It provides an opportunity to ask a leading UMB expert about how Supreme Court decisions may impact lives and communities.
Does the overturning of Roe v. Wade signal a vulnerability of other privacy rights — such as same sex marriage rights, LBGTQ rights, and contraception?
This is the first question posed to six University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law experts on the newly launched Academy of Lifelong Learning’s (ALL) U.S. Constitution Forum, which answers questions that visitors submit online.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) ALL creates forums on topics in which the University has substantial expertise and there is a significant national and local interest.
"The Constitution of the United States has always fascinated the American people and constitutional information is particularly vital in this time of political polarization where the two parties seem animated by two very different constitutions," said Maryland Carey Law professor Mark A. Graber, PhD, JD, who is one of the forum's experts and answered the first question.
ALL launched in May 2020 with the COVID-19 Response Forum that features experts across all seven UMB schools and added a Parenting Forum in September 2021 that provides insights and answers questions about improving the physical and behavioral health and psychological and social well-being of children.
With the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, which overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, ALL saw a need to launch a forum that could tackle questions about constitutional law.
“The recent actions of the Supreme Court are newsworthy and part of our ongoing national debate. Many folks have questions about how these decisions may impact their lives and communities,” said Nick Kouwenhoven, MBA, ALL’s executive director.
“The goal is to provide people who are not experts in constitutional law with the opportunity to learn from and ask questions of UMB experts. The ALL U.S. Constitution Forum provides a destination and opportunity to ask a leading UMB expert a question that may be keeping you up at night and to learn from articles and interviews they create.”
Since ALL launched nearly three years ago, its website has had about 30,000 visits. ALL’s experts have answered 350 questions submitted from around the world; visitors to ALL’s website can find the questions and answers posted on each forum.
“This creates an ever-expanding knowledge base that visitors can draw upon,” Kouwenhoven said. “The pandemic continues to impact families in so many ways. We continue to field many questions from folks who are trying to navigate the health challenges they are facing.”
ALL plans to next create a forum on aging.
“UMB has a very broad and deep expertise in many aspects of aging for individuals, caregivers, and families,” Kouwenhoven said. “Aging impacts most families in some way, and it is another example of the intersection of significant public interest and need with a broad and deep UMB expertise across the schools.”
ALL also is offering a growing number of UMB online courses and educational programming to lifelong learners in its Learning Center.
Literacy Tutoring Program
ALL has expanded its offerings into the neighboring West Baltimore community by creating the in-person Literacy Tutoring Program for students in kindergarten through sixth grade who are struggling with their literacy. The program began in the fall and is now tutoring 45 students this spring at the UMB Community Engagement Center and Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy. Watch a video here.
In addition, ALL created a series of videos for the Maryland State Department of Education featuring UMB staff and faculty describing their work. These videos are used in high schools across Maryland to help students learn about the skills required in different professions and to learn about UMB.
“By design, ALL is an expression of the UMB mission to serve the public good in an innovative way,” Kouwenhoven said. “We gather experts from across UMB on topics of great importance and create a meaningful connection with our visitors. We serve lifelong learners and provide community outreach. We seek to grow all of these programs through philanthropic support.”