People

Mednicoff addresses global law and policy workshop in Qatar

David Mednicoff, assistant professor of Public Policy and director of Middle Eastern Studies, presented at the plenary session of the Harvard Law School Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP) 2013 Workshop on Jan. 8 in Doha, Qatar. 

Mednicoff discussed his research on the Arab politics of the rule of law in comparative perspective, and received commentary from Hani Sayed, assistant professor of law at the American University of Cairo.

Obituary: Jahmal Nelson, former maintainer with Grounds Management

Jahmal N. Nelson, 41, of Amherst, a former mainainer for Grounds Management, died Dec. 26 of complications due to a long-term illness.

Born in Garberville, Calif., he was educated in local schools and lived most of his life in the Amherst area.
 
He joined the staff as a temporary hire in 2005 and worked several stints until gaining a permanent appointment in 2007. He left campus service in July 2012.

He leaves his parents, Donald and Suzanne, and his brothers, Paul Nelson and T.J. Nelson, all of Cambria, Calif., his sister, Alanna Nelson of Baltimore, and several cousins.
 
The family

Obituary: Stephen A. Resnick, professor emeritus of Economics

Stephen A. Resnick, 74, of Newton Center, professor emeritus of Economics and Helen Sheridan Memorial Scholar, died Jan. 2 of leukemia.
 
Born in New Bedford, he was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his Ph.D. in economics in 1963.
 
As a graduate student, Resnick was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in 1960-62 and held a Brookings Institution fellowship from 1962-63.
 
After completing his doctorate, he was a visiting assistant professor at the University of the Philippines from 1964-65.
 
He joined the faculty of Yale

Obituary: Jacqueline W. Mellen, former staff member and alumna

Jacqueline Wyman Mellen, of Hadley, a former campus staff member and lecturer, died Jan. 1 at Hospice of the Fisher Home in North Amherst.

Born in Bennington, Vt., she moved at the age of 2 to Guilford, Vt., where she lived with her parents. She attended Brattleboro High School where she met William J. Mellen, whom she married in 1943.

After World War II, the couple moved to Amherst, where he continued his studies at the University on the GI Bill, and she worked for the Music Department. She played trombone in the UMass Marching Band and Orchestra, and sang in the chorus.

Sinha is featured commentator on 'The Abolitionists' on PBS

As the nation marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, historian Manisha Sinha of the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies has been tapped for a three-part public television presentation titled “The Abolitionists,” being shown on successive Tuesdays beginning Jan. 8.
 
Part of the American Experience series, “The Abolitionists” will be presented from 9-10 p.m. on PBS stations nationwide.

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