Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, appeared twice in this weekend’s Baltimore Sun, quoted on the Baltimore Grand Prix’s potential to impact Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s political career and on expectations for Governor O’Malley’s upcoming speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Norris told the Sun that he does not expect the the Grand Prix, as a success or failure, to have a lasting effect on the mayor’s career. “Mayors are not made or unmade based upon sporting events,” he said. “If it’s a success, she claims the success and it’s a good thing. If it’s a failure, she can blame someone else.”

He was also optimistic about O’Malley’s DNC speech, which the Sun called “the most important speech of his political career.” Norris remarked, “This is a huge opportunity for O’Malley, and clearly it has come in recognition of his rising star within the party.”

“Obama’s speech Thursday night will not be the most important of his career, nor even his most important electoral speech…But Charlotte ain’t Denver, and this moment calls for neither hope nor change,” writes Thomas F. Schaller, professor of political science at UMBC, in his latest Salon column.

Schaller suggests, ‘What it calls for instead is an unapologetic defense of four years worthy of this president’s historical measure.” He expects Obama to tout the successes of his first term, but “to do so in humble, even sober tones,” given the country’s ongoing economic challenges and a less optimistic outlook than dominated the 2008 election.

For more on the Obama campaign’s 2012 approach and expectations for both President Obama and Vice President Biden’s DNC speeches, see Schaller’s column in the Baltimore Sun.

When war strikes in a distant nation, the only way that many Americans experience it is through the lens of the journalists and photographers who risk life and limb to get the shots that capture war’s horrors and tragedies. But what is the personal cost for those who show such courage?

Assessing that human cost to the chroniclers of war is the essence of Donald Maguiles’ play Time Stands Still, which opened last week at Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre with UMBC alumni Eric Messner ’01, acting,  and Mandy Moore ’07, acting, among its ensemble.

“When I was at UMBC I used to go and see shows at Everyman Theatre,” Messner recalls, “then for a time after graduating, I lived five blocks away from the theatre. It’s a place where I’ve always wanted to work, and now I’m getting that chance….  I’m so proud that I get to open the final season in their Charles Street space, the same space that I would go to see their plays when I was at school.”

Moore observes that “there are some very big fascinating questions being asked in our production.  I feel lucky to play such fun, joyful role in the discussion.  It’s that sharp kind of theatre where you are asked questions and not told what to think.”

“It’s a really great play,” Messner concurs. “There’s just so much going on emotionally and Donald Margulies has such a wonderful gift for writing dialogue.”

Time Stands Still runs at Everyman Theatre through Sunday, October 7. For more information and tickets, go to  http://everymantheatre.org/.

Mitch Case ’11, media & communication studies, and current UMBC junior Caitlyn Leiter-Mason, a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar majoring in Gender & Women’s Studies and Political Science, are blogging about their experiences as delegates to the Democratic National Convention this week in Charlotte, NC.

Their shared blog, A Tale of Two Delegates, follows their adventures as delegates for President Obama representing Maryland’s 6th and 7th districts (Leiter-Mason and Case, respectively).

Leiter-Mason is the current president of UMBC College Democrats, and Case served as president when he attended UMBC.

Read more at UMBC’s BreakingGround site. BreakingGround is at the forefront of a vibrant, new movement toward increased campus and community engagement—a movement that is now gaining ground nationally. In early 2012, two widely heralded reports called on higher education to play a central role in renewing American democracy and preparing citizens to tackle the challenges of our age.

John Rennie Short, professor of public policy at UMBC and expert on urban and environmental issues and political geography, has published the first general history of Korea as seen through maps. Korea: A Cartographic History, from the University of Chicago Press, provides a visually stunning introduction to how Korea has been represented through maps over the last 600 years. The book description reads:

A common theme running throughout Short’s study is how the global flow of knowledge and ideas affects mapmaking, and Short reveals how Korean mapmakers throughout history have embodied, reflected, and even contested these foreign depictions of their homeland.

Reviewers call the book “superb” and “masterful.” Laura Hostetler (University of Illinois at Chicago) writes, “Both a history of cartography and a cartographic history, John Rennie Short’s highly readable and beautifully illustrated book recounts the absorbing story of Korea’s integration into global space with accuracy and aplomb.”

An article in today’s Baltimore Sun explores the Maryland GOP’s efforts to have a greater impact in the Democratic-leaning state. One aspect of this work could be capitalizing on an open seat for governor and a potentially messy Democratic primary in 2014 by remaining unified behind a single GOP gubernatorial candidate.

“They can hope for a disorganized Democratic Party and fuel that dissension,” UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller told the Sun. This could “put them in a position to be there like a trapeze to catch the governor’s race if it drops.”

During his speech accepting the GOP vice presidential nomination, Paul Ryan used strong language blaming President Obama for the unraveling of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson Commission, created to develop a policy strategy for fiscal sustainability. Ryan remarked, “He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.”

PolitiFact asked a number of experts, including UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers, for their take on Ryan’s remarks. “‘They?’ ‘Them?’ Why didn’t he say, ‘us?’” wrote Meyers. “It’s beyond hypocritical. It’s repeatedly and cynically dishonest.”

Experts from the American Enterprise Institute and Taxpayers for Common Sense agreed. They cited Ryan’s failure to mention that he served on the commission and personally voted against the group’s proposal, which ultimately did not receive enough “yes” votes to be sent to Congress for action.

On Thursday, September 13 at 8:00 p.m. in the Fine Arts Recital Hall, clarinetist Richard Spece and pianist Nancy Beith join forces to present a program featuring:

• Five Bagatelles, Op. 23, by Gerald Finzi
• Concertino by Giuseppe Tartini (arranged by Gordon Jacob)
• Clarinet Sonata No. 1, Op. 120, by Johannes Brahms
• Duo Concertant pour Clarinette et Piano by Darius Milhaud

Richard Spece regularly performs on modern and historical clarinets around the country and has several recordings available on Crystal Records. He has been a featured performer on the Smithsonian Recital Series in Washington, D.C., Music in the Mansion Series at the Strathmore in Maryland, Alexander Paley Festival in Virginia, Mozart Society of California Chamber Music Series, the Instituto de la Cultura Festival in Mexico, Cascade Music Festival, Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival, Garth Newel Chamber Festival, the Embassy Series in Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art Chamber Series, and the Festival of Sacred Music in New York City. His teachers included Stan Stanford, William McColl, James Campbell, Alfred Prinz, and Howard Klug. Mr. Spece is a Selmer Concert Artist.

Nancy Beith has been on the music faculty at UMBC since 1980, serving as academic advisor for the department, pianist for both the Camerata and Opera Workshop, and coordinator of the class piano program. She taught for many years in the Preparatory Division of Hood College in Frederick. As a collaborative pianist, Ms. Beith has worked with many area musicians in recital and chamber performances. She has adjudicated piano competitions for Maryland State Music Teachers Association and has been pianist for the International Trombone Workshop in Nashville. Currently she is a pianist for Holy Family Catholic Community in Middletown, Maryland, and the Maryland State Boychoir in Baltimore. Ms. Beith received degrees from Syracuse University and the Peabody Institute. She also studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Westminster Choir College in Princeton.

$7 general admission, $3 seniors, free for students, free with a UMBC ID. Tickets will be available at the door. Presented by the Department of Music.