SBS Senior Celebration Ceremony
Well over 900 graduates attended the SBS Senior Celebration Ceremony on May 14 at the Mullins Center. Reminding them that only about a quarter of our nation's adult population holds college degrees, Dean Robert Feldman challenged them to use their intelligence, talent and motivation to improve the fortunes of others. Visit our photo gallery. Read Senior Speakers' presentations.

SBS Honors Outstanding Teachers
The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences' Outstanding Teaching Award this year has been presented to Michael Ash (economics and public policy) and Betsy Krause (anthropology). Instituted in 1995 to augment the University Distinguished Teaching Award, the award allows the college to formally recognize its very talented teachers. Candidates are nominated by their peers and selected by the SBS Instructional Quality Council. Read more about Ash. Read more about Krause.

New PhD Blazed Trail for Women in Radio
Walking across the Mullins Center stage to receive her PhD in communication a few weeks ago marked another milestone in 64-year-old Donna Halper’s rather extraordinary life in radio and print. A well-known media historian, radio consultant, author of five books, and assistant professor at Lesley University, she also holds claim to discovering the rock group Rush back in the 1970s. Read more...

Students Receive SBS Scholarships
Congratulations to all of this year's SBS students who earned scholarships for internships, study abroad and meritorious academic achievement. Each of these scholarships—78 this year—is funded through private gifts.  If it were not for the generous support of alumni and friends, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences would be unable to acknowledge these remarkable students and contribute to their undergraduate educations. Click here to see a complete listing of the recipients and photos from the May 7 celebration.

• Etkin '81 Honors Prof. Gere with Scholarship
• NPR News Names Cornish Host of "Weekend Edition Sunday"
• IREX Funds Anthro Grad Student to Study History Initiatives in Balkans
• New Leader of the Band

• WGBY Ads Win PBS Inspiration Award
• Upcoming Events
• Alumni News
• Faculty and Department News
• SBS in the News
• A Word from SBS

Etkin '81 Honors Prof. Gere with Scholarship
When alumni reflect on their time at UMass Amherst, they often think of the life-long friendships forged in dormitories and classrooms, late night study sessions, challenging classes, and even our award-winning dining halls. Or, if they are like Steve Etkin ’81 (political science), they think of favorite professors. To commemorate his thirtieth reunion, Etkin – now a Senior Appraiser at Arbella Insurance – established the Edwin A. Gere, Jr. Scholarship in honor of professor emeritus Edwin Gere. Read more...

NPR News Names Cornish Host of "Weekend Edition Sunday"
NPR News has named Audie Cornish ’01 (journalism) the new host of "Weekend Edition Sunday." Cornish, who has reported from Capitol Hill since 2009 and served as substitute host for NPR since 2006, will be the new voice of Sunday mornings for millions of public radio listeners beginning this fall. Read more...

IREX Funds Anthro Grad Student to Study History Initiatives in Balkans
The Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) Program of IREX, an international nonprofit that provides thought leadership and innovative programs to promote positive lasting change globally, has awarded a fellowship to graduate student Dana Johnson (anthropology) for her project "Rewriting the Balkans: Memory, Historiography, and the Making of a European Citizenry." Read more...

New Leader of the Band
Timothy T. Anderson has been named director of the Minuteman Marching Band, following a national search. Anderson comes from California State University, Fresno, where he served as director of its marching band for the past five years. Anderson, 37, will succeed George Parks, who led the Minuteman Marching Band to national prominence during his 33-year career and died suddenly last September while traveling with the band. Read more...

WGBY Ads Win PBS Inspiration Award
This winter's UMass ad project with WGBY has won a national PBS Inspiration Award. This year only six stations out of 354 won the national award. The recognition that went to WGBY encompassed each of the spots (one for each college/school) as well as the organization of the entire project – how the Springfield station's production and development teams worked together with UMass to deliver the campaign. View the SBS ad here and link through to the full set.

Upcoming Events
Bookmark the Events Calendar on the SBS website. There you'll find a listing of upcoming events related to the programs and departments in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences of interest to alumni, students, faculty and/or friends. View it by week, by month, or as a listing.

