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English lecturer Ryan Bloom’s The Life of the Artist: A Mimodrama in Two Parts, a translation of Albert Camus’s “Notebooks 1951-1959” (Rowman & Littlefield), has been published in the New Yorker.

Bloom’s translation was nominated for the 2009 French-American and Florence Gould Foundation’s Excellence in Translation award.

“If you could make one change to improve science education in the United States, what would it be?” asked the New York Times in a special feature published Monday, September 2. Nineteen people answered the question, and among them were President Freeman Hrabowski and Mike Summers, HHMI Investigator and professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

“We need to create opportunities to excite students about how math and science connect to real life,” said Hrabowski, adding that he would like to see more programs offering teachers the chance to apply their skills outside of the classroom. “A teacher who has worked summers in green construction engineering can show their students how they’ve used geometric concepts.”

Mike Summers said that he would like to see more students come into the lab to work on real-world problems. “When things like that happen, the kids begin self-identifying as scientists. They stop thinking that a science career can be theirs 10 years from now — an eternity to an adolescent. They think of themselves as scientists, now,” he said.

Also quoted in the piece were Najib Jammal and Deon Sanders, the principal and a student at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore. UMBC’s Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars program recently began a multi-year partnership with the school. Through the partnership, Sherman Scholars, along with Shriver Center Peaceworkers and Choice Program caseworkers, will work with school leadership to develop school- and family-centered strategies that address student and community needs.

Jammal said that he wanted students to be able to apply their STEM learning to projects that benefit their community, and Sanders summed it up by saying, “I need science and math education to be more about life.”

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated every year from September 15 - October 15th.  These dates are significant as the Independence anniversaries of five Latin American countries:  Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.  The independence celebrations of Mexico, Belize, and Chile also fall within this period.

This is an important opportunity to recognize the many contributions of the Hispanic/Latino community to the development of the United States, as well as celebrate and honor the rich history, culture, and traditions of these resilient groups of people.

Below are a few websites to help get you started -- please feel free to add any websites you like, and share your thoughts and inspirations on celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month this September!

http://www.hispanicheritagemonth.org/

http://www.nclr.org/

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/resource_library/hispanic_resources.html

UMBC graduate student, Emerald Christopher, joined tens of thousands of other supporters to acknowledge the importance of women leaders in the March on Washington at the 50th anniversary of the movement, held last week.

Christopher wore a shirt emblazoned with the names “Audre & Gloria & Angela & bell” – a nod to the famous feminist and womanist thought leaders Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, Angela Davis, and bell hooks. Having women political figures address the rally was great, Christopher said, but she questioned where the African-American women thought leaders were.