With students heading back to Amherst for the start of classes next week, the campus is taking preventive measures to manage further outbreaks of the flu.
Dr. Alan Calhoun, director of University Health Services, in an e-mail message sent to students Monday said, “Before returning to campus, please get a flu vaccination since it can take up to two weeks for it to build up your body’s defenses. See your local healthcare provider, go to a community clinic or stop by one of the many retailers offering flu vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control website includes a vaccine finder tool at
Dogs and wolves are genetically so similar, it’s been difficult for biologists to understand why wolves remain fiercely wild, while dogs can gladly become “man’s best friend.” Now, doctoral research by evolutionary biologist Kathryn Lord suggests the different behaviors are related to the animals’ earliest sensory experiences and the critical period of socialization. Details appear in the current issue of Ethology.
Tim Anderson, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida, has been named dean of the College of Engineering. His appointment is effective March 1.
Clara Wool, a senior in Commonwealth Honors College majoring in Environmental Design and Middle Eastern Studies, has been named an inaugural Language Intensive Focus Track (LIFT) scholar by the Council on International Educational Exchange, allowing her to extend her studies of Arabic in Amman, Jordan through the spring semester.
Despite modern designs intended to allow migratory fish to pass, hydropower dams on major Northeast U.S. waterways, including the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers, have failed to let economically important species such as salmon, shad and river herring reach their spawning grounds, say a team of economists and fish ecologists including Adrian Jordaan of the Environmental Conservation Department. 
In partnership with Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo), the campus recently completed an energy efficiency project expected to save more than $220,000 in energy costs per year and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 metric tons in 2013 and beyond.
Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy has appointed Amilcar Shabazz, professor of Afro-American Studies, to serve as his faculty advisor for diversity and excellence.
David Buchanan, director of the Institute for Global Health and professor of Community Health Education, hosted three delegations of public health students and faculty from Russia for a week each during fall semester. The visits were part of a three-year collaboration between the Institute for Global Health and Novgorod State University’s Institute of Medicine.
Elena T. Carbone, associate professor of Nutrition, and Elaine Puleo, associate dean for Research in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, have received a two-year, $189,476 grant to assess the impact of new policies implemented as part of “Live Well Springfield,” a project to expand healthy eating and physical activity in that city.