Grain & Chaff

Doctor, doctor II

Lila Gierasch, head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, this weekend will be awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by Mount Holyoke College, where she earned her A.B. in 1970. Mount Holyoke President Joanne V. Creighton said Gierasch has earned national recognition for her research, teaching and interdisciplinary approach to the life and health sciences.

Free agents

There's no slowing down for soon-to-retire Howie Davis, assistant department head in Sport Management. Davis, who also served as the campus' sports information director for 13 years, has landed a new job with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as director of sports media. Davis' hiring at the hoop shrine is part of an effort to promote the hall of fame as a visitor destination. The new $45 million hall of fame is scheduled to open in late September. ... Meanwhile, retiring athletic director Bob Marcum is returning to his alma mater, Marshall University, to serve as interim AD. The one-year appointment at Huntington, W. Va. will pay Marcum $52,000. He's scheduled to begin his new duties on July 1.

Speaking out

Vira Douangmany, coordinator of the Everywoman's Center's Multilingual Volunteer Interpreters Project (MVIP), presented a workshop on May 22 at the statewide Immigrant and Refugee Conference sponsored by Jane Doe, Inc. at Northeastern University. The workshop was entitled, "Insights from INCITE!" Inspired by the National Color of Violence Against Women Conference, (sponsored this spring by the feminist women of color organization "INCITE!"), the workshop explored the connections between relationship violence and the socio-political economy. Douangmany discussed the impact of globalization on the lives of women of color and focused on finding new avenues for collaboration, identifing allies, and building a support network among service providers in order to meet the growing needs of immigrant and refugee communities.

Called to order

The Faculty Senate re-elected head of Germanic Languages and Literatures Frank Hugus as its presiding officer for the 2002-03 academic year during its May 1 meeting. Hugus has served as presiding officer for the last two years. Hugus also served in the position between 1994 and 1997.

Blast from the past

The rollercoaster career of former Executive Vice President Allen Sessoms was examined last week in a followup report in The New York Times (May 19). Sessoms resigned two years ago as president of Queens College after a contentious five-year tenure. Trustees at CUNY, the college's parent, said officials believed Sessoms has misled them when he said he had successfully raised money for a high-profile project that involved establishing an AIDS research center at the college. Sessoms says he never misled the CUNY officials. Once a physics professor at Harvard University, Sessoms has returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government. Sessoms served as executive vice president of UMass under the late Michael Hooker.