Talking Points

150 trees being planted to mark sesquicentennial

As part of the sesquicentennial, Physical Plant last week began a year-long effort to plant 150 trees at campus locations.
 
The work started last week at the west entrance to campus along North Hadley Road as students from two classes taught by Brian Kane of the Environmental Conservation Department pitched in to assist Landscape Management staff.
 
Ninety trees will be planted this spring and another 60 will be planted in the spring of 2014.
 
The three varieties, black oak (Queras velutinus), burr oak (Quercus macrocarpa) and black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) were selected by the Campus

Ground broken for new football, basketball training facilities

The construction of two new athletic facilities was officially launched April 22 with ceremonial groundbreakings for the Football Performance Center at McGuirk Alumni Stadium and the Champions Center south of the Mullins Center.

The Performance Center is a 55,000-square-foot, two-level complex that will include coaches’ offices, a new locker room space, meeting rooms, athletic training facilities and a dedicated strength and conditioning facility. The foyer will feature displays about the football program’s history.

Year-long sesquicentennial observance begins with Founders Week

The campus kicks off a year-long sesquicentennial celebration of its founding in 1863 with Founders Week, April 22-29, an expansion of the annual Founders Day celebration.
 
Students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to a healthy, sustainable campus on Earth Day, April 22. The full day of activities celebrating Earth Day features an afternoon student fair and concert on Goodell Lawn, a Trashion Show featuring student-designed outfits made from recycled materials, and an evening keynote address, film screening, and book signing with Annie Leonard,

Two alumnae recovering from injuries sustained in Boston Marathon attack

Two alumnae are recovering from injuries sustained during the April 15 terrorist bombing in Boston.
 
Brittany A. Loring of Ayer, a 2006 graduate, remains hospitalized but her condition has been upgraded from critical to serious, according to the Ayer News. Longmeadow native Ryan C. McMahon, 33, of Boston, a 2002 graduate, received a fractured vertebra and two broken arms when she fell as the crowd in the viewing stand fled the scene after the blasts, according to the Republican.
 
A recovery fund has been established for Loring.

Students organize run to raise money for marathon bombing victims fund

Just days after the Boston Marathon bombings, students are organizing a fundraiser to assist victims of the attack and demonstrate the campus community’s support for the people of Boston.
 
Christopher J. Weyant, a first-year Sport Management major from Wilbraham, is the lead organizer of a 2.62-mile campus run tonight. The runners are to gather at 6 p.m. on the plaza between the Mullins Center and the practice skating rink with the run starting off at 6:30 p.m.
 
Weyant says the event is designed to show the people of Boston that the UMass Amherst community supports them and “to show the

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