News

UMass Amherst Auxiliary Enterprises Director Ken Toong Wins Silver Plate Award from International Foodservice Manufacturers Association

AMHERST, Mass. – Ken Toong, executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been named a winner of a 2013 Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) in the colleges and universities category.
 
Now in its 59th year, the awards program recognizes excellence in eight segments of foodservice operations. From among the winners, one will be named the 2013 IFMA Gold Plate Award winner at the annual Gold & Silver Plate Celebration on May 20 in Chicago.
           
“The awards allow us to pay tribute to these

UMass Amherst, Area Officials to Participate in Groundbreaking for New England Public Radio Facility in Springfield

 
*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
 
DATE:            Monday, March 4, 2013
TIME:            1 p.m. 
PLACE:         1525 Main St., Springfield
 
New England Public Radio (NEPR) will mark the beginning of construction of its new downtown Springfield facility with a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Fuller Block Building. The 17,000-square-foot space will house four radio production suites, a technical operations center and music library as well as office space. The opening of the facility is planned for spring 2014.
 
Martin Miller, CEO and general manager of NEPR, will be joined at the event by

Randolph W. Bromery, Champion of Diversity, Du Bois and Jazz as UMass Amherst Chancellor, Dead at 87

AMHERST, Mass. – Randolph Wilson “Bill” Bromery, of Peabody, chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1971-79 and Commonwealth Professor emeritus of geophysics, died Feb. 26 in Danvers, Mass. He was 87.
 
Bromery led the university through one of the most dynamic, and sometimes turbulent, periods in its 150-year history, establishing a reputation for problem solving and for building both diversity and consensus.

Six of The Princeton Review’s 'Best Campus Food' Colleges Showcase Top Dishes at UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – Chefs from six of the schools listed in the Best Campus Food rankings in the 2013 edition of The Best 377 Colleges published by The Princeton Review will serve up signature dishes on Tuesday, March 5, from 5-9 p.m. at Berkshire Dining Commons at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
 
The event is part of UMass Dining Services’ Visiting College Chef Series. The popular event is expected to draw 4,000 students and guests. Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s senior vice president/publisher and lead author of The Best 377 Colleges, will be present to talk about the

Lecture by UMass Amherst History Professor Daniel Gordon Examines Cult of Violence in Western Culture

AMHERST, Mass. – Daniel Gordon, professor of History and associate dean of Commonwealth Honors College, will speak on “The Fatal Truth: The Cult of Violence in Western Political Thought” on Tuesday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
 
After the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, the status of violence continues to be widely discussed and examined. Some disavow “an eye for an eye” and all forms of violence completely, while others accept violence as a necessary means to be kept in proportion to its ends.

Career Day at UMass Amherst Seeks to Encourage Young Women to Become Engineers

AMHERST, Mass. – More than 300 female high school students, teachers, and guidance counselors from across Massachusetts will travel to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to attend the annual Women in Engineering and Computing Career Day Conference on Monday, March 4. The conference is being held in the Campus Center Auditorium beginning at 8:30 a.m. It seeks to excite, inspire and encourage young women to pursue engineering as a career path.
 
Among the districts and schools represented at Career Day are the Greenfield Public Schools, Springfield Public Schools, Holyoke Public Schools,

Women’s Iron Intake May Help to Protect against PMS

AMHERST, Mass. – Women who reported eating a diet rich in iron were 30 to 40 percent less likely to develop pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) than women who consumed lower amounts, in a study reported this week by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences and Harvard. It is one of the first to evaluate whether dietary mineral intake is associated with PMS development.
 
Senior author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson and others at UMass Amherst, with lead author Patricia Chocano-Bedoya and colleagues at Harvard, assessed mineral intake in

Historian Robin D.G. Kelley, Scholar of Urban Life and Social Movements, to Speak at UMass Amherst March 5

AMHERST, Mass. – Historian Robin D.G. Kelley, award-winning African-American scholar and 2013 history department writer-in-residence at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will speak Tuesday, March 5 in the Student Union’s Cape Cod Lounge beginning at 4 p.m.
 
Kelley’s talk is titled “The Long Rise and Short Decline of American Democracy.”
 
The author of seven books on urban American culture, including “Yo Mama’s Disfunktional: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America,” “Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of An American Original” and “Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black

UMass Amherst Students Practice Sustainability in 'No Impact Week'

AMHERST, Mass. – Hundreds of University of Massachusetts Amherst students, faculty and staff are expected to participate in a weeklong challenge called “No Impact Week” beginning on Sunday, Feb. 24, to reduce their individual carbon footprints and other environmental impacts through daily personal experiments in waste reduction, transportation, energy, food and water consumption.
 
The activities are based on “No Impact Man” Colin Beavan and his family’s year-long effort to have zero impact on the environment in their New York City apartment.

UMass Amherst Turf Club Turns Green into Gold at National GCSAA Turf Bowl

AMHERST, Mass. – The grass is always greener when it is being tended by the nation’s number one-ranked turf team, which just happens to be part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Turf Club.
 
The 19th annual Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) Turf Bowl held Feb. 7 in San Diego was dominated by a UMass Amherst team consisting of Evan Bradstreet, a senior from Gorham, Maine; Sean Raposa, a junior from Tiverton, R.I.; Kevin Shewmaker, a senior from Granby, and Peter J. White III, a senior from Worcester.

Pages