All posts by: UMBC News Staff

George La Noue, Public Policy/Political Science, Op-Ed in The Baltimore Sun

Public Policy and Political Science Professor George La Noue suggests transferring or closing academic programs will not integrate Maryland’s historically black colleges in an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun.

George LaNoue

The op-ed was written in response to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Blake earlier this month in the case Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence v. Maryland Higher Education Commission.

Part of the ruling considered closing, transferring, or merging academic programs that were seen as duplicative from traditionally white institutions (TWIs) to historically black institutions (HBIs). In his op-ed, La Noue argues this raises many questions:

Would faculty, research infrastructure and library resources be transferred as well?  Would faculty recruited to an institution, whose black and white students have average  SAT scores well above 1200, work well in institutions with many students requiring extensive remedial work? Would these faculty remain competitive for national research awards?

You can read the full op-ed in The Baltimore Sun here.

Donald Norris, Public Policy, in The Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette, and Bethesda Magazine

Department of Public Policy Chair and Professor Donald Norris was quoted in an article last week in Bethesda Magazine about recent controversies surrounding Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler’s gubernatorial campaign.

Donald Norris UMBC

A photo surfaced last week of Gansler at a teenage beach week party in Delaware late last spring where he went to talk to his son, and Gansler was also in the news recently for controversy surrounding driving allegations in which he ordered state troopers who drive him to ignore traffic regulations.

“He’s got to get beyond this, and get beyond it quickly – [with] no new revelations,” Norris said about Gansler’s campaign in an article in the “MoCo Politics” blog.

Norris also said it’s early in the race so there is time to recover, but it will be difficult for Gansler because he is trailing Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown in the polls.

“Very few people are paying attention to an election that is as far away as [the June primary],” said Norris. “So I think he’s got plenty of time to make it up. The question is whether he is going to be able to make it up simply because Brown is so far ahead. There’s a really, huge deficit that Gansler’s got to overcome.”

You can read the full article here.

Norris was quoted in a Capital Gazette article about the Republican gubernatorial race. While the Republican race is picking up steam, Norris said it will be difficult for any of the candidates to win even with a strong campaign from Harford County Executive David Craig.

“Craig is going to be a very solid candidate, run a good campaign. But the numbers are just overwhelmingly in the advantage,” Norris said.

You can read more about Norris’s take on the race here.

Norris was also interviewed by The Baltimore Sun about Anne Arundel County Republican Del. Don Dwyer’s sentencing last week for operating a boat under the influence and driving a car while impaired.  Norris said Dwyer would be wise to resign after two alcohol-related convictions.

“He had very little effectiveness prior to his convictions,” Norris said. “He’ll have even less now.”

You can read the article here.

Robert Provine, Psychology, to speak at “City of Ideas” event in Mexico

Professor of Psychology Robert Provine is one of more than sixty speakers who will participate in next month’s “City of Ideas” festival in Puebla, Mexico. The event brings together scientists and scholars to celebrate and discuss creativity and curiosity.

The festival takes place from November 7-9. The program will include artistic and cultural short films and presentations from individual speakers.

Provine was also recently cited in an “io9” article with an excerpt from his book, “Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond.” The article examines the emotion behind crying.

“Several lines of evidence suggest that the NGF [nerve growth factor] in tears has medicinal functions,” the excerpt reads. “The NGF concentration in tears, cornea, and lacrimal glands increases after corneal wounding, suggesting that NGF plays a part in healing.”

You can read the full excerpt and article here.

Ryan Cook Signs Professional Basketball Contract in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Former UMBC Retriever basketball standout Ryan Cook has signed a professional contract with OKK Sloboda Tuzla in the Bosnian Liga I in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Cook finished the 2012-13 season with 478 points, the ninth-most in school history. He was selected to the America East Conference Second Team and to the 2013 America East All-Tournament team after averaging 22.0 points per game in two postseason contests.

Cook excelled at the June 2013 First Team All iBall Pro Combine, which was scouted by a group of former and current NBA and overseas players. He averaged 16.0 points per game during the combine, which ranked second amongst the 43 players that were invited.

OKK Sloboda Tuzla was the runner-up in both the regular season and the championships of Liga I in 2012-13.

