On February 26, WEAA’s The Marc Steiner Show  hosted a discussion on a bill before Maryland legislators that would lift restrictions on when police officers could carry their weapons, which would allow them to carry their weapons in schools.

Kimberly Moffitt, an associate professor of American studies, discussed her conflicting thoughts on the issue because of her respect for many police officers and educators who say it is necessary, but also her viewpoint as a parent of two children in the schools.

“Where does the slippery slope take us and what might happen as a result? One of my biggest concerns, coming from the perspective of a parent…because of some of the energy around how we perceive our children, in particular black boys…what happens when the first victim of such a shooting happens to be one of our students and not necessarily an intruder?” Moffitt said. The listen to the full segment, click here.

On February 20, Moffitt co-hosted The Marc Steiner Show and facilitated discussions on a new play, “Make Yourself at Home,” running at Baltimore’s Annex Theater, and how to teach children black history outside the context of schools. To listen to the segments, click here.

History Professor James Grubb has been selected to serve as one of three trustees of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, a philanthropic foundation headquartered in New York.  According to its website, the The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation “promotes the advancement and perpetuation of humanistic inquiry and artistic creativity by encouraging excellence in scholarship and in the performing arts, and by supporting research libraries and other institutions which transmit our cultural heritage.”

The Foundation sponsors projects in four areas in which the founder was keenly interested: libraries, humanities, artistic performance in New York, and Venetian studies.  The annual budget is about $2.5 million. Grubb will oversee the programs in the humanities and Venetian studies, although all decisions are made by the three trustees jointly.

The selection of Prof. Grubb is a recognition of his prominence in the field of Early Modern Studies, Venetian Studies, and Italian history. For more information on the foundation, click here.

George Derek Musgrove ’97, history, associate professor of history, was quoted in a February 26 article in the Washington Post that examined Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s role in ushering in the legalization of marijuana in the city.

Musgrove commented on the relationship between Bowser and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over D.C. legislative matters, and noted that Bowser contacted Chaffetz in advance of a press conference this week about marijuana legalization.

“Her press conference was impressive. Not only was she firm . . . standing up for the wishes of 7 in 10 voters, but she was shrewd, making her case in a manner that left room for a continuing relationship with Chaffetz.” said Musgrove, who is a D.C. resident and is currently writing a book about race and democracy in the city.

To read the full article titled “D.C. mayor’s deal with pot backers led to a low-key success,” click here.

UMBC welcomed the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a regional grant-writing workshop on February 20, 2015. The workshop, conducted by the NEH’s Division of Research Programs, was sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS); and the Office of the Vice President for Research. 

Faculty participants from UMBC and seven area colleges and universities learned about NEH grant and fellowship programs, and special initiatives. The Maryland Humanities Council also spoke about its grant opportunities. A “mock” evaluation panel, led by UMBC NEH Fellows Kate Brown (History), Thomas Field (MLLI), and Anna Shields (MLLI), discussed the NEH proposal review process. Grant application-writing strategies were also shared. 

"The Dresher Center was pleased to welcome the NEH to campus,” noted director Jessica Berman. “Workshops like these give a shot in the arm to researchers, who then begin to consider how their work fits into national priorities and initiatives. The workshop also showcased the strengths of UMBC faculty work in the humanities.”

With an annual program budget of $108 million, the NEH awards grants to individuals and groups of humanities researchers at universities, museums, libraries and archives, and other cultural and educational organizations. These highly competitive grants, which are evaluated by scholars and other experts in their field, have an average award rate of between seven and ten per cent per year. If denied, NEH encourages applicants to re-submit.

The Endowment also supports public programs and special initiatives, like the new “Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square,” which seeks to bring humanities scholarship to public attention in new, significant ways. The NEH’s Office of Digital Humanities provides grants to projects that integrate new technologies in humanities research, as well as those that study digital culture from a humanistic perspective. 

NEH-funded research projects often cross the disciplinary boundaries between the arts, humanities, and social sciences. At UMBC, NEH fellowships and grants have been awarded to CAHSS faculty in the departments of Africana Studies; English; Geography and Environmental Systems; History; Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication; Political Science, Sociology-Anthropology, Theatre, and Visual Arts. 

For information on NEH programs, contact Rachel Brubaker, Assistant Director for Grants and Program Development, Dresher Center for the Humanities: rbruba1@umbc.edu. 

Photo (from left to right): Anna Shields, MLLI; Tom Field, MLLI; and Kate Brown, History

Remember zoetropes? They may be a bit before your time. The zoetrope, derived from the Greek root words for "life" and "turning," is an optical toy invented before the days of film and cinema. The tool displays a progressive sequence of drawings or photographs, thus creating the illusion of motion. Most often the images are arranged on a cylinder which then spins, setting the pictures spinning.

While zoetropes experienced their heyday before the dawn of motion picture technology, one contemporary artist is bringing the retro medium back in a radical new way. Meet Eric Dyer, the modern master of the zoetrope.