News

Panel to discuss 'Wearing a Hijab' at UMCA

Two members of the campus community and artist Elizabeth Stone will participate in a discussion titled "Wearing a Hijab - Garment and Symbol" on Thursday, Nov. 8 from 5-6:30 p.m. at the University Museum of Contemporary Art in the Fine Arts Center.

When Stone and artist and MFA candidate Nour Bishouty exchanged thoughts about "Woman in a Burkha," a painting by Stone in the exhibition "Dialogue with a Collection: Elizabeth Stone - Embodied/Disembodied," both realized that they had entered intellectual territory that required a respectful and thoughtful conversation beyond the casual comments

Eveleigh, ATC, honored with Access Award

Rob Eveleigh of the Assistive Technologies Center was recognized Oct. 18 with an Access Award from the Stavros Center for Independent Living.
 
Given annually to individuals and businesses that have provided outstanding services to the disability community of the Pioneer Valley, the awards were presented at a luncheon at the Log Cabin in Holyoke.
 
Joe Tringali, director of services at Stavros, said Eveleigh has been making a big difference at the university.

CASA installs its first weather radar in Texas

Brenda Philips, deputy director of the College of Engineering’s Collaborative Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) program, with engineer Eric Lyons and innovation manager Apoorva Bajaj, were on hand Oct. 28 as the first CASA weather radar unit was installed by helicopter atop a building at the University of Texas Arlington (UTA).
 
Philips said, “This represents a great technical and organizational milestone for the project.” Over the next several months it will see three more CASA units installed at partner institutions in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, with support from the North Texas

Platt's book on Taiping rebellion named a finalist for Cundill Prize

A history of the Taiping rebellion by Stephen R. Platt, associate professor of History, is one of three finalists for McGill University’s 2012 Cundill Prize, the world’s most lucrative award for a non-fiction book.
 
“Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War,” published earlier this year by Alfred A. Knopf, was chosen from among 143 works submitted by publishers from all over the globe. The competition, now in its fifth year, features a $75,000 U.S. grand prize.
 
While Union and Confederate troops were slaughtering each other at Antietam in

Music faculty featured on new recordings

New CDs featuring professor Jeffrey W. Holmes, visiting assistant professor Christopher Krueger and assistant professor Felipe Salles of the Music and Dance Department were recently released.

The Aulos Ensemble, with flutist Krueger, released the fourth CD in its Baroque Chamber Music series on the Centaur Record label. The Telemann Album, now joins the Bach Family Album, In Dulci Jubilo, Baroque Music for Christmas, and Jean Philippe Rameau, Suites from Les Indes galantes and Les Fêtes d’hébé. The ensemble performs Baroque music on period instruments. The CD will be available on Amazon.com

UMass Extension’s new Garden Calendar on sale

UMass Extension’s 2013 Garden Calendar is now available.
 
The calendar features daily gardening tips for Northeast growing conditions, daily sunrise and sunset times, phases of the moon, room for notes and inspiring garden images for each month.
 
Calendars are $12 each, plus $2.50 shipping for one calendar and $2 for each additional calendar. Send check payable to UMass to Garden Calendar, c/o Mailrite, 78 River Road South, Putney, VT 05346.
 
For information, contact the UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program at 545-0895 or eweeks@umext.umass.edu
 
 
 

Hillel awarded World Food Prize

Daniel Hillel, professor emeritus of Plant and Soil Sciences, received the 2012 World Food Prize from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Oct. 18 at the Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium on food security in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
Hillel, an Israeli scientist who pioneered a radically innovative way of bringing water to crops in arid and dry-land regions, was presented with a $250,000 award.
 
“We draw hope from contributions like those of this year’s honoree,” said the secretary-general.

Fink is distinguished lecturer at University of Minnesota

Janet Fink, associate professor in the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management, gave the Borghild-Strand Distinguished Lecture on Oct. 24 at the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota.
 
Fink spoke on "Women and Sport Leadership: U.S. and International Perspectives" with Sally Shaw of the University of Otago, New Zealand.

The Borghild-Strand Distinguished Lecture series is given twice yearly and exemplifies the Tucker Center’s commitment to community outreach and public education by making links to the Twin Cities metro and outstate

Tomaskovic-Devey to speak on 'Documenting Desegregation'

Sociology professor Donald Tomaskovic-Devey will discuss his new book, "Documenting Desegregation, Racial and Gender Segregation in Private-Sector Employment Since the Civil Rights Act," at a Sociology Department colloquium on Tuesday, Nov. 6 from 12:30-2 p.m. in W-32 Machmer Hall.

Enacted nearly 50 years ago, the Civil Rights Act codified a new vision for American society by formally ending segregation and banning race and gender discrimination in the workplace. But how much change did the legislation actually produce?

Manning gives keynote presentation to Italian Botanical Society

Professor William J. Manning of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture gave an invited keynote presentation titled "Urban Forests and Their Role in Urban Metabolism and Sustainability" at the 107th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society held Sept. 21 in Benevento, Italy.

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