Education 10.12 - Flipbook - Page 1
The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, October 12, 2025 1
EDUCATION
A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF BALTIMORE SUN MEDIA • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2025
INSIDE:
2 Salisbury. Forever.
A century of promise,
a future in motion.
3 Helping students succeed
From food delivered by robots to
academic coaching, colleges step
up their game.
4 Teaching the teachers
Specialty teaching programs on
the rise at area schools.
5 Innovation, arts and AI
Loyola, Stevenson University and
Capitol Tech have each invested
in new spaces and initiatives
designed to spark creativity, foster
collaboration and connect learning
to the real world.
6 Learning new skills
New programs offer
new opportunities.
7 Lifting up Maryland’s
economic powerhouses
Universities address needs in
nursing, life sciences and space
technology.
8 Lending a helping hand
Student support services continue
to expand at local schools.
Education publishes four times a year
advertise@baltsun.com
Johns Hopkins students at an MBA Networking Brunch.
Photo by Chris Hartlove
From partnerships to leadership,
graduate students learn specialization
Three local universities support needs of business and education
By Lisa Baldino, Contributing Writer
hether it is a dual degree program, an apprenticeship or
a business cohort, graduate
degrees are becoming more
specialized, and their earners
are finding they make the
business world a lot easier to navigate.
Today’s graduates are stepping into the
business world with an impressive array of
skills, and they continue to work to hone
them.
“Everyone should take advantage of
professional development and coaching opportunities,” explains Afra Ahmed
Hersi, Ph.D., dean of Loyola University
Maryland’s school of education. “It allows
us to gain knowledge and support others
while still investing in ourselves.”
Loyola’s school of education has done
just that by partnering with Baltimore
County Public Schools (BCPS) to support
paraeducators earning a master’s degree
in special education while still working a
full-time job in the school system. “We
recognized that talented paraeducators
were already working in our schools but
facing barriers to becoming teachers,”
Hersi explains. “By removing those obstacles and creating a pathway that works
with their lives, not against them, we’re
solving the teacher shortage while advancing careers.”
New last year, the Baltimore Teacher
Apprentice Program (BTAP) is a “learn
while you earn” model that helps paraeducators get to the teacher level and
retains them with key job-related resources. “Teachers are given professional training and a foot into the marketplace. We
worked arm-in-arm with Baltimore County
School District to make this happen,”
notes Hersi.
She says the school’s retention program looks for the potential in teachers
and the expected resource requirements.
“There is a lot of emphasis on mental
health and wellness. We want to focus on
the whole person,” Hersi says.
“We already built a sense of community
by inviting teacher support. We ask them,
‘How do you handle work/life balance?
How do you determine your goals and go
about meeting them?’”
Loyola graduate Anna Wroten welcomed these tenets of the BTAP program.
A single mom and full-time paraeducator,
she did not see going back to school as an
option in her quest for a teaching degree.
“Going back to classes was fine, but I
couldn’t have an unpaid internship,” says
Wroten. Enter the BTAP program. “It was a
dream come true,” she exclaims. Despite
the grueling six to eight hours she spent
every night in virtual classes or completing
assignments, she finished the program
in a year’s time and did well. Her intern
school offered her a teaching position after
certification. “I feel very prepared. BTAP is
a great program and a great opportunity.”
Joining forces to reach more students
through a dual degree program, Johns
Hopkins University is offering an additional
MBA degree paired with its Ph.D. program
in public health. Students will be able to
use the business skills they acquire to
complement their Ph.D. research, according to Supriya Munshaw, associate dean
W
for academic programs at the Johns
Hopkins Carey Business School. Students
will begin their Ph.D. studies in the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health, then they attend Johns Hopkins
Carey Business School to earn an MBA.
“A Ph.D. in the sciences does not typically include a management curriculum or
offer business courses,” says Munshaw.
“Many Ph.D. graduates will go on to big
companies, pursue entrepreneurship or
manage large labs and in any of these
careers, they will find their business skills
well earned.”
David Dowdy, executive vice dean for
academic affairs at the Bloomberg School
of Public Health, says Ph.D. students can
earn their degree in one of 10 departments, giving a wide array of choices for
a flexible career. Some of the jobs include
laboratory scientists, statisticians, epidemiologists, health policy leaders and environmental engineers.
“Students will typically take their MBA
curriculum after they have completed oral
exams for their Ph.D. degree, which is
This dual degree option will become
available to students starting in 2026.
The Merrick School of Business at The
University of Baltimore has identified a critical need in the market: professionals who
can effectively translate AI model development into real-world business applications. To meet this demand, the school
developed a 30-credit, Master of Science
in artificial intelligence for business degree.
