Looking Forward from the 45th Anniversary of the Catonsville Nine Actions (5/10)

In May of 1968, nine individuals shook the conscience of the nation as they burned U.S. Selective Service records with homemade napalm on the grounds of the Catonsville, Maryland Knights of Columbus hall. The fire they started erupted into an infamous trial and influenced similar dynamic actions across the country.

The UMBC community is invited to a Social Science Forum exploring this action, and the trial that followed, on Friday, May 10th, at 2:30 p.m. in the Proscenium Theater (Performing Arts and Humanities Building). Joining us will be a panel of scholars, activists and two members of the Catonsville Nine. The event, cosponsored by the Department of American Studies will feature a film screening (3:00 p.m.) and dialogue (4:30 p.m.).

For more information on the project and to hear a WYPR interview with organizer Theodore Gonzalves (chair of American Studies), see the BreakingGround blog.

“The Black History of the White House: From Washington to Obama” (3/27)

Clarence Lusane, professor of comparative and regional studies at American University, will present “The Black History of the White House: From Washington to Obama” at UMBC on Wednesday, March 27, 4:00 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th Floor.

This talk employs the White House as a prism to examine the historic and contemporary racial politics of the nation. From the building of the White House with slave labor to the “othering” of President Obama, Dr. Lusane explores the racial dynamics of one of the world’s most iconic buildings.

This Social Sciences Forum is co-sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the Language, Literacy and Culture Doctoral Program; the Departments of History, Africana Studies, American Studies, and Sociology and Anthropology.

“Written in Bone,” Dr. Douglas Owsley (2/20)

On Wednesday, February 20 at 7pm, Dr. Douglas Owsley, Division Head for Physical Anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will present “Written in Bone” in the Commons Skylight Room.

“Dr. Owsley will be speaking about his interdisciplinary work as a forensic anthropologist, assisting state and federal law enforcement agencies. Cases have included Jeffrey Dahmer’s first victim, recovery and identification of Waco Branch Davidian compound members, the 9-11 Pentagon Plane crash, and exhumation and identification of war dead from the former Yugoslavia. His bioarchaeological and osteological research concerns include: ancient American skeletons like Kennewick Man and the peopling of the New World; demography and health of 17th-century colonists; Civil War military remains including the crew of the H.L. Hunley submarine; iron coffin burials; and analyses of activity patterns, health and diseases of American Indian populations from the Plains and Southwest.” From anthropology.si.edu/

This Petrovich Lecture is co-sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Studies Council of Majors, the Interdisciplinary Studies Program, the Departments of History, Ancient Studies, Anthropology and Sociology, Visual Arts, Biological Sciences, Psychology, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, and the Honors College.

See the full Social Sciences Forum schedule here: www.umbc.edu/socsforum/

More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics (2/14)

On Thursday, February 14 at 4 pm, Steven E. Landsburg, Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester, will present More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics in University Center, room 310.

“Steven Landsburg’s writings are living proof that economics need not be ‘the dismal science.’ Readers of The Armchair Economist and his columns in Slate magazine know that he can make economics not only fun but fascinating, as he searches for the reasons behind the odd facts we face in our daily lives. In More Sex Is Safer Sex, he brings his witty and razor-sharp analysis to the many ways that our individually rational decisions can combine into some truly weird collective results — and he proposes hilarious and serious ways to fix just about everything.” From http://www.landsburg.com/

This Social Sciences Forum is co-sponsored by the Charles Koch Foundation.

See the full Social Sciences Forum schedule here: www.umbc.edu/socsforum

Social Sciences Forum Spring 2013 Lecture Series

UMBC’s Spring 2013 Social Sciences Forum Lecture Series schedule is now available online. The Social Sciences Forum presents topics and perspectives of vital interest to the social sciences community and beyond. Lectures are free and open to the public and will last approximately one hour, followed by a question and answer period and reception. For more information, call 410-455-2916 or email delana1@umbc.edu.

View the complete lecture series schedule at: www.umbc.edu/socsforum

Social Sciences Forum on Inequality in Education (10/24)

Sean F. Reardon, associate professor of education at Stanford, will present the Social Sciences Forum “Income, Inequality, Educational Outcomes” on Wednesday, October 24, 4:00 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor. Reardon studies residential and school segregation as well as racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement and educational success.

