Talking Points

Public sessions planned with candidates for chief information officer

Starting this week, public meetings with five candidates for the post of chief information officer (CIO) are being held for members of the campus community to meet and listen to the candidates and offer feedback to the search committee.
 
The five candidates were chosen by a 17-member search committee co-chaired by Michael F. Malone, vice chancellor for Research and Engagement and C. Marjorie Aelion, dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences. The committee will make a final recommendation to the chancellor after the interview process is completed.

Researchers develop powerful new technique to study protein function

In the cover story for the journal Genetics this month, neurobiologist Dan Chase and colleagues describe a new experimental technique they developed that will allow scientists to study the function of individual proteins in individual cell types in a living organism.
 
The advance should allow deeper insights into protein function, Chase says, “because we can only get a true understanding of what that single protein does when we isolate its function in a living organism. There was no tool currently available to do this.”
 
The journal’s cover art uses a jigsaw puzzle of a worm to

Renaissance Center names University of Toronto faculty as scholars in residence

The Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies will be hosting two faculty from the University of Toronto as scholars in residence for the fall semester.

Stevens is a professor and Canada research chair in early modern literature and culture, and Magnuson is a professor of English and director of the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies.

While in residence at the Renaissance Center, they will meet with students, visit Five College area classes, and present a public lecture.

When specific dates for events are known, they will be posted on In the Loop.
 

Florida physician named director of University Health Services

Dr. Bruce H. Kraut, chief of pediatrics at Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Fla., has been named director of University Health Services.
 
Kraut also serves as medical director and lab director for a group practice, Pediatric Associates of Ocala, where he oversees billing, procurement and contracts. His other responsibilities include the evaluation of employee performance, developing office procedures and policies, and ensuring the use of best practice guidelines recognized by the American Association of Pediatrics.

STEM Diversity Institute hosts visiting faculty for summer

The STEM Diversity Institute is hosting four faculty members from minority-serving institutions through the Visiting Partner Faculty Program funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Initiative for Maximizing Student Development.
 
Through the program, visiting faculty will spend five to 10 weeks this summer working with faculty who have similar research interests.  
 
Celeste Chavis, assistant professor of transportation and urban infrastructure studies in the School of Engineering at Morgan State University, is working with Eleni Christofa of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
 
Ada

Leadership change announced in Student Affairs and Campus Life

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Jean Kim today announced that she will be leaving her position at the end of June to pursue other professional opportunities.
 
Enku Gelaye, currently dean of students and associate vice chancellor, will become interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life effective July 1.
 
Subbaswamy said, “I want to thank Vice Chancellor Kim for her service to the university and for her advocacy to establish a caring and supportive environment that fosters student success.”
 
A formal search process to select a permanent vice chancellor

NerdScholar gives campus high marks for mentoring women in STEM fields

NerdScholar, a website that tries to help students make the best decisions about their higher education, recently featured UMass Amherst on its site as one of the nation’s “Best Mentoring Programs for Women” in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
 
“We were very impressed,” says Laura Pereyra, a communications analyst for San Francisco-based NerdScholar. She manages the team’s outreach and marketing efforts to students, universities and other educational organizations. She adds, “We had to include UMass Amherst.

New stadium press box to be named for Jacobson brothers

The new football press and skybox complex at McGuirk Alumni Stadium will be named in honor of alumnus Martin Jacobson and his brother Richard, according to athletic director John McCutcheon.

Marty Jacobson of the Class of 1968 committed $2.5 million to the campus on June 10 at a ceremony with Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, McCutcheon and football coach Charley Molnar.

Jacobson said the gift is a chance to make an impact during on the campus following the transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

“I’ve been a huge proponent that athletics enhance the value of going to a state university,”

Peyton named a Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences

Shelly Peyton, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering, is one of 22 researchers who have been named Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The scholarships provide flexible funding to early career scientists researching the basis of perplexing health problems—including diabetes, autism, Parkinson’s disease, and cancer.
 
Pew’s scholars program awards recipients $240,000 over four years to pursue their projects without direction or restriction. To be considered, applicants must demonstrate excellence and creativity in their research.

Campus role in county jail labyrinth project noted in documentary

A new documentary by Northampton Cable Television about the construction of an 80-foot green labyrinth at the Hampshire County Jail notes the role of the School of Nursing and the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, which worked with the Sheriff’s Department on the project.

The labyrinth, which is part of the stress reduction regimen at the jail, brought together the efforts of faculty, students, community members and the incarcerated men who built and planted the space, resulting in what is being called a robust and transformative treatment program.

Among those

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