Dwight Polk, paramedic program director and senior lecturer of emergency health services, recently presented at the Arrowhead EMS Conference in Duluth, Minn. about exploring the psychological impact of line of duty deaths (LODD) on EMS organizations. Polk regularly teaches and presents at regional and state EMS conferences around the country.

The editor of EMS1.com, a news service for EMS professionals, wrote an article analyzing Polk’s presentation in discussing the inevitability of planning and preparing for a line of duty death in the profession. The article mentioned several key takeaways from Polk’s presentation, including having updated emergency contact forms, protection of evidence in LODDs, engaging the news media as a partner, and using an authorized spokesperson to speak on behalf of the department, among other topics.

Polk serves as a mental health professional for two CISM teams and is a CIT trainer for the Howard County Police Department. He is the co-author of two textbooks; “Pre-Hospital Behavior Emergencies and Crisis Response”  and “Law Enforcement Responder: Principles of Emergency Medicine, Rescue and Force Protection.”

To read the full article on EMS1.com, click here.

In a 4-day Model African Union (AU) summit at Howard University on February 19-22, 2015, 7 UMBC students will serve as ambassadors of the West African country of Togo under the mentorship of Dr. Gloria Chuku. The students will have the opportunity to meet the real ambassador of Togo in Washington, DC for more information/briefing on the country, be addressed by the AU ambassador to the United States, participate in Council and Committee sessions, and at the end receive certificates of participation and awards in addition to 3 credit units in Independent Study in AFST 211: Contemporary Africa or AFST 213: Africa, Culture and Development.

For more information contact Stephen Freeland at freeland@umbc.edu.

Incoming freshman have until May to register to be in the community. Students already on campus must register by the 27th.

Humanities Forum
Monday, February 9 | 4:30 p.m.
Dr. Spencer Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, George Mason University  
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery 

The film Slavery By Another Name explores a reality that often went unacknowledged: a huge system of forced, unpaid labor, mostly affecting Southern black men, that lasted from the 1800s until World War II. Based on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning book by Douglas Blackmon, the film Slavery By Another Name tells the story of black men who were forced to work as convict laborers in factories, mines, and farms. These men were bought, sold, and abused by law enforcement officers who cited regulations against vagrancy, loitering, or walking near railroads. These ‘black codes’ were laws that essentially re-enslaved blacks; many former slaves and their descendants were not free in reality. These laws existed despite the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, and the Confederate defeat in the Civil War. Although Congress enacted the Fourteenth Amendment (enshrining birthright citizenship and equal protection of the law) in 1868 and the Fifteenth Amendment (guaranteeing the right to vote for all men regardless of race) in 1870, Southern communities ignored these federal mandates. The film includes interviews with the descendants of victims and perpetrators. Panelists will discuss the film and what it suggests about life in America today.

Dr. Spencer Crew is the Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History at George Mason University. Dr. Crew has served as president of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and as director of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. At each of those institutions Dr. Crew sought to make history accessible to the public through innovative and inclusive exhibitions and public programs. His publications include Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration 1915 – 1940 (1987), Black Life in Secondary Cities: A Comparative Analysis of the Black Communities of Camden and Elizabeth, N.J. 1860 – 1920 (1993), and Unchained Memories: Readings From The Slave Narratives (2002). Dr. Crew is also the Past Chair of the National Council for History Education and serves on the Board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as the Nominating Board of the Organization of American Historians.

*The film Slavery By Another Name will be screened at 12 p.m. on February 2^nd and 4^th in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery.

Sponsored by the Africana Studies Department; the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery; the Dresher Center for the Humanities; and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle.