer than ten minutes and were not permitted to see anyone else’s work until all five were completed.… Continue Reading Jody Shipka, English, in “Master Hands”

Robert Provine, Psychology, in the Washington Post

Oct 26, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

There is a growing body of research indicating that laughter may improve immune function, help lower blood pressure, boost mood and reduce stress and depression, the Washington Post reported on October 24 in a story entitled “Laughing may help ease blood pressure, boost mood and enrich health in other ways.” Robert Provine, professor of psychology, agrees. He said that laughter might benefit the body because it is “an energetic, stressful activity that stirs up all of our physiological systems… involving strong vocalization, an increase in heart rate and blood pressure and muscle contractions all over the body.”

UMBC’s Ellen Hemmerly Receives Innovator of the Year Award

Oct 26, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Ellen Hemmerly, Executive Director at the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park will receive the 2011 Innovator of the Year Award from The Daily Record on Wednesday, October 26. Hemmerly, who has been Executive Director at bwtech for more than fifteen years, says that the award is less about her and more about the park’s cybersecurity incubator and the community of cybersecurity companies that have clustered there. The incubator currently has thirteen companies. While there are about twenty incubators in Maryland, only one other focuses on cybersecurity. The bwtech@UMBC incubator is home to the CyberHive, which Hemmerly says is a unique… Continue Reading UMBC’s Ellen Hemmerly Receives Innovator of the Year Award

Dennis Coates, Economics, on “NBC Nightly News”

Oct 24, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

UMBC sports economist Dennis Coates appeared on NBC Nightly News on October 23, discussing the effects of a possible NBA season cancellation. Although a lost season would negatively impact related businesses, such as sports bars, some suggest keeping a sense of perspective. Compared to the possible negative economic impact of a lost NFL season—recently averted—Coates argues that a lost NBA season would be “a drop in the bucket. The industry is just too small.” NBC notes that both fans and local business continue to hope for a resolution.

Christopher Corbett, English, Speaks at National Postal Museum

Oct 19, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Professor of the Practice of English Christopher Corbett spoke at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum on Saturday, October 8, at 1 p.m. Corbett’s talk commemorated the 150th anniversary of the end of the Pony Express. Corbett is the author of “Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth & Lasting Legend of the Pony Express.” A video of Corbett’s talk can be seen here.

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun

Oct 19, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

In his latest Baltimore Sun column, UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller explores the meteoric rise of Herman Cain as a GOP presidential candidate. Schaller argues, “his surprising showing actually tells us a lot more about the state of the national Republican Party” than about Cain himself. He suggests, “key segments of the Republican primary electorate desperately want an alternative to Mr. Romney,” who “presents himself as the candidate to fall in line behind, not fall in love with.” Read the full commentary to learn about Schaller’s take on Cain’s 9-9-9 plan and identification as a novice in government.

Donald Norris, Public Policy, in the Baltimore Sun

Oct 19, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

The Baltimore Sun reports that following a strong win in last month’s Democratic primary, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is meeting with each of her 40 Cabinet members “with an eye toward a possible shake-up of city leadership.” Such a move is not unusual, says Donald Norris, chair of public policy at UMBC, in the article. “This is a reasonable time to expect those kinds of things to begin happening,” Norris remarked, continuing, “She now has been elected on her own. She’s clearly going to be setting her own agenda and putting her own people in power.”

Dennis Coates, Economics, in the News

Oct 19, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

The economic impact of the 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix was “vastly smaller than the projections by the events promoter,” UMBC economics professor Dennis Coates asserts in a newly released study (pdf), coauthoed with Michael Friedman of the University of Maryland. They estimate attendee spending as closer to $25 million than the anticipated $70 million and argue, “The bottom line is that the Baltimore Grand Prix was not a game changing event.” After appearing on the front page of the Baltimore Sun and in the Baltimore Business Journal, the story was picked up by AP and printed in the Washington Post.… Continue Reading Dennis Coates, Economics, in the News

Jason Loviglio, Media and Communication Studies, in the Baltimore Sun

Oct 19, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Baltimore’s version of the Occupy Wall Street protests, Occupy Baltimore, is settled into a site at the Inner Harbor for what its website calls an “indefinitely long peaceful demonstration.” One visitor to the protest site was Jason Loviglio, director of the media and communication studies program, who was impressed by the movement’s growth and what appeared to be a sincere effort to discuss the nation’s problems across partisan lines. “I don’t think we can predict the power this is going to have,” Loviglio said. “It’s just beginning to kindle.” The full story, “Occupy Baltimore: an open-ended conclusion,” appeared in the… Continue Reading Jason Loviglio, Media and Communication Studies, in the Baltimore Sun