life and loss in the shadow of the holocaust

REBECCA BOEHLING, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND DIRECTOR OF THE DRESHER CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES

While cleaning out her mother’s closet a few years ago, Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg, a professor of biology at UMBC, discovered a worn brown cardboard box covered with German writing and filled with wartime letters. Most of the letters were dated between 1938 and 1941 – after her mother had left Germany and come to the United States. Now, thanks to Rebecca Boehling and Uta Larkey, an associate professor of German studies at Goucher College, this extraordinary family story comes to life in a new book: Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust

This fascinating and deeply-moving account of Jewish family life before, during and after the Holocaust reveals how the Kaufmann-Steinberg family was pulled apart under the Nazi regime and left divided between Germany, the US and Palestine. The family’s unique eight-way correspondence across two generations brings into sharp focus the dilemma of Jews in Nazi Germany facing the painful decision of when and if they should leave the country.

Published by Cambridge University Press.

community response to bedbugs

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS DAWN BIEHLER

Since just before the year 2000, the U.S. has witnessed a resurgence of bedbugs, insects that had been mostly eradicated here in the middle of the twentieth century. In just the past few weeks, we have heard about infestations in an array of places: from federal government offices in Washington, to a public housing high-rise right here in Baltimore, to high-end Manhattan department stores. As bedbugs infiltrate public and private spaces alike, city governments, pest management professionals and regular people are scrambling to respond.

As a geographer and environmental historian, I look to our past experiences with bedbugs and other pests to reflect on responses to the current resurgence. History is an especially helpful tool for examining bedbugs because two generations of Americans have grown up with almost no exposure to these insects. Health officials and pest management professionals must reconstruct long-forgotten knowledge of bedbugs. My historical research on bedbugs and other pests reveals several key lessons for the way we deal with bedbugs today, and past experiences with bedbugs reinforce the importance of community involvement for successful bedbug control.

Dawn Biehler is the author of the forthcoming book, “Pests and the People: An Environmental History of Animals, Chemicals, and Health in the Home”

NCAA Sickle Cell Policy

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY SHAWN BEDIAKO

Recently, the NCAA implemented a policy requiring all incoming Division I student-athletes to be screened for sickle cell trait, show proof or prior screening, or decline to be screened by signing a release waiver. The policy is being implemented as part of a settlement between the NCAA and the family of Dale Lloyd II, a Rice University football player who died in 2006 after collapsing during a conditioning workout.

The NCAA’s policy on sickle cell trait has raised a great debate between those who feel it protects student-athletes and those who feel that it might lead to them being stigmatized or discriminated against.

As a social psychologist, I started the Laboratory for the Social and Psychological study of sickle cell disease at UMBC in 2005. We conduct research on a range of issues, including social attitudes and perceptions about the condition.  I think that those arguing for and against the NCAA’s sickle cell policy are missing two important points, and that this debate creates a unique opportunity for public discourse about sickle cell trait.  

Fred Pincus, Associate Professor of Sociology

Fred Pincus
Associate Professor of Sociology
Phone: 410-455-2079
Email: pincus@umbc.edu
Pincus has studied the politics of race, gender and class. He has studied violence on college campuses and the dynamics of sexual harassment.

George LaNoue, Professor of Political Science

George LaNoue
Professor of Political Science
Phone: 410-455-2180
Email: glanoue@umbc.edu
http://www.umbc.edu/posi/Bios/GeorgeLaNoue.html
LaNoue is one of the nation’s foremost experts on racial disparity studies. His research has focused on education law, civil rights law and public policy. He has published four books and numerous articles. A frequent witness in Congressional testimony, LaNoue is also a well-seasoned trial expert on civil rights cases in federal courts.