Mapping Baybrook in Baltimore Magazine

Nov 30, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

What’s Baltimore buzzing about? A fascinating community project from UMBC’s Departments of American Studies and Visual Arts. Students from the multidisciplinary BreakingGround course “Mapping Baybrook” have been working toward a special community event all semester, producing oral history recordings, a walking tour brochure and other work to highlight the area’s history and culture. The community celebration, highlighted on the Baltimore Magazine blog “The Chatter,” will take place this Saturday, December 1, 1:00-5:00 p.m. at the Polish Home Hall, 4416 Fairhaven Avenue in Curtis Bay. The event will also launch the new Mapping Baybrook website, designed in collaboration with UMBC’s Imaging… Continue Reading Mapping Baybrook in Baltimore Magazine

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun

Nov 29, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

The latest Baltimore Sun column by Thomas Schaller, professor of political science, explores critiques of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s potential nomination for secretary of state given her role in providing inaccurate information to the American public following the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Schaller writes that although he questions the motives of those critiquing the nomination, they “are asking important questions about what the State Department and the White House did before, during and especially after the attacks,” such as, “Why weren’t requests by U.S. officials in Benghazi for upgraded security in advance of the anniversary of… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun

Bess Keller, Public Policy, Op-Ed in the Baltimore Sun

Nov 28, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

“As the growing season winds down, one Baltimore City school garden has harvested next to nothing. A project intended to enliven lessons or inspire healthier eating came down to four neglected beds yielding two cinder-block-sized zucchini.” This is the start of a commentary written by UMBC graduate student Bess Keller, public policy, in the Baltimore Sun, about an unsuccessful school-community collaboration and why she believes it failed to reach its potential. Keller suggests that the problem was one of misplaced incentives. She writes, “Recognition accrues to organizations and the people in them for getting money, starting a project, building something,… Continue Reading Bess Keller, Public Policy, Op-Ed in the Baltimore Sun

Delegate Jon Cardin, UMBC Alumnus, Explores Run for Attorney General

Nov 28, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Maryland State Delegate Jon Cardin ’96 has formed an exploratory committee for a potential run for Maryland attorney general in 2014, according to an AP article published in the Daily Record. Cardin, who is the nephew of the recently re-elected U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, received his M.A. in public policy from UMBC. He is currently serving his third term as delegate for Baltimore County. The AP story notes, “According to a report in the Gazette newspapers of Montgomery County, Jon Cardin will be holding a fundraiser for the exploratory committee on Dec. 4 at a private home in Baltimore.”

Donald Norris, Public Policy, in the Baltimore Sun

Nov 20, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

“Now that the governor’s proposal to expand gambling in Maryland has passed at the ballot box, some state senators and delegates who backed the controversial measure are looking to collect,” writes reporter Annie Linskey in today’s Baltimore Sun. The idea that those legislators who backed Gov. O’Malley in his support of the gambling legislation would seek benefits in return for its passage is not a new concept to Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy. “I think it is a nearly universal phenomenon in legislative bodies,” he says. “It is a matter of bargaining and… Continue Reading Donald Norris, Public Policy, in the Baltimore Sun

Thomas Schaller in the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post

Nov 19, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Political science professor Thomas F. Schaller’s latest Baltimore Sun column responds to the claim that “President Obama won re-election because Americans want ‘free stuff’.” He argues that “contrary to what talk-show conservatives imply, many government programs skew toward middle-class and upper-income Americans” and usage of federal benefit programs is near universal, rather than tied to political affiliation. Schaller writes, “according to political scientists Suzanne Mettler and John Sides, 96 percent of Americans have benefited from at least one (and typically more) of just 21 federal programs, ranging from student loans to the mortgage interest deduction, from the employer health care… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller in the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post

Social Science Faculty Gindling, Mandell, Norris and Hussey in Post-Election News

Nov 19, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

In the wake of Maryland’s vote for Question 4, UMBC professors T.H. Gindling (economics) and Marvin Mandell (public policy) recently discussed their study, “Private and Government Fiscal Costs and Benefits of the Maryland Dream Act” on NBC Washington news. Their interview highlights the net positive economic impact that each incoming class of undocumented students would have, due to factors such as decreased incarceration rates (and thus lower incarceration costs) for college versus high school graduates. Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, commented on Maryland’s passage of both Question 6 (approving same-sex marriage rights) and Question… Continue Reading Social Science Faculty Gindling, Mandell, Norris and Hussey in Post-Election News

Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, in Election Coverage

Nov 12, 2012 / 2 minutes of reading

Kimberly Moffitt, assistant professor of American studies, served as an election expert for two radio program in the days leading up to and following the November 6 election. On Monday, November 5, Moffitt appeared on the “Marc Steiner Show” to weigh in on the final day of a tight race. Moffitt questioned whether the race was actually as tight as the media portrayed it to be. “I see it as the media’s role to make sure we are engaged in this way and to believe that there is something to tune into, so that we make sure to either tube… Continue Reading Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, in Election Coverage

Claudio Galindo, LLC, Recognized by Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake

Nov 12, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Claudio Galindo of UMBC’s Language, Literacy, and Culture Ph. D. program was recently recognized by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for her work within the Latino community of the city and state, according to a statement from the regional community organization CASA de Maryland. The mayor’s statement came as part of the city’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Speaking on Dr. Galindo, Rawlings-Blake said that “when President Obama announced his program to allow immigrant students for deferred action and work authorization in the United States this past summer, Claudia was one of the first to volunteer to assist with the process. Since the first… Continue Reading Claudio Galindo, LLC, Recognized by Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake

Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College, in The New Republic

Nov 8, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, discussed the young adult novel Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, byKatherine Marsh, in her latest column in the New Republic. The historical novel follows the story of Jepp, a court dwarf in the Spanish-ruled Netherlands of the late sixteenth century. Spitz compares Jepp’s story – in whichhis destiny is defined by his body and dictated by the whims of others – to the plight of the story’s adolescent readers. “Adolescents are newly encased—like Jepp—in bodies that seem too small (or too large) but never a match for what is inside them, which nobody else… Continue Reading Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College, in The New Republic

Jessica Berman, English, Gives Talk

Nov 8, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Jesica Berman, professor of English, recently gave a talk at Vanderbilt University on entitled, “Documentary Interruptions: Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas and the Media of War.” The talk was part of the second annual Modernist Mini Jamboree, a celebration of modernism in literature and film sponsored by the English Department and the Program in Film Studies and took place on Friday, November 2. Berman’s Her recent book, Modernist Commitments: Ethics, Politics and Transnational Modernism (Columbia University Press, 2011), examines the connection between ethics and politics in early twentieth-century writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys, Mulk Raj Anand, Cornelia Sorabji,… Continue Reading Jessica Berman, English, Gives Talk

UMBC Study on Economic Impact of Dream Act in National Press Following Vote

Nov 7, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, Marylanders voted to extend in-county/in-state tuition at local community colleges and public universities to undocumented immigrants who graduate from Maryland high schools and meet other requirements. Press following the 59% to 41% Maryland Dream Act victory have cited a recent study on the Dream Act’s economic impacts by UMBC’s T.H. Gindling (economics) and Marvin Mandell (public policy). Their study concludes, “the Dream Act would generate $66 million in economic activity for each incoming new class of undocumented students.” See the website of UMBC’s Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR) for the original working paper:… Continue Reading UMBC Study on Economic Impact of Dream Act in National Press Following Vote

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