Our faculty, staff and students are always active, doing things to make the world a better place, and sometimes getting noticed while they do. Here are some descriptions and links (when available) of the latest interesting projects they are doing. If one of our faculty, staff, student or graduate is getting recognized in the world and we have missed it, tell us about it. Email your news to: lindah@wost.umass.edu

Faculty Candidates Visit Campus!
Women's Studies has two searches in progress for Assistant Professors. One position is a Five College Position in Feminist Science Studies and the other is for a scholar in gender and sexuality studies.

Click here for the schedule of public lectures of the candidates for the Five College Feminist Sciences studies Assistant Professor position which will have as its home department UMass Amherst Women’s Studies and include responsibilities at Mount Holyoke College and Hampshire College.

Click here for a schedule of the public lectures of the candidates for the Women’s Studies Assistant Professor with a focus in Gender and Sexuality studies.

The spring newsletter is finished and at the printer. For more newsletter, see the link on the front page.

Our thoughts are with Arlene Avakian and Martha Ayres who are mourning the loss of their son Neal Ryan. Neal died suddenly in January. His full obituary:

Neal Ryan died very suddenly on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at the young age of 46. Loving friends and family gave him a send off by singing three of his favorite Beatles tunes: “Blackbird,” “All You Need is Love,” and “Let it Be.” Neal forged an independent and rich life. From an early age he loved music, especially rock and roll, and as he matured his brilliance was revealed when at a moment’s notice he offered rare and normally forgotten facts about American musical history from his amazing store of information about the artists and their contexts. He had a large stash of music, books, videos, and maps and he hunted for his collectibles at flea markets, tag sales, and record conventions where he was well known for his expertise. Neal had a wide variety of friends whom he often recruited to drive him to his various destinations, especially when the buses were not running and he was not able to get around on his own. He worked in food services for much of his life, most recently at Hampshire College. He is survived by his mothers, Arlene Avakian and Martha Ayres of Amherst, his sister Leah Ryan of New York City, and his father Jake Ryan of Ithaca, NY. Donations may be made in Neal’s name to the youth educational programs Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at 1100 Rock and Roll Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44114. Neal – we love you and miss you.

Our grads always make us proud! Some recent examples:

Janet E. Aalfs, director since 1982 of Valley Women^Òs Martial Arts: Institute for Health and Violence Prevention Strategies, and former poet laureate of Northampton, has been honored as one of the Feminist Who Changed America 1963-1975 in a new book by Barbara Love, published in 2006.

Jackson Katz, nationally known edicator, author and filmmaker wrote The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help, published in 2006. For information: themachoparadox.com

Elena Azzoni was recently published in the Seal Press anthology: We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists (2006).

Hungry for more news? Take a look at our bi-annual newsletters from the current semester back until the beginning of the program. And if you're hungry for more old news, see past news items posted on the website for Spring/Summer 2007, Fall 2006, Spring 2006, and Fall 2005.