Editor’s Note: We’re excited to share this announcement from UMBC’s Division of Professional Studies regarding upcoming virtual information sessions for graduate programs at The Universities at Shady Grove.

UMBC’s Professional Graduate Programs are designed to prepare working professionals to excel as leaders in some of today’s most in-demand fields. Participate in upcoming virtual information sessions to learn about Professional Graduate Programs in Geographic Information Systems, Cybersecurity and Biotechnology offered at UMBC at The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, MD.

GIS Virtual Info Session
Tuesday, April 1, 2014 from 12 – 1 PM.

Learn how UMBC-Shady Grove’s GIS Master’s and Graduate Certificate programs help develop technical GIS leaders with the fundamental understanding of geography and advanced knowledge of the technologies involved in the development of advanced Geographic Information Systems. RSVP online at http://bit.ly/18GUZ1l

Cybersecurity Virtual Info Session
Wednesday, April 2, 2014 from 6:30  – 7:30 PM.

Join us to learn how Cybersecurity Master’s and Graduate Certificate programs help prepare qualified cyber professionals, ready for management and leadership opportunities within finance, healthcare, government, telecommunications, retail, academia, technology and more. RSVP online at http://bit.ly/1bDisUy

Biotechnology Virtual Info Session
Thursday, April 3, 2014 from 12 – 1 PM.

Biotechnology Master’s and Graduate Certificate programs combine life science and business courses, and are designed for individuals interested in pursuing management opportunities in a variety of sectors, including agricultural feedstock and chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and research and laboratories. RSVP online at http://bit.ly/1c1xMgl

Monday’s winter storm forced school systems across the region to cancel school for yet another day, adding to what were already high snow day totals for many. With classroom instruction disrupted again, WAMU’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show decided to look into the question of “the snow day effect” and how it can impact classroom performance.

Public Policy Professor and Graduate Program Director Dave Marcotte was a guest on Monday’s show and discussed a multi-year study he conducted to look into winter weather’s impact on schools in several states. One of the key findings was that a week’s worth of snow days reduced the number of students who passed state math assessments by as much as two percent.

“Math is a skill that is most exclusively learned in school,” Marcotte said. “So kids who are staying home today are probably reading books, Harry Potter or something else, but probably none of them are doing math right now. So taking them out of the classroom is really where you can have an effect on that subject in particular.”

Marcotte also discussed how the relationship between snow days and classroom performance can be complicated because adding school days onto the end of the year to make up for lost time isn’t necessarily a solution. 

“We don’t really know the extent to which that is going to help solve the problem. As teachers and parents likely know, time in June in the classroom is very different than time in February. So how to solve the problem is not obvious,” Marcotte added. 

Marcotte was a guest on the program along with Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools Joshua Starr. You can listen to the full discussion on The Kojo Nnamdi Show here.    

Assistant Professor of History Meredith Oyen has been asked to serve on a Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (Beijing) external evaluation panel to evaluate courses in the international general education curriculum program.

Oyen will serve as part of a team that will be traveling to Sanming University and Minjiang University in Fujian Province to audit classes, speak with students and faculty and review the quality of course offerings.

Oyen’s main focus will be evaluating the teaching and learning outcomes for courses on U.S. history that are taught in English. She will be in China from March 14-22.