The Juniper Initiative for Arts and Action has been awarded an $8,300 grant from the Mass Cultural Council through its Cultural Investment Portfolio program. The Juniper Initiative for Arts and Action is part of the English department and housed in the MFA for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The Professor Chester Davis Scholarship Fund was established in memory of Chester Davis by his wife Penny Ralston. Professor Davis was one of the first Afro-American studies professors at UMass Amherst and served on the faculty from 1971 to 1992. This fund provides financial support to undergraduate students in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. The first Chester Davis Scholarship was awarded this fall to Ariana Vazquez '21, a double major in Afro-American studies and sociology.

The December issue of the Chinese journal Foreign Language and Literature Studies will feature three articles spotlighting the career of Steven Tracy, Distinguished University Professor of Afro-American Studies.

On Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 3:00 p.m., the UMass Amherst Department of Music and Dance will present a virtual concert featuring beloved long-time piano professor Nadine Shank, who passed away in October. The video, titled "Celestial Graces: A Remembrance of Nadine Shank," features recent performances by her and numerous current and former colleagues, along with a few selections captured during concerts with her fellow UMass faculty members over the past few years. The free event will be streamed on a one-time-only basis on the department’s YouTube channel.

What we witnessed yesterday in Washington, D.C. was shocking and deeply disturbing. The storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob incited by lies and anti-democratic propaganda is something that most of us could never have imagined. It was a boiling-over of a dangerous, truth-denying movement that has been simmering unchecked for far too long.

On December 16, 2020, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced $32.8 million in grants to support 213 humanities projects in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Two UMass Amherst faculty members, Melissa Mueller and Traci Parker, are among the new cohort of NEH fellowship recipients. They each received $60,000 to work on projects in their fields.