University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Department of Public Policy e-News

No. 7 – May 2008

In this issue:

Hot topic
The end of the academic year is bringing changes to UMBC’s senior administration. Art Johnson is leaving his position as Provost and Senior Vice president for Academic Affairs and will resume work as Professor of Political Science. Art has been Provost since 1998 and is the University's longest serving Provost. During his tenure, UMBC grew from 10,000 to 12,000 students and expanded and strengthened its academic programs. Art also helped oversee construction of several major academic facilities, including the Public Policy Building. We look forward to working with Art in the Political Science Department.

UMBC has appointed Elliot Hirshman as its next Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Hirshman joins UMBC after serving as chief research officer at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he was previously Chair of the Department of Psychology.

Scott Bass, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, has accepted the position of Provost at American University. During Scott’s 12-year tenure, research and training grants and contracts increased from $36 million to $89 million. Graduate enrollment grew by more than 80 percent, from 1,400 to 2,600 students, and the Graduate School received national recognition for its commitment to attracting domestic minority students and women. He is also a Public Policy faculty member. Scott’s last day is June 30. We wish him the best at American University.

Faculty
Public Policy and Political Science Professor George LaNoue participated in “A Tribute to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: Reflecting on Justice O’Connor’s Jurisprudence Relating to Race and Education,” on March 14 in Washington, DC. The panel discussion was sponsored by the Catholic University Law Review. Although she was not part of the formal program, retired Justice O’Connor attended the symposium. George presented a paper titled “Serious Consideration of Race Neutral Alternatives in Higher Education,” which he co-authored with Kenneth Marcus, a Professor at the City University of New York and former Executive Director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. The paper will be published in the Catholic University Law Review.

Students
Elyse Grossman, who will receive her M.P.P. degree this month, has been selected for the prestigious Leadership Scholars Program at the University of Maryland School of Law. She will enter the joint J.D./Ph.D. Public Policy program in the fall.

Ph.D. student Matea Pender received a Graduate Research Conference award for her presentation, “Students at Risk: Utilizing the Hazard Model to Study First-Generation College Student Attrition.” The annual conference provides UMBC graduate students with the opportunity to present results of their ongoing research in an interdisciplinary setting to peers, faculty members, and the community at large. Other Public Policy students who presented research at the conference included Frances Carter, Elyse Grossman, Richard Kimball, and Evan Perlman.

Alumni
Thomas J. Vicino (Ph.D., 2006) has published a book, The Transformation of Class and Race in Metropolitan Baltimore: Suburban Crossroads (Palgrave Macmillan). This is the first comprehensive analysis of suburban decline for an entire region. His analysis of the deterioration of older “first tier” suburbs around Baltimore is based on Tom’s dissertation work at UMBC. The research was supported by the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) and the Department of Public Policy from 2002 to 2006. View the website for the book.

Recent Publications
Timothy J. Brennan. “Generating the Benefits of Competition: Challenges and Opportunities in Opening Electricity Markets.” C.D. Howe Institute Commentary 260.

Nancy A. Miller, Keith T. Elder, Martin Kitchener, Yu Kang, and Charlene Harrington. (2008). “Medicaid 1915(c) Waiver Use and Expenditures for Persons Living With HIV/AIDS.” Medical Care Research and Review. 65:338–355.

Rosko, M. and Ryan Mutter. (2008). “Assessing the Robustness of Hospital Inefficiency Estimates: An Assessment of Stochastic Frontier Regression.” Medical Care Research and Review. 65:131–166.

Coursey, David, and Donald F. Norris. (2008). “Models of e-government: Are They Correct? An Empirical Assessment.” Public Administration Review. 68(3):523-536.

Upcoming Events
Public Policy Forum
Slots or No Slots: The Public Policy Implications of Expanded Gambling in Maryland
Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., World Trade Center, Baltimore, MD

In November 2008, Marylanders will vote on a referendum for a constitutional amendment to allow video lottery terminals (slot machines) at selected locations around the state. This forum will present public policy research on the economics of legalized gambling, and discuss the potential impacts of the proposed video lottery terminal program on the state, its businesses and its residents. Presenters include Bob Carpenter, UMBC Associate Professor of Economics; Fred Puddester, Chairman, For Maryland For Our Future, and Robert Goodman, former director of the United States Gambling Research Institute. Sponsored by the UMBC Departments of Public Policy and Economics, and the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis & Research. For more information, and to register, visit www.umbc.edu/pubpol/forums.

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