SPEAKER: Jeff Halverson, PhD, UMBC Department of Geography and Associate Dean of the Graduate School

TOPIC: Natural Disasters From A Geophysical And Human Geographical Perspective

Dr Halverson's deep knowledge of the relationships between disasters and human-geography interactions, will add to all of our understanding how to predict the kinds of consequences we can expect from various kinds of interactions between natural and man-made phenomena.

Be There!

I would suggest that on-campus students arrive a bit earlier than usual, given that it's likely that we will have a number of non-EHS visitors this time around.  

Off campus and you don't know how to log in to the simulcast?  Contact Kara Buckmaster.

UMBC has received a $6 million gift from the George and Betsy Sherman Family Foundation to establish a new Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities and expand the work of the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program.

Mavis Sanders, professor of education and affiliate professor for the language, literacy, and culture doctoral program, has been appointed the inaugural director for the new center. Its goal is to improve STEM, literacy, and mathematics practices and outcomes in early childhood education, with an initial focus in the South Baltimore/Greater Baybrook Alliance area. Sanders, who joined the UMBC community in 2011, has partnered with schools in Baltimore City since 1995.

“This targeted approach is going to have implications for systemic change. We are looking at what works for the diverse populations that live in Baltimore City. We believe that the schools, families, and communities are the ‘experts’ on their needs and collaborative planning is key,” says Sanders. “We have an opportunity to contribute to the information and the understanding of what different populations face in the city, what is distinctive about them, and also what is common, and through that understanding address critical needs.”

The center will use this targeted approach beginning in two Baltimore schools – Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle and Lakeland Elementary/Middle, – both of which have diverse populations including African American, Latinx, and white students. These schools also have dynamic principals with a deep understanding of how change occurs, as well as how to understand data, lead collaboratively, and enact community and family engagement. The center will promote research-based interventions needed to make the most impact for each of these populations.

The multidisciplinary center will also support UMBC’s established and new school partnerships by identifying and working with academic leaders in Baltimore City. Sanders will collaborate closely with the Provost’s Office and university-wide faculty-led research partnerships.

Sanders’ strong ties to Baltimore City schools come from years of sharing research and identifying best practices, as well as teaching undergraduate and graduate students, some of whom are now teachers, principals, and education leaders in the city. It is a bond that has been fostered through engagement with schools and listening to the experiences of students, parents, principals, and teachers.

“I am committed to K-12 education. If we don’t serve children and we can’t get education right then we get more of the same. I think things can change for individuals, and if we can change things for individuals then that is where the hope lies,” reflects Sanders.

These systemic changes are also being addressed through the Sherman Family Foundation gift with the expansion of The Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars program. The scholars program has produced almost 100 graduates prepared to teach in high need and urban schools. Early childhood, elementary and secondary candidates participate in cohorts that provide academic, social, and financial resources to help students be ready to become highly qualified STEM teachers and serve all children.

“We know there are two main things that help determine where a teacher becomes a teacher. One is where they are from and the other is where they complete their student teaching internship,” explains Josh Michael ’10, political science and education, assistant director of the program. “We are working with the education department to increase internship placements and also have more applied learning experiences before teaching in Baltimore.”

This current gift provides, over the course of five years, more financial support for students and an additional staff member to help with recruitment of candidates from groups that are underrepresented in teaching. The program is building a pipeline for educators, both natives of Baltimore and others, who have developed the mindset and skill to be highly effective teachers. The goal is to graduate 25 teachers annually, many of whom will teach in Baltimore.

“All the work that we do is to help our scholars see themselves as agents of change. We don’t want students to just go teach somewhere. We want them to go somewhere and make a real impact not just in the classroom, but in the school and in the community” emphasizes Rehana Shafi, director of the program.

Being an agent of change also means having scholars from city schools working with scholars who aren’t from city schools to understand from each other what change could look like so they can return to the schools to work in partnership to make those changes. “It isn’t only about having more money to go to school,” says Shafi, “we are talking about significant social justice and systemic changes.”

Banner image:  UMBC intern at the 2015 Lakeland Freedom Schools.  All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

“If you hate politics, politics will hate you back. It will exclude you.”

- Dr. Sunil Dasgupta

Life Lessons in Political Science

 
I try to create a structure in my classroom that allows students to acquire critical learning skills that they can carry with them long after my class ends. A lot of the specifics about the courses I teach will change in the future, and many students will go on to do things unrelated to politics, but if they can develop their learning skills, they will have them for the rest of their lives. To do this, I incentivize reading comprehension of complex materials.

Making an Impact

 
The most exciting part of teaching is seeing when students really get it—when they’re making the connections within and outside the readings that I have been driving them toward.

I also love hearing from alumni who write to me to report on their successes and how my teaching contributed to them. Mostly, my former students tell me about three skills that have stayed with them: reading comprehension, writing, and perseverance. These are not specific to international relations or to political science, but they’re central to college education.

One of my favorite stories is about my former student Ed Cornell, who started a food truck in Washington, D.C. (if you see Milk Cult DC, say hi to Ed, and buy his ice cream and coffee). Ed wrote to tell me how my international relations courses prepared him to start his business. Nothing could have made me happier.

Why Politics?

 
Most people love to hate politics. I like to tell students, “If you hate politics, politics will hate you back. It will exclude you.” We don’t have the option of opting out of politics because it is omnipresent. We may not like how politics is played, but sitting out is a political position itself, and the cost of that position is paid by the person who chooses to sit it out.

It’s Not Rocket Science…

 
Politics is hard—harder than rocket science in my view. There won’t be any rocket science without taxation or appropriation of money that politics enables. International relations is doubly fascinating because there is no world government that can decide matters for everyone on earth. With our strong belief in self-determination and sovereignty, governance without a government is perhaps the biggest political puzzle of all.

Winter Session 2018

 
I teach POLI 280 – International Relations as a series of empirical puzzles in international relations: “Why do democracies not fight each other?” “Can states deter terrorists?” “Does the rise of the rest of the world mean an end of American hegemony?” “Why do some states fail but others do not?” “Why do some international organizations work but others do not?”

This approach is unique and different. The intro to International Relations course is generally taught from a school-of-thought perspective, such as Realism vs. Liberalism vs. Constructivism, which can be hard to understand. My course is also fully online, which means that the learning objectives, materials, and pedagogy must match the asymmetric learning environment that is the basis on online teaching.

“Students should consider taking POLI 280 in Winter 2018 with me because they will learn how to read complex material and to present that material in a one-pager. This is the basic working tool of the policy analyst/professional.”