News

Outstanding staff honored with Chancellor's Citations

Ten staff members were honored May 2 for outstanding contributions to the university at a reception hosted by Chancellor Robert Holub at the Marriott Center of the Lincoln Campus Center.

Chancellor's Citations were awarded to Claudia Brown, Dining Services; Kathryn A. DiSanto, External Relations and University Events; Linda Downs-Bembury, Dean's Office, School of Public Health and Health Sciences; Diane M. Fedorchak, Health Education; Peter C. Ferguson, Technology Services; James M. Field, Environmental Health and Safety; Christopher A.

McClure elected secretary-treasurer of UCPEA

William S. McClure, executive director of Continuing and Professional Education (CPE), has been elected by University Professional & Continuing Education Association to serve as its secretary-treasurer for 2012-14.

The election comes at the conclusion of a 15-month process of planning, transition and revitalization for UPCEA culminating in a new strategic plan, bylaws and membership structure that were unveiled at the association's annual conference in late March.

"I am honored to accept this appointment and look forward to working with the UPCEA leadership team to advance our profession,"

Obituary: John W. Wideman, professor emeritus of Education

John "Jack" W. Wideman, 83, of Amherst, professor emeritus of Education, died May 10 at The Atrium at Cardinal Drive in Agawam.

Born in West Palm Beach, Fla., his childhood years were spent in Florida, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. He graduated from the Hill School for Boys in Pottstown, Pa., in 1946 and Williams College in 1950.

He went on to earn a doctorate in education from Harvard University.

In 1969, he joined the faculty of the School of Education, where he taught counseling psychology. He retired in 1996.

He leaves his daughter, Victoria Wideman and his son, Thomas Wideman and

Obituary: Amy P. Cotter, worked in Payroll Office

Amy P. Cotter, 75, of Northampton, a retired typist II in the Payroll section of Human Resources, died May 21 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Born in Lawrence, she was educated in Turners Falls schools and had resided in Northampton since the 1950s.

She worked on campus from 1979 until her retirement in 1997.

She leaves her son, William T. Arnold of Northampton; her daughter, Kathleen M. Arnold of Newmarket, N.H.; two brothers and a sister, a grandson and several nieces and nephews.

Donations in her memory may be made to the American Lung Association.

May 29, 2012.

Physicists discover mechanisms of wrinkle and crumple formation

Smooth wrinkles and sharply crumpled regions are familiar motifs in biological and synthetic sheets, such as plant leaves and crushed foils, say physicists Benny Davidovitch, Narayanan Menon and colleagues, but how a featureless sheet develops a complex shape has long remained elusive.
 
Now, in a cover story of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the physicists report that they have identified a fundamental mechanism by which such complex patterns emerge spontaneously.
 
Davidovitch says they were inspired and moved toward a solution by thinking about how a familiar

Alumna Natasha Trethewey named US poet laureate

Natasha Trethewey, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and 1995 graduate of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers, has been named the U.S. poet laureate by the Library of Congress.
 
Trethewey is a professor of creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta. She was born in Gulfport, Miss., and is the author of three poetry collections, including “Native Guard,” her collection about black Civil War soldiers who helped protect a fort on Ship Island a few miles off the Mississippi coast, that won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. She will be the 19thU.S.

Trustees approve 4.9% increase in tuition and fees

The Board of Trustees on June 6 approved a 4.9 percent increase in student fees for undergraduates and most graduate students, but pledged to freeze charges for the next two years if the state agrees to fund 50 percent of the five-campus system’s education budget.
 
“If the state agrees to take on a more equitable share of the funding burden over the next two years, we will keep tuition and fees frozen at this new level,” said James J. Karam, chairman of the board.
 
“We would be the first public university in the country to hold the line on tuition and fees for two full years if the state

Frog development study may reveal secrets of cancer cell migration

Developmental biologists Dominique Alfandari and Helene Cousin of the Veterinary and Animal Sciences Department recently received a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate craniofacial development in a frog model to better understand genetic control of cell migration. The work is expected to advance knowledge of how cancer cells migrate away from primary tumors to cause metastatic disease in new sites, among other processes.

Doctoral candidate Genevieve Abbruzzese in Alfandari's lab is following up on Cousin and Alfandari's earlier discovery of

UHS earns 4-star rating in health care survey

University Health Services (UHS) offers four-star care in many areas which patients value most, according to a survey published in the current issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

Released by Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP), a coalition working to promote improvements in the quality of health care services, the survey rated 487 adult, family and pediatric practices throughout Massachusetts. As part of a pilot program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, results are published as a June insert in Consumer Reports.

The survey asked about aspects of patient experience

New campus master plan to guide development over next 50 years

With the campus in the midst of a $1 billion capital improvement program, the university has adopted a new physical master plan that looks 50 years into the future. The plan matches academic vision with facilities to strengthen a sense of community and enhance the campus's beauty.

Chancellor Robert C. Holub said, "UMass Amherst has changed and grown over the past century and half, from 50 students at its founding to more than 27,000 today.

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