UMass Innovation Challenge Awards $55,250 to Three Teams in Finals

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Innovation Challenge final business plan competition has awarded $55,250 to three competing teams. Fetch Rewards won the top prize of $30,000. VideoConversation won a total of $15,000 at the event while Crowd Solar received $10,000.
 
Since 2005, the UMass Innovation Challenge has provided more than $500,000 in awards to 65 different student-led teams. It is designed to help current students and young alumni who have innovative business ideas to develop business plans and move products closer to market.

UMass Amherst Launches Ambitious $300 Million Fund-Raising Campaign in its Sesquicentennial Year

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst today announced the launch of its most ambitious fund-raising campaign ever, “UMass Rising,” in its sesquicentennial year, setting a goal of $300 million to achieve new heights as a leader in the Commonwealth’s and the nation’s innovation economy.

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said, “To excel today, the best universities must adapt. Simply reacting to new circumstances will not do, much more is required.

UMass Amherst Inaugurates Kumble Subbaswamy as Chancellor

AMHERST, Mass. – With academic pomp and pageantry, Kumble R. Subbaswamy was formally inaugurated today as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst during ceremonies at the Mullins Center.

The installation was held in conjunction with a weeklong commemoration of the founding of the campus in 1863, an occasion noted by Subbaswamy during his inaugural address.

“For 150 years, the University of Massachusetts Amherst has served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by making a world-class education accessible to qualified students from all walks of life, engaging in research to solve our

Daylong Program to Honor Retiring UMass Amherst History Professor Joyce Berkman for Half-Century of Service

AMHERST, Mass – History professor Joyce Avrech Berkman, who is retiring after 48 years of service to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 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.

UMass Amherst to Celebrate Sesquicentennial on Monday With 150-pound Old Chapel Birthday Cake

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

 
DATE:           Monday, April 29
TIME:            11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
WHAT:          Founders Day Festivities, Lunch and Birthday Cake
WHERE:       Goodell Hall lawn across from Old Chapel
 
Thousands of guests are expected on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus on Monday, April 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the campus charter.

All-Girl Teams to Build LEGO Robots at UMass Amherst Computer Science Learning Event on Saturday, April 27

 
***MEDIA ADVISORY***
 
DATE:      Saturday, April 27, 2013
TIME:       9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; 3:45 p.m. is best for team robot competition
WHAT:    Girls’ team workshop to build and program LEGO NXT robots
WHERE:  UMass Amherst Computer Science Building, 140 Governor’s Drive
 
Dozens of middle school girls will converge on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus on Saturday, April 27, for the fourth annual “Girls Connect,” where they will learn how to build and program LEGO robots.
 
Six teams of girls ages 9 to 13 in grades 4-8 from western Massachusetts towns with their adult coaches

UMass Amherst Launches UMassGives, Its First Online Fundraising Drive as part of Sesquicentennial Celebration

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst is celebrating its 150th birthday and is asking supporters to be part of the festivities by making a gift to the university during its first-ever fundraising campaign driven by social media.
 
The 36-hour UMassGives campaign will be launched at noon on Founders Day, Monday, April 29. “The goal is to increase the number of donors among alumni and other supporters, who will be invited to contribute to areas most meaningful to them,” says Sarah Sligo, executive director of annual giving.

Celebrating 150 Years, UMass Amherst Breaks Ground for New Agricultural Learning Center on April 25

 
*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
 
DATE:           Thursday, April 25, 2013
TIME:            12:30 to 2 p.m.
WHAT:          Groundbreaking Ceremony, Celebration of 150 Years of Ag Education
WHERE:       Agricultural Learning Center, 911 North Pleasant Street, Amherst
                    Free parking off Residential Drive marked by balloons
 
One hundred fifty years after Levi Stockbridge founded the agricultural college in 1863 that would become the University of Massachusetts Amherst, his descendant Kay Stockbridge will join other dignitaries in a groundbreaking ceremony and celebratory lunch on

UMass Amherst Psychology Department, Northampton Senior Center to Conduct Memory Screening Clinic May 6

AMHERST, Mass. – As part of Older Americans Month, faculty and graduate students from the clinical psychology program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will conduct free, confidential memory screenings on Monday, May 6 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Northampton Senior Center at 67 Conz St.
 
Information about successful aging will also be available at the event.
 
“Memory screenings are useful to assure some persons that their thinking abilities are normal and to identify, for other persons, if more testing might be needed,” says Rebecca Ready, associate professor at UMass Amherst and a

Kumble Subbaswamy to Be Inaugurated as Chancellor of University of Massachusetts Amherst

 

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
 
 
DATE:           Saturday, April 27, 2013
TIME:            11 a.m.
WHERE:       Mullins Center, UMass Amherst
 
Kumble R. Subbaswamy will be formally inaugurated as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst as part of Founders Week marking the 150th anniversary of the commonwealth’s flagship campus.
 
Subbaswamy, who took office July 1, 2012, is the 30th leader of the campus since the founding of Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1863. UMass President Robert L. Caret and Henry M.

Pages