Amond Uwadineke is studying how the presence of oil in the Niger Delta has influenced conflict within this important region in Nigeria, and how this natural resource has hindered the development of the political institutions of the Nigerian State.

See Amond's presentation in the UC Ballroom on Wednesday, April 27 from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m..

Through May 15, 2011, UMBC has trial access to Films on Demand.

Films On Demand is a web-based digital video delivery platform that allows you to view streaming videos from Films Media Group anytime, anywhere, 24/7! Thousands of videos are available for in-class use and remote viewing from the library, in the dorm, or at home.

Access information is available at: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/databases/trials/fod.php

Please let us know what you think. Leave a comment or send your comments to Eric Jeitner at ejeitner@umbc.edu.

Would you vote for a warlock? Then pre-order your Charlie Sheen 2012 bumper stickers and buttons now.

As part of his cross country tour, Charlie Sheen was in Washington Wednesday giving people a glimpse of his non-terrestrial brain.

If president, he said, he would send the IRS to prison and make Qaddafi marry his ex-wives. After that he would criminalize country music. Sheen also got in a few jabs on President Obama, saying at least his birth certificate is photoshop free.

While Sheen may take himself very seriously some of his fans were only there for the shock effect. In a  “I’ve never done cocaine before but why the hell not?” kind of moment.

Sheen’s high point of the night came when he was interrupted by a “fan” who shouted “SHUT THE #%!* UP AND SAY SOMETHING WEIRD!”

1 Corinthians 13:8-13 (NIV 2010)
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Reflection:
Paul pulls in the previous chapter’s concern for spiritual gifts and is ready to transition to the next chapter on what worship looks like. Everything is pulled together in love. Some things will be momentary (the gifts) to help encourage and build the church up; but faith, hope, and love will always be - and the greatest of these is love. Growing up or building up is knowing that our life story is now written with eternal expression, and the cross (the expressed love of God in Christ) is the central plot that in some sense begins eternity for us. When we hold this central plot and live in this love-centered/cross-centered way, eternal beginnings happen on earth. In our love for each other, we eternally affect one another for God’s glory.

Responding to the Transmission:
The acts of love, we will carry into eternity. How we affect one another for God’s glory, we will carry into eternity. Let us thank God for the family in Christ that He has provided for us. And let’s pray that we live in a greater measure of faith, of hope, and of love, as we live together in our communities and on our campuses. Let’s pray for an increase of God’s glory being revealed among us. Amen!

Kevin Cepelak ’05, political science, has a job that comes with a pass that gets him into any Major League Baseball (MLB) park. And when he gets to his office near New York City’s Grand Central Station each day, he rubs elbows with former greats of the game and a chance to work with former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and former New York City Police Department investigators. And he spends his days compiling reports that help MLB officials tackle problem issues in professional sports ranging from steroids to gambling.

Cepelak’s work as an analyst for MLB’s Department of Investigations – professional baseball’s internal watchdog on a variety of issues involving the sport’s integrity – is heady and somewhat surprising stuff for a recent UMBC graduate. After all, the sport that Cepelak played as a Retriever from 2002 through 2005 involved sticks, not bats.

“I never thought in a million years that I’d go from lacrosse to working in baseball,” says Cepelak over lunch at an Italian restaurant near MLB’s Park Avenue headquarters.

Read the full story in the Summer 2011 issue of UMBC Magazine.