Political science professor Thomas F. Schaller’s latest Baltimore Sun column takes a personal approach to examining the selection of Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as pope, now known as Pope Francis. After reflecting on his own Catholic upbringing and how his religious identity has changed over time, Schaller highlights Pope Francis’ reputation for humility and what it might mean for the Catholic Church.

“It’s encouraging to have a humble, fresh face from the ‘new world’ heading the Catholic Church,” writes Schaller, continuing, “What’s unclear is whether Pope Francis’ background and temperament can actually reform the Vatican and the church, and guide the planet’s 1.2 billion Catholics toward a more promising future.”

In addition to the Sun column, this week Schaller also wrote a guest column for Sabato’s Crystal Ball on multiple-member districts (MMDs), or statewide at-large U.S. House districts — their history, their decline and their possible future.

Earlier this week, Schaller also contributed to the CBS-DC news story, “Maryland Becoming More Liberal.” “This is not the Democratic Party of William Donald Schaefer anymore,” he said, referring the former Maryland governor who endorsed George H.W. Bush. Schaller added, “It’s a blue state, but the blue hue is getting darker over time because of the demographics of the state.”

Thank you to all of the wonderful donors and scholarship students who came out for last week’s 2nd annual Scholarship Luncheon, March 13. Often, this event marks the first meeting of donors and their scholars, making it a truly memorable occasion for all. The event drew more than 100 guests, and featured remarks by McCormick & Company President Alan D. Wilson and senior Nia N. Hampton ’14, media and communications studies, who is the recipient of a number of scholarships at UMBC, along with UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III.

We’ll be sharing stories of connections made at the luncheon over the course of the next couple months, but in the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy this photo slideshow!

Ryan Bloom ’03, visual and performing arts, an English lecturer at UMBC, was recently awarded a fellowship at Yaddo, an artists’ community in Saratoga Springs, New York. Yaddo’s mission is to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.

Bloom is an internationally-recognized translator of Albert Camus. He received his MFA from The American University in Washington, D.C., where he undertook a multidisciplinary study of Literary Translation, Fiction, and Composition Education. His work-translation, fiction, poetry, and nonfiction-has appeared in places such as  The New Yorker, The Arabesques Review, The Baltimore Sun, The Current, Horizon Magazine, The Orlando Sentinel, and other publications.

This post originally appeared in UMBC Insights.

Ryan Bloom ’03, visual and performing arts, and English lecturer, was recently awarded a fellowship at Yaddo, an artists’ community in Saratoga Springs, New York. Yaddo’s mission is to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.

Bloom is an internationally-recognized translator of Albert Camus. He has written for The New Yorker, The Arabesques Review, The Baltimore Sun, The Current, Horizon Magazine, The Orlando Sentinel, and other publications

Manil Suri was deep into writing his latest novel, “The City of Devi,” when he realized something alarming: the novel was impossible to finish. The mathematics professor even used a mathematical construct, a possibility tree, to arrive at his conclusion.  He described the process of creating this mathematical “proof” in an essay for “The Daily Beast.”

Of course, Suri did eventually finish the novel, which was published earlier this year. Despite the fact that he disproved his own proof, Suri feels that his mathematical conclusion was a worthwhile endeavor, because it allowed him to reach the insights he needed about the story.

“My possibility tree still communicated something essential: a warning that the story could not be satisfactorily completed under the conditions I was imposing. I had been too beholden to literary orthodoxy, too insistent that the narrative obey the strictures of reality. It was time to loosen these constraints, let the plot freely borrow from whatever genre it pleased: adventure, Bollywood, fantasy,” he writes.

The full piece, “A Mathematically Impossible Novel: Manil Suri Explains ‘The City of Devi’” appeared online on March 15.

World Leaders

UMBC is connecting students around the globe through a new online community leadership class for teenage English language learners administered by UMBC Training Centers.

The idea for the course was sparked when Joan Kang Shin �08 Ph.D., language, literacy and culture (LLC), and assistant professor of education, was contacted by the U.S. Consulate General in Brazil. Shin trains teachers for the U.S. State Department�s English Access Microscholarship Program, which provides English education to talented teens from economically disadvantaged areas, and Brazil�s English Language Officer was looking for a way to continue these students� education once they graduated.

�They go through this really great program and improve their English, and then they�re like �ok now what?�� said Shin. The English Language Officer was hoping that the answer might be a program that would prepare these students, already given an advantage through their English education, to be leaders in their communities.

Shin contacted her former LLC classmate and UMBC Colleague Joby Taylor �05 Ph.D., and director of the Shriver Peaceworker Fellows program, about developing an online course.

