Despite early August rainfall, about two-thirds of the United States – mostly across the Midwest and in the South – has endured what climatologists have described as this country’s most severe drought in more than 50 years. Robert H. Smith School of Business faculty experts are available to comment on the implications for food and energy consumption. The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content. Food Chain

The Robert H. Smith School of Business welcomes 14 new faculty members to start the fall 2012 semester. The new faculty members hail from PhD programs and previous posts at top universities worldwide, including two former Smith School staff members who joined the teaching ranks. Smith students will also benefit from a stable of new adjunct instructors who bring their real-world experience into the classroom. The new faculty kicked off the semester at Smith with an orientation and welcome dinner on August 27. Full-time faculty: Accounting and Information Assurance

Robert H. Smith School of Business faculty have weighed in on the Supreme Court’s 5 to 4 ruling to largely uphold the 2010 Affordable Care Act and its broad health care system overhaul to reduce the total of Americans without insurance coverage.

College Park, Md. - Financial and health IT experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to analyze the U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether President Barack Obama‘s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional. These experts can discuss what's at stake related to patients, insurers, IT investment and health insurance exchanges, and the U.S. economy. The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content.

Thursday, April 26, 2012, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, April 29, 2012, 7:30 a.m. Cyber crime is on the rise, and the need to safeguard against cyber security attacks is real – and growing. No industry is exempt and the demand for experts who can battle using bits and bytes has never been greater. Maryland has become a hub of cybersecurity activity and the university is leading the way.

The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland is recognized as one of the top research institutions in the world, but it is also a place where students can learn from some of the best teachers in the business. Allen J. Krowe, a distinguished alumnus of both the business school and the university, established the Krowe Teaching Awards in 1986 to recognize and promote excellence in teaching.

Cyber crime is on the rise, and the need to safeguard against cyber security attacks is real – and growing. No industry is exempt and the demand for experts who can battle using bits and bytes has never been greater. Maryland has become a hub of cybersecurity activity and the university is leading the way.

Gas prices are rising with no end in sight, which would seem to indicate bad timing for a proposed gas tax hike in Maryland. Even with more pain at the pump, a tax increase could be the needed catalyst for Americans to shift to alternative energy sources. In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Charles Olson talks about how a gas tax increase in Maryland could help encourage the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel.

Smith faculty present their latest research on topics that matter to you and your organization. Each presentation is followed by an opportunity to network with alumni and regional business leaders at one of Smith’s convenient local campuses in Washington, D.C., or Baltimore, Md.

The annual Top 10 Summer Reading List for Business Leaders – as recommended by Robert H. Smith School of Business faculty and staff - is several and months and a change-of-season away. Perhaps something to whet reader appetites for the 2012 summer list, a few Smith leaders reflected on books they have recently read and recommend for winter reading. The following selections cover "behavioral" economics and finance, “dark” secrets of the Internet, the revolutionary effect of the shipping container, social media as a driver of social change, and more.