The UMass football team’s bye week provided an opportunity for several players to venture into Holyoke in support of team physician Dr. Pierre Rouzier’s effort to get kids to eat right and exercise.
Several current athletes spent Saturday, Oct. 13 at Holyoke’s Envision Depot Square Block Party, where they participated in a “story walk” for parents and children that featured the new bilingual children’s book, “Henry Gets Moving,” written by Rouzier.
Players worked at reading stations, led group exercises and talked to kids and parents about healthy eating in an effort to spread the message of
Long-time women’s rights advocate Kim Gandy begins a two-week stay as the Five College Public Policy Initiative’s fall 2012 Social Justice Practitioner-in-Residence on Monday, Oct. 22 through Nov. 2. During her stay, Gandy will present several public events throughout the Five College community.
The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences will mark the launch of its Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) on Friday, Oct. 26 at 3:30 p.m. in the Massachusetts Room of the Mullins Center. 
The Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute’s (PVLSI) Center for Excellence in Apoptosis Research has awarded a $27,900 translational research grant to Amarantus BioSciences Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., a biotechnology company that is developing new treatments for brain-related disorders including Parkinson’s disease and traumatic brain injuries. The award is centered on Amarantus’s anti-apoptotic therapeutic protein, mesencephalic-astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF). 
Political scientist Jane E. Fountain of the Center for Public Policy and Administration will lead off the 2012-13 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series on Wednesday, Oct. 24. Fountain, who is the founder and director of the National Center for Digital Government, will discuss “Technological Change as a Variable in State Development.”