At
high noon on a glorious September day, a group
of dignitaries from UMass and Hokkaido University in Japan gathered to
honor Hokkaido University President Norihito Tambo. UMass President William
Bulger conferred the honorary degree at the William S. Clark Memorial.
Clark was instrumental in the founding of both Massachusetts Agricultural
College and Hokkaido, and served as president of both schools. The convocation
was part of a series of events celebrating both the 125th anniversary
of the relationship between UMass and Hokkaido, and the the tenth anniversary
of the “sister state” relationship between Hokkaido Prefecture
and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Dept.
of distinctions: Good news from all over. U.S.
News & World Report’s nationwide rankings has named UMass
one of its “Great Schools at a Great Price,” and ranks the College
of Engineering in the top quarter of graduate programs, at number 49 out
of 219. The magazine also continues to list UMass’ programs in linguistics
and polymer science at number one in the country and the MFA program in
creative writing at number ten. Meanwhile the Times of London profiled
UMass as one of three “foreign” universities in a feature about
British students who study abroad. The other two institutions are Harvard
University and Trinity College in Dublin.
John Edgar Wideman, professor of English, earned
more kudos this year as his story, “Weight,” won the O. Henry
Award for best story of 2000. He was also the subject of an entire literary
conference at the University of Virginia in the spring. His story was
originally published in the UVA-sponsored literary journal, Callaloo.
Wideman was honored at a formal ceremony in New York on Oct. 10,
where he also gave a reading.
A surveillance camera making taped recordings
of a courtyard in the Southwest Residential Area was installed in September
to groans from some student leaders objecting to “Big Brother”
tactics. Officials insist that the tapes will be used only in case of
emergencies, such as the attacks on firefighters that occurred during
a power outage last April.
Party’s
over? Good-bye to Mike’s Westview Café,
which opened in the ’40s and remained a warm, smoky place for generations
of students and locals. But times change, and smoking now brings a police
citation in Amherst. State alcohol investigators have been operating stings
snagging underage drinkers and revoking licenses. Mike’s was revoked,
but not before owner Trudie DiNatale had put the bar up for sale. In any
case, could it be that students are turning to bottled water instead of
the hard stuff? This year’s Princeton Review guide to colleges
dropped UMass from its list of party schools.
