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International Education Week: University of Delaware leads the way in global studies

The University of Delaware has a lot to boast about in regards to International Education Week, which takes place from Nov. 18-22. This includes a four-year academic program that immerses students in both culture and classrooms of host countries; a mentoring program for international students on UD's campus; and the oldest study abroad program in the nation. UD's World Scholars program offers students a four-year global education that begins with a semester of study in Greece, Italy, England, New Zealand or Spain where students earn credits in their majors while becoming immersed in the culture and history of the respective host country. The 101-year-old Study Abroad Program – the oldest program founded by a U.S. institution – offers programs in 40 countries. More than 30 percent of UD undergraduates study abroad at least once, and while one in 10 American students study abroad, at UD the number is 3 in 10. Finally, UD’s Center for Global Programming and Services offers the iBuddy Mentoring Program, which pairs incoming international students with trained and experienced UD student mentors. After undergoing iBuddy training, these mentors offer friendship and guidance on academic matters, social life, housing options and more. They also organize events to help them get socialized.

MEDIA RELEASE: CAA honours Waterloo Regional Police Service and School Safety Patrol program partner with Achievement Award

[ Deputy Chief Jen Davis, Police Chief Mark Crowell, Catherine Conoboy WRPS SSP Program Coordinator, Deputy Chief Eugene Fenton, Leslie Rocha, CAA SCO ] CAA South Central Ontario (CAA SCO) is proudly awarding Catherine Conoboy, a civilian professional with the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS), with the CAA School Safety Patrol® (SSP) Program Achievement Award for her outstanding contribution and dedication to the program. As the Corporate Events Coordinator for WRPS, Conoboy has trained CAA School Safety Patrollers for 23 years, demonstrating her unwavering dedication to student safety since 2001. As part of her passion for educating the youth in her community, Conoboy organizes an annual mass training event every September, training between 1,000 to 1,200 student Patrollers at each event. “Conoboy’s commitment to the CAA School Safety Patrol program over the past two decades has been exceptional. Her leadership, collaboration with key partners, and dedication to student safety are the cornerstones to this program’s success,” says Leslie Rocha, community program consultant at CAA SCO, “Whether organizing appreciation events or securing support from local groups or governments, her passion for student safety and community engagement shines through.” In Waterloo Region, during the 2024/2025 school year, 90 schools registered for the program – 46 more schools than in the school year prior. Together with the Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region, Conoboy has encouraged and promoted schools to participate in SSP training. “We are extremely proud to see Catherine being honoured with an award that recognizes her exemplary work and commitment to public safety,” said Cherri Greeno, Director of Corporate Affairs for the Waterloo Regional Police Service. “Through this program, Catherine has shown her dedication and passion to building community relationships while improving the health and safety of thousands of youth within Waterloo Region.” Every year, CAA SCO recognizes community partners across Ontario with the CAA School Safety Patrol Program Achievement Award, given to a road safety advocate who embodies their commitment to the program’s mission of keeping school zones safe. “CAA always advocates for the safety of our communities and the children and pedestrians that reside within them,” says Rocha. “We continue to work alongside our community and police partners to empower elementary school students to help keep themselves safe when travelling to and from school.” The CAA School Safety Patrol program was developed in 1929 to protect, educate, and empower elementary school children on safe road-crossing practices. With more than 90 years of proven experience in teaching road safety and children’s safety in school zones, the program gives Patrollers an acute awareness of road safety and gives them the tools to help them stay safe as they travel to and from school.   To help make the program a success, Conoboy also works closely with the local bussing consortium, Waterloo Regional Police, Fire Services, and Paramedics to ensure Patrollers are trained to be safety advocates in their communities. “Year after year, Conoboy’s ability to foster these critical relationships ensures the SSP program runs smoothly and effectively,” says Rocha. Waterloo Regional Police Service has participated in the SSP program for over 30 years. Since its start, the CAA School Safety Patrol program has helped keep students safe in school zones. Every year, approximately 800 schools in Ontario participate in the CAA SSP program, which CAA SCO delivers with local partners. For more information, visit www.caaschoolsafetypatrol.com

