People

Manmatha receives $205,000 Mellon grant for digitization research

Computer Science research associate professor R. Manmatha has been awarded a one-year, $205,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the development of software and techniques for scholars in the humanities to use in processing large corpora of digitized books.
 
The grant supports “Proteus Infrastructure: Work Aggregation and Entity Extraction,” a pilot project to build and evaluate research infrastructure for scanned books.

Obituary: Kenneth M. Niedzwiec, former computer operator

Kenneth M. Niedzwiec, 84, Hadley, a former computer operator, died Jan. 16 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Born in Chicopee, he was raised and educated in Hadley, attending local schools and graduated from Hopkins Academy.
 
He began working on campus in 1967 with Custodial Services. He later became a computer operator with the Treasurer’s Office and then with Administrative Data Processing in Whitmore. He went on leave in 1985 and left campus service in 1991.

He leaves his wife, Jean (Nanartonis) Niedzwiec of Hadley; his children, Linda Niedzwiec of Hadley, Jeanie Wolter and Kevin Niedzwiec

Obituary: Kenneth Hamelin, retired typewriter repairman

Kenneth A. Hamelin, 75, of Florence, a retired typewriter repairman at Physical Plant, died Feb. 22 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Born in Easthampton, he attended local schools and served in the U.S. Army.
 
He joined the campus staff in 1970 and retired in 1996, when he and wife moved to Florida. They returned to Massachusetts in 2006.

He leaves his wife of 51 years, Kathryn (Kurtz) Hamelin; a son, Kevin, of Chicopee; his daughter, Karen Voorwinden of California, a granddaughter and his brother.

Donations in his memory may be made to Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society, P.O.

Obituary: Debora Farley, alumni services coordinator

Debora A. (Coleman) Farley, 55, of Athol, alumni services coordinator with the Alumni Association, died unexpectedly in her sleep on Feb. 23.

She grew up in Athol, attended local schools and Becker College in Worcester, where she earned an associate’s degree.
 
She worked for several different banks as a business administrator and Rodney Hunt in Athol for many years before joining the Alumni Association staff in 1999.
 
She leaves her husband of 35 years, Kim Farley, two sons, Glenn Farley of Newtown, Pa., and Christopher Farley of Nashua, N.H., her father, Rodman Coleman of Athol, two

Hill directs Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble

Fine Arts Center director Willie L. Hill was invited recently to the 2013 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention, where he taught a clinic and conducted the Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble.
 
More than 26,000 people attend what is considered to be the largest music education conference in the country. Hill gave a clinic on jazz ensemble rehearsal techniques and conducted the All-State Jazz Ensemble in a stellar concert. Only 20 members were chosen for this ensemble comprised of the best young jazz talent in Texas.

Begun in 1920 as the Texas Band Teachers Association, the Texas

Obituary: David Yaukey, professor emeritus of Sociology

David William Yaukey, 85, of Amherst, professor emeritus of Sociology, died Feb. 9 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital from complications following surgery.

Born in Japan, he was the son of China missionaries. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1949, taking one year off to serve in the U.S. Navy at the end of World War II. He then earned his master’s degree and doctorate in sociology at Washington State College and the University of Washington, respectively. His professional interest was in international demography, and particularly in the world population explosion.

That interest eventually

Biophysicist Jennifer Ross earns Spotlight Scholar honors

Jennifer Ross, assistant professor of Physics and an accomplished researcher who builds bridges between the disciplines of biology and physics in order to better understand what goes on inside living cells, is this month’s Spotlight Scholar.

Ross, who recently accepted the Biophysical Society’s Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award for “substantial contributions to science” and “showing very high promise in her early research career,” is nationally known for her study of microtubules, strong, hollow microscopic tubes about 1-50 micrometers in length and 25 nanometers in diameter that provide

Obituary: Betsy Moors, retired library assistant

Betsy L. Moors, 89, of Florence, a retired library assistant I, died Feb. 17 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Born in North Adams, worked at Sprague Electric in North Adams before her marriage.
 
In 1965, she joined the Library staff. She retired in 1989.

Her husband, Robert Moors, died in 1967.

She leaves son and daughter-in-law Keith and Sue Moors of Florence, four grandchildren, 15 foster-grandchildren and one great-grandson.

The funeral will be held Saturday, Feb. 23 at noon at the Florence Congregational Church.

Obituary: Ann Blanker, former clerk and stenographer

Ann (Harlow) Blanker, 85, of Greenfield and Stowe, Vt., a former junior clerk and stenographer, died Feb. 18 at the Buckley HealthCare Center in Greenfield.

She was born in Turners Falls attended local schools in Montague and was a graduate of Turners Falls High School. She attended Bates College and was a graduate of Northampton Commercial College.

She was hired at the Experiment Station in 1949 and resigned in 1951.
 
She leaves her husband of 63 years, William C. Blanker, sons, Alan H. Blanker of Greenfield and Charles H. Blanker of Northfield, daughter, Susan A.

Schmitter to present research at art history workshop in Rome

Monika Schmitter, associate professor of Art History, has been invited to present at the International Workshop on Early Modern Painted Facades in Italy (15th to 17th centuries) being held March 7-9 at Villa Medici in Rome.

Schmitter will present her research on the patronage of painted facades, which will form the basis of a chapter in the book resulting from the workshop.

The event is sponsored by the Académie de France à Rome and the Centre André Chastel, Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art.

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