From 6:00pm to 7:30pm on Wednesday, October 3, come explore UMBC's Cybersecurity Graduate Program options, and learn how a master’s degree or graduate certificate can help you advance in this exciting and critically important industry. Dr. Rick Forno, the graduate program director, will be available to answer questions and provide insight into courses, credit requirements, and prerequisites and admissions processes.

You can RSVP for the information session here.

Matthew 7:24-29

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Reflection:

Jesus uses a powerful illustration to help understand how to live our lives.In our context, this illustration could be the activity of building sandcastles. While baking under the sun, one tirelessly goes back and forth to the ocean to get buckets of water, excessively sweating, and of course there seems to be sand everywhere - face, eyes, ears, mouth, swimsuit, etc.And then after all the effort to build a magnificent castle, if it is magnificent at all, one wave from the incoming tide can wash it all away. All the hard work is destroyed in one instance, and what was once magnificent is flattened to insignificance. We can make it as poetic as we like, but this simple illustration has important parallels to how one lives and builds for what lasts.

Response:

What are we building for?What ways are more ’sand’ castle than ’stone’ castle?God’s Word is the only solid foundation from which we can ‘build’ our lives in ways that will stand the storms and seasons of life.What God has done for us in Jesus Christ, who is actually the cornerstone to our lives, and all that God provides for His people through His Word are ‘rock’ for a life built to last and built to bless.Unlike the futility of sandcastles, as fun as they can be, as we hear God’s Word and put it into practice truth by truth, it is God’s magnificence that radiates from our lives. Today, let’s spend time remembering and putting into practice the things we have been learning since Sunday, applying God’s truths to how we live and love others. Let’s pray for the Spirit’s guidance so that we will build appropriately with Christ continually being our cornerstone.

Have you been searching for provocative perspectives and innovative educational initiatives that push the limits of higher education sustainability?

New this year, the AASHE 2012 Advanced Track: Sustainability Unbound will challenge the content, design, delivery, place, purpose, intent and future of sustainability education with a host of presenters and facilitators including Second Nature Presidential Fellow Mitchell Thomashow and University of New Hampshire Chief Sustainability Officer Tom Kelly.

Participants in this track will spend mornings attending concurrent conference sessions and afternoons reflecting on ways to advance and escalate the transformation of sustainability education. These discussions will take apart current assumptions and beliefs to reconstruct the campus and curriculum in a way that prepares students for the road ahead.

Not sure if this track is for you? Consider the following discussion topics:

• If higher education were to take a leadership role in preparing students and providing the information and knowledge to achieve a just and sustainable society, what would it look like?

• How will the education of all professionals reflect a new approach to learning and practice, building a pedagogy that embraces education for sustainability?

• What will colleges and universities look like if they operate as fully integrated communities, modeling social and ecological sustainability in its interdependence with the local, regional, and global communities?

• What are the essential actions that will advance sustainability over the next five years to accomplish this vision? How can we facilitate action and move it forward?

For more AASHE 2012 bonuses including networking and community service opportunities, visit the conference website. Hotel discounts end September 22 and registration ends October 8 so register soon! For any conference questions, contact conference@aashe.org.

UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller has tough news for Americans frustrated with government gridlock. In his latest Baltimore Sun column, Schaller writes:

Americans sent divided governments to Washington in both 2006 and 2010, and will likely do so again this November. Since the conventions, President Obama’s lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney has widened, and almost no sane analyst thinks the GOP will lose the U.S. House this November. So buckle up for two more years of stalemated, sometimes ugly governance in the nation’s capital.

The one remaining toss-up for Schaller is the Senate race, which might offer election night’s greatest excitement. However, he concludes, “Whichever party emerges this November with a Senate majority…the inability of the two national parties to solve major national problems is almost certain to continue for another biennium.”