Taylor immediately saw the potential, and set to work adapting community engagement content from the Peaceworker program into an online course that teaches leadership while supporting students� still-developing English skills. The resulting class, the Access Alumni Community Leadership Challenge, leads students through a variety of self-reflection, community understanding and leadership exercises, culminating in a proposal for a project in students� own communities.

�We end at the proposal stage because we don�t pretend to know how to implement these, but we wanted the students to have a concrete takeaway and to put their ideas in a form that would be as easy to present or implement as possible,� Taylor said.

The class was a success in Brazil, which offered it twice, and news of it spread to other countries. This semester several Central American nations have partnered to offer the course to their Access alumni, and a class is being planned for students in Yemen.

�I wanted to build this in a way that it can go anywhere in the world with very modest adjustments,� said Taylor. A Peaceworker Fellow is currently serving as the teaching assistant for the class, and Taylor said that, with Fellows as teachers, UMBC could potentially offer classes in several countries simultaneously.

Now that the class is off the ground, Shin and Taylor are eager to find ways to enhance it. One is through a new partnership with Arundel High School�s global studies program. UMBC has partnered students at Arundel High with students enrolled in the Access class, and the pairs will complete parallel activities and hold biweekly conversations.

Taylor hopes that these conversation partners can be just the first step of a lasting partnership with Arundel. �If there�s a way for the Arundel students to be registered in the class and co-participating, we�d love it,� he said.

The class is also serving as a research opportunity for Heidi Faust �15 Ph.D., LLC, the class�s English language instructor. She realized that the pre- and post-course conversations in which she evaluates students� English proficiency were also great opportunities to gather data for her research on how educational institutions can mediate the impact of their power status and cultural background.

�We don�t want to come into the course and say we�re going to tell you how to make your communities better,� she said. �Our hope is that it�s not this top down, unidirectional flow of information. We want them to come back to us and say, �this is how we think we can change our communities.��

Finally, UMBC is bringing this online class into the offline world by inviting participants to campus. Students from Arundel High school will visit later this month, and this summer, Brazillian students will come to campus for an experience that will include activities with the American high school students, a trip to Washington D.C. and a homestay.

�We�re creating our own intercultural camp experience for them,� Taylor said.

(3/8/13)

Following a successful run on the internationally-ranked UMBC chess team, Ian Harris ’11, psychology, is making a career of the strategic game in his home state of Connecticut, the Norwalk Hour online reports.

Harris, who is ranked a national master by the United States Chess Federation and 7th in Connecticut, is working as an instructor at the Chess Club of Fairfield County, the story says. He has also co-authored a book, “Mastering Chess,” which is set to publish sometime next month.

On the topic of sharing his chess secrets with a new generation, Harris tells the Hour:

“I think a lot of people want to learn [chess] but are intimidated by it. We offer camps for kids to learn chess and a lot of kids love it. They get hooked because it’s fun and educational.”

Read the full story in the Hour here.

The New York Times today examined the experiences of older students — in their 60s and beyond — at colleges and universities. The article cites many reasons for retirees taking college courses, including tuition waivers, social connections and an interest in lifelong learning.

“Novelty is something the brain thrives on,” said Erickson School Dean Judah L. Ronch, commenting on the physiological and psychological health benefits that older students experience. “It helps connections between nerve cells form, and that’s the basis of new knowledge and ability. Research now supports the idea that at any age these connections can continue to be made.”

In addition to supporting brain health, the classroom can also be a helpful for adults coping with the death of a spouse and struggling to socialize with friends who are intact couples. Ronch noted that in college fellow students are unlikely to ask, “Is your husband dead or alive?” Read the full article to learn more.

On Tuesday, March 12, Robert Provine, professor of psychology, talked to WYPR’s “Midday with Dan Rodricks” about his new book, “Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccuping, and Beyond.”

Rodricks asked Provine why he chose to research mundane – and even occasionally embarrassing – behaviors such as yawning, belching and farting.

“It’s fun to do, and it’s something that can get junior science students involved right away. It also has a lot of rewards for the serious scientist, which is what got me interested in it in the first place,” he said. “By looking at elemental behaviors, such as the instincts of yawning, laughing, coughing, sneezing, belching, and so on, this provides us with a molecular approach to human behavior. The opportunity to look at these exciting and important acts is only available because we’ve overlooked them. I believe that they will lead to important insights.”

The full interview can be heard here.

Last week, The Afro-American created and published a full-color collage featuring scenes from the CADVC’s outreach project, For All the World to Hear: Stories from the Struggle for Civil Rights, in it’s print and digital editions. The photos were taken during its final performance, February 23, at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Main Branch.

Click the image to view a larger version of the collage, or see the image at Afro.com.