Please note this event occurred in the past.
April 10, 2024 10:00 am - 12:00 pm ET
Herter Hall 616
UMass Amherst
161 Presidents Drive
Amherst MA 01003

Join our Writer-in-Residence, sport historian Amy Bass, during her office hours in Herter 616.

Writer-In-Residence Program

This residency is presented by the UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History as part of the 2024 History Writer-In-Residence Program. Supported by Five Colleges, Inc., this program hosts renowned writers whose historical work engages broad public audiences in residence in the UMass Amherst Department of History.

Writer and professor Amy Bass.
Amy Bass
2024 UMass History Writer-in-Residence

Emmy award winning writer Amy Bass, Ph.D., is Professor of Sport Studies and Chair of the Division of Social Science and Communication at Manhattanville College. As a writer and scholar, she engages audiences inside and outside of academia with a focus on sport, culture, and politics. Her first book, Not the Triumph, but the Struggle: the 1968 Olympic Games and the Making of the Black Athlete, is considered a standard-bearer for the study of sport from a cultural perspective. Her most recent work, One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together, was named a best book of 2018 by the Boston Globe and Library Journal; was featured on the Today Show, NPR’s “The Takeaway,” “Midday,” “Under the Radar,” and “Only a Game,” and excerpted in both Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s The Undefeated. It has been optioned for film. In its starred review of the book, Kirkus called ONE GOAL “an edifying and adrenaline-charged tale,” while the Wall Street Journal declared it “the perfect parable for our time,” and the Globe & Mail dubbed it “magnificent and significant.” She edits her own series, “Sporting,” for Temple University Press. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Salon and CNN Opinion, where she is a frequent contributor on the intersections of sport, culture, and politics, and she provides sport commentary for Northeast Public Radio. A veteran of eight Olympic Games, she received her Emmy in 2012 for Outstanding Live Event Turnaround for her work for NBC’s Olympics coverage in London. A native of the Berkshires, she resides in the New York metropolitan area with her husband, daughter, and a dog named Cuffy. Bass received a Ph.D. in History with distinction from Stony Brook University.

Getting Here

This event will be held in the UMass Amherst History Department: 616 Herter Hall, 161 Presidents Drive, Amherst, MA 01003. Herter Hall is located on UMass’s Haigis Mall and is a short distance from the Robsham Visitors Center public parking lot (300 Massachusetts Ave, Amherst, MA, $1.50/hour). Herter Hall is wheelchair accessible. To request additional accommodations, email the communications office at: communications@history.umass.edu.


More info: Campus Map with the Venue Indicated | Driving Directions to the Parking Lot | Bus Schedule


Departmental (co)sponsorship of various types of events does not constitute an endorsement of the views expressed by the presenters, either at the events in question or in other venues. Rather, sponsorship is an endorsement of the exploration of complex and sometimes difficult topics. The UMass History Department is committed to promoting the free and peaceful exchange of ideas, one of the most important functions of the university.