The campus’s first-ever fundraising campaign driven by social media was a resounding success this week, raising $83,947 during a 36-hour event that included 1,533 online gifts as the campus kicked off its 150th birthday celebration.
Sarah Sligo, executive director of Annual Giving, said, “Our alumni and friends, faculty and staff really rose to the challenge with this campaign. So many made it clear that UMass gives so much to the Commonwealth and beyond, and they wanted to give something back.
Stephen Miller, associate professor of Japanese language and literature, recently published a monograph with the Cornell University East Asia Series titled “The Wind from Vulture Peak: The Buddhification of Japanese Waka in the Heian Period.”
The highest standards in teaching, research, outreach and invention among members of the faculty were recognized April 29 at the UMass Honors dinner held as part of Founders Week.
Scientists studying how early land vertebrates evolved from fishes long thought that the animals developed legs for moving around on land well before their feeding systems and dietary habits changed enough to let them eat a land-based diet, but strong evidence was lacking. Now, for the first time fossil jaw measurements by Philip Anderson, a senior research fellow in Biology, and others have tested and statistically confirmed this lag.
Thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends attended festivities marking Founders Day celebration on April 29 on the 150th anniversary of the signing of the campus charter. Among the highlights was the ceremonial cutting of a 150-pound birthday cake created in the shape of the iconic Old Chapel.