Who are we and where have we been are questions fundamental to the human existence that are studied by UMBC students as part of a well-rounded liberal arts education. Scott Casper, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and Professor of History, recently provided a commentary on WYPR’s Humanities Connection in which he advocated for studying the humanities as a way to prepare students for a thoughtful and civically engaged life.

“In a world of polarized politics and cost-benefit analysis, our realm of possibilities is often cast as ‘either-or’: Republican or Democratic, guns or butter, right or wrong. A liberal arts education encourages us to imagine another approach: not ‘either-or,’ but ‘both-and,’ a world of complexities rather than easy answers, interconnections rather than boundaries,” said Casper.

As part of his commentary, Casper outlined five distinct areas in which UMBC students encounter “both-and”: the global and the local, the changing and the timeless, the intellectual and the spiritual, the arts and the sciences, and thought and action.

“By asking questions that are fundamental to human existence and by encouraging ‘both-and,’ rather than simplistic ‘either-or,’ answers, the liberal arts prepare students at UMBC and elsewhere for a lifetime of reflection and purpose,” Casper said, adding, “the interplay of reflection and purpose is the bedrock of thoughtful citizenship, and the hallmark of a life well-lived.”

To listen to the full segment that aired on Humanities Connection, click here.

History Professor Kate Brown will speak at this year’s Baltimore Book Festival, which runs from September 26-28. The festival features hundreds of appearances from local, celebrity and nationally-known authors. More than 100 exhibitors and booksellers will be on hand at the festival with readings, workshops and panel discussions also on the agenda.

Brown is scheduled to present a talk on Friday, September 26 at 7 p.m. as part of the Ivy Bookshop author tent. She will be discussing her award-winning book, Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (Oxford University Press, 2013), in which she tells the stories of Hanford, Washington and Ozersk, Russia. The Soviet and American governments created these communities to produce the plutonium that fueled the nuclear arms race during the Cold War.

Earlier this year, Brown was awarded the 2014 Ellis W. Hawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians (OAH) for the best book-length historical study of the political economy, politics, or institutions of the United States, in its domestic or international affairs, from the Civil War to the present. She also received the American Society for Environmental History’s George Perkins Marsh Prize for the best book in environmental history.

For more information on the Baltimore Book Festival, click here.

In his latest column in The Baltimore Sun, Political Science Professor and Chair Thomas Schaller wrote about two major developments that have the potential to revolutionize collegiate athletics: an NCAA ruling that gave five major conferences greater autonomy and a federal judge ruling that stated the NCAA violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by profiting from the images of student-athletes without compensating them.

When referring to the ruling in the federal case O’Bannon v. NCAA, Schaller wrote, “legal experts further believe that because the O’Bannon ruling vacates the NCAA’s long-cherished amateurism exception, a series of follow-up rulings may follow, including the resolution of a key case (Jenkins v. NCAA) that threatens to upend the NCAA’s current economic model.”

To read Schaller’s complete column published August 19 in The Baltimore Sun titled, “Getting their due,” click here.

As the race for Maryland governor picks up in intensity in the coming weeks heading into the fall, Public Policy Professor and Chair Donald Norris was in the news this past week providing analysis on the state of the campaign.

“It’s clearly Anthony’s to lose,” said Norris in an August 14 article in The Baltimore Sun when referring to Democratic candidate Anthony Brown’s chances of winning the election. In a separate article, Norris commented on an event held at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) Convention in which Brown and Republican candidate Larry Hogan appeared separately to avoid face-to-face confrontation.

“There’s no reason for the front-runner to give the challenger any more opportunity to interact than necessary,” he said. “It’s not in the interest of the front-runner to do that.” Norris added history shows that the leader does not pay a political price for avoiding an opponent.

In an August 22 article, Norris commented on the messaging that Brown used with some of his policies to raise the minimum wage, to provide prekindergarten for children and to lower the cost of college in his first general election campaign television ad which aired recently in the Baltimore market: “I think this will be a campaign theme, and I expect we’ll see a lot more of it,” he said. “He’s going to be aiming that message at important subgroups within the Democratic Party in Maryland.”

In a story that aired on FOX 45 Baltimore, Norris was interviewed at the MACO Convention, where he was promoting UMBC’s Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research: “We do research for local government so we want to be here to show them what we do,” Norris said, noting that the conference is all about learning and networking. “It’s where local government officials and state government officials get together, share information, share knowledge, and discuss solutions to problems,” Norris added.

You can read the complete coverage by clicking below:

Brown to strike first on airwaves (Baltimore Sun)
Pundits have advice for Brown, Hogan in governor’s race (Baltimore Sun)
Brown, Hogan make pitches to county officials (Baltimore Sun)
MACO Conference taking place during peak season in Ocean City (FOX 45)

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• Linda Dusman, music, and Eric Smallwood, visual arts, Awarded TEDCO MII Grant
• Maurice Berger, CADVC, Latest “Race Story” in The New York Times
• Irene Chan, visual arts and Asian studies, in Women’s Studio Workshop Spotlight
• Amanda Knapp, Assistant Vice-Provost, in American Motorcyclist

See more great UMBC news at UMBC Insights!