College of Humanities & Fine Arts 2024–2025 Annual Report

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As I reflect on my first full academic year as dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, I remain inspired by the work happening every day across our departments, centers, and classrooms. This is a community defined by its focus on student learning, scholarship and creative production, compassion, and commitment to the public good. It has been a privilege to listen, learn, and lead alongside you. 

This year, we have advanced our collective goals through an inclusive strategic planning process. With input from students, faculty, staff, and alumni, we are shaping a bold, forward-looking vision for HFA—one that builds on our core strengths even as we embrace new opportunities for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration, community partnership, and student-centered innovation.  

Experiential learning continues to be a hallmark of the HFA experience. Whether curating exhibitions, traveling for performance and research, studying abroad, or contributing to public humanities projects, our students are putting theory into practice in meaningful ways. These opportunities equip them not only with skills, but also with confidence, empathy, and a sense of purpose. 

Our faculty have received national recognition for their excellence in research, teaching, and creative work, from groundbreaking environmental humanities and linguistics research to Broadway coaching, public poetry, and innovative pedagogy. These achievements reflect the intellectual vibrancy and societal relevance of the arts and humanities at UMass Amherst.  

Throughout this report, you’ll see how HFA honors its legacy while evolving to meet the needs of today’s students and society. You’ll encounter stories of mentorship, collaboration, and impact that speak to the heart of our mission and to the people who make this college such an extraordinary place. 

Thank you for being part of this journey. 

All best,

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Maria del Guadalupe “Lupe” Davidson, PhD
Dean, College of Humanities and Fine Arts

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Lee Edwards, Edwin C. Gentzler, and Jenny Spencer

Translation Center Renamed for Edwin C. Gentzler

The University of Massachusetts Amherst has renamed its Translation Center in honor of Professor Emeritus Edwin C. Gentzler, a prominent scholar of translation studies and the center’s director from 1994 to 2014. A ribbon-cutting ceremony held on September 19, 2024, celebrated the new name and Gentzler’s enduring contributions, drawing students, faculty, community partners, and language professionals. The renamed center commemorates Gentzler’s commitment to the benefits of language access for all. 

“During his time as director, Edwin established the solid foundation that supports the Translation Center today. It’s a foundation that has allowed us to continue to provide all the essential language services, while expanding supports and educational opportunities within our own university community and beyond,” said Regina Galasso, director of the Gentzler Translation Center, in her remarks.

Since 1979, the Translation Center has served as a hub for language services and education, connecting the university with communities across Massachusetts and beyond. Gentzler’s generous gift of funds will support mentorship, workshops, and initiatives that advance language access and civil rights—carrying forward the center’s founding mission to mitigate discrimination based on language.

Hannah Pollin-Galay Named Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies

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Hannah Pollin-Galay

The College of Humanities and Fine Arts has announced the appointment of Dr. Hannah Pollin-Galay as director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies (IHGMS), effective September 1, 2025. She will become a member of the faculty with a joint appointment in the Departments of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and History.

Pollin-Galay comes to UMass Amherst from Tel Aviv University, where she led the Jona Goldrich Institute for Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture. A leading scholar of Holocaust memory and Yiddish studies, her research integrates history, literature, and linguistic analysis to examine how language and place shape testimony and memory.

“At a time of increased Holocaust denialism, authoritarianism, and mass atrocities around the world, the work of the IHGMS is more critical than ever,” she said. “Inspired by the achievements of Professor James Young and Professor Alon Confino, I am committed to leading programs that stimulate rigorous scholarship, curiosity, creativity, and public dialogue. My goal is to make the institute a source of light, using education to build a more informed and compassionate public square.”

“As founding director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies at UMass Amherst, I’m thrilled to be succeeded by Hannah Pollin-Galay,” says Young, distinguished professor emeritus of English and Near Eastern studies. “She is arguably the leading Holocaust memory scholar of her generation and a stellar teacher in the classroom, with her cutting-edge work in Holocaust testimony and Yiddish studies defining the future of Holocaust, genocide, and memory studies.”

