On Saturday, May 31, C-SPAN 3 aired a talk given by History Associate Professor Anne Rubin at the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. The talk was part of the 2014 Civil War Symposium held at the beginning of May.

Rubin discussed Union General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea and the concept of “civilized war.” In 1864, General Sherman marched his troops from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, and Rubin described the destruction along the way as setting the precedent for “total war” tactics in subsequent conflicts.

Rubin opens her talk by discussing basic Google and Internet searches of General Sherman and that many of them represent “a really popularly held view that William T. Sherman and the march through Georgia and the Carolinas in the final months of the Civil War have something to do with the creation of total war.”

You can watch the full talk on C-SPAN 3 by clicking here. Rubin’s book, A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868, won the 2006 Avery O. Craven book prize for the best book in Civil War history. 

Honors College Professor Ellen Handler Spitz is leading the 2014 Austen Riggs Center Creativity Seminar, which will be held from August 1-2. Spitz is the author of six books and brings psychological perspectives to bear on the arts and on children’s aesthetic lives.

The conference has the theme of “Translation,” and organizers have posted the following description on the conference website: “we will learn about the process of translation in different areas of creative endeavor in the visual medium of photography, through the embodied work of translation by an orchestral conductor, via the interpretative work of translation by a psychoanalyst, and by means of the multilayered acts of translation in theater.  Our aim is to understand more deeply the subjective and objective nature of interpretation and translation and to stimulate our use of these ideas in our various clinical, educational, and other settings.” To learn more, click here.

Spitz also published an article in the June 2014 issue of “The Brooklyn Rail,” devoted to art and the unconscious. In her piece titled, “Kris-Crossing,” Spitz explores the unconscious, writing about Ernst Kris, a psychoanalytic art writer, and a personal experience she had in the presence of Barbara Chase-Riboud’s 2008 sculpture, “All That Rises Must Converge / Red,” shown with her series, “The Malcolm X Steles.” To read the full article, click here.

In recent days, the United States and China have traded accusations about each nation’s alleged (or actual) espionage activities in cyberspace. Moreover, high-profile events like Stuxnet and recurring high-profile cyber-attacks such as the Target data breach continue to keep ‘cyber’ and cybersecurity issues in the news.

Today, CSEE’s Dr. Rick Forno, Cybersecurity GPD and Assistant Director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity, was a guest on PRI’s ‘The World’ where he discussed issues related to cyberwarfare, cybersecurity and the international application of cyberpower.

Every year, the Chapter of Black and Latino Alumni hosts a Jazz Brunch as an opportunity to bring together alumni while raising money and awareness for the Second Generation and Esperanza Scholarships. This year, thanks to the many attendees, the chapter raised $1,000 for those funds!

Click here to see more photos from the Jazz Brunch!

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• Dr. Belay Demoz Appointed Director of UMBC’s Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)
• Rachel Brewster in Science Magazine

Check out all the other great campus news on Insights Weekly.