Here’s a recap of what’s in the news in and around the UMBC campus, originally brought to you by UMBC News.
This news recap is brought to you by UMBC’s Division of Professional Studies, offering a broad array of professionally-focused master’s degrees and certificate programs that address industry needs while anticipating future opportunities.
Another UMBC Alumnus has been appointed to serve in the Congressional Budget Office
Mark Doms, ‘85, Economics and Mathematics, has just been appointed as the Chief Economist in the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This position will allow Doms to help lead a team to provide non-partisan high-quality information about the economic and financial impacts of existing laws, new laws, and policies under consideration. His team will also provide Congress with information about public policy and how that affects issues such as poverty and government assistance. Doms is currently one of four UMBC Alumni working in the CBO; Kate Green (‘05, Information Technology), Jorge Salazar (‘02, Graphic Design), Ryan Mutter (‘01, M.A., Economics, and Ph.D. ‘06), and Roy Meyers (Professor of Political Science) all work alongside Doms.
UMBC Professor dives into the “remote working” situations of past and present
Media and Communication Studies Professor Elizabeth Patton just released her new book, “Easy Living: Rise Of the Home Office.” With the rise of remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Patton said that she wanted to understand how remote work was talked about starting in the 19th century up until now. Her book goes into detail about how the marketing surrounding remote work has shaped mostly white, heterosexual families. Another thing she notes is that remote work was originally marketed towards women after World War 2 since the men were returning from war and could resume their blue-collar jobs. Women were encouraged to install phones in the kitchen and bedroom to work remotely; this was not in order to advance their professional careers, it was so the women could continue working the roles they were “supposed to” like cooking and cleaning.
UMBC is ranked as one of the best universities, again
It’s no shock that UMBC is a great place to be; the students, faculty, and staff all make up the great community we call home. This year, UMBC has been promoted to #11 in the undergraduate teaching category and keeps the #9 spot in the most innovative university category, compiled in the 2021 U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges ranking. UMBC is the only Maryland school in the top 10 of this list, amongst other high-profile schools like Stanford, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon. We should all be proud of this elite status our campus has earned. Go dawgs!
President Freeman Hrabowski honored by the Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun featured UMBC’s President, Freeman Hrabowski, in a special article as a part of the 2020 Business and Civic Hall of Fame. The article highlights important moments in Hrabowski’s life and career, and his impact as one of the nation’s top higher education leaders. The Sun shares the President Hrabowski had hope for the future of UMBC. An excerpt from the feature reads, “As an educator, he believes that part of UMBC’s mission is to prepare students to become leaders while also understanding the importance of history, what it means to have a healthy democracy, how to be civically engaged.” Alongside President Hrabowski, many “friends” of UMBC have been honored by The Sun as well; one person to note is Marin Alsop, who received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from UMBC in 2019. She also was the director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for 14 years.