The SBS in Cape Town program brought together students from UMass Amherst and the community organization Ikhaya le Langa, in a unique partnership to create community connections and participation in experiential intercultural dialogue in South Africa.
The film A Place in the Sun – Stories from Tibet in Exile is set to premiere October 23 at the 15th annual New Asia Cinema: Across Borders Film Festival. The film, directed by Sonam Tseten, and produced by Tibet TV originated in India, is an account of Tibetan people’s identity, hope, resilience, nationalistic fervor and quest for homeland, all of which anchors the vision of the filmmaker and the characters in the film.
Assistant Professor Kimberlee Pérez, Ph.D., has been recognized for her work from both colleagues and students with two big teaching awards from UMass in 2019. Pérez was awarded the 2019 Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences last spring. This award celebrates exceptional teaching, mentoring and curriculum development efforts. She says she was honored to be recognized by both fellow faculty and her students.
Burcu Baykurt, Ph.D., assistant professor of urban futures and communication, joins the UMass Department Communication in fall 2019. Baykurt’s work focuses on infrastructures, governance and inequalities. Her current book project is an ethnographic account of test-bed urbanism, in which residents and public officials partner with technology companies to build the “smart city” in urban centers long plagued by divides.
For the first time in the organization’s history, the 2019 Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) Summer Institute was held on the East Coast. The Integrative Learning Center at UMass Amherst opened its doors to the group dedicated to advancing Chicana/Latinx and Native American women students, academics, and activists.
Jaclyn Nicholson is a Commonwealth Honors College student from Gardner who received dual degrees in marketing and communication in 2019, along with a certificate in media literacy.
Nicholson is among a total of ten members of the graduating class who will be honored as 21st Century Leaders at Undergraduate Commencement.
