Academic Programs

Recent Loyola grad Deemer Class has experienced plenty of enjoyment and opportunity through lacrosse. A three-year starter and captain at midfield, he scored 22 goals and added 30 assists this spring to earn first-team All-Metro honors while leading the No. 2 Dons to a berth in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title game. The Hunt Valley resident received a full scholarship to play lacrosse at Duke beginning next spring. Next up for Class is something he dreamed about when he was younger - playing in the Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic.

Coppin State University should enroll higher-caliber freshmen, focus more on transfer and returning students, and reorganize its academics and administration, a committee plans to report Wednesday to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents. The recommendations, from a panel convened in December to study Coppin State, are meant to turn around the stressed institution, one of Maryland's four historically black colleges and universities. The school has one of the lowest six-year graduation rates for first-time, full-time students in the country at 15 percent as of fiscal year 2012 and is underenrolled by more than 2,000 students, the committee said.

Coppin State University should enroll higher-caliber freshmen, focus more on transfer and returning students, and reorganize its academics and administration, a committee plans to report Wednesday to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents. The recommendations, from a panel convened in December to study Coppin State, are meant to turn around the stressed institution, one of Maryland's four historically black colleges and universities. The school has one of the lowest six-year graduation rates for first-time, full-time students in the country at 15 percent as of fiscal year 2012 and is underenrolled by more than 2,000 students, the committee said.

The decision last week by Morgan State University's governing board to oust Dallas R. Evans as chairman appears to have been the culmination of a bitter struggle over the school's leadership between Mr. Evans and University President David Wilson. In December, Mr. Evans tried to orchestrate Mr. Wilson's dismissal after only 21/2 years on the job by persuading the school's 15-member Board of Regents not to renew the president's contract when it ends in June. But then an outpouring of support for Mr. Wilson from students, faculty members and community leaders forced the board to reverse its decision a few weeks later.

Once sleepy places in July and August, Baltimore-area independent schools and their campuses now buzz all summer with activity -- and nearly as many youngsters as during the school year.They are home to camps specializing in sports from wrestling to water polo, activities from art to etiquette, and academic programs that try to catch kids up, keep them from slipping behind or push them a step ahead.As camping has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry nationwide, private schools have found a niche, providing supervised, enriching activities while opening campuses to a broad audience and generating cash.

Mount St. Mary's will discontinue three of its Division I athletics teams in 2013 in an effort to reduce its athletics budget while expanding its existing programs. Men's soccer, along with men's and women's golf, will cease after the 2012-13 academic year. As many as 30 Mount student-athletes will be affected by the elimination of the three sports, as well as one full-time and three part-time coaching positions. The decision will save the university more than $400,000 annually. "This is a decision we didn't want to make, but the budget realities require it to protect and reinvest in our remaining Division I programs," university President Thomas H. Powell said.

As a University of Maryland law student in the late 1990s, Terry F. Hickey looked for ways to reach troubled teens before they ended up in the juvenile justice system. In 1997, he took a course that had been created to determine whether lawyers and law students, who typically work with children after they get in trouble, could help youths improve their neighborhoods. Hickey and a group of high school students in Park Heights began mapping vacant houses in their community and presenting findings to city leaders.

Centennial High School flexed its academic muscles last weekend when it won the Baltimore metropolitan region "It's Academic" championship. Tomorrow, the three-member team will attempt to defeat teams from Washington and Virginia in the "It's Academic" Super Bowl. The competition, which begins at 11:15 a.m., will be held at the WRC-TV station in Northwest Washington. Centennial team members are seniors Faith Zhang (captain), who will attend Harvard in the fall; Ari Seifter, who will attend the University of Pennsylvania; and Shyam Srinivasan, who will attend California Institute of Technology.

The Anne Arundel Community College board of trustees voted unanimously last night to cut four academic programs from the curriculum.Effective this fall, students will not be allowed to sign up for manufacturing, engineering, and systems engineering degree programs. The systems engineering certificate program was also cut from the school. Students already in those four programs will be permitted to complete them.College officials said they decided to target the four programs that were eliminated because they were among the most expensive per student and have had low enrollment in recent years.

Anne Arundel Community College has named Shad B. Ewart as program coordinator for its business and business technologies division.Ewart comes to the Arnold post from nine years at Mount Vernon College, where he served the Continuing Studies division for the past four years as director of academic programs in business and training.Ewart will be responsible for assisting with the design, development and implementation of the degree and certificate programs in business management and business and public administration.

