In Spring 2012, we wrote about Jerry Cimino ’76, history, founder of San Francisco’s Beat Museum, which he founded in 2003 at 540 Broadway to pay homage to a generation of writers and artists who continue to inspire him. In this video, watch Jerry recite from memory “Sometime During Eternity” from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind.

Read his full story, The Beats Go On, here.

Video by Jenny O’Grady.

Incoming freshman Austin Murdock was profiled in a short June 7 article for the Pasadena Patch. Murdock is participating in the “Summer Bridge” sub-program of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which the student is quoted in the article as “basically just… getting us ready for school.”

The article also details his work with the Department of Defense (DOD) during his senior year, along with his academic achievements, including graduating in the top five percent of Chesapeake Senior High School, a Certificate of Merit and membership in both the National Honor Society and the World and Classical Languages Honor Society.

Among his plans, Murdock described his desire to pursue doctoral work someday, as well as continue working with the DOD on cybersecurity issues. Read more at the Pasadena Patch here.

In a June 5 essay for the online magazine Salon entitled “Can liberals cure stupidity?“, Tom Schaller, associate professor of political science, discussed one of the major obstacles for the left in today’s political climate: the general public’s overall lack of knowledge regarding a number of the most controversial issues we face.

From what areas should be cut in the federal budget to the size of the gay community in the country, Schaller cataloged a number of instances in which the American people have misunderstood important fiscal, governmental, and social matters, a fact that Shaller believes demonstrates that, “[g]iven that the public believes they are less dependent on a government that is actually less wasteful than they believe it to be, and that what the public doesn’t know may or may not hurt them, this much is clear: Their ignorance surely makes political life much harder for liberals.”

UMBC’s education department has received full accreditation without reservations from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the organization responsible for professional accreditation of teacher education. “We’re very pleased that UMBC continues to be fully accredited by NCATE,” said Eugene Schaffer, chair of the department of education. “The accreditation reflects UMBC’s commitment to providing future teachers with the best possible start to their careers.” NCATE currently accredits 670 institutions, which produce two-thirds of the nation’s new teacher graduates each year. NCATE-accredited schools must meet rigorous standards set by the profession and members of the public. UMBC’s programs were also recognized by national teachers’ Specialty Professional Associations and approved by the Maryland Department of Education during the same accreditation process. Preparing for NCATE accreditation requires the department to collect and organize thousands of items of data from students, teacher candidates, mentors, and principals The process took approximately three years, said Marta Seres, UMBC’s NCATE coordinator. UMBC will be up for accreditation again in 2018. NCATE revises its standards every seven years to incorporate best practice and research in order to ensure that the standards reflect a consensus about what is important in teacher preparation today. NCATE accreditation standards incorporate the model state licensing principles developed by a task force of the Council of Chief State School Officers. The U. S. Department of Education recognizes NCATE as a specialized accrediting body for schools, colleges, and departments of education. NCATE is composed of more than 30 professional and policymaker organizations representing millions of Americans committed to quality teaching. It was founded in 1954 by the teaching profession and the states. For more information about UMBC’s teacher education program, visit the UMBC department of education's website at http://www.umbc.edu/education. More information about NCATE is available at www.ncate.org.