Juniors and Seniors, apply to gain Psychology research experience with the Maton Lab.

Ideal candidates will have:

**SPSS Experience

**taken or are currently enrolled in PSYC 331

**GPA of 3.0 or higher

**interest in qualitative research

**excellent attention to detail

**ability to learn new tasks quickly

** At least 4 hours per week to commit (based on number of credits taken, 1-3)

EVENING HOURS are also available.

See an overview of Dr. Ken Maton's lab and research topics at

http://psychology.umbc.edu/people/corefaculty/maton-2/

Interested students should email:

1) letter of interest

2) Unofficial transcript

3) Resume or Curriculum Vitae (not required, but given priority)

to tahira1@umbc.edu 

The History of Labor Day

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

• Learn more about the founder of Labor Day

Advertisers on Facebook will shortly be getting some new options for sprucing up their ads with high-quality stock photographs from Shutterstock. All of Facebook’s more than 1 million active advertisers will get integrated access to millions of photos and illustrations (over 25 million, to be exact) for use in their Facebook ads.

Facebook advertisers will be able to search and choose images directly within Facebook’s ad creation tool, saving time and money. Advertisers can opt to use up to six images in their group of ads, so they can determine which one works best. It really simplifies A/B testing of your ad’s images, which should result in much better response rates over time. The great part is that you can mix in images from Shutterstock, as well as your own images and images you’ve used in previous ads.

Shutterstock images can be used in any ad using Facebook’s Ad Creation tool, whether they’re mobile, desktop, or news feed ads. These images are used at no additional cost to the advertiser.

But the nice thing is that Shutterstock contributors still get their normal royalties whenever their image is licensed via Facebook. This is a huge deal for photographers, as it means more exposure for their work and potentially more income. With more than 18 million small businesses using Facebook pages, there’s a lot of room for growth in the future.

Images used in the ads are restricted to digital size, so advertisers can’t turn around and use those images in other advertising (they’ll need to buy a regular royalty-free license if they want to do so). Royalty rates are the same or higher than those for subscription downloads.

Access to Shutterstock’s API is a great opportunity for small and medium-sized businesses, who might not have the same resources as larger companies. It gives them a more level playing field in the Facebook ecosystem, without adding a bunch of additional costs.

Overall, this is a great move on the part of both Facebook and Shutterstock, giving more opportunities for photographers and advertisers.

Do you advertise on Facebook, are you interested in the new image options? Do you provide images via Shutterstock, are you excited by the possibilities? Let us know in the comments.

CrazyEgg: Amazing Visitor Visualization Tracking – over 80% off!

A roundup of the most interesting stories from other sites, collected by the staff at MIT Technology Review.

Department of Africana Studies,

 Tyson King-Meadows, Ph.D.

Beginning Fall 2013

Dr. Tyson D. King-Meadows is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). He is also an affiliate of the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR), an affiliate of the Department of Public Policy, and a Faculty Fellow of the Honors College. He received a B.A. in Political Science from North Carolina Central University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His primary research interests concern African American political behavior and attitudes, identity politics, race and representation, Congress, and elections. His other research interests involve democratization and public attitudes toward democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. King-Meadows has been involved in numerous community service and engagement, professional development, and academic enrichment initiatives, ranging from the Shriver Center Advisory Board, the President’s Commission for Women, and the McNair Scholars Program to the Honors College Advisory Board, the URCAD Committee, and the CAHSS Black Faculty Committee. Dr. King-Meadows has received a number of teaching, service, and research awards, including a fellowship to the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African American Research at Harvard University, a Fulbright Scholar Award to Ghana, West Africa, a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for a residency at the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University, a residency as a Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Africana Studies, a grant from the National Science Foundation, and an American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellowship. He has also served as an Alumni Ambassador of the Fulbright Scholar Program. Dr. King-Meadows is active in the American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA). He has served as president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) [from 2011 – 2013] and currently serves as its treasurer. Dr. King-Meadows is particularly interested in exploring the impact of black political engagement, civil rights law, identity group politics, and racial representation on the black socioeconomic condition from the latter twentieth century to present day. For example, see the recently released book When the Letter Betrays the Spirit: Voting Rights Enforcement and African American Participation from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama (Lexington Books, 2011). This book draws from government data, legislative history, Supreme Court decisions, survey results, and the 2006 reauthorization debate to examine how executive and judicial discretion facilitates violations of the Voting Rights Act. While challenging the executive-centered model of leadership on voting rights, this book puts forth a Congress-centered leadership model that would satisfy the goals of the black civil rights movement and give fuller support to the Fifteenth Amendment. His next book (forthcoming from the University of Minnesota Press) examines contemporary racial identity politics and the senatorial and gubernatorial candidacies of black federal representatives. Dr. King-Meadows’ next book length project examines the dynamics of racial group identity politics in the public and congressional response to the 2009 nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Dr. King-Meadows is also co-author with Thomas F. Schaller of Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-first Century (State University of New York Press, 2006).

Another chance to catch the most interesting, and important, articles from the previous week on MIT Technology Review.

by Delana Gregg

We are thrilled to announce that almost 1,000,000 Treehouse badges have been unlocked to date by Treehouse students!

This is a huge accomplishment for the community and an exciting time for us as it reflects all of the fantastic work and hours you’ve all dedicated to learning. To celebrate this awesome and momentous milestone, we’d like to invite you to join us in the countdown with our One Million Badges Giveaway.

Over the upcoming days we’ll be giving away a variety of prizes, from Treehouse t-shirts, stickers and books for every 1,000 and 5,000 badges unlocked, to a grand prize of an iPad for the student who unlocks the millionth badge, and an additional iPad to another student selected at random on the special day.

Check out our live streaming counter to see how many badges there are left to go and for more details and rules of the giveaway.

We’d also like to say thank you to our students for being inspiring and awesome, we’re so proud of each and every one of you.

Keep on learning, rocking and unlocking those badges!

The post One Million Treehouse Badges Countdown Celebration! appeared first on Treehouse Blog.