Raju Balakrishnan, professor and dean of
the Merrick School of Business, says it is
the first, and currently the only, program of
its type offered within a business school in
the state of Maryland.
“This degree will help put the Merrick
School on the leading edge of business
education,” says Balakrishnan. “Artificial
intelligence is, and will remain, a leading
force for the foreseeable future, and we
see this program as something that blends
the technical side with the practical functional side.”
Balakrishnan describes graduates of
this program as having expertise in learning models as well as using AI on their job.
Associate Dean of Academic Program Supriya Munshaw at August Orientation.
around the third year,” says Dowdy. “They
may also plan it according to fall funding
and compensation.”
Munshaw describes the admissions
process as applying to the Bloomberg
School of Public Health and beginning
Ph.D. studies. Students would then apply
to the Johns Hopkins Carey Business
School for their third year, showing their
commitment to earning a business degree.
“Students for the MBA program are selected based on their commitment,” Munshaw
says, but clarifies, “The students will be
part of the newly announced accelerated
MBA program at Carey, which is not exclusive to the Bloomberg students. Other dual
partners and recent graduates of Johns
Hopkins earning their MBA will be in the
same classes.”
While success is not based on number
of students, Dowdy notes, “My hope is
that it provides students with additional
skills and a more well-rounded experience
as they approach the workforce.”
Photo by Chris Meyers
“It’s geared for people who have some
knowledge of AI models, and it helps
them use this knowledge in practical settings,” he explains. “Students will come
from a variety of business and non-business backgrounds. We have essentially
‘democratized’ AI to allow everyone to use
it to solve real-world problems.”
The M.S. degree in AI for Business program is designed for both working adults
and full-time students. Balakrishnan says
some students may finish in as little as one
year, others in two years. The curriculum
also includes a class on ethics, legal and
regulatory issues facing AI users. He says
he is well aware of the need for a constantly updated curriculum as newer and better
AI models are developed. “The pace at
which newer models are being introduced
is dizzying, and our faculty are working
continuously to make sure their course
content stays current.”
Partner on!
© 2025 Baltimore Sun Media
Ask Margit
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
mbweisgal@gmail.com
Teens’ Brains on Cannabis:
What are we thinking?
You may be wondering what
marijuana use has to do with
education. The short answer is more
than you realize. Today’s weed is
more potent – in many of its forms
– than what most of us may have
used when we were younger.
According to the website New
Scientist, “Levels of the intoxicating
compound, THC, have been steadily
rising in marijuana since the 1970s,
due largely to growers selecting for
more potent plants. But the data we
have suggest that today’s cannabis
is much stronger than the cannabis
of even a few years ago, let alone
several decades prior.
“In the US, the data show a
clear trend: over the last 50
years, the average amount of
tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC)
in cannabis – the plant’s main
intoxicating component – has
increased more than tenfold.
So, again, why is there an
education article on cannabis? A
friend’s son has been using weed
regularly. He’s now 18, graduated
from high school, and, to quote
his father, floundering. It’s a
combination of living through the
COVID pandemic, the isolation, the
lack of peer interactions, and, now,
drugs. He has no job. He is not
enrolled in a school. He has no
direction. And he spends a lot of
time smoking pot.
There is a whole generation of
adolescents and young adults,
from 13 to 26 years of age, using
marijuana, whose brains are not
yet fully formed and who may be
causing self-harm.
Remember those ads: “This is
your brain on drugs.” Those were
accurate for illegal drugs. But they
were a long time ago and today’s
users may not know that drugs,
like cannabis or weed, can be
dangerous for kids’ brains.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC.gov), “Cannabis, which can
also be called marijuana, weed, pot,
or bud, refers to the dried flowers,
leaves, stems, and seeds of the
cannabis plant. The cannabis plant
contains 500 compounds (over 100
of these are phytocannabinoids
– chemicals from the plant that
interact with the body’s systems).
These
compounds
include
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which
is intoxicating and can result in
impairment.”
Today, in many states, cannabis is
legal – FOR ADULTS. What we tend
to ignore is that during our children’s
adolescent and teen years, their
brains are in an almost constant
state of flux and growth. Cannabis
may be fine for at least some adults;
generally, there’s less concern for
those using who are over the age
of 25 or so. Importantly, however,
studies suggest it may not be so
good for those in their teens.
I reached out to two top experts
on what adolescents and emerging
adults are experiencing and what
we can do to prevent long-term
negative outcomes.
Ask Margit, continued on page 5