From time to time the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences sponsors lectures, panels and programs that may be of special interest to alumni. Most of these take place on campus, generally in the late afternoon or early evening, and are free. If you are interested in receiving notification of these events, let us know and we'll put you on a listserv.

Alumni News
Veteran radio newsman Bob Paquette ’77 (communication), host of “Morning Edition” on WFCR, died of a heart attack on May 28 in Bloomfield, Conn. Paquette joined the WFCR staff in 1991 and served as news director for eight years. He was also known on campus as the volunteer announcer at commencement ceremonies. Read more...

Scott Hiller '90 (political science) is volunteer assistant coach for Northwestern University women's lacrosse that won this year's NCAA  championship in May, beating top-seeded Maryland. The team is headed by his wife, Kelly Amonte Hiller. Scott is a standout lacrosse player and coach in his own right. He is third on the career points list at UMass, where he was one of just two players to be named All-American all four years. Currently he is co-president and general manager of the Washington Bayhawks of Major League Lacrosse. Read more...

Jackie Lyons ’11 (sociology) was named to three All-American lacrosse teams after scoring 41 goals and 32 assists as the Minutewomen captured the Atlantic 10 title and advanced to the NCAA tournament. She finished her career as the team’s all-time scorer with 226 points, games played and games started. She was also a two-time A-10 offensive player of the year. Read more...

An ad for the UMass system produced by Eran Lobel ’89 (communication/economics), owner of Element Productions of Allston, MA, has won a New England Emmy (best commercial). “Truly World Class," narrated by actor Bill Pullman MFA '80, debuted last fall. Read more...

Race horse Mucho Macho Man, owned by Dean and Patti Reeves ’82 (communication), came in third in Kentucky Derby! In the Preakness, he came in sixth, having pulled a shoe. Stay tuned for the Belmont on June 11!

Former UMass hockey player Peter Trovato ’05 (journalism/political science) is the founder of the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund, which provides money to guarantee college funding for the children of Massachusetts soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received the Alumni Association's Distinguished Young Alumni Award this year. Read a profile.

George Epstein ’48 sent in some memories of his undergraduate years. "We had about 2000 students in entire student body. It was great school then too. . . Lots of school spirit. Everyone was friendly. To help with expenses, many kids worked on nearby farms (you could eat all the apples you wanted!). Tuition was about $300 per year; I had the Lotta Crabtree scholarship—also worked in the chem lab. It was also lots of fun. (I became a chemist—did grad work at MIT and enjoyed a wonderful fulfilling career. At age 84, am still involved [and] have second career -- Poker (have written two poker books, am columnist for two poker newspapers, and teach poker at senior center and at West LA College. Great recreation for older folks!). I was there when we changed from MSC to UMass, and, serving as sports editor, ran the contest to name our sports teams. Great professors -- even played baseball against their team. (Prof. Walter Ritchie was a good sport when I slid into second base and knocked him down.) Prof. J. Harold Smith was my idol; encouraged me to study and enjoy learning chemistry. . . Recall annual tug-of-war at College Pond. Math and Physics taught in old wooden buildings. Goessmann (chem.) Lab was magnificent. So many wonderful memories. So many wonderful classmates and profs."

Please send us your news! Also, view upcoming alumni events, sponsored by the Alumni Association, on their Events Listing. And check out MaroonCentral, the Alumni Association's online community. This is a FREE social networking service that encourages communication and professional networking among alumni and students through class notes, profiles, a searchable directory, and more.

Faculty and Department News
The Amherst Energy Task Force honored Mark Hamin (landscape architecture and regional planning) with the second annual Arthur Swift Memorial Bicycle Commuter award. Hamin commutes year-round by bicycle from his home in North Amherst. "I like it because it's convenient," says Hamin, director of the master's of regional planning program. "I don't live that far away, and it's good for my health. I definitely feel much healthier riding in."

In May Jane Fountain (political science and public policy), director of the National Center for Digital Government and the Science, Technology and Society Initiative, gave the keynote address at the United Nations Conference on e-Government in Asia and the Pacific in Seoul. Read more...

