Mahidhar Sai Lakkavaram

Lorraine Cordeiro, associate professor in nutrition, will be hosting this semester’s Pizza & Prof lecture. As the director of the Center for Research on Families, Cordeiro’s work dives deep into the relationship between food insecurity, high risk-health behaviors, and nutritional outcomes among adolescents and women in a variety of social and cultural settings. So, who is Lorraine Cordeiro? And why Pizza & Prof? Read on to find out more!

The spring of your junior year is always such a strange time as an Honors student. You have to start thinking about your thesis but also not? There’s not much you can do right now, but you also have to use this time to prepare for everything that’s right around the corner as you start senior year.

So, for all my fellow juniors who aren’t sure exactly what to do about their thesis right now, here’s what I’ve been doing to plan it out!

Photos by Rob Skinner

Renowned art historian and Provost Professor of Art History Charmaine A. Nelson delivered the keynote address for the  annual Black Heritage Month Celebration this year at the Honors College. Nelson’s lecture unearthed the history of enslaved Black people in Canada and dived deep into how they continuously resisted their enslavers.

Nelson began her lecture with a quote and a fugitive slave advertisement from Quebec to provide commonplace examples of enslaver control, and how enslavers had power over both the inner and outer worlds of enslaved people.

From researching enslaved Black people in Canada to emphasizing the importance of understanding creolization, Charmaine A. Nelson’s highly anticipated Black Heritage Month Lecture dives deep into Black history and the parts of it that are often misunderstood. So, what is the lecture about? What can the audience expect? All your questions answered, right here.

Every time winter break comes around, I never know what to do: there’s just so much free time on my hands! And that got me thinking, how do I use all this time? With how busy a semester can get, there are a lot of things I end up axing from my schedule (apologies to my messed-up sleep schedule). Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to catch up on all that I missed?

On Friday, October 28, Dean Mari Castañeda declared the Honors Hub officially open! With a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a variety of fall-themed food and beverages, the event gathered faculty and students alike to celebrate this new space. 

It's no secret that UMass has one of the best on-campus dining programs in the world. The collection of Worcester (Woo), Franklin (Frank), Hampshire (Hamp), and Berkshire (Berk) Dining Commons, along with all the cafes and restaurants (like Roots Café, Blue Wall & People’s Organic) is what truly puts this campus on the map. So, if you just got here, how do you navigate this food cornucopia? Well, here’s my way of getting the ultimate dining experience here, and making sure you get the best of the best from each dining hall. Warning: I may be biased towards Frank (just a little bit), but nonetheless, this should be a perfect guide to the halls.

In this final installment of his study abroad series, Mahi recounts his final thoughts on his student exchange program in London and what he's looking forward to as he makes his way back to UMass.

While a good chunk of my study abroad experience was split between my classes and cooking, I still did have some free time in between the cracks to just have fun and experience what living in London is like. So, here’s what I did in my free time while abroad!