Moths in the Mojave, with UConn's David Wagner

Did you know that there are approximately 180,000 moth and butterfly species living in California’s Mojave Desert? Moths, the winged insects famous for eating sweaters and flocking to lights at night, are a mysterious and captivating species for entomologists like UConn's David Wagner. He was part of a research study that was documented recently in The Washington Post. Each night in the desert, vast clouds of sphinx moths, some spanning the palm of your hand, speed between night-blooming flowers, sipping nectar. Ethmia, tiny black moths with spots shaped like musical notes, emerge from the dark like fairies. Thousands of geometrid moths, no bigger than your fingernail, slip by cloaked in desert hues from rusty reds to pale green. To witness them, I traveled deep into the Mojave Desert this spring with a team from the California Academy of Sciences working to ensure the survival of lepidoptera. For two days, we beat bushes, placed traps and collected thousands of moths to see what lives there — and what can be saved. Moths have inhabited our planet for at least 200 million years. But the conservation status of about 99 percent of moth species remains unknown. Some, like sphinx moths, remain abundant. Many others are probably being pushed to the brink by development, land-use changes, pesticides and pollution, and rising temperatures. “It’s not this unseen force,” says David Wagner, an entomologist at the University of Connecticut. “It’s humans.” Over two nights in the desert, I discovered just how easy it is to fall in love with an unloved insect. And why “mothing” may be the best way to discover the miracle of biodiversity in your own backyard. On the arid western edge of the Mojave, where the desert floor rises to meet the San Bernardino Mountains, sits the 306-acre Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve. We venture out in the morning with beating sticks. Hitting the branches of small oaks and rabbitbrush deposits a treasure trove of insect life into collectors made out of fabric: Crane flies, green lacewings, spiders, walking sticks and caterpillars that will one day grow into moths. Wagner and Chris Grinter, an entomologist and collection manager at the California Academy of Sciences, will catalogue the most interesting ones. The academy houses a collection of 18 million insects, 700,000 of which are butterflies and moth specimens. Many are still waiting for scientists to identify and name them. The plight of moths and caterpillars has fascinated Wagner since childhood. After 20 years, he is no less enthusiastic — or worried. Wagner traveled to Burns Piñon to help finish his magnum opus, the successor to his 500-page guide to eastern North America’s caterpillars. The guide for the west will probably run more than 1,500 pages, a testament to the region’s remarkable biodiversity. As the sun sets, the mood is anticipatory. We head out into the desert to set our traps and see what moths we’ll discover. “The nice thing,” says Grinter, “is moths will come to you.”  The article is an amazing read - and the link is above. And if you are interested in knowing more about moths, insects, or the fascinating field of entomology, then let us help. Dr. David Wagner is an expert in caterpillars, butterflies, moths, and insect conservation, and he's commented extensively on the current decline of insects worldwide. Click his icon to arrange an interview today.

Election Night Disinformation Concerns

Mark Lukasiewicz, dean of The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication, talked to Newsday about concerns of disinformation facing television and cable networks as they prepare for their Election Day coverage. “Virtually all the mainstream media outlets, and the major networks for sure, have developed and resourced units that specialize in spotting” disinformation, he said. “They’re certainly applying the resources to combat that and to prevent their own channels from disseminating false information and I give them credit for that." However, “the fact set for one group of people is completely different from the fact set of another group,” Dean Lukasiewicz explained, because of fast-growing social media platforms like TikTok — with 170 million users in the United States alone. Dean Lukasiewicz also spoke to the Associated Press for the story, “By moving to podcasts, Harris and Trump are turning away from legacy media to spread their messages.”

Expert Q&A - Craig Albert, PhD, talks election interference

Going into the final days of the 2024 election cycle there is a very real concern about election interference from both foreign and domestic actors, and it's something that will continue to be monitored even after the final votes are tallied. Craig Albert, PhD, graduate director of the PhD in Intelligence, Defense, and Cybersecurity Policy and Master of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies programs at Augusta University, is a leading expert on propaganda, information warfare and national security studies. Albert has answered key questions about who is trying to interfere in the U.S. elections and why it matters. Q: How and when should someone vote and does it protect you more to avoid interference? The access to instantaneous news or events could affect people and their understanding of whom they want to vote for all the way up until the day they vote. Because of this ease of access, this election cycle has especially shown us how cautious we need to be in regards to scams. It's also why I know there has been a big push for early voting and mail-in voting, and it's necessary in some cases, but I prefer to vote on Election Day because you never know what type of news might come out about one of the candidates or parties. If something comes out that proves to be true, it could affect how someone might vote, but if you voted before Election Day, it's too late. At the same time, a very serious deepfake could be released that could manipulate how people choose to vote and it could mislead people, as well. Q: What are the consequences of the optics of an 'unfair' election? What the U.S. needs to be cautious about is preserving and maintaining the legitimacy of the election cycle. After the election, no matter who wins, narratives of interference and how it impacted the election are going to be shared and that's just irresponsible. Unless there's damning information and very clear evidence, you shouldn't mess around with the idea that the election was interfered with, because that could threaten the very structure of the United States. Q: What's the potential for post-election meddling? We have domestic bad actors as well as foreign maligned actors that are going to say the election was delegitimized no matter who wins. They have social media campaigns ready to post no matter which side wins, they're going to circulate false videos of ballot boxes burning or news that not all the the votes were counted and things of that nature. They're going to do all kinds of things because anybody can fake a ballot box being burned or mail in votes not being counted properly on video or something like that. The problem is if it goes out there or becomes viral, so many people will believe it and that sows discord. So, that creates distrust in the public system on a pretty big swath of the American population. Q: Who benefits from post-election doubts and chaos? You have foreign actors that really build on the type of anger that the political candidates and their parties already use through their propaganda and rhetoric. We have already seen Russia amplifying the message that somebody cheated or elections were hacked, and you have China, Iran, Venezuela, ISIS and Al Qaeda doing that, as well. You also have regular cyber criminals that just want to sew discord and distress so they can manipulate people later on and get into our banking systems and things of that nature. You have potentially hundreds, if not thousands of attack vectors coming at the United States between election night and January 20 when the new President will be sworn in. And then afterwards, they will all still be trying to create chaos, rebellion, civil unrest, or in the case of Iran, China and Russia, open civil war in the United States. Looking to know more and covering the election, Augusta University can help. Albert is available to speak with media – simply click on his name to arrange an interview today.

