Justin Vélez-Hagan, School of Public Policy, Weighs in on Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Crisis

Jul 10, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

With Puerto Rico currently $72 billion in debt, School of Public Policy Ph.D. student Justin Vélez-Hagan has been in the news recently explaining the severity of the situation and its potential impact on the world economy. Vélez-Hagan, who is executive director of the National Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce, shared his views on what has contributed to the debt crisis and what can be done to help get the economy back on track. “Not being able to have autonomous control over all of its policies puts Puerto Rico at a major disadvantage over other economies that it competes with for labor, business… Continue Reading Justin Vélez-Hagan, School of Public Policy, Weighs in on Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Crisis

Clifford Murphy, American Studies, Selected for National Arts Director Position

Jul 9, 2015 / 2 minutes of reading

Clifford Murphy, an adjunct lecturer of American studies, has been selected by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to be its new director of folk and traditional arts. Murphy, an adjunct lecturer of American studies, will manage NEA grantmaking in folk and traditional arts, oversee the NEA National Heritage Fellowship program, and represent the agency in the field as part of the new role. Murphy is currently director of Maryland Traditions, the folklife program of the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and last year helped bring MSAC’s 40 years of folklife archives into UMBC’s library system, making the collection available to the… Continue Reading Clifford Murphy, American Studies, Selected for National Arts Director Position

UMBC Awarded Maryland Humanities Council Grant for “Mapping Dialogues” Project

Jul 9, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

As part of its latest major grant cycle, the Maryland Humanities Council awarded UMBC a $10,000 grant for “Mapping Dialogues,” a project that focuses on the history and culture of the Baybrook and Sparrows Point communities. Working with industrial neighborhoods in Baltimore, the project uses maps as starting points for discussions on the past, present, and future of industrial space. The project centers on two historically interrelated yet geographically separate areas: Baybrook in the southern tip of Baltimore and the Sparrows Point Steel Mill communities situated just across the southwestern city border in Baltimore County. Dialogues will be held with… Continue Reading UMBC Awarded Maryland Humanities Council Grant for “Mapping Dialogues” Project

Maurice Berger, CADVC, Latest “Race Story” in The New York Times

Jul 1, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

In the latest essay for his Race Stories column in The New York Times, Maurice Berger, research professor at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, examines the shifting attitudes toward the Confederate battle flag. “The image was at once mundane and historic. In Alabama last Wednesday, on the order of Gov. Robert Bentley, workers took down the Confederate battle flag on the grounds of the state Capitol and were photographed as they did. The camera, whose role it was to record a reality — and thus to make visible its compelling details of the world — now documented a symbol’s imminent… Continue Reading Maurice Berger, CADVC, Latest “Race Story” in The New York Times

Robert Provine, Psychology, Explains Why We Yawn in Wired Magazine

Jun 26, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

In a Wired article published on June 23, Psychology Research Professor and Professor Emeritus Robert Provine shared insight into why humans yawn when they do. Provine has done extensive research on the topic and is author of Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond. In the article, Provine noted that we tend to yawn when we are tired: “Right after waking and before bedtime,” he said, “which is consistent with yawning’s role in facilitating state changes: sleep to wakefulness, wakefulness to sleep, arousal to de-arousal, or vice versa.” When further examining the reasons for yawning beyond physiological state changes, Provine shared that, “Nervous people will definitely yawn… Continue Reading Robert Provine, Psychology, Explains Why We Yawn in Wired Magazine

Rebecca Adelman, Media and Communication Studies, Questions Assumptions Surrounding Shark Attacks in Discovery

Jun 25, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

Rebecca Adelman, an assistant professor of media and communication studies, was recently interviewed for a story in Discovery about the narratives and sensational news headlines surrounding shark attacks. In the article, Adelman said that common language describing such attacks can often minimize the role of humans.“It neatly erases any kind of human culpability for the shark bite while underscoring the notion that humans […] ought to be able to roam freely and safely anywhere on the planet, regardless of what other creatures might have preceded them there by millions of years,” she explained.“Yet it also makes a kind of sense out… Continue Reading Rebecca Adelman, Media and Communication Studies, Questions Assumptions Surrounding Shark Attacks in Discovery

Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, on Midday with Dan Rodricks and WBAL-TV

Jun 25, 2015 / 2 minutes of reading

Following the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina last week, Kimberly Moffitt, an associate professor of American studies, was a guest on WYPR’s Midday with Dan Rodricks to share her thoughts and perspective. Moffitt said that she is largely focusing her energy on what she is teaching in her classes: “I try to talk to my students and educate them on what the power structures are that exist in American society that are implicitly embedded in ways where we carry out certain actions in life that impact other groups of people in very negative ways,” she said. “We… Continue Reading Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, on Midday with Dan Rodricks and WBAL-TV

Joan Shin, Education, Writes about the International Children’s Song Approach in The Conversation

Jun 25, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

Joan Shin, education professor of practice, recently published an article in The Conversation that examined the power of using children’s songs to introduce children to different cultures and the world around them. “Without realizing it, children learn language and content simultaneously. Songs build skills that help children distinguish the sounds of a language, and connect sound to script and assist with vocabulary building,” Shin wrote. Shin discussed the teaching approach she developed that combines her song research and search for cultural materials to teach English as a global language. Shin’s “international children’s song approach” uses songs from around the world as a method… Continue Reading Joan Shin, Education, Writes about the International Children’s Song Approach in The Conversation

Linda Dusman, Music, and Eric Smallwood, Visual Arts, Discuss Their Octava App with The Baltimore Sun

Jun 20, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

Linda Dusman, Music, and Eric Smallwood, Visual Arts, were interviewed by The Baltimore Sun’s Tim Smith about their app Octava, which is designed to enhance the audience experience at symphony orchestra performances. Read the full article on the Sun’s website here. “The app, called Octava, is aimed at enhancing the musical experience for listeners by delivering information via Wifi, synced with the music being played in the concert hall,” says Smith. In development for several years and formerly known as Symphony Interactive, the project received a $150,000 Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) grant in 2014 (read more here).

Maurice Berger, CADVC, Discusses “Revolution of the Eye” on WYPR

Jun 19, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

Maurice Berger, research professor and chief curator at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, was interviewed by WYPR’s Culture Editor for Maryland Morning, Tom Hall, about Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television, an exhibition now on display at the Jewish Museum in New York. Berger curated the exhibition, which has been co-organized by the CADVC and the Jewish Museum, and authored the companion book by the same name, published by Yale University Press. Revolution of the Eye is the first exhibition to explore how avant-garde art influenced and shaped the look and content of… Continue Reading Maurice Berger, CADVC, Discusses “Revolution of the Eye” on WYPR

Denise Meringolo, History, Describes Baltimore Uprising Project in the Baltimore Sun

Jun 18, 2015 / 1 minute of reading

An article published June 18 in the Baltimore Sun examined a digital history project documenting the unrest surrounding the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Denise Meringolo, an associate professor of history, is collaborating with the Maryland Historical Society and University of Baltimore to collect images, oral histories, and videos taken by everyday citizens documenting the events. Meringolo, who is featured in the article, set up a website for the project. “I decided to establish a site that allows people to participate directly in the act of collecting,” Meringolo said. “When you study social movements from the past, sometimes what’s missing are… Continue Reading Denise Meringolo, History, Describes Baltimore Uprising Project in the Baltimore Sun

Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, Responds to Rachel Dolezal Story on ABC 2 Baltimore

Jun 18, 2015 / 2 minutes of reading

Kimberly Moffitt, an associate professor of American studies, was interviewed by ABC 2 Baltimore for a segment that explored the fixed nature of race in society following up on the Rachel Dolezal story. “We’re so comfortable to fixate people into boxes to say this is where you belong because of skin hue because of the activities you do,” Moffitt said. Commenting on race as a social construction, she added: “I also think that it proves to us that as much as we as individuals would want to embody or claim our own racial categories, the reality is society dictates that to… Continue Reading Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, Responds to Rachel Dolezal Story on ABC 2 Baltimore

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