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On April 23, 2014, UMBC students, faculty and staff recited Shakespeare sonnets in more than 30 languages. The event was held to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday and UMBC’s diverse voices. It took place at the end of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD), and it was sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Office of Undergraduate Education and the English and Theatre Departments. The above video is a sample of some of the readings.

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Erickson School Dean Judah Ronch and Professor Bill Thomas were recently featured in a video series examining elder care in Provider Magazine. In the video, they discuss the UMBC Aging curriculum, its impact on students, and what it means to the future of aging services.

Ronch and Thomas highlight the program’s integration and study of public policy, business management and human aging as a way to provide undergraduate and graduate students with the knowledge and experience necessary to be leaders and entrepreneurs in the field.

You can watch the complete interview in the video above. For more on the video series in Provider Magazine, click here.

In a Baltimore Sun article analyzing the Maryland District 12 race for state delegate, Political Science Assistant Professor Laura Hussey provided insight on the early campaigning in the race. Ten Democrats and three Republicans are competing for three open seats.

“Candidates got a huge jump on this race,” said Hussey. “I think there was just a huge rush to get in on it once we knew that there would be three open seats in the race.” She added what’s happening in District 12 is similar to what is taking place across the country: “Campaigns are lasting longer and starting earlier. Everyone is trying to get a jump. We’ve been talking about the 2016 [presidential] election for a good, long time now, and we’re not even halfway there,” Hussey said.

Hussey was also interviewed for an article in The Herald-Mail in which she commented on NRA ratings and how they can impact local elections, such as the Maryland state delegate race in Subdistrict 1C. She said the NRA ratings could be a major factor, especially since there isn’t much information about the candidates available to voters.

“This is also a primary. So there is not a R (Republican) candidate running against a D (Democratic) candidate. So, the candidates might be close to one another in terms of their positions,” Hussey said.

You can read, “Observations of District 12 race by UMBC professor,” in The Baltimore Sun here. To read, “NRA ratings play role in GOP primary race in Washington County,” in The Herald-Mail, click here.

An article published June 19 in the Baltimore Jewish Times analyzed several Maryland General Assembly and Congressional races ahead of primary day on June 24. Donald Norris, professor and chair of UMBC’s public policy department, was interviewed for the article and said incumbents will likely have an advantage come primary day.

“All the incumbents will win,” predicted Norris, “because the state has been so effectively gerrymandered, and none of them has any [viable] opposition in the primary.”

Norris added it is more difficult to predict who will win the primary in the Maryland attorney general race because “turnout is going to be abysmally low,” adding that a turnout as small as 20 percent wouldn’t surprise him.

To read the full article in the Baltimore Jewish Times titled, “Get out the vote,” click here.

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.

• Ann Christine Frankowski, Center for Aging Studies, in The New York Times
• Thomas Schaller, Political Science, Op-ed in The Baltimore Sun
• Manil Suri in The Washington Post on “How Not to Be Wrong”
• President Hrabowski on EvoLLLution

View all the other great news on Insights Weekly.