SBS Newsletter – October 2011
In this issue
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 SBS Economists to Advise Senator on Fed Reserve Reform  CPPA Wins National Social Equity Award  Student Success is Topic of the Day
Upcoming Events Sat, November 5. Cole Lecture in Contemporary Issues. Assoc. Prof. Erica Scharrer (communication). "Virtual Violence: Gender and Aggression in Television and Video Games." Noon – 1:00 p.m., Mullins Center, Massachusetts Room. Free and open to all; registration required due to limited space. Sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Read more... Mon, November 7. Inauguration of the Andrew Glyn Professorship. Celebration in Recognition of Professor Léonce Ndikumana as the first Andrew Glyn Professor of Economics. 4 – 5:00 p.m., Gordon Hall Thu, November 11. Zube Lecture Series. Eighth of the weekly series will feature Lucinda Sanders, CEO, OLIN Landscape Architecture, Philadelphia whose topic will be: Scales of Resilience.4 – 5:00 p.m. Procopio Room, 105 Hills North. Free, open to the public. Light refreshments. 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 Alan L. LeBovidge '64 (economics) is senior vice president and chief financial officer for Brandot International Ltd., an investment firm that specializes in creating joint venture partnerships with apparel and textile companies. LeBovidge spent 32 years with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in positions of increasing responsibility including vice chairman of the tax division. In 2001, he was appointed Commissioner of Revenue for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, serving for 5½ years. From 2007 until 2009, he served as executive director of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Also, a New York Times article about Mitt Romney assertively closing corporate tax loopholes while he was governor of Massachusetts heavily quotes LeBovidge. LeBovidge, who was State Commissioner of Revenue then, found that dozens of Massachusetts banks had reduced their taxes by transferring billions of dollars in assets and, with Romney's support moved forward aggressively, increasing revenues by $110 million in 2003 alone. For the next three years LeBovidge continued this quest, increasing revenues substantially each year, until Romney began seeking the presidential nomination. October's Dean's Leadership Briefing in NYC provided an opportunity for area alumni to hear about SBS news and discuss issues of importance to students. Maxwell Comando ’11 (anthropology), a recipient of a 2010 Spring Study Abroad Scholarship, spoke about his semester abroad in the Netherlands. In addition, Venuza LaVeaux ’09 (journalism), a recipient of the Bacherman Scholarship Award, addressed the importance of her internship with Dateline NBC in New York. She is working on her master’s degree at CUNY-Brooklyn College. Ben Brody '12 (journalism) is in Egypt as part of a team of 17 top, young Egyptian and American journalists reporting on the country's 'unfinished revolution' from the ground in Cairo for GlobalPost and The Open Hands Initiative. Take a look at their work. Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen '81 (journalism) wrote a great article on new UMass President Robert Caret and his Massachusetts bus tour that appeared in the 10/16 issue. Maggie Freleng '11 (journalism/English) is a correspondent for the Boston Globe. Don't miss her travel article on bike rides in the Pioneer Valley. The Huffington Post has purchased Localocracy, founded in 2009 by Conor White-Sullivan '10 (anthropology) while he was still a student. The company serves as an online forum that encourages users to engage in local issues. White-Sullivan and his team members Aaron Soules '10 (communication) and Jay Boice will be joining the Huffington Post Media Group to work on the intersection of editorial and technology and deepen the sites’ engagement with users. Read more in BostInnovation. Also, read White-Sullivan's piece on winning the Harvard Elevator Pitch Competition. S.P. Sullivan '10 (journalism) conducted a series of interviews with Occupy Wall Street protestors in Zuccotti Park, New York City and provided commentary for WFCR New England Public Radio Morning Edition (10/21/11) Two Fulbrights have been awarded to recent SBS alumni: Alina Lindblom '11 (political science) received a scholarship to teach English in the Czech Republic, and Alexandra Sprague '11 (anthropology) received a grant to conduct research on mobile garden designs in Mongolia. Read more... The Nagler Group, a NH-based provider of administrative and human resource staffing services, founded by Matthew Nagler '99 (communication), has been named to Business New Hampshire Magazine’s “10 Companies to Watch” list. The magazine’s Private 100 issue featured the region’s fastest growing organizations with The Nagler Group earning honors as one of the state’s fastest growing businesses. Lori (Kessler) Shemtob '77 (communication), a divorce and family lawyer, has been named to the Advisory Board of Prevent Child Abuse Pennsylvania that encourages public participation in keeping kids safe. She will share her expertise in program development and community