In the Loop - News for Staff & Faculty - University of Massachusetts Amherst

TALKING POINTS


2011 Report on Research debuts

The latest annual Report on Research from the office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement is hot of the presses . . . or hot off whatever it is that actually produces a PDF file. The 2011 Report on Research features nearly a dozen major campus research initiatives from the largest telescope to the tiniest communication highways. (VIDEO: Barbara Osborne on A Future in Medicine - Soft Materials Immunology) More...



Community of Planning: Bigger, denser, safer, alive

Feb. 7, 2010

Faculty senators got a glimpse at the campus' future on Feb. 2 . . . or at least its possible future, assuming that campus capital budgets remain flush, that neighboring towns remain fully onboard and that folks across a range of campus constituencies stay open to the same vision. Yes, that future. More...



Seeds of Opportunity for bucks and plucks. And interns

Feb. 7, 2012

Physical Plant's Landscape Management Department has nearly completed a new 40'x25' greenhouse, located up near the departments Tillson Farm headquarters, and ready to take on a major role saving money and providing hands-on training, according to Physical Plant associate director Pam Monn. More...


Discipline will be swift following Super Bowl melee

Feb. 7, 2012

Dean of Students Enku Gelaye has vowed to move quickly to discipline students involved in a disturbance following the Super Bowl. Gelaye noted that due to federal law she cannot comment on specific sanctions levied against specific individuals. The university has begun disciplinary procedures in the matter, she said, evaluating each individual case in detail. Under the Code of Student Conduct, sanctions can include suspension or expulsion. More...



Community service is the core curriculum for Jack

Feb. 2, 2012

Please do not coo over this story . . . Jack is working: Stroll across campus and you may well come across Laurie Banas and Jack, her newest guide dog in training. Banas, business manager for the Energy Frontier Research Center on campus, is a puppy walker for the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind. Jack, the ninth dog she has trained, is her constant companion, preparing for a life of service. (Video: Canine Education at UMass) More...



But what do they talk about?: Ecologists find and record fish noises

Feb. 1, 2012

So much for the dark and silent depths. They remain dark, but according to Rodney Rountree (photo), Francis Juanes and colleagues, not so quiet. The fish biologists from the College of Natural Sciences have published one of the first studies of deep-sea fish sounds in more than 50 years, collected from the sea floor about 2,237 feet below the North Atlantic. With recording technology now more affordable, they are exploring the idea that many fish make sounds to communicate with each other, especially those that live in the perpetual dark of the deep ocean. More...

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People

The Bloodiest Uprising: Platt documents Taiping Civil War

While Union and Confederate troops were slaughtering each other at Antietam in 1862 in what is called the bloodiest day in American history, Taiping rebels were leading millions of Chinese in the final stages of an uprising against the Manchu rulers of China in what, says the History Department's Stephen R. Platt, stands fully as the bloodiest civil war in human history. Platt's new book "Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War" (Knopf), is garnering glowing advance reviews in high places. More...


Murray to deliver Harmsworth Lecture at Oxford

Sabina Murray of the Master of Fine Arts for Poets and Writiers Program has been invited to deliver the annual Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University on June 12. Murray, whose most recent book is a collection of short stories titled "Tales of the New World," has been asked to address the historical and political influences on her fiction. Among those who have been invited to deliver the Harmworth Lecture in recent years are Joyce Carol Oates, Marilyn Robinson, and Richard Ford. More...


CPPA's Badgett in spotlight for gay rights work

M.V. Lee Badgett, professor of Economics and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, has been in the media spotlight this week - first in the New York Times and then on National Public Radio - for the work she does championing the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. More...


Farmers Medal goes to Mangan for building sustainable markets

Vegetable Crops specialist and associate professor Frank Mangan of the Plant Soil and Insect Sciences Department has been selected to receive the 2012 New York Farmers Medal by the New York Farmers Club. More...


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Looking Back

Weekly Bulletin

Black History Month: Alridge explores 'Radical Pedagogy 0f W.E.B. Du Bois'
Historian Derrick P. Alridge will present the 18th Annual Du Bois Lecture, titled "Ideas Have Consequences: The Radical Pedagogy of W.E.B. Du Bois," on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 4:30 pm, in the Cape Cod Lounge. More...


MWPHE is seeking award applicants
The Massachusetts Women in Public Higher Education, Inc. is seeking applicants for two available awards is offering several awards to campus women, including three $1,000 Professional Development Awards and $750 student scholarship. The deadline for both is Feb. 24. More...


IdeaLab to help turn sustainability passion into product
Calling all Green Guerillas, Conservation Crusaders, and Soldiers of Sustainability: Later this spring, you'll have an opportunity for two weekends of natural guard basic training and mentoring in developing and commercializing your innovative ideas. It's called IdeaLab and it's going to be intensive. And you have to apply by March 1 for the March 30-April 1 and April 20-22 Friday-Sunday workshops. More...


Homespun bounty for sale at campus farm
Pearls from the flock: yarn is available from the campus farm's very own sheep. It is double ply and a natural white that will dye very well, according to manager Alice Newth. More...


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