One Day Away - WCU's Chris Cooper Breaks Down What's Left on the Campaign Trail

It's been a long road - and we're one day away from what might be the closest, most contended and most-talked about election in American history. But it's not over yet and Western Carolina's political expert Chris Cooper is here to share a few key points about the race. Christopher A. Cooper is the Robert Lee Madison Distinguished Professor and director of the Haire Institute for Public Policy at Western Carolina University. He is also an expert in the areas of political behavior and behavioral public administration. Christopher is available to speak with media - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.

An Underwhelming October

October brought disappointing news in the most recent U.S. jobs report. In the last jobs report before the U.S. presidential election, only 12,000 jobs were added. This is significantly lower than the expected number of 100,000, marking the slowest hiring month in years. This jobs report is reflective of the multiple hurricanes that ravaged the country this month and the ongoing Boeing strike. Dr. Jared Pincin, economic expert and associate professor at Cedarville University, has provided insight into the current economy of the U.S. and how announcements like this could affect the future.  Here are three key takeaways from Pincin's recent interview: The October jobs report may have been skewed by the two major hurricanes and the Boeing strike that have hindered Americans from working temporarily. How will the Federal Reserve view this report as they consider future rate cuts? The stock market can have strong reactions to announcements such as this. What will the market do with these numbers that are unexpected but potentially untrustworthy? This jobs report is the last key piece of economic data to come out before the presidential election on November 5. Is there any chance that voters change their minds based on this news? If you are covering the recent jobs report or the U.S. economy and need to know more, let us help with your questions and stories. Dr. Jared Pincin is an expert on economics and is available to speak to media regarding the job market, inflation, and what this means for families in the United States – simply click on his icon or email mweinstein@cedarville.edu to arrange an interview.

Ask the expert: The constituencies who will determine Michigan’s election results

