SBS Newsletter – June/July 2008
In this issue
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 Professional Volunteer’s Efforts Result in Effective Social Action |
 Guggenheim Award Recognizes Intergroup Conflict Research |
 Distinguished Alumni Service Award Honors Advocate for Social Justice |
New Weblog for UMass Amherst Upcoming Events Wednesday, September 17, 2008 Thursday, September 25 Thursday–Friday, October 30–31, 2008 Faculty Notes Linda Tropp (psychology), director of the Peace and Violence Concentration, has been invited to be part of the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and Ethnic Diversity, an international, interdisciplinary network of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working to reduce racial and ethnic divisions through early childhood programs. She is in the Survey and Evaluation working group, which will review and summarize findings from evaluations of programs worldwide, to determine the most effective features for reducing ethnic divisions and prejudices among young children. "Over the next several years," Tropp says, "we will also be involved in designing interventions based on these features, which we will implement and evaluate in several sites around the world." Read more about the network [pdf]. At the June 27 rally in Unity, N.H.,designed to patch up any lingering animosity between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, B.J. Roche (journalism) was there sporting a “Hot Chicks Dig Obama” pin. Alumni News Bonnie Dumanis '73 (sociology) is running for a third term as San Diego County District Attorney. Read article in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Alicia Zitka '08 (communication) of West Springfield was crowned Miss Massachusetts 2008 at the Miss Massachusetts Scholarship Pageant in June. She will compete for the title of Miss America next January in Las Vegas. Read more... Gloucester lawyer Ed O’Reilly '75 (legal studies) garnered enough support from party officials to ensure that he will give U.S. Sen. John Kerry his first Democratic primary challenge in 24 years. Read articles in the Boston Globe and in the Boston Herald. O’Reilly has proposed five formal debates on each of the campuses of the UMass system this summer. Read an article, picked up by AP, in New York Newsday. Former roommates Jon Korhonen '06 (communication) and Andy McCarron '05 (School of Engineering) are biking across country this summer to raise money and awareness for the Children's Hunger Fund. Midway in their trip, they stopped in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and asked Dawn White '87 (Isenberg School of Management), if they could pitch a tent in her yard for the night. "No way," she said. "You boys are going to sleep in a bed" and hosted the men overnight. Korhonen and McCarron have raised over $16,000 so far. Read the article on FortWayne.com. Go to the Korhonen/McCarron website and blog. Kori Chambers '03 (journalism) has joined the “Good Day Chicago” news show at WFLD Channel 32. Chambers, who will handle reporting and anchoring duties, has also worked at WGGB-TV 40 in Springfield and at news stations in Las Vegas and Detroit. Read more... A scholarship fundraiser for “Disco” Vinnie Peruzzi '75 (communication), a Boston disc jockey who died in 2004, was scheduled for June 20 with a cruise on Boston Harbor. Peruzzi got his start at WMUA, the UMass Amherst radio station. Read the Boston Globe article [scroll down to "Dance for a Good Cause"]. Tony Curtis MA '90 (labor relations) has been human resources vice president for Polo Ralph Lauren Europe since 2006. He says that coming from the inner city gave him an edge because he knew how to deal with a struggle. Read the story of his rise to fashion executive. Henry J. Brier '97 (journalism and Middle Eastern studies) is the new executive editor of the Washington Continent after two month national search. Brier has worked as a reporter for the Washington Times, the Prince George's Journal and the Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland. Read more.... Rebecca Ridley '93 (economics) owns a Roxbury funeral home where many of Boston's shooting victims have been prepared for burial. Ridley says she views her work as a calling, and many community observers say she is providing invaluable comfort and supportive service to grieving families, adding an element of calm in the midst of chaos. Read article in the Boston Globe. Matt Clark '06 (journalism), who was on the UMass Amherst cross-country team and now works for Admissions, is running again, having overcome some leg injuries. He placed 10th at the Rhody 5K Road Race in a field of 701 runners and clocked a personal best time. Read more... Pattie Hunt Sinacole '86 (psychology) is principal of First Beacon Group LLC, a human resources consulting firm. She works with clients across many industries including technology, biotech and medical devices, financial services, and