Jason Schiffman, Psychology, in The Baltimore Sun

Psychology Associate Professor Jason Schiffman is in the news again for his role in Maryland’s new Center for Excellence on Early Intervention for Serious Mental Illness. The center aims to identify young people with psychosis, specifically between age 12-22, or people who are showing early symptoms and to provide treatment and support as quickly as possible.

Jason Schiffman

A major focus of the center is its Clinical High-Risk Program, an initiative Schiffman is working on with Gloria Reeves, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. The goal is to provide education and spread awareness about the early warning signs of psychosis to increase the chance of intervening early. Schiffman is quoted in The Baltimore Sun in an article about the center.

“If there’s a theme here, it’s that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of medicine,” he said.

You can read the full article here.

Nicole King, American Studies, to Speak at The Jewish Museum of Maryland

American Studies Assistant Professor Nicole King is leading a talk on a case study from her book Sombreros and Motorcycles in a Newer South: The Politics of Aesthetics in South Carolina’s Tourism Industry.

sombreros

The event is part of the museum’s late nights for young adults series. King will discuss Alan Schafer and the significance of his legacy, including how he created South of the Border.

The talk is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at The Jewish Museum of Maryland on Wednesday, October 23rd.

For more information, click here.

Public Policy Forum Addresses Childhood Obesity Epidemic

Childhood obesity has doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 17% of children and adolescents age 2-19 are obese.

The Department of Public Policy, Hilltop Institute, Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research, and The Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored “The Public Policy Implications of Reducing Childhood Obesity”, a conference that was held in downtown Baltimore Friday morning.

Several panelists took part in a discussion about the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and possible solutions for the problem.

Public Policy Professor Adele Kirk laid out statistics that showed nearly 1 in 6 children are obese, and although there have been recent signs of progress, she said there is still plenty of work to be done.

“These levels remain extremely high and they don’t appear to be going down rapidly, if at all,” Kirk said. “The stakes are high.”

The panelists, which included Public Policy Professor Adele Kirk, University of Iowa Economics Professor David Frisvold, Maryland Deputy Secretary for Public Health Laura Herrera, and Baltimore City Commissioner of Health Oxiris Barbot, all provided insight on childhood obesity and the challenges that lie ahead in confronting the problem.

The Department of Public Policy Forum was held in downtown Baltimore at the World Trade Center building.

Donald Norris, Public Policy, on WBAL-TV

The Gonzales Maryland Poll for October was released Thursday, and the results showed approval ratings dropping for Governor Martin O’Malley and President Barack Obama. The poll surveyed 819 registered voters in Maryland who said they were likely to vote in the 2014 General Election.

Donald Norris UMBC

In an interview aired on WBAL-TV Channel 11, Public Policy Professor and Chair Donald Norris said it’s hard to determine why O’Malley’s approval rating dropped, but a number of laws have taken affect including the controversial gas tax and gun laws.

“O’Malley’s popularity rating if I remember correctly has sort of bounced around.  A little bit above 50, a little bit below 50 for some time, so I’m not sure what to make of this,” Norris said.

The poll results showed President Obama’s approval rating dropping from 64% in January to 58% in September. Norris said the government shutdown was a factor, but wondered if the numbers would be higher Thursday with the government back open.

“I think people are concerned about a government shutdown for good reason because the government provides services to the people and when the government is shutdown people  can’t get those services,” he said.

Norris also commented on how there is very little wiggle room in the Democratic primary in the race for governor with so many voters undecided and with the poll showing Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown with a twenty-point lead over Attorney General Douglas Gansler.

You can find the full story on WBAL-TV here.

Why I Give to UMBC: Professor Bimal Sinha

Every so often, we like to ask our donors why they chose to support UMBC, and what makes their connection the University special. Recently, we spoke with Professor Bimal Sinha, who founded the statistics graduate program at UMBC. Dr. Sinha also created an
endowment fund for both undergraduate and graduate statistics students entitled the Dr. Bimal and Mrs. Suchandra Sinha Endowment for Excellence in Statistics.

Student Scholarship Q&A: Polly Muangrat, Information Systems and English Literature

Every so often, we highlight the importance of student scholarships by introducing you to the very students they help to succeed. Today, we’re speaking with Polly Muangrat, information systems and English literature, who recently received the Aol Advertising.com Scholarship.