When it comes to how Michigan has voted in modern presidential elections, a majority of voters have voted for the Democratic nominee for president. In recent years, however, Michigan has become more competitive as a key swing state. In 2016, former President Donald Trump won by just over 10,000 voters and in 2020 President Joe Biden won by just over 150,000 voters. After Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee, she has had a thin lead over Trump and, now, many pundits are saying Michigan is a toss-up. For Harris to win the presidency, she likely must carry Michigan and that includes needed margins with key voter groups such as young voters, as well as Arab American and Black voters. Nazita Lajevardi is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science in the College of Social Science. She is an expert in American politics, and her work focuses mainly on issues related to race and ethnic politics, political behavior, voting rights and immigration. Here, she answers questions on key groups of voters and the issues they care about that could determine who wins Michigan — and likely who will win the presidency. Responses and excerpts are from an article published in Brookings. Where does the election stand in the final days? Since Biden stepped down at the end of July, Harris has enjoyed a steady — albeit at times uncomfortably thin — lead over Trump in Michigan. However, polling from the end of September onward suggests that Harris comfortably winning the state on Nov. 5 is not a foregone conclusion. With just three weeks left to go in the 2024 presidential race, the polling website FiveThirtyEight indicates that as of Oct. 24, 2024, Kamala Harris is ahead of Donald Trump in Michigan by only 0.6 points — 47.6 compared to 47.0. This narrowing of the race appears to be closing the gap that Harris gained over Trump in August. Diving deeper into specific polls feeding into these estimates, it becomes clear that while Harris maintained a solid and consistent lead over Trump by between one and up to eight percentage points in the middle half of September, polls from the third week of September onward have either had Trump leading the state, Harris winning the state by a slim margin, or the two of them being evenly split. What issues do Michigan voters care about? A September 2024 New York Times/Siena College poll found that the three issues Michigan voters cared most about were the economy (24%), abortion (17%) and immigration (14%). Trump, for one, has campaigned heavily in recent weeks about two of these three issues. For instance, he has appealed heavily to Michiganders whose jobs were lost to globalization and automation by promising to revive the American car industry and bring back car factories that have closed in recent years. Groups like Duty to America are highlighting Trump’s strengths on illegal immigration by airing ads across Michigan arguing that it has hurt white people who have been “left behind.” And, while Harris, on the other hand, has great strengths on abortion rights, success in the 2022 elections in amending the state constitution to secure the right to abortion and other reproductive health services may have reduced abortion’s importance as a central voting issue in the state. What impact will Black voters have on Michigan’s result? Among Black voters, experts have identified an enthusiasm gap between those who are part of the “Black leadership class” and deeply connected to the Democratic Party and those Black Michiganders without those same connections, who are more working class, poorer, more fatigued, less interested, and therefore more susceptible to sitting out elections. Many Black voters are also deeply concerned about the economy, and as Michigan State University political scientist Meghan Wilson has noted, Harris could attract Black business owners and holders of student debt by discussing plans to infuse capital into small businesses. The Harris campaign appears to agree. Recently, Harris not only unveiled economic proposals appealing to Black voters but also traveled to Detroit to participate in a radio town hall with Charlamagne tha God, whose program The Breakfast Club has a nationwide audience, much of whom is Black. But attention should be paid to one particular effort to stifle Black turnout. Recently, it was revealed that Tom Barrett, a GOP candidate for the U.S. House, ran a newspaper advertisement in the Black-owned newspaper Michigan Bulletin that incorrectly informed the readership, most of whom are Black, to vote on Nov. 6, when Election Day is Nov. 5. What impact will Arab American voters have on Michigan’s result? Harris is in a deeply precarious position vis-à-vis Michigan’s Muslim and Middle East/North Africa, or MENA, electorates. Without a doubt, these groups will have an outsized impact in deciding how Michigan’s 15 electoral college votes will be cast. According to political scientist Youssef Chouhoud, Michigan is home to more than 200,000 Muslim registered voters. Over the past year, Muslims’ support for the Democratic Party has plummeted. In a recent poll fielded between Aug. 25 and Aug. 27, the Council on American Islamic Relations found that Jill Stein is leading Muslim voters in Michigan; 40% of Muslims surveyed in that poll supported Stein, 18% supported Trump and only 12% supported Harris. And, as Harris’ support for Israel remains steadfast while Israel continues its assaults on Gaza and now Lebanon, she has arguably alienated these voters who could have been a reliable source of electoral support for her. What will the role of youth voters be in Michigan’s outcome? Young voters in Michigan present a potential stream of untapped support for the Democratic Party. Though young voters have historically turned out at lower rates than older Americans, young voters in Michigan stand out from their peers. Fifty-four percent of Michiganders 18 to 29 years old voted in the 2020 election, a 20% increase from 2016. In the 2022 midterms, when young voters aged 18 to 29 in Michigan recorded the highest voter turnout in all the country, they demonstrated how impactful their votes were in enshrining abortion and voting rights in the state constitution. That year, about 75% of students who were registered voters at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University cast ballots. This year, however, how successful Harris has been in activating the youth vote remains to be seen. Certainly, young Michiganders are more enthusiastic about her candidacy than they were Biden’s, but recent analyses by Michigan State University political scientist Corwin Smidt indicate that so far youth turnout in Michigan’s November 2024 election lags behind their 2020 levels. What’s more, young voters were a key part of the “uncommitted” coalition who sent a strong message to then presidential nominee Biden over his enabling of the Israeli war in Gaza during the February 2024 primary election. But Harris is making strides to connect with young voters by establishing offices at campuses across the state. Importantly, young voters could not only shape the outcome of the presidential election, but also the partisan balance in Congress, given that young voters at Michigan State University will have the opportunity to cast a ballot in the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, which is among the 26 toss-up districts in the country. It will be all eyes on Michigan Tuesday - and if you are covering, Nazita Lajevardi is available to help. Simnply click on her profile below to arrange an interview today.