Robert Provine, Psychology, on “Big Picture Science”

Robert Provine, professor of psychology, was featured on an episode of the syndicated radio program “Big Picture Science” to discuss his expertise on laughter.

The episode “Know Laughing Matter,” aired July 18, featured information about the evolutionary purpose of laughter, other species that laugh and other news and discoveries about laughter. Provine’s interview begins about 10 minutes into the show.

Warren Belasco, American Studies, in the Sacramento Bee

Traditional fair food includes hot dogs and funnel cakes, but at fairs around the country, more exotic choices abound, the Sacramento Bee reported in a July 17 story entitled “Corn Dogs Get Some Very Curious Company.” For example, at the California state fair, attendees can sample maggot sandwiches and grilled raccoon, fried scorpions and dried crickets.

Warren Belasco, professor of American studies, thinks the exotic food trend has something to do with TV programs such as “Fear Factor” and “Survivor.”

“It sounds like a byproduct of the extreme eating stunts on various reality shows,” he said.

AARP Highlights Research by UMBC Center for Aging Studies

In the latest issue of Maryland’s AARP Bulletin, UMBC research Kathryn de Medeiros describes how a new Center for Aging Studies research project was prompted by the growing number of childless older women. Generativity in the Lives of Older Women (GLOW) is a four-year project led by de Medeiros and Robert Rubinstein aimed at better understanding how older women without children invest themselves in future generations.

People often wrongly assume older women are mothers and/or grandmothers. In reality, approximately 20% of people 65 and over in the U.S. were “childless” in 2011—a figure that is expected to grow to 30% in 2030. GLOW researchers will interview 200 women to explore their views on the meaning that not having children has had in their lives; talk about ways they have influenced future generations through volunteerism, teaching, passing along personal objects and other creative activities; and discuss their plans for managing future health care needs, which might include family caregiving. This study will allow the researchers to learn more about an important yet often overlooked population with an eye to helping service organizations and policymakers rethink assumptions about family structure in older age.

Amy Lacosse, Psychology, Receives Pearson Prize

UMBC psychology student Amy Lacosse has been named a 2011 Pearson Prize Community Fellow as part of a national higher competition that recognizes student service. Her application video focuses on her work to eliminate stigma against children with developmental disabilities, as well as her own experience using a psychiatric service dog and helping to establish a policy at UMBC for service animals.

George LaNoue, Public Policy and Political Science, Elected Vice Chair of Maryland State Advisory Committee on Civil Rights

George La Noue, professor of Public Policy and Political Science, has been elected vice chair of the Maryland State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency charged with monitoring federal civil rights enforcement.

CPR for the Healthcare Provider (8/16)

CPR for the Healthcare Provider will be sponsored by the Department of Emergency Health Services on Tuesday, August 16, 5:30-10:00 p.m.

The registration fee is $65 for the full provider course, $55 for the renewal course.

For further information, contact Danette McCoy at ext. 5-3584 or danette@umbc.edu.

Christopher Corbett in “Fair Warning: Leo Connellan and His Poetry”

Christopher Corbett, professor of the practice of English, has an essay included in the just-published collection “Fair Warning: Leo Connellan and His Poetry.” Connellan, winner of the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, was a prominent New England poet who died in 2001.

“Fair Warning” is a collection of essays and appreciations of Connellan by prominent American writers and critics including Richard Wilbur, Robert Creeley and Hayden Carruth.

Corbett’s essay “In the Clear Blue Lobster-Water Country with Leo Connellan,” which appeared originally in the Maine magazine Down East, is an account of walking around the Maine fishing port of Rockland, Connellan’s hometown, with the poet.

USM Chancellor William E. Kirwan’s Statement on the Death of John S. Toll, Former Head of the University System of Maryland

From William E. Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland

The University System of Maryland community expresses its deepest sympathy on the passing of John S. Toll, an extraordinary and brilliant man who devoted his life to advancing excellence. The founding chancellor of the University System of Maryland, Toll was a gifted physicist, a dedicated and highly effective higher education leader, and an exemplary public servant. He was one of the giants of Maryland higher education.

As a young scientist, Dr. Toll helped establish what became known as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He would later join the physics faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park and, as its chair, lead it to become one of the university’s first nationally renowned academic departments.

He left Maryland in 1965 to serve as president of the State University of New York at Stony Brook for 13 years. When John Toll returned to Maryland in 1978, he began a 10-year tenure as president of the five-campus University of Maryland, guiding the development of policies and practices that helped the system to move toward the ranks of the country’s great public university systems.

Never satisfied with the status quo or mediocrity, Johnny relentlessly championed the merger of the then five-campus University of Maryland with the six campuses of the Maryland Board of Trustees of State Colleges and Universities, forming what is known today as the University System of Maryland. To him, this merger was vital to move Maryland’s public higher education network toward national eminence. Then-Governor William Donald Schaefer appointed Dr. Toll to serve as the first chancellor of the new 11-university system in 1988. In his 11 years as president and chancellor, Johnny worked tirelessly to improve the quality and salaries of faculty, encourage campuses to attract brighter students, increase fund raising efforts significantly, and involve the system more deeply in the state’s economic development.

When Johnny stepped down as chancellor in 1989, it was clear that he would never retire. That same year, he was named chancellor emeritus of the Maryland system and appointed to head the Universities Research Association, a position he held for five years. And in 1995, he was appointed president of Washington College in Chestertown.

Even after leaving Washington College in 2004, Johnny returned to the physics faculty of the University of Maryland, College Park, teaching in a building that in 2002 was named in his honor.

Johnny Toll laid a firm foundation for what is today a strong and widely respected public higher education system. His unabashed optimism and his relentless pursuit of excellence had an electrifying effect in mobilizing faculty, staff, and students to join his efforts. There can be no doubt that the present excellence of the University System of Maryland had its roots in the work of John Toll.

We join his wife Deborah and their family in mourning his loss and, at the same time, celebrating his extraordinary legacy.

[Read the entire press release here.]

Staff Member Pat Lewis’s Family Tragedy: Please Help

From Isabel Garrido, Student Business Services

Pat Lewis, an employee of Student Business Services, is going through a hard time right now and needs your help. Her daughter lost her home to a devastating fire a couple of days ago. Thankfully everyone is okay, but they have lost everything. We have started a collection for her daughter and grandsons and are asking that anyone wishing to contribute please contact Sandi Blasetti at sblase1@umbc.edu or ext. 5-3950.

Here is a link to the story. Her house is the one on the end and is totally destroyed.

Thank you for supporting one of our own in her time of need.

Want to Hire Federal Work Study Students? (7/28)

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will provide a mandatory training session on Thursday, July 28, at 9 a.m. This informational session is intended for supervisors and/or payroll preparers of any campus department interested in hiring Federal Work Study students for the upcoming 2011/2012 academic year. Departments who attended a previous training session are not required to attend, but are more than welcome for a refresher. Contact Colleen Lindbeck at ext. 5-8148 with any questions. Space is limited, to reserve a seat, email csly@umbc.edu.