August 2004
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IN THIS ISSUE

• Dean's Message
• Quick Takes
• Alumni and Development News
• Faculty and Departmental Notes
• Performance Notes

GREETING FROM DEAN LEE EDWARDS

Modern tools for electronic media allow us so much more flexibility than we've ever had in the hard-copy print toolbox. We can change content, graphics, almost anything monthly, weekly, even daily–and keep our newsletters and webpages fresh and interesting to read. They make it possible to tie an entire series of webpages together with a common thread without sacrificing the creativity and personality of the individual pages. More

QUICK TAKES

Kasim Te, a senior graduating summa cum laude with departmental honors in Chinese language and literature has been awarded a Fullbright Grant to study abroad for the next academic year.

New Fiction Prize
The University of Massachusetts Press and the Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers and Poets are sponsoring a new prize intended to honor an outstanding work of literary fiction. The Juniper Prize for Fiction will include a cash award of $1,500 and publication by the UMass Press. The award joins the Juniper Prize for Poetry, which has been awarded since 1976. Winners of both contests will be invited to read in the campus’s Visiting Writers Series.

Novels, novellas, and collections of stories are eligible for the fiction prize. Entries must be postmarked between Sept. 1 and Oct. 31. In the poetry competition, manuscripts by poets who have published at least one full-length book or chapbook are eligible. Entries must be postmarked between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30.

All manuscripts will be judged anonymously. Complete submission guidelines are available at: Juniper

ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The late Elaine Guiney, '69 (English) was an advocate for women, a political strategist and campaign manager, a Massachusetts Commisioner of Elder Affairs, a Housing Director for the City of Boston, a wife and mother, and the Director of the Massachusetts District Office of the Small Business Administration. See: Guiney

Sarah Jones, '97, (English) is one of three UMass Amherst grads going to Athens this summer. She isn't going on an academic exchange program; she's rowing with the United States Olympic Team. See: rower

All in the Family: Liz Robb, '03, a graduate of the Professional Writing and Technical Communication Program (PWTC) was recently promoted at Vertex Pharmacueticals. Her position was then filled by Dan Greenberg, '04 – a teaching assistant in the program last semester – and a graduate of the PWTC as well. Meanwhile, Tim Binkert, '04 who began as an intern at the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance in Hadley, MA, was promoted to a full-time job there. Loran Diehl Seito, Tim's supervisor, is PWTC '98.

faculty and departmental notes

In April, the Dean's Office of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, along with the History and Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Departments, brought Dr. Naomi Chazan to speak as the Robert and Pamela Jacobs Distinguished Lecturer in Jewish Life and Culture. Professor Chazan had spoken earlier in the month at Harvard, where they taped and transcribed her lecture which was very similar in content and delivery to the one she offered at UMass Amherst. With thanks to the Project on Justice in Times of Transition, at Harvard University, we are able to make the transcript of Prof. Chazan's presentation available at: Naomi Chazan

The Music Department has sent word on the retirement of Paulina Stark, and on David Sporny's receipt of a Lifetime Acheivement Award. See: Music

The Western Massachusetts Writing Project , summer institute is training 12 western Massachusetts teachers at a month-long institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. See: WMWP

PERFORMANCE NOTES

The UMass Amherst Department of Music & Dance invites you to the 30th annual Multiband Pops Concert on Friday, October 1 in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Multiband Pops features many of the Department's advanced jazz, wind, percussion and dance ensembles in one fast-paced, showcase concert.  Students perform from various locations in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall—the stage, the orchestral pit, the balconies, and the sides and rear of the Hall.  Ensemble performances follow each other seamlessly without pause, allowing for audience applause at the end of the concert.  

This year’s concert, produced by Professor Jeffrey Holmes, will include the Chapel Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble I, Marimba Ensemble, Minuteman Marching Band, Percussion Ensemble, Symphony Band, University Dancers/UMass Amherst, Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Wind Ensemble.  Smaller ensembles and soloists will also perform.  The conductors will be Professors Billbob Brown, Thomas Hannum, Jeffrey Holmes, Catherine Jensen-Hole, Eduardo Leandro, George Parks, Laura Rexroth and David Sporny.

To purchase tickets call the Fine Arts Center Box Office at 413-545-2511. 

Wind Ensemble

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