Name: Polly Muangrat ’14
Major(s): Information Systems B.S. and English Literature B.A.
Scholarship(s): NSF SFS CyberCorps Scholar, Aol Advertising.com Scholarship, COEIT Vijay Jose Scholarship, Alumni Association Award

Polly Muangrat with Charles Butler, VP of Technical Operations

Q: Why did you decide to attend UMBC?

I wanted to attend UMBC most of all because of the environment and the programs offered. By environment, I mean that when I visited, the first thing I saw was the staggeringly enormous Humans v. Zombies team thundering across Erickson Field. And I loved that. Just walking around the Commons, I saw so many different groups of people, different ethnicities and languages being spoken. I knew UMBC would be a school where you could be yourself and do the things that made you happy, which transcends across to the freedom in educational pursuits here as well. I get surprised looks during interviews when recruiters see that I’m both in STEM and Humanities, which is made possible by UMBC’s truly inspiring and challenging English courses and IS courses.

Q:  What has been the most amazing discovery you’ve made so far as a student here?

The amount of resources UMBC offers its students, especially in terms of post-graduate career seeking, internships and research opportunities. Different departments offer a lot of help, like Career Services, or the Office of Institutional Advancement. As a first generation college student, I never really knew how the corporate world worked, except for what I saw in “The Office.” My parents are not part of the corporate world, so my first internship was an invaluable experience to me. I find myself thinking about all of the career fairs and UMBCworks posts that I should be taking advantage of, and remind myself that without these resources, I would be desperately combing Craigslist or Monster.

Q:  Tell us about a class or club that has really opened your mind (and why)…

I have a great admiration for usability, interface design and the general field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), all topics covered in my IS 303 and 403 classes, taught by Dr. Ravi Kuber and Dr. Shaun Kane, respectively. I think a lot of developers and programmers forget a certain human factor in the designs of everyday hardware or software, which can lead to wasted time and unfortunate future consequences. This missing step fascinates me, and these two classes really helped me see the glaring problems in technology design, and challenged me to create solutions.

Pretty much any English Literature course I take inspires me, and really reminds me how to think and communicate. There is a way that novels can access all of the human thought process that textbooks cannot.

Q:  What do you hope to do after graduation, and why?

After graduation, I hope to obtain a position within the US Department of Defense, which is a part of my scholarship requirement. I would really love to understand more of the crucial vulnerabilities in national information security, and to be a part of generating working, long-term solutions and defenses. It will also be a great starting point for me, first to help decide whether I prefer the private or public sector.

Q:  How important is it to you as a student to get scholarship support?

Scholarship support is the reason that I can hope to receive higher education, both financially and mentally. Mentally, a scholarship acts to me as a commendation of my academic and personal achievements. Receiving an award is the support and figurative “high five” that keeps me going; it assures me that I am on the right path, that I am doing the right things. I’ll remember this feeling of gratitude and pride, and hopefully be able to give another future student, somewhere, the same feeling.

Q:  What would you say to the people at the company who provided your scholarship?

I would just like to say, first, a very warm thank you. Thank you for giving me the ability to pursue my educational goals, and for investing interest and support in me. Just knowing that hard work will pay off, and has paid off, is instrumental in motivating me forward to work harder, accomplish more achievements and set strong, reachable goals.

Lia Purpura, English, Featured on The Academy of American Poets Website

English department Writer in Residence Lia Purpura is featured on Poets.org, From the Academy of American Poets with her poem “Gone” listed as the poem-a-day for Wednesday.

Lia Purpura

In describing the poem, Purpura writes:

“The traditional fearsomeness of death (at least when thinking about my own) comes bearing a paradox that’s been palpable to me (and slippery) since childhood. Visually, I guess the paradox would look like a moebius strip, the inside twisting around to become outside…I was finally able to slow it down enough to catch the sensation and pace it out and tack some words to it. The writing of the poem doesn’t drive out the fear, but at least makes some space for the consistent surprise of the thought to land.” 

You can read the poem here.

UMBC UMBC
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 Directions & Parking

Resources

Important Contacts

Emergency Info

Contact Us

Apply

Top Stories of the Week

© UMBC: A University System of Maryland Member Institution