News

My Higher Education

I entered college as a freshman in fall 1984.  My declared major was Political Science; my orientation was careerist; my worldview embarrassingly narrow.  Over the years my horizons broadened.  I...

Posted: January 24, 2010, 4:56 PM

Massachusetts Senate Outcome Driven Partly by Youth...

Full Title: Massachusetts Senate Outcome Driven Partly by Youth Non-Voters As you've undoubtedly heard, Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley, by winning 51.9% of the vote to...

Posted: January 21, 2010, 3:08 PM

Social Justice on Our Time

I remember how it felt to be a college student in the mid-1980s, when the memory of the Civil Rights Movement was more immediate and fresh in the minds of my elders.  Students like me who hoped to...

Posted: January 18, 2010, 10:32 PM

STRiVE 2010: A Shared Peak Experience

I spent five days (and four nights) last week at STRiVE 2010, UMBC’s student leadership retreat in the mountains outside of Frederick.  I’m still feeling the effects of nonstop activity and too...

Posted: January 17, 2010, 2:01 PM

Breaking Up Online

It's thrilling to participate in the explosion of online social media. Now protesters in Iran can tweet their way past government censors, politicians can connect their supporters, and everyone...

Posted: January 7, 2010, 6:57 PM

UMBC and the Kiplinger "Best Value" List

There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about college rankings of any kind (except when they put UMBC at the top of the list, of course). Rankings are only as good as the factors that...

Posted: January 5, 2010, 2:21 PM

Welcome to My Online World (Useful Links)

I admit it: I was the last person I know to get a cell phone (with the possible exception of my parents), and I've sent and received a total of maybe 30 text messages ever. But my habits as a...

Posted: January 4, 2010, 3:40 PM

10 Years Ago and 10 Years Hence

If you had asked me ten years ago tonight where I would be living and what I would be doing at the dawn of 2010, my guesses would not have been close to the mark.There has been some continuity...

Posted: December 31, 2009, 9:42 PM

December 31, 1999

Ten years ago, on December 31, 1999, I was spending a quiet evening with my future wife at her apartment.At one point, stretching out on the carpeted floor, I started writing on the lined pages of...

Posted: December 27, 2009, 10:00 PM