Marking the 22nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), yesterday Gov. Martin O’Malley announced the launch of SUCCESS, a four-year post-secondary education program for students with intellectual disabilities. The Maryland Department of Disabilities and UMBC partnered to develop the program (press release).

An AP report on the announcement, which appeared in The Washington Post and on WBFF FOX45, noted that although students will not receive college credit, they will take a seminar with degree-seeking students, lead a service learning project, and intern at departments on UMBC’s campus.

The Baltimore Sun added that SUCCESS will begin with 6-8 students this fall and will be housed in UMBC’s Shriver Center, named for Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver.“The SUCCESS program is a natural outgrowth of the Shriver and Kennedy family values,” says Shriver Center Director Michele Wolff. “We want to fully integrate SUCCESS participants into all aspects of collegiate life.”

To UMBC’s alumni:

I am delighted to share the news that Freeman Hrabowski has been appointed by President Obama to chair the newly created President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The announcement was made by the White House Thursday afternoon.

The Commission will advise President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan and will work closely with the newly formed White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.  The Commission will also lead a national dialogue – engaging the business, philanthropic, nonprofit, and education communities – on African American achievement from early childhood through adulthood.

UMBC’s success in educating students of all backgrounds continues to place us at the forefront of one of the key issues of our day, and I am sure you join me in congratulating Freeman on this honor.  Thank you again for everything you do to be supportive of UMBC.

Susan Emfinger
Assistant Vice President
Alumni & Development

To learn more about the role of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans, please visit the White House website.

News outlets across the state are reporting on a compelling finding from The Hilltop Institute at UMBC: Maryland’s economy will get a notable boost from the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

A Baltimore Business Journal article on the announcement cites Hilltop’s finding that 26,000 new jobs will be created in Maryland by 2020 as a result of implementing the federal law’s provisions. The ACA will also bring in $237 million in tax revenues and generate savings of $672 million by transferring costs to federal programs. Additional coverage appeared in The Gazette, Maryland Reporter and Washington Examiner.

These findings were generated through the Hilltop Health Care Reform Simulation Model, which projects the costs and savings to states as they implement the provisions of the ACA. This dynamic tool can account for changes in data, conditions and policy over time. The Hilltop Institute at UMBC is a non-partisan health research organization—with an expertise in Medicaid and in improving publicly financed health care systems—dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations.

On July 24, WBAL-TV interviewed education professor Sarah Shin as part of a story on the Peyton family of Harford County, who are blending their American and Costa Rican heritage by raising their children bilingual.

Reporter Sarah Caldwell spoke with Shin, who is the author of the book Bilingualism in Schools and Society: Language, Identity, and Policy, about raising bilingual children. Shin told Caldwell that it’s best to start early. “The fact that children are not able to really put together coherent sentences does not mean that they aren’t processing language,” she said. Shin also said the creation of opportunities for children to interact with speakers of a second language could be beneficial, such as a bilingual babysitter, playgroup, or nursery or preschool.

UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers has been named recipient of the Frieder Naschold Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Field of Public Management for his paper “The Remarkable Case of Disappearing Earmarks in the United States: The Limits of Transparency Reforms” (download full pdf).

The Naschold Award recognizes the best paper presented at the conference of the International Public Management Network (IPMN) and is given once every other year. Meyers will formally receive the honor at the IPMN 2013 Conference in Siena, Italy.

Meyers also recently participated in the Memos to National Leaders project, coauthoring four memoranda (full PDF) that outline the bold and practical actions needed to repair our federal budget process. The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) launched this project to address current policy challenges facing the United States. Their recommendations represent “a consensus of the best thinking by public management practitioners and researchers across the country.”

Earlier this summer, UMBC Associate Professor Ilsa Lottes (Sociology and Anthropology) presented a lecture on human rights at the Center of Excellence in Sexual Health Education at JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä, Finland. Lottes traveled to Finland as a Fulbright Specialist in the areas of sexual health and research methods.

Lottes is an expert on sexual and reproductive health in both the United States and Finland, with much of her research focusing on the views of college students. In this lecture, Lottes describes the basic principles of human rights and how sexual rights have been incorporated into human rights discourse to guide sexual health policy. Her lecture was also shared by video with conference participants in Russia.

