News

UMass Amherst Gaming Researchers Get $3.64 Million from State Gaming Commission to Study Gambling Impacts

AMHERST, Mass. – The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) today announced that it has selected a University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) research team to perform a comprehensive, multi-year $3.64 million research project, believed to be the first of its kind, on the economic and social impacts of introducing casino gambling in Massachusetts. It will focus particularly on problem gambling, but also examine a wide array of social and economic effects of expanded gambling in Massachusetts.
 
Funding is expected to start with a one-year contract

Western Massachusetts Writing Project Celebrates 20th Anniversary

AMHERST, Mass. – The Western Massachusetts Writing Project will celebrate its 20th anniversary on May 16 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. with a program and reception in the Marriott Center in the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Titled “Opening Doors and Re-Inventing Teaching Practices,” the program will feature remarks from Sharon Washington, executive director of the National Writing Project.

The project will also honor the newest Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, Anne Marie Bettencourt, of Hatfield, a co-director of the Writing Project and English teacher at Central High

UMass Amherst Police Department Hosts K9 Training Exercises May 13-17 at Campus Residence Halls

AMHERST, Mass. – Police K9 units from the eastern U.S. and Canada will be training in University of Massachusetts Amherst residence halls during the week of May 13-17.
 
The exercises, hosted by the UMass Amherst Police Department K9 unit and the Massachusetts Police Work Dog Association, will take place in Brown House in the Sylvan Residential Area and Butterfield House in the Central Residential Area between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
 
Area residents are advised that there may be large numbers of police vehicles and law enforcement personnel in the vicinity of the two sites during the exercises,

UMass Amherst Highly Rated in 15 Areas by ‘QS World University Rankings by Subject’

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst is among the top 200 schools worldwide in 15 of the 30 subject areas evaluated in this year’s QS World University Rankings by Subject, which was published May 8.
 
The company evaluated 2,858 universities around the globe and ranked 678 institutions based on academic and employer reputation surveys, citations per faculty indicators and a new H-index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar according to the most cited papers and the number of citations that they have

UMass Amherst Undergraduate Commencement is Friday, May 10 at 5 p.m. in McGuirk Alumni Stadium

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

 

DATE:           Friday, May 10, 2013
TIME:            5-6:30 p.m.
PLACE:         McGuirk Alumni Stadium
 
Undergraduate Commencement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Friday, May 10 from 5-6:30 p.m. will feature a keynote address by Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and CEO of American Express. He will speak to the 5,500 graduates at ceremonies at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Chenault will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony.
 
All reporters and photographers, including those from on-campus media outlets, must contact the Office

UMass Amherst’s ICB3 Offers ‘Big Data’ Course for Life Sciences Industry and Academic Researchers

AMHERST, Mass. – Registration is now open for the one-day short course “Data Sciences for the Life Sciences in a High-Performance Computing Environment,” sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Institute for Computational Biology, Biostatistics, and Bioinformatics (ICB3) to be held on Aug. 27 at the Holyoke-based Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC).
 
 The course at the new state-of-the-art facility dedicated to research-oriented computing will offer a foundational curriculum in life sciences research using R,an increasingly important open source

Media Passes Required for Journalists to Cover UMass Amherst Commencement May 10

***MEDIA ADVISORY***
 
Media passes will be required to gain access to the field at Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium for coverage of the Undergraduate Commencement ceremonies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Friday, May 10, at 5 p.m. 
 
All reporters and photographers, including those from on-campus media outlets, must contact the Office of News & Media Relations at 413/545-0444 to obtain passes for the ceremony.
 
Passes will be available for pick-up on the first floor of Munson Hall, room 109. Unless other arrangements are made, it is strongly advised that media

UMass Amherst PhD Student Awarded DAAD Grant for Dissertation Research in Germany

AMHERST, Mass. – Victoria Rizo Lenshyn, a doctoral candidate in German and Scandinavian studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been awarded a research grant by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to support her dissertation research at the Academy for Film and Television (HFF “Konrad Wolf”) in Potsdam/Babelsberg, Germany.
 
During the next academic year, Rizo Lenshyn will conduct research on the stars and star culture in the cinema of socialist East Germany.
 
The campus nominating committee praised Rizo Lenshyn’s project on stardom in East Germany’s socialist context

UMass Amherst Commencement to Honor Exceptional Student Leadership and Achievement

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst will honor the exemplary achievement, initiative and leadership of its most talented and accomplished graduating seniors during Undergraduate Commencement on Friday, May 10 beginning at 5 p.m. at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
 
Eleven graduating seniors have been named 21st Century Leaders and will be honored for far-ranging achievement, initiative and social awareness. Ten of those being recognized are members of Commonwealth Honors College.

  • Zachary Robert Bemis, a civil engineering major with a minor in geology, is from Southborough.

UMass Amherst’s First Social Media Fundraiser, UMassGives, Raises Nearly $84,000 as Part of Sesquicentennial Celebration

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s first-ever fundraising campaign driven by social media was a resounding success this week, raising $83,947 during a 36-hour event that included 1,533 online gifts as the campus kicked off its 150th birthday celebration.
 
Sarah Sligo, executive director of annual giving, says, “Our alumni and friends, faculty and staff really rose to the challenge with this campaign. So many made it clear that UMass gives so much to the Commonwealth and beyond, and they wanted to give something back.

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