outreach. Shemtob is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), an honor bestowed on only 70 attorneys in Pennsylvania. She also is AAML certified as an Arbitrator. Barry Siegel '86 (political science) has authored Managing the Sale of Your Business: What You Need to Know (Aspatore Press, 2011). Last February he joined the Philadelphia office of the law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC as a shareholder, after 17 years as a partner with Klehr, Harrison, Harvey and Branzburg LLP in Philadelphia. Siegel's practice concentrates on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital transactions, and general transactional representations. Heath "HJ" Brightman '90 (leisure studies and resources [once part of landscape architecture and regional planning]) was promoted in August to research (full) professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport. He also is the director, applied research & analysis in the war gaming department. Kara Doran '08 (communication) is with the energy and environment team at Rasky Baerlin, a communications and government relations firm. She crafts communications materials, designing long-term, integrated strategic communication plans, and media relations efforts. Doran’s background includes a stint at the Rendon Group, working on various projects including the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Campaign and the International Women2Women Leadership Program. Earlier, Doran interned in the Office of Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA), the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, ABC 40 in Springfield, MA, WHDH-TV, Boston’s NBC affiliate and WBZ-TV, Boston’s CBS affiliate. Peter Flynn PhD '08 (communication) turned part of his doctoral dissertation into a feature-length documentary about the first American silent film company to make movies in Ireland."Blazing the Trail: The O'Kalems in Ireland" premiered at the Irish Film Festival in Boston last spring and has been selected to screen at many film festivals around the world. With two colleagues from Harvard School of Public Health, Eric McNulty '81 (economics) has co-authored Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration (Jossey-Bass, 2011). It explores the challenges leaders face in light of the many changes in health care and offers practical negotiation and leadership tools and techniques for meeting them. 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 Prof. Emeritus George Sulzner (political science) has won the Donner Medal for distinguished achievement, scholarship, and program innovation in the area of Canadian Studies in the United States. Read more... Robert Paynter (anthropology) is the principal investigator at an archaeological dig at the site of the former Sanford Tavern in Hawley, where students from Mohawk Trail Regional High School have been excavating for artifacts. Professor Emeritus Edward Bruce MacDougall (landscape architecture and regional planning), former head of the department and former dean of the College of Food and Natural Resources, died Oct. 15 at his home in Amherst. A memorial service was held Oct. 20. Read more... Asst. Prof. Nina Siulc (legal studies) has been elected to the board of directors for the Consortium of Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs (CULJP). The Consortium, formed in 2003, "is an organization for colleges and universities that have interdisciplinary programs geared toward undergraduate education about law and justice in the United States and Internationally." Asst. Prof. Stuart Shulman (political science), director of the Qualitative Data Analysis Program, received an award for "Outstanding Information Technology-Related Work" at the 2011 American Political Science Association (APSA) annual conference in Seattle, WA. Read more... Instructor Carl Vigeland (online journalism certificate) has published The Breathless Present: A Memoir in Four Movements (Levellers Press, 2011). It is described as telling "several intersecting stories in a variety of voices that mirror music’s power to transmute memory and affirm life." SBS in the News Ontario Today, 10/26/11. Author Amy Schalet (sociology), whose book, Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens and the Culture of Sex, explores differing attitudes about teen sex between American parents and their counterparts in Holland, says parents who let their kids have sex at home exert more influence than parents who say, "Not here." Listen to call-ins and commentary. MacLean's (Canada), 10/25/11. Schalet and her new book are discussed in the health section's lead story. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 10/10/11. A columnist writes about Schalet and her new book. Schalet spoke at the 32nd annual Healthy Teen Network Conference in Pittsburgh. Aljazeera.net, 10/25/11. Jillian Schwedler (political science) compares the Arab Spring movement, that has toppled political regimes in the Middle East, and Occupy Wall Street, the growing response to corporate power and inequality in societies around the world. Las Vegas Review-Journal, 10/25/11. Ventura Perez (anthropology) discusses the effect of the Mexican drug cartels and narcotics wars on Mexico and the city of Ciudad Juarez as part of a lecture series hosted by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Daily Hampshire Gazette, 10/25/11. PhD candidate Boone Shear (anthropology) weighs in on the motivation behind the protestors in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Associated Press, picked up by Washington Post, The Guardian, CBS News, et al, 10/23/11. Sheldon Goldman (political science), expert on the federal judicial system, comments in an article about cutting judges' power. Philly.com, 10/2/11. Goldman says President Barack Obama’s federal judicial appointments show his commitment to diversity. Morning Call [Allentown, Penn.], 10/20/11; Sydney Morning Herald, 9/29/11. Emily West (communication) says sympathy cards for those who have lost their jobs help legitimize a sentiment and take some of the difficulty out of sending support and concern to a friend. Journal Sentinel [Milwaukee, Wis.], 10/19/11. Sut Jhally (communication) says DC Comics reboot, that reissued 52 new first issues of popular comic books such as Superman, may not be healthy. "I look at this as extending adolescence almost into middle age, which is not good for society, either," he says. New York Times (Economix blog), 10/17/11. Nancy Folbre (economics) discusses the Occupy Wall Street movement and what it may mean for the debate about wealth distribution in the U.S. Visiting the protestors in New York City showed her that they weren’t proposing class warfare, but were instead expressing class rage. Deccan Herald [Bangalore, India], 10/4/11. A reposted NY Times blog entry by Folbre looks at whether minimum wage laws help or hurt low-wage workers. She mentions studies by Arindrajit Dube (economics) et al. that found such laws had no negative impact on employment, but did increase income for workers in food services and retail employment. New York Times (Economix blog), 10/3/11. Folbre writes about how the debate over taxing wealthy individuals, called “class warfare” by conservatives and Republicans, is the latest version of ongoing economic discussion about conflict between groups. WFCR, 10/13/11. Eve Weinbaum (labor studies), director of the Labor Center, was interviewed about similarities between the Occupy Wall Street movement and what was happening during the Great Depression. She says there are many parallels between what is happening now and what took place in the 1930s. Daily Hampshire Gazette, 10/14/11. A story on the Occupy Wall Street protests looks at underlying concerns of the participants. Among those commenting are Robert Pollin and Gerald Friedman (economics), and Ben Taylor '12 (political science). Bay Area Reporter, 10/13/11. Commenting on "Pride and Prejudice: Employment Discrimination Against Openly Gay Men in the United States," published in the September issue of the American Journal of Sociology, M.V. Lee Badgett (economics), director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, says the most important aspect of the study is that "it rules out differences in the gay and heterosexual applicants' skills and experience by design, so the fact that gay applicants are much less likely to be invited for an interview is hard to explain by anything other than discrimination." Springfield Republican, 10/13/11. A group of UMass Amherst students held a rally outside the Student Union on Oct. 12 calling for economic justice as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Speakers at the rally included Deepankar Basu and David Kotz (economics). HealthDay News (picked up by U.S. News & World Report, MSN.com, Yahoo! News India, iVillage.com, Bio-Medicine, Healthmonitor.com, Health.com), 10/12/11. Prof. emeritus Anthony R. Harris (sociology), and colleagues conducted a study that found black Americans are more likely than whites to die of gunshot and other assault-related injuries after they arrive at a trauma center. The study was published by the Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection and Critical Care (August). Wall Street Journal [subscription required], 10/12/11. Gerald Epstein (economics), co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, comments in a story about efforts to have academic economists adopt a code of ethics in response to criticism of ethical lapses in the profession related to the 2008 economic crisis. Epstein says a new disclosure policy adopted by the 1,200-member National Bureau of Economic Research is a good start. Daily Times [Pakistan], 10/11/11. A column by Prof. Emeritus Anwar Syed (political science) says continued hostility towards the United States will be harmful to Pakistan in the long run. CNN.com, 10/7/11. Heidi Garrett-Peltier (Political Economy Research Institute) notes that if the $5 billion cost for a new oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Texas were spent on clean energy projects, it would generate more jobs. Guardian [U.K.], 10/1/11. A column cites a study by the Political Economy Research Institute that shows more jobs are generated by public spending on education, housing, health and public transportation than by the arms industry. A Word from SBS 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. |
