When: 12:00 - 1:00 pm; Friday, February 18th, 2011
Where: Library, room 259
What: Explore the Library building and website
Learn about resources and services you need
Identify expert assistance
Q & A

To register, please e-mail or call:
Shu Qian
qian@umbc.edu
410-455-1783

Ugandan Gay Rights Advocate David Kato Beaten to Death

Funeral Results in Confrontation Between Gay Rights and Anti-Gay Rights Groups

Violence erupted in Mukono, Uganda at the funeral of gay rights advocate David Kato, two days after the Ugandan activist was beaten to death with a hammer Jan. 26.

The religious rite was punctuated by a denunciation of homosexuality from the pulpit by the pastor, and the refusal of congregants in the village to bury Kato.

“The world has gone crazy,” the pastor said, according to Reuters. “People are turning away from the scriptures. They should turn back, they should abandon what they are doing. You cannot start admiring a fellow man.”

Those statements drew a sharp reaction from a crowd of 300 people that included about 100 gay supporters. Gay activists, some wearing t-shirts with Kato’s picture on them, stormed the podium, grabbing the microphone. ?

Howard Makes Bold Changes

Goal is to promote excellence

This week Howard University's president and Board of Trustees announced major changes to the academic structure of the school. The Academic Renewal Plan – the culmination of two years of meetings, university community input and the hard work by the Presidential Commission on Academic Renewal (PCAR) – was presented to the board by Howard's President Sidney A. Ribeau on Jan. 29 and approved.

“Universities must periodically review and assess themselves to respond to developments in higher education and the changing needs of our nation and the world,” Ribeau said in a statement. “At Howard, we are doing just that. We must maintain the highest standards of academic and administrative excellence.”

The plan consolidates or eliminates many of Howard's degree programs and works to reorganize the university's resources in a way that supports its strategic goals.

While this process was initiated by the board of trustees and President Ribeau, Alvin Thornton, Ph.D., senior advisor to the president on academic affairs and chair of the PCAR committee, was clear that this effort and the resulting recommendations involved all parts of the university community. "These were not presidentially or board determined decisions. These are largely decision that came from the university community," he said.

"These changes will, in essence," said Thornton, "strengthen Howard University, make it much more focused around the strategic areas that the Board of Trustees and the president have identified."

Some of these strategic goals include ensuring high quality undergraduate programs, a continued commitment to the professional schools and a return to a focus on teacher preparation, Thornton said. Others, according to a press release issued by the university, are: to strengthen the commitment to science, technology, engineering and math; encourage increased research, advance Africana and Diaspora Studies to make Howard University the leader in that area of study; augment urban education, business, communications, humanities and visual and performing arts programs; and streamline and focus degree program offerings.
"We have identified specific areas of emphasis,” Ribeau said in a statement, “and we plan to be leaders in those areas.”

Howard currently offers 171 degree programs. As part of this plan, 71 programs – 38 professional programs, 11 graduate programs and 22 undergraduate programs – will be either eliminated or changed. Thornton stressed that students in those programs to be discontinued will have the opportunity to complete their degrees and faculty members in those programs will not lose their positions. "The concept really has a lot on integrity," he said.

In the past Howard, Thornton said, "responded to the national need that our community had and our nation had to educate in all areas of the Black community. ... We cannot continue to do that because of resources and we, frankly, don't have to do that in the same way.

"This renewal program that the board has approved and the president recommended will strategically redesign us and prepare us to move forward for the future."

He added, "We're going to be much more research oriented at Howard University because we believe that's the best contribution we can make to the African-American and national community."

All public photocopying in the Library now defaults to duplex (two-sided) copying. Patrons may change to simplex (one-sided) photocopying by following instructions posted at the photocopiers.

All printing in the Library now defaults to duplex (two-sided) printing. Patrons may change to simplex (one-sided) printing before they send their documents to the printer by following instructions posted here: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/services/printing.php and at Library workstations.

Based on requests and expressed interest in new or alternate products, the MDL has arranged trial access to the following databases. For off-campus access, please login via VPN first (http://vpn.umbc.edu). Then follow the link under "News & Events" on the library homepage. For more info on remote access, see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/services/remoteaccess.php

URLs and log-in information, where needed, are as follows:

EBSCO
Academic Search Complete
Business Source Complete
Communication & Mass Media Complete
Criminal Justice Abstracts
Log-in Information

Additional EBSCO Trials - no log in required
Art & Architecture Complete
Film & Television Literature Index, with Full Text

ProQuest (no login necessary) good thru 2/18
ProQuest Newsstand

Oxford Bibliographies Online
www.oxfordbibliographiesonline.com
Log-in Information

Bio One 2 (Active for subscribers to BioOne 1, no login necessary)
http://www.bioone.org/search

Past Masters
good thru 2/25
Log-in Information

SAGE good thru 2/28
Criminology and Nursing/Health Science
Log-in Information

H.W. Wilson (no login needed)
WilsonWeb Readers’ Guide Retrospective good thru 2/28

Gale (no login needed)
GREENR - Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources
http://www.galetrials.com/default.aspx?TrialID=8463;ContactID=27220
(if the above link doesn't work, please copy and paste into your browser)

Please let us know what you think.