healthcare, and has over 20 years of human resources experience. Pattie, who holds an MBA from Babson College, also is a regular columnist for the Boston Globe's Job Doc and conducts live chats at BostonWorks. SBS in the News New York Times, 7/22/08. Nancy Folbre (economics) comments about the current economic hard times, noting that the percentage of women in the national workforce has fallen for the first time since the advent of the women’s movement in the 1960s. Folbre says women are also very reluctant to accept lower pay even as economic forces are forcing down the median pay for both men and women. Men continue to earn more than women, even as compensation levels are pushed down. Innewsweekly.com, 7/16/08. M.V. Lee Badgett (economics), director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, comments in a story about how the U.S. Census Bureau says it will not count married, same-sex couples as married in the next round of the census. Belfast Telegraph [Ireland], 7/21/08. Robert Pollin (economics) says economic troubles in the U.S. don’t necessarily translate into opportunities for other countries such as Northern Ireland. He says tightening credit prompted by woes in U.S. markets may have a significant impact on the global economy. ABC News [Australia], 7/16/08. Pollin thinks the U.S. economy is much less sound than officials are saying and could be in major trouble. However, he also says federal bailouts of troubled banks and the federally chartered and sponsored Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will prevent a significant economic catastrophe. USA Today, National Post [Canada], Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, Canada.com, Newstrack India, Top News India, PhysOrg.com, ABC News, Washington Post, Reuters UK, 7/15/08. National and international news coverage of a study conducted by Daniel Anderson (psychology) which finds that television playing in the background distracts children as young as 12 months and could be a “significant environmental hazard” to their development. The research also found that when a television is on in the room, children played with a toy for about half the time they played with it when the television was off. Anderson says one of his concerns is that the television appears to be a disruptive influence and in many households it is a constant one. He also worries that the effects are cumulative. SfGate.com, 7/14/08. Mari Castañeda (communication) comments in a story about the reasons why Spanish-speaking television journalists earn less than their English-speaking counterparts. Medical News Today, 7/10/08. U.S. soldiers seeking medical treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., will have help from a new online system developed by the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The system includes online dispute resolution applications that can be used to help resolve problems that soldiers may encounter as they seek medical care. Ethan Katsh (legal studies) played a lead role in developing the tool. Asia Times, 7/9/08. A column by Max Fraad Wolff, a doctoral student in economics, discusses how energy prices are rarely examined in terms of their direct relationship to wage rates and decreased human productive output. Newsweek, Newsbusters.org, 6/12/08. A study by Jennifer Hickes Lundquist (sociology) finds that racial minorities and women have the highest job satisfaction in the U.S. military. Her research shows that the military system, based on rank and performance, overrides many of the racial and gender biases found in the civilian job market. In the military white males lose many of the advantages they have in the outside world and racial minorities and women benefit from the more meritocratic system. Overall, Lundquist says, African-American women are the most positive and satisfied with their military jobs, and white males are the least satisfied. Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/6/08. Jane E. Fountain (political science) comments in a story about how technology such as e-mail and voicemail can help professors, but only if they learn to control it. Business Green [U.K.], 6/4/08 (and many other major news outlets); The Enquirer [Cincinnati], 6/3/08; Journal Sentinel [Milwaukee], 6/2/08. A study done by faculty members Robert Pollin and Jeanette Wicks-Lim at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) concluded that 45 occupations employing over 14 million people across the US could benefit from increased investment in green measures. It lists many new U.S. “green jobs” that can be created by having the country focus on energy conservation and reducing global warming. In Cincinnati that might be electrical workers’ union members learning about solar energy; in Wisconsin it could be finding ways to conserve energy with more efficient heating and cooling systems. Read the report. 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