From Diane Lee, Dean of Undergraduate Education

Thank you for your outpouring of compassion and support for the Meyerhoff Scholars Program since I shared the sad news about the passing of our colleague LaMont Toliver, who served as the program’s Director and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education.

I want to share details with you about the services for LaMont.

On Wednesday, March 7, a viewing will be held with the Toliver family from 5 to 7 p.m. at March Funeral Home West, located at 4300 Wabash Avenue, Baltimore, 21215. (The funeral home will also be open for viewing hours from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and you can view directions here.)

On Thursday, March 8, a “Family Hour” and viewing will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. at The People’s Community Baptist Church at 31 Norwood Road, Silver Spring, 20905 (view directions here). A service will be held immediately following the viewing.

Members of the UMBC community are welcome to attend these events. Flowers may be sent to the church.

Students also are planning an on-campus memorial service, and I will let you know the details when they are available. Additionally, information will be posted to the Meyerhoff website, where you can also share your memories of LaMont.

UMBC earned an Honorable Mention on the Princeton Review’s list, “Top Undergraduate Schools to Study Video Game Design for 2012.”

The list salutes 32 undergraduate schools and 18 graduate schools for their outstanding game design education programs.

The Princeton Review chose the schools based on a survey it conducted in 2011-12 academic year of administrators at 150 institutions offering video game design coursework and/or degrees in the United States and Canada. The survey which included more than 50 questions, covered a wide range of topics from academics, curriculum, and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and career achievements. School selections were based on a comprehensive analysis of data that analyzed the quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities, and infrastructure, plus the school’s scholarships, financial aid and career services.

AP’s latest coverage of Maryland’s same-sex marriage bill focuses on both Gov. O’Malley’s message in signing the legislation and the referendum effort now underway to repeal it.

Donald Norris, professor and chair of public policy at UMBC, suggests that liberal voters who come out to support Obama’s re-election could offset those who turn out in support of the referendum. He further argues that a weak GOP presidential candidate could fail to inspire conservative voters to show up at the polls, decreasing votes for the referendum. Read the full article via USA Today, The Washington Post, NPR or ABC News.

“As Maryland and Washington join six other states in approving same-sex marriage, it’s clear that the era of politicians exploiting the issue for political game appears over,” argues UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller in his latest Salon column.

Schaller traces shifting positions on same-sex marriage over the last 16 years — among both voters and politicians — focusing particularly on conservative Ken Mehlman. A former Republican strategist who managed Bush’s 2004 campaign, Mehlman now argues in favor of same-sex marriage rights, which he sees as consistent with conservative beliefs in the economic freedom, personal responsibility and family values.

Schaller concludes that “despite Santorum’s earnest attempts to reinvigorate culture war politics,” same-sex marriage no longer functions as a wedge issue in national elections.