News

Speakers to examine black conciousness and literature in Brazil

Afro-Brazilian writer Conceição Evaristo and professor Eduardo de Assis Duarte will talk about black consciousness and literature in Brazil, the Afro-Brazilian literary and cultural tradition, and the contemporary challenges for resisting the cultural politics of racism in Brazil and the Diaspora on Friday, Nov. 2 at 12:30 p.m. in 203 New Africa House.

Evaristo is from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, now residing in Rio de Janeiro state. She started publishing poetry in the literary journal Cadernos Negros in 1990, where she has continuously published both poetry and short fiction.

Karlstrom to discuss forebrain and pituitary development in zebrafish

Professor Rolf O. Karlstrom of the Biology Department will speak on "Ventral Forebrain and Pituitary Development: A view from the zebrafish" on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m. in 222 Morrill Science Center II as part of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program's colloquium series.

Karlstrom's team is using a variety of genetic and experimental approaches to determine how Hedgehog/Gli (Hh/Gli) mediated cell-cell signaling induces and patterns the zebrafish forebrain. They are analyzing several mutations that affect both Hh/Gli signaling and cell differentiation in the forebrain.

Figure drawing sessions for Five College students

The Student Union Art Gallery is offering free figure drawing sessions to Five College students through Nov. 29.

The sessions take place Thursdays in 110 Studio Arts Building from 7-9 p.m. Easels and chairs are provided but participants should bring their own drawing materials.

The UMass Arts Council, the Student Government Association and the Graduate Student Senate sponsor the Student Union Art Gallery. All events held at the Student Union Art Gallery are free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Obituary: Jerome B. King, retired Political Science professor

Jerome B. King, retired professor of Political Science, died Oct. 13 at his home in Hanover, N.H.

Born in New York City, he grew up in Short Hills, N.J.; London, England, and Scarsdale, N.Y.

He received a B.A. from Dartmouth in 1948 after having interrupted his studies to enlist in the Navy. He received an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

College of Engineering's Outstanding Alumni Awards luncheon is Oct. 27

The College of Engineering will hold its third annual Outstanding Alumni Awards Luncheon Oct. 27 during Homecoming Weekend. The event will be held from noon to 2:30 p.m. in the Amherst Room of the Campus Center. The luncheon is open to the public.

Nine individuals who epitomize the potential of an education at the College of Engineering through their exemplary accomplishments will be honored with outstanding junior and senior alumni awards. The recipients also embody the college’s mission, to educate the engineering leaders of tomorrow and help drive the economy of today.

Recipients of the

Civil and environmental engineers to dedicate new structural testing facility Oct. 27

Campus officials will dedicate the Robert B. Brack Structural Testing Facility on Tillson Way behind the campus police station on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 3 p.m. Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy will lead the ceremony, joined by various leaders from the College of Engineering.

The new test facility will allow researchers from the Civil and Environmental Engineering department (CEE) to test full-size structural elements such as beams and girders. It is also intended to help the department by attracting top-flight students and sponsored research.

The roofed testing center contains a “strong floor”

Hankinson recognized as Spotlight Scholar

Epidemiology professor Susan Hankinson of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, whose research investigates the “underlying etiology and biologic pathways” that lead to breast cancer’s development, is the campus's latest Spotlight Scholar.

Hankinson, who joined the faculty last year, previously taught at Harvard Medical School.

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Helfer receives $1.3 million to study hearing and aging

Karen Helfer, associate professor of Communication Disorders, has received a five year, $1.3 million grant from the NIH’s National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to conduct a series of studies to determine what is going on in difficult listening situations where hearing aids often don’t help, and explore ways to assist millions of older Americans to do better.

Though most people with hearing loss are treated with hearing aids, the devices are not very helpful in situations where many people are talking at once or there is background noise, says Helfer, an expert in

Springfield building designed by Brause featured on 'This Old House'

The new EcoBuilding Bargains store in Springfield, designed by assistant professor of Architecture Caryn Brause, was featured Oct. 11 on the PBS program "This Old House" in an episode titled “Deconstruction & Design.”

The new 32,000-square-foot facility is the largest material reuse store in New England. Brause worked with the client to insure that the new store design would be consistent with the non-profit’s goals: to reuse valuable building materials, to make home improvement more affordable, and to create local jobs and provide job training.

A grant from the Massachusetts Department of

Poet Alice Oswald to read from her work Oct. 30

Poet Alice Oswald will give a reading of her work on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. at the University Club as part of the Visiting Writers Series.

Oswald trained as a classicist and was the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award. She has been awarded the Froward Poetry Prize in 1996 and the T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize in 2002 for her poetry collections "The Thing in the Gap-Stone Stile" and "Dart," respectively. Her latest book is "Memorial: An Excavation of the Iliad."

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