Income inequality among the families of school-age children in the U.S. has grown sharply in the last 40 years. What impact has this had on the educational success of U.S. students? This talk will describe three recent studies that examine the trends in the relationship of income and income inequality to academic achievement and college enrollment.

This lecture is sponsored by the Department of Public Policy and the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Language, Literacy, and Culture.

Mullen Lecture: “What’s a Life Worth?” (9/13)

Thursday, September 13 at 4pm 
Albin O. Kuhn Library 7th floor 

“What’s a Life Worth?”

W. Kip Viscusi, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics, and Management,Vanderbilt School of Law

The value of statistical life (VSL) is a measure that forms the basis for assessing the benefits of government policies that reduce risks, such as regulatory efforts.  This presentation examines the empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of VSL and explores the potential implications for the valuation of regulatory policies, including “senior discount” issue as well as differences in VSL with age, income, and immigrant status. 

Mullen Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Economics 

Fall 2012 Social Sciences Forum More information about the lectures can be found at our website www.umbc.edu/socsforum. Contact us at 410-455-2916 or socsciforum@umbc.edu

Fall Social Sciences Forum Announced

The Social Sciences Forum presents topics and perspectives of vital interest to the social sciences community and beyond. Lectures are free and open to the public and will last approximately one hour, followed by a question and answer period and a reception. For more information, call 410-455-2916.

If you would like to receive announcements about the Social Sciences Forum, email us. 

Thursday, September 13 at 4pm 
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor 

“What’s a Life Worth?”

W. Kip Viscusi, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics, and Management,Vanderbilt School of Law 

Mullen Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Economics

Wednesday, October 3 at 4pm 

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

“Japanese Science and International Politics in the Interwar Period: The Nobel Candidacies of Hideki Yukawa (Physics) and Katsusaburo Yamagiwa (Physiology)” 

James R. Bartholomew, Professor of History, Ohio State University

 

Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program; Office of the Dean, College of Natural & Mathematical Sciences; the Human Context of Science and Technology Program; and the Department of History

    

    

   Wednesday, October 24 at 4pm 
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th Floor

“Income, Inequality, Educational Outcomes”

Sean Reardon, Professor of Education, Stanford University

Sponsored by the Department of Public Policy and the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Language, Literacy, and Culture

    

    

   Thursday, November 8 at 4pm
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th Floor

“2012 Post-Election Forum” 

Donald F. Norris, Professor and Chair, Department of Public Policy and Director, Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research 
Thomas F. Schaller, Professor, Department of Political Science 
Annie Linskey, state politics and government reporter, The Baltimore Sun

Sponsored by the Department of Public Policy and the Maryland Institute of Policy Analysis and Research

    

    

   Wednesday, November 14 at 7pm 
University Center Ballroom

“American Challenges for World Peace in the 21st Century” 

Horace G. Campbell, Professor of African American Studies and Political Science, Syracuse University

W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture, sponsored by the Africana Studies Department

Mrinalini Sinha Lecture on the Global Ramifications of Abolishing Indentured Labor (4/18)

The system of indentured labor from India, which the British devised in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery to replace the demand for labor world-wide, has often been referred to as a “new system of slavery.” When, how and why did this once lucrative system eventually come to an end? What was the significance of this second abolition?

Mrinalini Sinha, associate professor of history and women’s studies at Penn State, will address these questions in a Social Sciences Forum lecture on April 18, 4:00 p.m. in the UMBC library, 7th floor. The talk is co-sponsored by UMBC’s Asian Studies Program, Gender and Women’s Studies Program, and the Departments of History, English and Political Science.

Sinha will focus on the contributions of abolitionist Totaram Sanadhya, an ex-indentured laborer and author of one of the earliest first-hand accounts of indenture.

Update: Nate Silver Lecture TODAY Rescheduled for 5:30 p.m.

New York Times blogger Nate Silver will forecast the presidential election and discuss his forthcoming book in a special lecture (with Q&A) on April 10, 5:30 p.m., in the UMBC library gallery. Please note, this is a new time (previously 4:00).