A dazzling array of educational enterprises will be on display at October 29 event.
From 9 a.m. to noon, visitors to the Campus Center can sample the dazzling array of educational enterprises—from the arts to the sciences, from research to outreach, from the theoretical to the applicable—under way on campus, presented in a rich variety of forms, including performances, demonstrations, displays, and panel discussions. Expect lively interactions as students, faculty, and community members, including some 150 school children, as well as alums back for Homecoming, converge during the three-hour event, which is open to the public.
The arts are in the spotlight on the concourse. A costume parade showcasing some of the theater department’s premier creations, wends it way on the hour. As the morning unfolds, stay tuned for readings by English Department, undergraduate and graduate students and alumni, improvisations by the University Dancers, jazz played by a student ensemble, and the performance of an aria from The Captivation of Eunice Williams, a recent opera cowritten by theater professor Harley Erdman. The visually inclined may feast their eyes on paintings, pottery, computer animation, architectural models, and other artwork by UMass Amherst students, while those who prefer noshing on real calories can head downstairs to try Food Sciences’ fish-oil ice cream. The less adventurous may avail themselves of free refreshments in the “Connections” rooms, also on the lower level. (The work of budding artists, K-12 students from local schools, will be on exhibit, along with science projects and essays, in “Kids Do the Darnedest Things.”)
Alums can reconnect with professors via e-mail in “Connections” or take a seat at the morning panel discussion, “Coming Home to Memories.” “Coming Home” will give a glimpse into Isenberg School of Management professor Charlie Schewe’s research into the formation of values during your college years and invite retired administrator Dan Melley to share his compendious knowledge of the history of UMass Amherst.
In the auditorium, “New Frontiers: Innovations in Research” surveys pioneering work by UMass Amherst faculty and students in nanotechnology, anthropology, astronomy, green chemistry, computer science, and microbiology, among other areas. (That’s where the fish-oil ice cream will be.) “Learning Differences,” in rooms 168–170, focuses in particular on research being conducted on campus into the nature of learning disabilities, as well how to identify and treat them. Meanwhile, a health fair on the basement level will offer mini-check-ups: free hearing screenings, blood-pressure readings, and Body Mass Index tests, as well as guidelines for eating and exercising better, and worrying less. And did we mention the free massages?
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