President Obama Appoints UMBC President as Chair of National Education Commission

President Obama has named UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski chair of the newly created President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

In addition to advising President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the commission will work closely with the newly-formed White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, which is charged with coordinating federal agencies around this critical issue and identifying best practices nationwide. The commission also will lead a national dialogue – engaging the business, philanthropic, nonprofit and education communities – on African American achievement from early childhood through adulthood.

“The nation’s future will depend heavily on the extent to which we educate all of our nation’s children.  This commission will work to ensure that increasing numbers of African Americans excel academically,” President Hrabowski said.

“The work of my colleagues at UMBC has demonstrated that education in America can be both inclusive and excellent,” he said. “Our African American students study with people from all over the world and achieve at the highest levels. I am delighted that the President is again committing to the success of all students.”

The President has set the goal for America to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. This new White House initiative and commission will work toward that ambitious goal, complementing an existing initiative that strengthens the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

President Hrabowski has worked extensively on national education issues, including chairing a National Academy of Sciences committee that examined minority participation in the sciences. In its final report, that committee concluded that, to remain competitive, the United States needs to significantly increase its investment in young people of all races interested in science, technology, engineering and math.

You can read more about President Hrabowski here. To learn more about the role of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans, please visit the White House website.

(7/26/12)

Alumnus Matthew Panunto ’12, M.S. geography and environmental systems (GES), has won the 2012 American Water Resources Association (AWRA) National Conference Student Poster Competition for his submission “Effects of valley segment sequencing on floodplain hydroperiods.”

According to the abstract, Panunto and co-authors Philippe Vidon, Pierre-André Jacinthe, and GES professor Matthew Baker’s piece used “numerical simulations of… hypothetical hydraulic constraints and empirical characterizations of valley segments and flood hydrographs in central Indiana’s White River valley” in order to understand more about the impact of “valley sequencing” on floodplain hydroperiods, or when a region is waterlogged. Along with a certificate and monetary award from AWRA, Panunto will be featured on the organization’s website, as well as in an upcoming issue of IMPACT magazine.

Panunto recently accepted a position at the USEPA in Athens, GA, where he is working on a term contract with the the Office of Research and Development’s National Exposure Research Laboratory Ecosystems Research Division. Panunto will help develop hydrologic and hydraulic watershed models and program applications for Geographic Information Systems for the EPA.

This article first appeared in UMBC Insights.

Alumnus Matthew Panunto ’12, M.S. geography and environmental systems (GES), has won the 2012 American Water Resources Association (AWRA) National Conference Student Poster Competition for his submission “Effects of valley segment sequencing on floodplain hydroperiods.”

According to the abstract, Panunto and co-authors Philippe Vidon, Pierre-André Jacinthe, and GES professor Matthew Baker’s piece used “numerical simulations of… hypothetical hydraulic constraints and empirical characterizations of valley segments and flood hydrographs in central Indiana’s White River valley” in order to understand more about the impact of “valley sequencing” on floodplain hydroperiods, or when a region is waterlogged. Along with a certificate and monetary award from AWRA, Panunto will be featured on the organization’s website, as well as in an upcoming issue of IMPACT magazine.

Panunto recently accepted a position at the USEPA in Athens, GA, where he is working on a term contract with the the Office of Research and Development’s National Exposure Research Laboratory Ecosystems Research Division. Panunto will help develop hydrologic and hydraulic watershed models and program applications for Geographic Information Systems for the EPA.

Political science professor Tom Schaller’s latest column for The Baltimore Sun was published on July 24th. “American should give up its role as lone superpower” dealt with the shifting paradigm in global relations, with nations such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Korea becoming major players in the international economy in the coming decades, while simultaneously there has been a decline in the United States’ ability to alter such currents.

Schaller suggested that rather than holding onto the idea of itself as the lone superpower, the U.S. should instead draw down its international dominance and focus more on domestic priorities. He also noted that, while such a decision may be unpopular with some, it could prove more beneficial in terms of life at home, and eventually bring a renewal of esteem for the United States and its ideals in the future.

“Chest-thumping nationalists may scream that American power is vital in a dangerous world,” wrote Schaller, “but the United States will never recede from the global scene entirely, nor shrink from future threats. Besides, a nation weak at home is doomed for weakness abroad. To lead the world anew we must lead ourselves first.”