Past Presentations to the Social Science Forums

Spring 2012

The Costs of Justice: Understanding How New Leaders Choose to Respond to Previous Rights Abuses View lecture online Brian Grodsky, Assistant Professor of Political Science, UMBC Dr. Grodsky discusses factors that impact on whether and how new elites pursue transitional justice policies (legal and symbolic acts designed to address past abuses) after a period of repression. The theoretical discussion is applied to two cases of post-conflict states, Serbia and Poland.

Dilemmas of Longevity: Society, the Fourth Age & You View lecture online Leslie Morgan, Professor of Sociology, Co-Director of Ph.D. Program in Gerontology, and the 2011-2012 Lipitz Professor of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, UMBC Dr. Morgan discusses the complex influences of longer lives on society and on all of us as aging individuals. Pervasive ageism continues to drive anxiety and avoidance of aging—especially the fourth age, characterized by frailty and dependence. Beyond fiscal challenges posed by Social Security and other entitlements, society remains challenged to find meaningful, positive social roles for the growing cadre of older adults. Lipitz lecture, co-sponsored by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Forecasting the 2012 Election View lecture online Nate Silver, Blogger for The New York Times' FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver's Political Calculus Nate Silver talks about forecasts for the 2012 presidential election, the prospects for Barack Obama's re-election and his new book about making accurate predictions.

Totaram Sanadhya's  Mere Fiji Dwip me Ikkis Varsh  (My 21 years in Fiji) and the Second Abolition Mrinalini Sinha, Associate Professor, Department of History and Women's Studies, Pennsylvania State University 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? The contributions of the abolitionist, Totaram Sanadhya, an ex-indetured laborer and author of one of the earliest first-hand accounts of indenture, provides a useful way of getting at the history of the second abolition and of its unexpected global ramifications. Co-sponsored by the Asian Studies Program, the Gender and Women's Studies Program, and the Departments of History, English, and Political Science

Near Andersonville: Winslow Homer's Civil War Peter H. Wood, Professor Emeritus of History, Duke University In 1866, the great American artist Winslow Homer created an unusual picture linking Georgia's infamous Andersonville POW camp to the black struggle for freedom, but the painting of an enslaved woman vanished for a full century.  Dr. Wood, the first scholar to explore it closely, suggests that Homer's image provides a striking new way for Americans to view the Civil War, and ourselves, in the twenty-first century. Low lecture, co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Dresher Center for the Humanities

Combining Technical Skills with Public Service: Confessions of a Political Economist Scott Farrow, Professor of Economics, Affiliate Professor of Public Policy, UMBC Before joining the UMBC faculty in 2005, Dr. Farrow served as Chief Economist at the U.S.Government Accountability Office and also in the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Professor Farrow will address the usefulness and challenges in combining disciplinary skills with public service.  His talk, primarily based on four periods of Federal government service, will also address the importance of soft skills along with the ethical and real-life dilemmas posed in government service. Inaugural Phi Kappa Phi lecture

Critical Psychology Confronts Racialized Crises: Activist Research on the School to Prison Pipeline, and the Prison to College Pipeline View lecture online Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology, Women's Studies and Urban Education, Graduate Center, City University of New York Dr. Fine will discuss social psychology's long and often buried history of critical psychological engagements with movements for social justice. She will then review two participatory action research projects, one with New York City youth and one with women in prison, that focus on the school to prison, and prison to college, pipelines as racialized dynamics during times of growing inequality gaps. Distinguished Lecture in Psychology

Community Recovery After Disaster: Almost Seven Years After Katrina View lecture online Virgil H. Storr, Research Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Graduate Student Programs at the Mercatus Center The talk will focus on the role of commercial, social and political entrepreneurship in bringing about community recovery after a disaster using examples from post-Katrina New Orleans. Co-sponsored by the Charles Koch Foundation

Fall 2011

The Constitution and Civil Rights: The Search for Equality in a Multi-Racial America Watch this lecture online Jane Junn, Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern CaliforniaConstitution Day Lecture, co-sponsored by the Departments of Political Science, Public Policy, Sociology and Anthropology, and the Honors College

Better Living Through Economics Watch this lecture online John Siegfried, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Vanderbilt University The Mullen Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Economics

U.S. Trade Policy In The Asia-Pacific: The Path Forward Watch this lecture online Ambassador Demetrios Marantis, Deputy US Trade Representative Co-sponsored by the Asian Studies Program and the Department of Economics

Genetics & Personalized Medicine: El Dorado or Iron Pyrite? Will Personalized Medicine Live Up to the Hype? Watch this lecture online Lawrence Brody, Chief and Senior Investigator, Genome Technology Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health   Co-sponsored by the Health Administration and Public Policy Program, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bioethics Student Association, and The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences

China Goes Global Watch this lecture online David Shambaugh, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Director, China Policy Program, The Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture, co-sponsored by the Eta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the Asian Studies Program, Department of Political Science, and the Honors College

Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference Warren St. John, New Student Book Experience Author Co-sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education, Office of Institutional Advancement, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, and the Division of Student Affairs

Teaching Peace and Nonviolent Social Change Watch this lecture online Colman McCarthy, Director of the Center for Teaching Peace  Sponsored by the Shriver Center Peaceworker Program