Authors, Journalists, Policy Experts to Speak on Education, Prison Reform, Gender, Health Policy, Cuba, More
UMBC hosts a diverse group of expert speakers on social and political challenges facing Maryland and the U.S. this Spring in the University's 2005 Social Sciences Forum series.
Authors, journalists and policy experts including Alan Elsner of Reuters, Tom Gjetlen of National Public Radio and Mary Ann Saar, Maryland's Secretary of Public Safety, will bring new insights to issues such as testing and standards in public education; state and federal prison crises and reform; gender and health policy; and the future of Cuba after Castro.
All lectures are free and open to the public and will last approximately one hour, followed by a question and answer period and a reception.
Wednesday February 9 at 4 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor
"High-Stakes Education Testing and the 'Lost Curriculum'"
Panel Discussion featuring Lori Meyer, National Association of State Boards of Education and UMBC Public Policy graduate student; Dan Ritschel, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for History Education, UMBC; Linda Baker, Professor of Psychology, UMBC; Mary Ann Mears, sculptor and Chairperson, Arts Education in Maryland Schools Alliance.
Tuesday, February 22 at 4 p.m.
University Center, Room 312
"Neuroeconomics: Brain Imaging and Economic Decision-Making"
Kevin McCabe, Professor of Economics and Law, George Mason University.
Tuesday, March 1 at 4 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, Room 767
"Gender and Health Policy: An Historian Activist's Perspectives"
Susan Reverby, Wellesley College and Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lectureship Program
Monday, March 7 at 4 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor
"The Crisis in America's Prisons and Why You Should Care"
Alan Elsner, National Correspondent for Reuters
Thursday, April 7 at 4 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor
"A Crisis in Confidence? Ethics and Accountability in the Nonprofit Sector"
Peter Berns, Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations
Monday, April 11 at 1 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor
"Cuba after Castro: Predicting the Unpredictable"
Tom Gjelten, National Security Correspondent for National Public Radio
Monday, April, 25 at 4 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor
"Maryland's Project RESTART: A New Direction in Corrections"
Mary Ann Saar, Maryland Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services
Monday, May 2 at 4 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor
"Promoting Employment for Persons with Disabilities: Are the New Incentives Sufficient?"
David Salkever, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University Professor of Public Policy, UMBC (effective August, 2005)
Directions to UMBC and campus locations of the lectures
For directions go to: http://www.umbc.edu/socsforum/directions.html"
As the national debate on gender and science in higher education heats up, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)is an excellent example of how a campus can increase the presence andsuccess of women faculty in science and technology.
Led by President Freeman A. Hrabowski, UMBC is a public researchuniversity with a national reputation for academic excellence and diversity. Over the last six years, UMBC has expanded campus-wideinitiatives to attract and support female faculty and graduate studentsin science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
"Since 2000, when we first began studies on how to tackle the problem, the number of UMBC's tenured or tenure-track women faculty in the STEM fields has more than doubled from 17 to 36," said Lynn Zimmerman, ViceProvost for Academic Initiatives and Professor of Biology at UMBC.
UMBC now requires all departments to form diversity plans prior to starting faculty job searches. The campus also redesigned its family and medical leave policy to be more visible and attractive to women faculty.
"Good things can happen once there is a genuine commitment to the issue," said Zimmerman. "UMBC's work is by no means finished, but I am excited about our progress in such a short period of time."
Initiatives and Expert Sources on Women and Science:
Hrabowski is leading gender diversity efforts on the campus as the principal investigator for ADVANCE at UMBC, a $3.2 million, five year,National Science Foundation (NSF) institutional transformation grant. ADVANCE is designed to change the campus structure and culture to improve recruitment, retention, career advancement and mentoring for talented women STEM faculty.
"Programs like ADVANCE show that what's good for women is good for the entire university," said Zimmerman, who also leads the university's day-to-day efforts for ADVANCE and other science diversity programs.
In 2001, UMBC appointed Janet Rutledge Associate Dean of the Graduate School. Rutledge was instrumental in bringing the PROMISE program to UMBC. Through this $2.5 million NSF grant, UMBC leads an effort by Maryland's three public research universities to increase the number and diversity of Ph.D. graduates in the sciences and engineering who go onto academic careers.
As the first African American female to receive a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech's electrical engineering program, Rutledge knows firsthand the challenges that women and other minorities face in academia. "There's a feeling of invisibility," said Rutledge, who focused on the scarcity of minority science Ph.D.s at the NSF prior to coming to UMBC.
In 2000, Zimmerman and fellow biological sciences professor Phyllis Robinson founded UMBC's faculty group Women in Science and Engineering(WISE). The informal support group for women STEM faculty became the foundation for ADVANCE and other efforts at UMBC.
In 2004, UMBC was one of only five U.S. institutions to receive an award to establish a Clare Boothe Luce Professorship. The Clare Boothe Luce Program is among the most significant sources of private support for women in science, engineering and mathematics in the U.S. When hired,the new professor will make UMBC's Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering faculty over 50 percent female.
UMBC is home to the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT),which is dedicated to strengthening the nation's technology workforce by increasing the participation and advancement of women and girls in information technology (IT) and IT careers.
Claudia Morrell, Executive Director of the Center, has led a dramatic expansion at CWIT, including the development of a scholars program with a 93 percent retention rate and a $6.5 million increase in scholarships,research, and program funding.
Anne Spence is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UMBC and a member of WISE and CWIT's Advisory Board. An aerospace engineer, Spence is used to the challenges of being a woman in a technical field.
"One of my college professors told me that women should not be engineers, so I got the highest grade in the class to prove him wrong," she said. "When I graduated I had six job offers. I did encounter initial resistance, but I was always able to get rid of it by proving myself."
Spence is a volunteer for CWIT's annual educational outreach event,Computer Mania Day. The event works to break stereotypes by building interest in technology among middle school girls, their parents and teachers via hands-on education and mentorship. She is also an advisor for UMBC's chapter of Mentor Net, a national mentoring program for women studying engineering and computer science.
]]>The best way to relieve congestion on Route 32 between Interstate 70 and Route 108 in Maryland is to adopt the State Highway Administration (SHA) plan to widen Route 32 to four lanes, according to a study by graduate students in the UMBC Department of Public Policy.
The study, Maryland Route 32: A Policy Analysis, examined alternatives for addressing the congestion on the heavily traveled, undivided two-lane stretch of road in Howard County. The SHA proposed that the road be widened to four lanes, with interchanges and service roads, and received an exemption from the Maryland's Smart Growth law to allow state funding for the project. However, community activists and environmental groups oppose the SHA plan, and one group has announced that it will file suit to stop state funding for the $220 million expansion.
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