Meredith Aleigha Wells ’17, has discovered that limitation breeds creativity. Since graduating from UMass Amherst with a BDIC in musical theater, Wells has found many ways to work in the field, despite a scarcity of roles for performers with disabilities and the constraints of COVID-19.

Jonathan Skolnik, associate professor of German in the languages, literatures, and cultures department at UMass Amherst, has been awarded a research fellowship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In Spring 2021, Skolnik will be in residence as the William J. Lowenberg Memorial Fellow at the USHMM’s Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies.

Taylor Mickens ‘21, a double major in music and theater, recently placed in the top three finishers in BroadwayWorld’s national “Next On Stage” competition.

Ela Gezen, associate professor of German in the languages, literatures, and cultures department, recently edited a special issue of Monatshefte, the oldest continuing journal of German studies in the U.S. The issue focused on and highlighted the continued significance of the creative work and cultural-political contributions of Aras Ören, one of the earliest and most significant contributors to the emergence of Turkish-German literature.

Ajla Aksamija, associate professor in the department of architecture, has been elected as the vice president of the Facade Tectonics Institute (FTI). FTI is a non-profit member organization for the architectural, engineering and construction industry. Its mission is to accelerate transformative change in the built environment toward common goals of resilience and sustainability, specifically focusing on buildings’ facades. FTI’s members include professionals from an array of building industry sectors—owners, developers, architects, engineers, consultants, contractors, manufacturers, as well as academic and other institutions.

Martín Espada, professor in the UMass Amherst Department of English and winner of the Poetry Foundation’s 2018 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, published a new collection of poetry on January 19, 2021. Titled Floaters (Norton), Espada’s book “offers exuberant odes and defiant elegies, songs of protest and songs of love from one of the essential voices in American poetry.”