Talking Points

University Chorale is finalist in WGBY choral competition

The University Chorale is a finalist in the WGBY Together in Song Choral Competition and will be one of the featured choirs in the competition’s showcase concert on April 28 at 7 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre in Springfield. 

The showcase will be hosted by Springfield Symphony Orchestra conductor Kevin Rhodes, and also will be broadcast live on WGBY. 

The University Chorale is conducted Stephen A. Paparo, assistant professor in the Department of Music and Dance. 

Together in Song, now in its third season, celebrates the living choral tradition in western New England by providing

Emergency Notification System test scheduled for April 24

The campus will conduct a routine test of its Emergency Notification System on Wednesday, April 24 after 10:30 a.m., according to Tom O’Regan, emergency preparedness and business continuity planning manager with Environmental Health & Safety.

The test will include emergency text messaging, broadcast e-mail and outdoor warning sirens.

The drill will help test, evaluate and improve the campus’s ability to disseminate timely and effective notifications and warnings to students, faculty and staff during an emergency.

Members of the campus community can sign up for emergency text messages by

New Rising Researcher awards given to 4 undergraduates

Undergraduates Tess Brickley ’15, Kelly Malone ’13, Alexander Borges ’14, and Ankur Sheel ’13 have been designated the first UMass Amherst Rising Researchers. The Rising Researcher award is a new program co-funded by University Relations and Research and Engagement to recognize campus undergraduates who excel in research, scholarship and creative activity.

Awardees are exceptional undergraduates identified by their faculty mentor/advisor who have demonstrated leadership and impact in their chosen area of study.

A double major in Neuroscience and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sheel is

Chancellor expresses support, condolences for Boston Marathon bombing victims

In response to the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy sent the following message to the campus community:
 
Today marks a somber return to classes and work for the UMass Amherst community. Many of us have been glued to the news channels and social media outlets watching, searching for loved ones, and sending well wishes to the city of Boston and the victims of the Boston Marathon explosions.
 
We extend our sincere condolences to the victims, their families and friends and to the many people around the world impacted by this act of violence.

UMass Amherst license plates are a go

Production of the long-awaited UMass Amherst license plate is about to go forward after the needed 1,500th order was received by the Alumni Association.
 
“The Alumni Association has worked diligently over the past year to achieve this milestone on behalf of the university,” said JC Schnabl, assistant vice chancellor for Alumni Relations and executive director of the Alumni Association.

American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault named Commencement speaker

Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and CEO of American Express Company, will address the 5,500 graduates and their families and friends at Undergraduate Commencement on Friday, May 10 at 5 p.m. in McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

Chenault will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony. Chenault joined American Express in 1981 and became president and chief operating officer in 1997. He assumed his current responsibilities as CEO in 2001, and later that year became chairman.

Chenault serves on the board of corporate and nonprofit organizations including IBM, Procter & Gamble,

University leaders welcome House panel’s budget proposal

The House Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously April 10 to approve a $33.8 billion fiscal 2014 state budget plan that includes about $39 million in additional funding for the UMass system, a move that places the university on a path to a 50-50 funding formula and a freeze on tuition and fees.
 
The proposed spending plan, which increases UMass funding from $439.5 million to $478.7 million next year, drew praise from Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and President Robert Caret.
 
“Investing in public higher education brings extraordinary returns in an increasingly competitive, international

Libraries honored by ALA for Sustainability Fund campaign

The Libraries have won the Gale Cengage Learning Financial Development Award, presented annually by the American Library Association to a library organization that exhibits meritorious achievement in creating new means of funding for a public or academic library. 
 
The Libraries developed the Sustainability Fund to engage philanthropic support from faculty, students, alumni and friends who recognize the value of the rapidly growing field of sustainability studies. One of the award jurors noted that “The initiative is a strategic fundraising program serving as a model for other libraries.”
 

Communication Disorders students awarded fellowships to attend research symposium

Communication Disorders graduate students Alisson Reber and Abigail Wilkins have been awarded travel fellowships by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (NIDCD) to attend the Research Symposium in Clinical Aphasiology (RSCA) in May. The RSCA is embedded in the schedule of the 43rd annual Clinical Aphasiology Conference (CAC) in Tucson and is organized around cutting-edge theory and data.
 
Reber and Wilkins, along with 12 other graduate students from around the world, will be reimbursed up to $1,500 for travel and conference expenses.

Chancellor proposes joint hiring of consultant to advise on town-gown development issues

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy has proposed to Amherst town officials that they jointly hire a consultant to assess key community development issues, including ways to strengthen boundary neighborhoods and bolster the local economy.
 
Subbaswamy proposes splitting the estimated $60,000 cost with the town, and said he would gladly speak at Amherst’s upcoming Town Meeting in support of the idea and to answer questions.
 
“UMass Amherst is an engaged and committed member of the Amherst community,” Subbaswamy said.

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