Jack Ahern (landscape architecture and regional planning), vice provost for International Programs, was inducted as a Fellow of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture at the national organization's annual meeting in Los Angeles. Read more...

David Mednicoff (Center for Public Policy and Administration), associate director of STPEC, presented his research in Singapore as part of a two-day international conference on the Arab Gulf region. Read more...

Research Professor Mitch Mulholland (anthropology), director of Archaeological Services, retired in May after three decades of research, scholarship, and dedication to his field that touched the lives of thousands. In addition to a festive send-off on May 28, a professional tribute took place earlier in the day at the annual Conference of the New England Archaeology, held at UMass.

SBS in the News
New York Times (Economix blog), 5/30/11. Nancy Folbre (economics) discusses “shared capitalism,” whereby businesses share profits with employees. She notes that her colleague, Fidan Kurtulus and another economist last week presented evidence at the London School of Economics that companies with employee ownership showed greater employment stability during economic downturns between 1999 and 2008.  New York Times (Economix blog), 5/9/11. Nancy Folbre (economics) discusses how publicly-subsidized jobs and unemployment insurance for single parents, especially single women, could make the employment environment less stressful. She argues that many of these workers rely heavily on their own earnings and find it harder to make child-care arrangement while job-hunting. New York Times (Economix blog), 5/2/11. Nancy Folbre (economics) writes about how globalization weakens the link between economic recovery, increased profits and job creation in the United States.

Amherst Bulletin, 5/27/11. A remembrance of William F. Field, first dean of students at UMass, who died May 22, includes comments from Prof. Emeritus Lewis Mainzer (political science).

New York Times, 5/27/11. In a letter to the editor, M.V. Lee Badgett (economics), director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, responds to an op-ed that took issue with her research on the positive economic impact of same-sex marriage.  Worcester Telegram & Gazette, 5/11/11. Badgett co-authors a column on a study in Massachusetts that found that more than three-quarters of the 283 transgendered people surveyed reported some form of discrimination. Such discrimination costs Massachusetts at least $3 million a year in higher social service expenditures and millions more in lost income taxes. Badgett says the study focused on Massachusetts because there is a bill under consideration in the Legislature to ban such discrimination. Boston Globe, 5/11/11. Badgett comments in an article about the study.

Muskegon Chronicle [Mich.], 5/23/11. The Bluegreen Alliance in Muskegon, MI, distributed copies of a Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) report on the economic benefits of a green chemical industry in the U.S. The alliance is encouraging communities with ties to the chemical industry to work with chemical companies to create new products and processes as well as new jobs. Black Star News, 5/16/11. A columnist writing about the National Urban League’s upcoming “jobs tour” of New England, designed to promote job creation, cites the finding by PERI that New England lost 348,000 jobs between December 2007 and November 2009. Hartford Courant, 5/15/11. An economics columnist discussing myths about state government in Connecticut cites a PERI study that found, when age and educational level are taken into account, the average public-sector worker earns about 2% less than an equivalent private sector employee.

Boston Herald, 5/22/11. Tom Juravich (labor studies) says that legislation to take away the ability of municipal unions to control their own health plans is not simply a cost-cutting measure, but rather is part of an attempt to weaken all unions in the state.

Earthtechling.com, 5/19/11. Robert Pollin (economics), co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), says the U.S. Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program for renewable energy is not well understood.The program, he says, makes borrowing by startup companies easier because it backs up loans. The overall goal is to boost innovation in new fields of energy development, he says. Iwatchnews.org, 5/13/11. A new report co-authored by Pollin and James Heintz (PERI) says a shift to “green” chemistry and stronger regulation of toxic chemicals could help revive the nation’s chemical industry. They say such a shift will create new market opportunities and create jobs in a sector that has lost more than 300,000 jobs since 1992. The Real News Network, 5/2/11. Pollin and former economics faculty member Leonce Ndikumana, director of operations policy at the African Development Bank, discuss how some African countries are borrowing and investing in an effort to create jobs.

WGBY-TV "Connecting Point," 5/18/11. Brooks Fitch interviews John R. Mullin (landscape architecture and regional planning), director of the Center for Economic Development and dean of the UMass Graduate School, about the UMass/Springfield partnership.