As a University of Maryland law student in the late 1990s, Terry F. Hickey looked for ways to reach troubled teens before they ended up in the juvenile justice system. In 1997, he took a course that had been created to determine whether lawyers and law students, who typically work with children after they get in trouble, could help youths improve their neighborhoods. Hickey and a group of high school students in Park Heights began mapping vacant houses in their community and presenting findings to city leaders.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded nearly $500,000 for activists to offer West Baltimore children holistic services from "cradle to college to career," under the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. The Promise Neighborhoods grant, one of 17 awarded in 2012, will be used toward further development of a strategy to combat poverty in the Upton and Druid Heights neighborhoods through a collaboration of the University of Maryland School of Social Work, faith-based organizations, such as Union Baptist Church, public schools and the city's B'More for Healthy Babies, among other partners.

Mount St. Mary's will discontinue three of its Division I athletics teams in 2013 in an effort to reduce its athletics budget while expanding its existing programs. Men's soccer, along with men's and women's golf, will cease after the 2012-13 academic year. As many as 30 Mount student-athletes will be affected by the elimination of the three sports, as well as one full-time and three part-time coaching positions. The decision will save the university more than $400,000 annually. "This is a decision we didn't want to make, but the budget realities require it to protect and reinvest in our remaining Division I programs," university President Thomas H. Powell said.

The staff cuts Coppin State University President Reginald Avery announced last week drew protests from union members represented by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, along with faculty and students concerned about the direction the school is headed. Mr. Avery insists the layoffs and contract non-renewals were necessary to balance the budget and protect academic programs, but it remains to be seen whether his ambitious efforts to boost student retention and graduation rates will bear fruit.

The NCAA this morning announced stiff penalties on the Penn State football program, acting with unprecedented swiftness in response to a report detailing the repeated failure of officials there to act appropriately in response to long-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's serial child sexual abuse. The football team, already reeling from the scandal and the firing and subsequent death of legendary coach Joe Paterno, faces a four-year ban on post-season appearances, a $60 million fine and the vacating of all its victories from 1998-2011, the time period when officials knew about Mr. Sandusky's crimes but failed to stop them.

Recent Loyola grad Deemer Class has experienced plenty of enjoyment and opportunity through lacrosse. A three-year starter and captain at midfield, he scored 22 goals and added 30 assists this spring to earn first-team All-Metro honors while leading the No. 2 Dons to a berth in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title game. The Hunt Valley resident received a full scholarship to play lacrosse at Duke beginning next spring. Next up for Class is something he dreamed about when he was younger - playing in the Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic.

The decision last week by Morgan State University's governing board to oust Dallas R. Evans as chairman appears to have been the culmination of a bitter struggle over the school's leadership between Mr. Evans and University President David Wilson. In December, Mr. Evans tried to orchestrate Mr. Wilson's dismissal after only 21/2 years on the job by persuading the school's 15-member Board of Regents not to renew the president's contract when it ends in June. But then an outpouring of support for Mr. Wilson from students, faculty members and community leaders forced the board to reverse its decision a few weeks later.

A panel of University of Maryland regents acted yesterday to restore money for 30 faculty and 675 students in the schools of law and social work in Baltimore next fall. The schools were slated for major reductions in a 1993 budget proposal that passed earlier.At the behest of Chancellor Donald N. Langenberg, the regents' finance committee approved a plan to redirect $3 million from building repairs, merit pay raises and an enhancement plan for the medical school to support already employed faculty and existing academic programs on the professional schools campus.

Coming unstuck in time, Pamela Regis was investigating the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime. When the clocks struck 13, she dreamt she went to ... to Manderley? — no, McDaniel. Strange as it might seem, Regis' dream of jumbled-up literary genres will come true this August. In a manner of speaking. Aided by grants totaling $200,000 from the Nora Roberts Foundation, McDaniel College in Westminster is about to launch what is possibly the nation's first academic minor in genre fiction: horror, sci-fi, romance, fantasy, mystery and Westerns, as well as graphic novels.

Sabriaya Shipley enrolled in a summer learning program that her mother promised would offer new experiences. But when the 15-year-old city girl discovered those experiences would be on horseback at a school in Baltimore County, she balked, at least a bit. "At first I said, 'No way,'" said Sabriaya, a rising sophomore at the Institute of Notre Dame in Baltimore. "I never thought I would even get on a horse, let alone lead one around the ring. Now I am trotting on one. Now I can say I play polo.