3 Upcoming On-campus Events

EVENT #1

The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace: the Challenges and Opportunities of Globalisation and Multiculturalism presented by Malory Nye, Ph.D.

DATE:  Friday, February 24, 2012

TIME:  1:30 p.m.

LOCATION:  1101 Morrill Hall

HOSTS:   The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Bahai Chair for World Peace

Dr. Malory Nye is honorary professor in multiculturalism at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He has also been Principal of the Al-Maktoum College, in Dundee, from 2002-12 (where he held the position of professor of multiculturalism), and prior to that he taught at the University of Stirling and King’s College London. He received his PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, and his BA from the London School of Economics.

Along with a number of articles, he has authored three books, including Multiculturalism and Minority Religions in Britain (2001) and Religion: the Basics (now in its second edition, 2008) – both with Routledge. He coauthored the report Time for Change in 2006, which mapped out the development of the teaching of the study of Islam and Muslims in British universities in the context of multiculturalism and globalisation. He has also edited the international Routledge journal Culture and Religion for a number of years.

Dr Nye’s work looks at the ideas of practices of multiculturalism in various social and geographical contexts (including Europe, north America, and Asia), and in the wider location of contemporary global processes. In his various roles he has overseen a number of initiatives to bring together students and colleagues to explore and rethink the challenges of multiculturalism as a means to engage across cultural, national and religious differences.

EVENT #2

Spring 2012 Seminar Series: The Commission of the Impact of Immigrants in Maryland

DATE:  Monday, February 27, 2012

TIME:  noon

LOCATION:  0124B Cole Student Activities Building

HOSTS:   The Maryland Population Research Center

Guest speaker: Jeffrey F. Werling

Executive Director, INFORUM

Department of Economics

With comprehensive immigration reform stalled at the federal level, state and local officials are being asked to address various issues relating to immigration and, in particular, the issues surrounding unauthorized immigration. To gain a broader understanding of the economic and fiscal issues surrounding immigration, in June 2008 the Maryland General Assembly authorized the Commission to Study the Impact of Immigrants in Maryland. On February 8, the Commission released its final report. As commission Staff Director, University of Maryland economist Jeff Werling coordinated the work of the panel, which included representatives from the governor’s office, both houses of the Assembly, and the private sector. Together, they scoured data sources and immigration literature and interviewed dozens of witnesses. The report urges legislators to take a long view of immigration, which will show that the benefits significantly outweigh the costs, even the short run fiscal costs of providing state and local services. It says the state would be “foolhardy” to shortchange the education of immigrants’ children, who will be part of the state’s future workforce.

This event is free and open to the public.

EVENT #3

Human Dimensions of Global  Environmental Change Seminar: Modeling the Economy, Energy, and the Environment with LIFT

DATE:  Thursday, March 1, 2012

TIME:  3:30 – 5 p.m.

LOCATION:  1124 LeFrak Hall

HOSTS:  The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Departments of Geographical Sciences and Sociology

Guest speaker: Jeffrey F. Werling

Executive Director, INFORUM

Department of Economics

Meet & Greet session with Dr. Werling 3:00-3:30 p.m.

Light refreshments will be served.

Various policy initiatives have been drafted with the goal of putting a system in place for reducing U.S. dependence on energy and, thus, its carbon emissions.

INFORUM is dedicated to improving business planning, government policy analysis, and the general understanding of the economic environment. Its flagship model, LIFT (Long-term Interindustry Forecasting Tool), is a 97-sector general equilibrium representation of the U.S. national economy that employs a "bottom-up" approach to macroeconomic modeling. The LIFT Model has been used for several recent studies to show the interaction between the economy, energy use and environmental consequences (E-3). Dr. Werling’s presentation will provide an overview of LIFT and give some examples of these applications.