In a new column in The Conversation, School of Public Policy Professor John Rennie Short revealed how immigrants can be treated differently based on wealth.

Short wrote about how Canada’s Immigrant Investor Program and the UK’s Tier 1 investor visa are among many programs that provide economic incentives for wealthy immigrants. Short also focused on how such policies play out in the United States: “Since 1990, the US has an employment-based program tailored for the wealthy entitled EB5. Under this program, 10,000 visas each year are reserved for investors to receive permanent residence status if they invest at least US$1 million (only $500,000 in high unemployment and rural areas) in a commercial enterprise that employs at least 10 full-time US workers.

Studies by trade groups estimate that the program contributed $3.39 billion to US GDP and resulted in 42,000 jobs in fiscal year 2012, while a more critical review of the EB5 program came to the conclusion that the visas are too cheap, the program is badly run and the bulk of the money goes to already overheated real estate markets.”

Professor Short wrote about how the programs referenced in his column often do not reflect their intended consequences: “Most official reviews now come to the conclusion that the programs, hastily conceived in the rush to attract the newly wealthy citizens of Russia, China and other countries, are too cheap with few benefits for the host countries.”

Read “The other immigrants: how the super-rich skirt quotas and closed borders.“

Baker Artist Awards 2015 at the Baltimore Museum of Art

September 16 — November 15, 2015

Associate professor Eric Dyer was named a 2015 winner of the prestigious $25,000 Mary Sawyers Baker Prize, and he will present his art works at the Baltimore Museum of Art from September 16, 2015 - November 15, 2015.

IMDA MFA program alumna Dominique Zeltzman will join Dyer in the exhibition, as one of the recipients of a $5,000 b-grant .

The Baker Artist Awards were created to support artists and promote Baltimore as a strong creative community. Through a sophisticated online portfolio of artists’ work and significant monetary prizes to award the winners, the Baker Artist Awards serves artists of all disciplines who live and work in Baltimore City and its five surrounding counties. The website and awards were established by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund in 2008, and are a program of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. The exhibition is generously funded by The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund.

http://www.bakerartistawards.org

Hi Everyone,

This recently came to my attention. The application for the White House Internship Program will close on Sunday, September 13, 2015 at 11:59 PM EST.

White House Interns dedicate their time, talents, energy, and service to better the White House, the community, and the nation. They are a part of the White House team, and the assignments given to an intern on any given day could include conducting research, managing incoming inquiries, attending meetings, writing memos, and staffing events. They also participate in a speaker series with senior staff members and small group meetings exploring different policy aspects of the Executive Office of the President through speakers, discussions, and service projects.

Please visit www.whitehouse.gov/internships for more information about the program, the application process, a timeline with deadlines, and the departments that participate in the program.  A complete application includes: short answers, two essay questions, a one-page resume, and two letters of recommendation. Again, the deadline to apply for the spring 2016 program is  Sunday, September 13, 2015 at 11:59 PM EST.

The film Dear White People follows the lives of four black students at an Ivy League college. Director and writer Justin Simien says, “My film is about identity. It’s about the difference between how the mass culture responds to a person because of their race and who that person understands themselves to truly be. All explored through the microcosm of a success-oriented Ivy League college.” After the screening, join us for a public conversation with featured speakers, Kimberly Moffitt and Damon Turner.

Sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the Africana Studies Department; the American Studies Department; and the Student Life’s Mosaic: Center for Culture and Diversity.

Hi Poli Students!

The Political Science Department is accepting applications to the the 67th Annual Student Conference on U.S. Affairs (SCUSA) at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. This is an excellent opportunity to get involved in international and security debates with a large number of students and experts from around the country.

Every year, the Department sends two students to represent UMBC at this conference. The Department covers registration fees and transportation to West Point, while the conference organizers provide room and board while there. If you are interested, please send a brief (one paragraph) letter of interest, including why you would like to go, what makes you qualified to represent the Department and your GPA to: Dr. Brian Grodsky, bgrodsky@umbc.edu. All applications must be received by September 18.

For more information, see below.

On behalf of Colonel Cindy Jebb, the head of the Department of Social Sciences, I would like to extend an invitation to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to send two student delegates to participate in the 67th Annual Student Conference on U.S. Affairs (SCUSA) at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. The conference meets from November 4th through November 7th, 2015.

West Point hosts SCUSA every fall. It is the oldest and largest undergraduate conference of its type in the world. Approximately 200 undergraduate students from over 100 colleges and universities worldwide attend SCUSA. Throughout the conference, the student delegates and cadets debate and formulate policy recommendations that realistically model American strategic responses to significant national and global challenges. The highlights of the four-day conference include the opening senior panel discussion on the evening of November 4th, an evening keynote banquet address, four roundtable sessions, and a closing-report session on November 7th. Recent keynote speakers have included Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Dr. Leslie Gelb, Admiral James Stavridis, Dr. Rajiv Shah, and Ms. Susan Eisenhower.

Our organizing theme this year is "Confronting Inequality: Wealth, Rights, and Power."  We challenge students to consider how inequality, in all its manifestations, influences US foreign Policy. Which inequalities are likely to increase and which might decrease as global development proceeds?  Are some forms of inequality inevitable or justifiable, and do any serve U.S. national interests?   How should U.S. foreign policy respond to an increasingly prosperous world in which material wealth is unequally distributed?

Take Care!