Kimberly Moffitt recently joined The Baltimore Sun’s “Roughly Speaking” podcast with Dan Rodricks to discuss the state of the 2016 presidential campaign and Gov. Larry Hogan’s announcement that he will not be endorsing Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

Moffitt appeared on the program with Republican analyst Richard Cross, and they covered a range of topics, including Gov. Hogan’s stance on the presidential election and national political scene.

“Although we are often considered a blue state in national politics, I think Hogan recognized that his success as our governor had a lot to do with Democrats as well as Independents to help catapult him toward the role he is currently serving for us now,” Moffitt explained on the program. “Recognizing that, I think seeing Trump as a polarizing figure, he said that I must take a different stance.”

Discussing voter perceptions of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Moffitt shared that many voters consider her polarizing due to her length of time and extended scrutiny on the national political scene, as well as many voters tying her to the impact of policies that originated under President Bill Clinton’s administration.

Listen to the full podcast “Larry Hogan walks away from Donald Trump” on The Baltimore Sun‘s website.

Moffitt also recently appeared on WEAA’s The Marc Steiner Show to reflect on the remake of the classic miniseries Roots after the entire series had aired. Listen to Moffitt’s complete analysis on The Marc Steiner Show website.

Image: Kimberly Moffitt in her office. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Higher education leaders from across the country are grappling with urgent issues facing today’s universities, including diversity and inclusion on campus, how STEM and humanities disciplines are valued, and funding for higher ed. To address some of these challenges, The New York Times hosted a Higher Ed Leaders Forum this week in New York City, bringing together the nation’s most influential leaders in higher education.

President Freeman Hrabowski represented UMBC at the event and participated in a conversation on “The Emotional Challenges of Leadership Today.” He joined Marc Brackett, director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and Adam Bryant, deputy science editor and Corner Office columnist for The New York Times, to discuss how complex social change is creating new demands for education leaders and the emotional challenges that presidents, provosts, and chancellors are confronted with in today’s education environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olw6EhmvZv0

Dr. Hrabowski emphasized the importance of helping students meet high expectations through building community and creating a culture of support on today’s college campuses.

“What we’ve worked to do at UMBC, and we are still working on it, is to look in the mirror,” he explained. “We have a theory of change that we’ve been working on now for almost 20 years that focuses on how you create communities of empowerment for students…but also how we rethink the teaching and learning process.”

He added that it takes the full university community to reach goals focusing on success.

“As we’ve been redesigning courses and as faculty have been talking about what it takes to help students succeed, it’s not a matter of one group. It’s a matter of all of us—presidents, faculty, and staff—doing much more than we’ve been doing to give support not only to students, but also to each other.”

In a separate essay published in The New York Times, Pres. Hrabowski wrote about the value of caring communities where people view success as a collective responsibility.

Ensuring that more students succeed will require a host of strategies, from better understanding our students’ strengths and challenges to supporting teacher and faculty development. Any solution must start with this mind-set — we must agree that it is not acceptable for such a large number of students to work hard to earn a college education, often going into debt, not to succeed. As a society, we must be willing to look in the mirror, and we need to listen to students and their families as we craft strategies.

Read the full essay “Student Success is a Community Responsibility” in The New York Times and watch a video of Pres. Hrabowski’s panel at the Higher Ed Leaders Forum. For a recap of the full event, see “Educators Discuss the Future of Higher Education”

Image: Pres. Hrabowski speaks with students in the UMBC Commons during visit with leaders from Simmons College. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11.

UMBC introduced Ryan Moran as the Retrievers’ new head men’s lacrosse coach during a press conference held on campus Wednesday, June 22, 2016. Moran is the program’s third head coach since UMBC joined the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) in 1971.

“Ryan Moran is more than ready to take Retriever men’s lacrosse to new heights and once again have our program a contender on the regional and national scene,” said UMBC Athletics Director Tim Hall. “He is intelligent, thoughtful, a fantastic recruiter, an extraordinary strategist, and is completely committed to academic success and the welfare of his athletes. We are excited to welcome him to the UMBC family.”

Moran brings more than ten years of experience as an offensive coordinator and assistant coach across the region, most recently for Loyola University Maryland, where he helped guide the Greyhounds to the 2016 national semifinals. Prior to his appointment at Loyola, Moran spent six seasons at University of Maryland, College Park, rising to the rank of associate head coach during his final two years.

He started his coaching career at the Naval Academy Prep School in 2005, then served on the coaching staff at the U.S. Naval Academy 2006-08, where helped the team to three NCAA Tournament appearances and two Patriot League titles.

Moran comes from a lineage of top lacrosse coaches. His father has been a high school coach for more than 30 years, winning his 500th career game in 2014, and his great uncle is a U.S. Lacrosse National Hall of Fame member who led Cornell University to three national titles.

Moran replaces coach Don Zimmerman, who has led the Retrievers for the past 23 years and will retire from the university on July 1, 2016. Zimmerman guided UMBC to six NCAA Division I Championship berths, highlighted by a quarterfinal appearance in 2007.

“An unbelievable debt of gratitude is owed to Don Zimmerman for the work he has done on behalf of UMBC, its student-athletes, and the game of lacrosse—not only at UMBC, but also nationally and internationally,” said Hall. “Don has not only left an indelible mark on the sport of lacrosse, but he has certainly left one at UMBC.”

Coach Moran says he is eager to begin leading the UMBC men’s lacrosse team and continue to build on the legacy left by coach Zimmerman. “I am truly excited and truly honored for this opportunity to lead this great program,” he said.

Media Coverage:

Baltimore Sun: Ryan Moran hopes to bring new tempo, success to UMBC men’s lacrosse
Baltimore Sun: New UMBC men’s lacrosse coach Ryan Moran reveals what he learned from previous mentors
Baltimore Sun: UMBC hires former Terp, Loyola assistant Ryan Moran as head lacrosse coach
Lacrosse Magazine: UMBC Names Ryan Moran Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach

Image: Ryan Moran, new head coach of UMBC men’s lacrosse. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.