Boston.com, 5/17/11. B.J. Roche (journalism) blogs about how students are leaving college with ever larger amounts of debt and highlights some people and organizations that offer scholarships to help reduce that debt. SBS is prominently noted for offering lifelines to talented students.

WAMC “Academic Minute”; Inside Higher Ed, 5/16/11. Michelle Budig (sociology) discusses the financial cost of motherhood and why mothers consistently earn less.

WGBY-TV "Connecting Point," 5/13/11. Political consultant Tony Cignoli, Mike Hannahan (political science), and Jerold Duquette from Central Connecticut State University discuss the coming presidential race, the 2012 Massachusetts contest for U.S Senator and the odds of western Massachusetts keeping both of its congressional seats during re-districting.

Masslive.com, 5/12/11. Ray La Raja (political science) and U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal of Springfield (who also teaches in the journalism program) discuss why Massachusetts is losing a seat in the U.S. House and how that might affect western and central Massachusetts in a program put together by Mai Hedayat-Zadet ’12 (journalism/environmental design), a member of the SBS Dean's Student Advisory Council and a winner of one of this year's SBS Dean's Opportunity Fund Scholarships.

Yahoo! News, 5/10/11. Deepankar Basu (economics) is co-author of a Political Economy Research Institute study that shows a weakening link between economic growth and job creation.

Foreign Affairs, 5/9/11. Charli Carpenter (political science) writes about the need for a truly independent agency within the United Nations to investigate war crimes. She says the current system is flawed and depends on offending governments cooperating with investigators and accepting criticism, something few if any countries will actually do.

The Real News Network, 5/5/11; part 2, 5/9/11. Professor Emeritus and Sheridan Scholar James Crotty (economics) discusses how some conservatives want to return the U.S. to a 1920s-style of unregulated capitalism and weak unions.

Colorado Independent, 5/5/11. Colorado conservation groups are citing a report by James Heintz (Political Economy Research Institute) that says EPA regulation of greenhouse gases will create 1.4 million new jobs. The groups are opposing a member of the Colorado congressional delegation who supports curtailing the EPA's ability to do so.

Iowa Independent, 5/3/11. A report by Jeffrey Thompson (Political Economy Research Institute) finds that higher taxes do not play a notable role in causing people to move to a different county or state. Other factors, mainly employment, housing and family concerns, are what motivate people to move.

WGGB-TV 40, 5/2/11. Steve Fox (journalism) discusses the role of social media', and Twitter in particular, in breaking news about the death of Osama bin Laden. “There’s a multi-platform world going on here,” he says. “People no longer get their info from just one source.”

A Word from SBS
This e-letter has been created for alumni and friends of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. SBS includes the degree-granting departments and programs of Anthropology, Communication, Economics, Environmental Design, Journalism, Labor Studies, Landscape Architecture, Legal Studies, Political Science, Public Policy and Administration, Social Thought and Political Economy (STPEC), and Sociology. Among our ranks are 38,600 alumni, 3,700 undergraduate majors, and 560 graduate students. In addition to its departments, SBS is home to numerous centers and research institutions. Through the general education courses that SBS offers, the College’s 200 faculty members teach one quarter of the nearly 20,000 undergraduates on campus in any given semester.

Gifts from alumni and friends are vital to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Your investment allows us to create remarkable opportunities for today’s—and tomorrow's—students. If you are already a donor, please accept our sincere thanks. If not, please consider a gift to SBS for your department, student financial aid, a purpose that speaks to your personal experiences and priorities, or an unrestricted designation. To make a gift online, click here. Or, send a check to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Draper Hall, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 40 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA 01003-9244. Questions? Contact James Mallet, 413.577.1700.

We welcome feedback related to this newsletter, the college in general, specific concerns, or topics of interest. Please address all correspondence, including story ideas, to Sabine Cray, director of communications and marketing. If you wish to add your name to the mailing list, or if you wish to unsubscribe, please contact us. If you have had a change of address, email or other personal information, you can update it online. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences respects your privacy. Your contact information will not be shared with anyone unrelated to the University of Massachusetts Amherst.