Robert Neff, Geography and Environmental Systems, on Patch.com

“We went through the space age, some people are speculating the information age is winding down and the next big technology system is focused on alternative energy and clean energy systems,” said Robert Neff, UMBC assistant professor of geography and environmental systems, in a recent Patch.com article on government support for green energy usage. According to the Columbia Patch, “hundreds of suburban Maryland residents are on waiting lists, some as long as five years, to receive county property tax credits” of up to $5,000 “for the cost of installing environmentally friendly home improvements such as geothermal heating and solar energy panels.”

Tom Beck, Kuhn Library Special Collections, on WYPR’s “Maryland Morning”

In celebration of the Baltimore Sun’s 174th birthday, WYPR’s “Maryland Morning” featured an interview with Tom Beck, chief curator of UMBC’s Kuhn Library Special Collections, home to the Sun archives. Beck discussed the newspaper’s history of accessibility and innovation, and what can be found in UMBC’s archive.

Ruppersberger Calls for Release of Missing Journalist Matthew VanDyke ’02

The Associated Press reports Maryland Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is working to secure the release of freelance journalist Matthew VanDyke ’02, political science, who has been missing in Libya since March 13. According to the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and CBS news, Ruppersberger met with VanDyke’s family on May 23. During a news conference at the VanDyke home, he remarked, “The number one priority is to bring him home safely.” Although there has been no confirmation that he is being held by Gaddafi’s forces, both the U.S. State Department and Committee to Protect Journalists have voiced concern for his well-being.

Donald Norris, Public Policy, in the Baltimore Sun

A recent Baltimore Sun article on worker salaries in Maryland noted that over 1,300 workers match or beat the governor’s $150,000 annual salary, including University System of Maryland employees, doctors with the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and a few judges. To understand why, they spoke with Donald Norris, professor and chair of public policy, who said, “It’s what the market demands,” reflecting that universities must offer competitive salaries to recruit top faculty, administrators and coaches. Despite the work involved in the governor’s position, he argues, raising his salary to equal those of the top earners in the state would lead to “a huge public outcry” and be very unpopular among voters.

Five Years after Paralyzing Accident, Matt Courson ’11 Walks across UMBC Commencement Stage

Matt Courson has always been an athlete, but after an ATV accident in 2006, followed by an eight-hour spinal surgery, he learned that he would not be walking out of the hospital and back onto the baseball diamond: he was paralyzed from the waist down, with a one percent chance of walking again. He soon began aggressive physical therapy at the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury. “The therapists and patients there are the best athletes I’ve ever known,” he said, and in time he learned to stand, bear his own weight and walk again with assistance. Inspired by Congressman Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, the first quadriplegic to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, Courson chose to study political science at UMBC.

On Monday, May 23, Courson astounded his parents and thousands of commencement attendees by walking across the stage, a moment captured by the Baltimore Sun and Catonsville Patch (video, recap). Matt’s hometown paper, the McGehee Times, quoted President Freeman Hrabowski on watching Matt’s graduation walk. “It took all my energy not to break down… Seeing it and looking into his eyes, the emotion, it was so inspiring. The entire place was mesmerized, thousands of people. We experienced a miracle, it was that powerful,” he said. Matt’s story and his graduation walk were also featured on CNN’s “Human Factor.” “My goal now is to help others,” he said. “My injury just happens to be a spinal cord injury, but everyone goes through something like this in life.”

Erle Ellis, GES, in the New York Times “Room for Debate”

Erle Ellis, associate professor of Geography and Environmental Systems, has received wide attention from the media since his May 11 presentation at a British Geological Society conference on the Anthropocene. His comment, “Neither Good Nor Bad,” was published May 19 in a New York Times “Room for Debate” online discussion about the significance of living in this new geological epoch.

“From a scientist’s perspective, the emergence of humanity as a global force of nature is neither good nor bad,” he writes. “It’s just a fact supported by overwhelming evidence.”

In the past week, Ellis has also been mentioned repeatedly in the New York Times “Dot Earth” blog, quoted in an AFP wire story and discussed in a Discovery News article. His work was referenced in the Nature News article “Human Influence Comes of Age,” and the article uses a graphic Ellis developed to show the extent of human impacts on ecosystems.

President Freeman Hrabowski Included on Washington Post’s List of Influential College Leaders

President Freeman Hrabowski was included in the Washington Post’s “College Inc.” blog in a post about the country’s “most influential college leaders.”

In 20 years at UMBC, the post says, Hrabowski has “put the school into the front ranks of ‘up-and-comers’ among public universities.”

Brit Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, is also on the list of 10 college leaders.

Thomas F. Schaller, Political Science, in Baltimore Sun

Professor of Political Science Thomas Schaller’s latest Baltimore Sun opinion column, “Conservative vs. liberal violent rhetoric and action, revisited,” responds to an online conversation that developed following his earlier writing on violence in contemporary American political rhetoric. Schaller tackled the issue after the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; he critiqued “the convenient narrative in the mainstream media… that violent talk emanated equally from both sides of the political spectrum.” In the current column, Schaller reflects on the reader comments he received, which included additional examples of violent speech and actions. He writes, “violent language from a small set of unhinged persons is one thing. When the language comes from elites, like political leaders and party officials, or when citizen sentiments morph from mere words into violent deeds, a line has been crossed.”

President Hrabowski Delivers Commencement Address at the University of Mississippi

President Freeman Hroabowski’s commencement address was also covered by the Clarion Ledger.

Ed Orser, American Studies, in the Baltimore Sun

A WWII conscientious objector camp at Patapsco that was the first in U.S. commemorated its 70th anniversary of service installation on Sunday, May 15, reported the Baltimore Sun.

The story quotes a 1977 article in Maryland Historical Magazine by Ed Orser, professor emeritus of American studies. Orser, who planned to attend the ceremony, also said that many of the men felt they wanted to do more to give greater meaning to their stand against war.

The full story, “WWII Conscientious Objector Camp at Patapsco Was First in U.S.,” appeared in the Baltimore Sun on May 13.