Weekly Bulletin

UMass Extension’s new Garden Calendar on sale

UMass Extension’s 2013 Garden Calendar is now available.
 
The calendar features daily gardening tips for Northeast growing conditions, daily sunrise and sunset times, phases of the moon, room for notes and inspiring garden images for each month.
 
Calendars are $12 each, plus $2.50 shipping for one calendar and $2 for each additional calendar. Send check payable to UMass to Garden Calendar, c/o Mailrite, 78 River Road South, Putney, VT 05346.
 
For information, contact the UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program at 545-0895 or eweeks@umext.umass.edu
 
 
 

Tomaskovic-Devey to speak on 'Documenting Desegregation'

Sociology professor Donald Tomaskovic-Devey will discuss his new book, "Documenting Desegregation, Racial and Gender Segregation in Private-Sector Employment Since the Civil Rights Act," at a Sociology Department colloquium on Tuesday, Nov. 6 from 12:30-2 p.m. in W-32 Machmer Hall.

Enacted nearly 50 years ago, the Civil Rights Act codified a new vision for American society by formally ending segregation and banning race and gender discrimination in the workplace. But how much change did the legislation actually produce?

Walk for Light to check campus for safety issues on Nov. 7

All members of the campus community are invited to take part in the annual Walk for Light, which identifies safety-related issues on campus and documents those concerns for repair or other follow-up, on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m., starting from the Student Union steps.
 
Participants will break into groups and head out to different areas of campus, where they will observe and record areas of concern due to poor or broken lighting, overgrown trees or bushes that reduce lighting, broken railings or uneven steps, inoperable help phones, new paths due to construction and other safety-related

McGill scholar to present Distinguished Lecture in the Anthropology of Europe

Ismael Vaccaro, associate professor of anthropology and environmental sciences at McGill University in Montreal, will present this year’s Distinguished Lecture in the Anthropology of Europe on Monday, Nov. 5 from 4-5:30 p.m. in 1001 Campus Center.
 
Vaccaro’s lecture, “The 21st Century Peasant: The Case of the Catalan Pyrenees,” will examine the region’s transformation during the last 200 years. Following economic and demographic decline, many European peripheral rural communities have moved from agro-ranching economies to integration in the leisure economy.

Yale researcher to speak on axon regeneration and degeneration

Marc Hammarlund of Yale University School of Medicine will discuss axon regeneration and degeneration at a Neuroscience and Behavior colloquium on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m. in 222 Morrill II.

Greensboro Massacre survivor to speak Nov. 1

The Rev. Nelson N. Johnson, a survivor of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre, and his wife Joyce, will speak Thursday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium as part of the History Department’s Feinberg Lecture Series on “Truth and Reconciliation, History and Justice.” The Johnsons will discuss the truth and reconciliation process and their work in the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro.
 
In 1979, members of the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party opened fire on a Greensboro, N.C. civil rights protest, killing five activists and members of the Communist Workers Party.

Game Studies Colloquium set for Nov. 8-10

The Pioneer Valley Game Studies Colloquium, a series of events concerning academic game studies, is being held Nov. 8-10 at UMass Amherst, Smith College and the Modern Myths bookstore in Northampton.
 
The goal of the colloquium is to showcase recent research and expose faculty, students and community members to this ever-expanding field of study.

The scheduled events are as follows:

“Pervasive Games in Stockholm,” a lecture by and discussion with Annika Waern of Stockholm University, Thursday, Nov. 8, 7-9 p.m., Seelye Hall 101, Smith College.

“From Media Studies to Game Studies,” a panel

Presentation to address classroom use of i>clicker

Faculty and graduate student instructors are invited to “i>clicker: Transforming Student Learning through Technology,” a special guest presentation featuring Mats Selen, one of the i>clicker inventors, on Friday, Nov. 2 from 10-11:10 a.m.
 
Students’ unprecedented access to content on the Web is providing a unique opportunity to transform the role of lectures in education, moving the focus from content delivery to helping students synthesize content into knowledge.

Doctoral oral exams for Nov. 5-9

The graduate dean invites all graduate faculty to attend the final oral examinations for the doctoral candidates scheduled as follows;

Sompit Wanwong, Ph.D., Chemistry. Monday, Nov. 5, 2:30 p.m., 153 Goessman. Dissertation: “Molecular Designs for Charge and Ion Transporting Materials.” Sankaran Thayumanavan, chr.

Jean Kosha, Ed.D., Education. Tuesday, Nov. 6, 1:30 p.m., 151 Hills House. Dissertation: “Miss, Miss, I’ve got a Story!: Exploring Identity Through Micro-Ethnographic Analysis of Lunchtime Interactions with Four Somali Third Grade Students.” David Evans, chr.

Patek explores sound in the sea in Honors Faculty Lecture

Listening beyond the rhythm of ocean waves and squawks of seagulls, biologist Sheila Patek explores the sounds below the ocean’s surface during her talk "(un)Silent Sea" on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. The talk is part of the Honors Faculty Lecture Series presented by Commonwealth Honors College.
 
"A healthy sea is full of sound. Yet," she asks, "Are we heading toward a silent sea?"  Her lecture examines the biomechanics and behavior of sound in the sea, and considers the ever-increasing impact of humans on ocean life.

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