I want to invite you to the AOK Library & Gallery's Spotlight! Symposium Prison State.

This fall, the Symposium will explore the regional and pervasive impact of prison incarceration and the current debate around prison abolition. Specifically, we would like to engage in the conversation about prison abolition, reform, youth incarnation, cumulative trauma, rights of formerly incarcerated citizens, etc.

The inspiration for the theme is the Library's Special Collections' prison incarceration collection and the Library Gallery exhibit being hosted, called Prison Nation, simultaneously in Fall 2022.

We've scheduled nine presentations throughout the semester in the Gallery or virtually. You can click on each presentation below for descriptions and to RSVP. 

1.       Dr. Kate Drabinski, UMBC Professor: 9/30

2.       Glennor Shirley, Retired Prison Librarian: 10/10  

3.       Kevin Muhitch, UMBC Alum: 10/19

4.       Elaine MacDougall, Current graduate student: 10/26

5.       Yanet Amanuel, ACLU: 10/28

6.       Lawrence Grandpre, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle: 11/2

7.       Dr. Michael Casiano, UMBC Professor: 11/9

8.       Betsy Fox, MD Department of Juvenile Services: 11/16 

9.       Nathaniel R. Balis, The Annie E. Casey Foundation: 12/2  

See the attached flyer for more information about the speaker series 

Political leaders are increasingly engaging in "constitutional hardball"  bending lawmaking rules for partisan gain. This lecture contextualizes this phenomenon historically and describes how constitutional hardball weakens American democracy today.

Free boxed lunches will be provided 

Organized by the Department of Political Science and cosponsored by the Center for Social Science Scholarship.

Baltimore Field School 2.0 creates a framework for UMBC graduate students, staff, and faculty to collaborate with community partners in building ethical and sustainable research and teaching projects focused on public humanities. The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has awarded a public engagement grant of over $150,000 to support Baltimore Field School (BFS) 2.0: Undoing & Doing Anew in Public Humanities. The award will further develop a planning intensive that moves away from extractive research models and helps build ongoing Baltimore-based humanities projects. The grant will fund collaborative projects developed with community fellows and will focus on food and land justice, racial equity, and journalism/public information. As part of UMBC's Public Humanities program, the innovative field school and community fellows project is led by Sarah Fouts (principal investigator), Nicole King (co-investigator), Jasmine Braswell (project coordinator), and Tahira Mahdi (evaluator). The award will broaden the reach of the Baltimore Field School (BFS), launched through a $125,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2020. 

Today we proudly announce our new cohort of eight Community Fellows:

• Betty Bland-Thomas of South Baltimore Partnership. Bland-Thomas will work with Courtney Hobson.

• Yesenia Mejia of Creative Alliance. Yesenia will work with Tania Lizarazo. 

• Curtis Eaddy II of Presidential Brands. Curtis will work with Bill Shewbridge. 

• Eddie Conway and Cameron Granadino of Real News Network. Eddie and Cameron will work with Beth Saunders. 

• Tisha Guthrie of Poppleton Now and Baltimore's Renters United. Tisha will work with Nicole King.

• Lisa Snowden of Baltimore Beat. Lisa will work with Jasmine Braswell.

• Aishah Alfadhalah of Mera Kitchen Collective. Aishah will work with Sarah Fouts.

• Eric Jackson of the Black Yield Institute. Brother Eric will work with Charlotte Keniston. 

Eleven UMBC graduate students, staff, and junior faculty in the social sciences and humanities will receive a $3,000 stipend for their participation in the Baltimore Field School 2.0 in Summer 2023. Applications for this workshop will open in December 2022.

Full descriptions of the Community Fellows, their projects, and our BFS 2.0 team are included on the BFS website: http://baltimorefieldschool.org/ Inquiries and questions can be directed to Sarah Fouts: sfouts@umbc.edu.

Full press release is attached.

Prof. Irene Chan: The Thomas Project and Other Recent Work - Weds, Oct 5, noon

Irene Chan, Associate Professor of Visual Arts and Affiliate Associate Professor of Asian Studies at UMBC, will present and discuss recent work including The Thomas Project (2022), a six part, multimedia work exploring the life of Thomas Sylvanus (aka Ching Lee, Ye Way Lee, Ah Yee Way), a 19th-century Chinese man who lived in the U.S. East Coast, was enslaved in Baltimore, and ran away to join the Union Army. 

The talk will take place in the Performing Arts and Humanities Building (PAHB), Room 216, and lunch will be provided for registered attendees! Learn more about Prof. Chan's work and this event by visiting CIRCA's website. 

UMBC Fall 2022 Career Fair - Weds, Sept 21 (tomorrow!)

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

Political leaders are increasingly engaging in "constitutional hardball"  bending lawmaking rules for partisan gain. This lecture contextualizes this phenomenon historically and describes how constitutional hardball weakens American democracy today.

Organized by the Department of Political Science and cosponsored by the Center for Social Science Scholarship.