Weekly Bulletin

All-day women’s history program to honor Joyce Berkman’s retirement

History professor Joyce Avrech Berkman, who is retiring after 48 years of campus service, will be honored Friday, May 3 in the Cape Cod Lounge with a series of presentations on women’s history followed by a reception and dinner.
 
Berkman, who is also adjunct professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, teaches courses in U.S., British and European women’s history, oral history and the history of reproductive rights in the U.S. A Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Danforth Associate, she has also served as a Fulbright scholar and senior Fulbright professor in Germany.

Kurtulus to explore effects of affirmative action bans on workforce representation

Fidan Kurtulus, assistant professor of Economics, will discuss her recent work in a talk titled “The Impact of Eliminating Affirmative Action on Minority and Female Employment and Occupational Representation: A Natural Experiment Approach Using State-Level Affirmative Action Ban Laws” on Monday, April 29 at noon in 620 Thompson Hall.
 
Her research explores a number of topics in labor economics, including the organization of workers within firms, workplace diversity, the impact of affirmative action in employment, participatory workplace practices and employee ownership.
 
This lecture is the

Boxes for Boston aims to bring joy to bombing victims, first responders

Danielle Roosa, a senior Communication major, is leading a student drive to brighten the lives of those injured in the Boston Marathon bombings as well as emergency personnel affected by the attacks.
 
“Boxes for Boston’s goal is to make the victims and the first responders happy,” she says. “These boxes are not a relief box, but a box of joy. If we make any of these people happy, we have done our job. Around 151 students have already joined the event. But we still need more participation.”
 
Members of the campus community can participate by bringing items such as candy, letters, drawings or

Three-day conference focuses on corporate rules change

Hedrick Smith, author of “Who Stole the American Dream,” along with a special pre-recorded video address by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, will kick off a three-day summit conference on corporate “rules change” on Friday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Bowker Auditorium.
 
“Rules Change: Resetting the Playing Field for Corporations, People and Democracy,” is a three-day gathering organized by the UMass Donahue Institute at the request of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern and four other non-profit policy groups. McGovern will be a special guest at the event.
 
Warren will deliver – by pre-recorded video – a

Achieving Diversity in Nursing Celebration and Conference is April 25

More than 300 students from Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Amherst are scheduled to attend the first Achieving Diversity in Nursing Celebration and Conference to be held Thursday, April 25 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium.
 
The keynote speaker will be Judy Jones of Springfield, the daughter of the late Springfield City Councilor Morris Jones. Jones attended the School of Nursing where she received her baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees.
 
Professor Jean Swinney, principle investigator and director of the Achieving Diversity: A Comprehensive Approach

Flags lowered for victims of Boston Marathon attacks

Gov. Deval L. Patrick has ordered that the United States and Commonwealth flags be lowered to half-staff at all state buildings from sunrise until sunset on Wednesday, April 24 in honor of the victims of the acts of violence perpetrated in Boston on April 15.

New course proposal

The following new course proposal has been submitted to the Faculty Senate Office for review and approval and is listed here for faculty review and comment. Comments on any new course proposal should be submitted to Ernest May, secretary of the Faculty Senate, at senate@senate.umass.edu.

PSYCH 662, “Improving Group Relations,” 3 credits; Instructor: Dr. Linda Tropp; This course examines social psychological research on strategies to improve relations between groups, and potential strengths and weaknesses depending on the relative statuses and conflict histories of the groups involved.

STEM talk gives overview of Project Lead the Way

Carolyn Malstrom of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) will discuss her program in a STEM talk on Tuesday, April 30 at 4 p.m. in 138 Hasbrouck Lab.
 
PLTW program are among seven programs endorsed by the Massachusetts Governor's STEM Council as an @scale STEM program. Malstrom will provide a one-hour overview information session about the three PLTW programs: Gateway To Technology, Pathway To Engineering, and Biomedical Sciences.
 
The Gateway To Technology program is for middle schools and consists of eight separate units that introduce students to the engineering design process, automation,

Open Source Software Innovation competition announced by ICB3

The Institute for Computational Biology, Biostatistics, and Bioinformatics (ICB3) is accepting letters of intent and submissions for its Open Source Software Innovation competition.
 
Open to all UMass Amherst faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, the program is designed to support and stimulate software development and trans-disciplinary collaborations among computational, statistical and life sciences researchers, showcase campus strengths in these disciplines, and provide a novel mechanism for the dissemination of new knowledge, tools and research.
 
The tentative prize

STEM Diversity Forum scheduled for May 1

The STEM Diversity Institute (SDI) will present a forum on best practices governing advancement of women faculty in STEM fields on Wednesday, May 1 from 5-6:30 p.m. in 145 Integrated Sciences Building. 

Anyone with an interest in the topic is welcome.

The institute’s forum series is aimed at identifying best practices for increasing diversity in STEM fields on campus. The inaugural forum on March 28 drew more than a dozen members of faculty from STEM fields as well as faculty from Social and Behavioral Sciences and campus administrators.

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