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Fountain elected fellow of National Academy of Public Administration

Professor Jane Fountain, Political Science and Public Policy, has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, which was chartered by Congress in 1967 as an independent body to help government leaders build more effective, efficient, accountable and transparent public sector organizations. Her induction is scheduled for Nov. 15 during the academy’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
 
The National Academy relies on its fellows to conduct in-depth studies and analyses that anticipate, evaluate and make recommendations on crucial public management, governance, policy

Collura participates in panel at ITS World Congess in Vienna

Professor John Collura of Civil and Environmental Engineering was an invited panelist at the Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) World Congress, held Oct. 22-25 in Vienna, Austria.

The international panel, which included transportation researchers and educators from Europe and the Asia Pacific regions, discussed the challenges and issues facing the transportation profession around the world in educating and training its workforce to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Campus staff present at New England College Health Association conference

Three campus staff members presented programs at the annual New England College Health Association (NECHA) conference held Nov. 7-9 in Portland, Maine.

SuEllen Hamkins and Joshua Relin of the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH) led a workshop titled "Promoting the Art of Strengths-Based Treatmentin Your College Counseling Service." Hamkins and Relin are mental health providers at CCPH.

Health educator Amanda Collings Vann of the Center for Health Promotion at University Health Services, presented a workshop on "Health Promotion Peer Review: What it is and How to Use it" with

Ouellett honored by Professional Organization Development Network in Higher Education

Mathew L. Ouellett, associate director of the Center for Teaching and Faculty Development, was honored Oct. 27 by the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) with the Bob Pierleoni Spirit of POD Award at the organization's annual conference in Seattle.

The award recognizes outstanding lifetime achievement and leadership in the enhancement of teaching, learning, and faculty development.

Sinha is panelist on Lincoln and the Constitution

Professor Manisha Sinha of Afro-American Studies took part in a panel on the National Constitution Center's traveling exhibition "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War" on Nov. 7 at Norwalk Community College in Connecticut.

The exhibition is administered by the American Library Association and funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The panel included professor James F. Simon of the New York Law School, professor J. Ronald Spencer of Trinity College, and prize-winning Lincoln biographer professor Michael Burlingame of the University of Illinois.

Obituary: Manuel "Manny" Roberts, retired Physical Plant maintenance technician

Manuel “Manny” P. Roberts, 63, of Greenfield, a retired maintenance technician II with Physical Plant, died Nov. 3.

Born in New York City, he grew up in Amherst and graduated from Amherst Regional High School in 1967.
 
He joined the campus staff in 1974 and retired in 2011.

He leaves four children, Heather in Greenfield, Ian in Turners Falls, Raquel Barry in Greenfield and Shane in Montague. He is also survived by a sister Rosemarie James in Amherst; a brother Juan and his wife Michele in Belchertown; an aunt and a large extended family, most of whom reside in the Pioneer Valley.

Obituary: Michael A. Cann, retired psychologist with Mental Health Services

Michael A. Cann, 84, of Amherst, a retired psychologist at Mental Health Services, died at home Oct. 28 after a long illness.

Born in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany, he emigrated with his family in 1937 to the Netherlands after Hitler’s rise to power. In 1939 he and his mother arrived in New York where his father had found work as an electrical engineer the previous year.  

After graduating from Weequahic High School in Newark, N.J., he attended Rutgers University for one semester and then enlisted in the Army.

'Ronference' honors career of School of Education's Hambleton

It is being billed as a “Ronference,” which may seem like a particularly airy and whimsical way to honor the weighty career of one of the most substantial international contributors to the singularly serious field of psychometrics.
 
But that is precisely the case as the School of Education prepares a two-day celebration of the work of Distinguished University Professor Ronald Hambleton, chair of the Research and Evaluation Methods Program and co-director of the Center for Educational Assessment, and a central figure in the national psychometric community.
 
More formally, the Nov.

Obituary: Jacqueline Wisneski, former head clerk in business school

Jacqueline Lavoie Wisneski, 90, of Easthampton, retired head clerk in the School of Business Administration, died Oct. 30.
 
Born in Holyoke, she attended the Holyoke public schools and graduated with a B.A. degree from Framingham State Teachers College in 1943. After marrying Henry Wisneski in 1947, she worked as a secretary in Amherst Town Hall before joining the campus staff. When she retired in 1987, she was assistant to the dean of the School of Business Administration.
 
She leaves her sons, Kim Wisneski of Freeport, Maine, and Kurt Wisneski of South Dartmouth, and four grandchildren.

Brigham-Grette gives Subaru Outdoor Life Lecture at GSA meeting

Geosciences professor Julie Brigham-Grette gave the Subaru Outdoor Life Lecture on Nov. 5 at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Charlotte, N.C.
 
Her lecture, “Driven to Extremes — The Roadless Pursuit of Scientific Drilling at El’Gygytgyn Crater Lake, Arctic Russia,” recounted her experiences as the chief U.S. scientist with a 2009  international expedition to drill into a 3.6 million-year-old crater lake in remote northeast Russia to extract sediment samples that provided an unprecedented record of Arctic change and climate evolution.
 
In June, the team published

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