News

Transit Services aims to 'Fill-a-Bus' with toiletries for storm victims

UMass Transit Services has organized a “Fill-a-Bus” campaign to collect toiletries and personal are items for those affected by the recent storm that battered the Eastern Seaboard. Hundreds of people have been forced out of their homes and are currently seeking refuge in shelters and supplies are running dangerously low.

Some shelters are currently housing 175-200 volunteers and another 200-300 refugees. Volunteers go out into the community by day to assist with clean-up and come back to the shelters at night.

“These are our friends and family in need of help,” says Katie O’Hara of UMass

Campus's exit polling shows women played major role in Senate race, Question 2

The UMass Poll’s exit poll from the Nov. 6 Massachusetts election shows that the gender gap helped propel Elizabeth Warren to victory in a competitive race against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown. The poll shows that women voters preferred Warren to Brown by a margin of 20 percent, while men split evenly between the two candidates. Brown was also faced with an electorate that looked much different than the one that elected him to office in 2010.
 
The election was clearly influenced by a campaign that focused significantly on women’s issues.

Emergency closing and snow-related policies distributed

Copies of emergency closing and snow-related policies will be distributed to faculty and staff on Friday, Nov. 9.
 
As winter approaches, all staff and faculty should know how to obtain information related to severe weather, including closing announcements, parking rules, staggered departure procedures for early closings, related time and attendance policies and the rescheduling of final exams on snow days. 
 
For information on the weather closing status of the campus, visit http://www.umass.edu/closing/
 
For a summary of severe closing weather information, including radio  and TV stations

'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.

Klekowskis discuss field research for WWI book

Ed and Libby Klekowski will give a talk titled “Don’t Touch That! Exploring WWI Battlefields While Researching ‘Eyewitnesses to the Great War’” on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. at the Amherst Women’s Club, 35 Triangle St.
 
The Klekowskis will sign copies of their book at 4 p.m. “Eyewitnesses to the Great War” was published earlier this year by Mcfarland Press. Ed Klekowski is professor emeritus of Biology.
 
Books will be available for $30 – cash only – with profits going to the Amherst Women’s Club Scholarship Program.

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

Grotevant honored at adoption conference in NYC

Professor Harold D. Grotevant, the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology, received the Outstanding Scholar in Adoption Award during the 7th Biennial Conference on Adoption held Oct. 18-20 at St. John’s University in Manhattan.
 
Given by the St. John’s University Adoption Initiative in collaboration with Montclair State University, the award recognizes Grotevant for his contributions as a scientist and scholar to  “making adoption an important subject of discussion in the field.”
 
“Thanks to his pioneering work we have made tremendous strides in our efforts to achieve a more profound

Diversity panel, AD remarks top Faculty Senate agenda

Athletic director John McCutcheon is scheduled to address the Faculty Senate and answer questions on Nov. 15 at 3:30 p.m. in 227 Herter Hall.
 
The meeting will also include a panel discussion, “Reclaiming and Maintaining Excellence in a Changing World: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,” with faculty and administrators outlining key ideas about the work to recruit and retain a gender-balanced and diverse faculty. Panelists will be Psychology professor Nilanjana Dasgupta,chief diversity officer Débora D.

Walk for Light safety check postponed to Dec. 5

Due to expected inclement weather, the Walk for Light has been postponed from Nov. 7 to Wednesday, Dec. 5, starting at 6 p.m. from the Student Union steps.

During the annual event sponsored by the UMass Amherst Police Department, volunteers walk across campus to identify safety-related issues requiring repairs or other follow-up.

 

 

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