Her appointment marks a new chapter for the IHGMS and reflects the university’s investment in interdisciplinary, public-facing scholarship.

The Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies

Leading with Grace, Wisdom, Integrity and Purpose: Celebrating Joye Bowman on the Occasion of Her Retirement

In May, the campus gathered to celebrate the retirement of beloved colleagues John Higginson and Joye Bowman, and to thank them for three decades of dedication to our shared mission. [For a tribute to John Higginson published at the time of his retirement, see page 30 of the 2020 edition of Past, Present & Future, available on the History Department's website.]

Joye’s long career began at Wellesley College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree before heading to UCLA for her master’s and PhD. After spending time in the history departments at the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia, the University of Illinois-Chicago and Northern Illinois University, Joye joined the faculty of the UMass Amherst History Department in 1989.

Joye’s research centered on the Senegambia in the 19th century, particularly the region claimed by Portugal. Dr. Merle Bowen—professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a longtime friend of Joye’s—noted on the occasion of Joye’s retirement that “because of the restrictions placed on researchers before the 1974 revolution against the fascist state in Portugal,” she and Joye “were part of the first generation of social scientists to be allowed into these rich archives.” From this work came Joye’s 1997 monograph, “Ominous Transition: Commerce and Colonial Expansion in the Senegambia and Guinea, 1857–1919, which, Bowen added, “remains a standard for scholars working on the Senegambia Region.” Joye’s articles have appeared in the Journal of African History, Current Bibliography of African Affairs, History in Africa, and the Revista Internacional de Estudos Africanos.

At UMass Amherst, in addition to her stellar work in the classroom, Joye served in a number of leadership roles. Along with participation on numerous search committees and steady election to the department’s Personnel Committee, Joye was director of Undergraduate Studies (1997–2001 and again in 2017–2018), director of Graduate Admissions (2004–2006); and associate chair (2006–2009); and then chair (2010–2016). Joye served in several positions over six years in the dean’s office in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, including as interim dean. 

The years  of dedication, hard work, and unwavering commitment have brought you to this remarkable milestone of retirement. May your legacies continue to inspire all those who follow you at our beloved UMass. 

– Lisa Green, read on behalf of Esther Terry

Along the way she was also active in the Five College African Studies Council, which she chaired for several years. She was also part of the Mellon-Sawyer World Studies Interdisciplinary Project (WSIP). Throughout her career, she participated in numerous initiatives designed to connect university faculty with local K–12 teachers, among them a five-week Fulbright-Hays Study Tour with ten public school teachers in South Africa. 

In reflecting on Joye’s impact, colleagues noted the ways she foregrounded, in the kinds of events she envisioned and helped plan, environmental and social justice as well as music and the arts. There are far too many examples here to propose even a few, but one might recall Joye’s suggestion to bring the powerful artists Climbing Poetree and Angélique Kidjo into the Feinberg Series, and her role in the College’s hosting of Felipe Salles's The New Immigrant Experience, Shirley Jackson Whitaker’s Ashes to Ashes, cellist Ronald Crutcher’s address on race and leadership, and Biden White House environmental justice leader Catherine Coleman Flowers’s keynote for Black History Month. Joye’s commitment to showing the constant need for historical perspective, and to sharing departmental expertise, led to her idea that the department should have a blog, which became Past@Present, which is still thriving.

Most recently, her scholarship has focused on American engineers in South Africa during the 20th century as she and John Higginson work to complete Engineering Empire: The South African Odyssey of American Mining Engineers, 1893–1976. Retirement will also afford her the opportunity to pursue long-envisioned research on her maternal grandmother, Caroline Lowe McWatt. McWatt, who attended the University of Minnesota in the 1940s, was a community activist in Saint Paul who worked with a variety of groups, including the Women’s Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Joye’s study of McWatt’s activism and writings parlays this cherished family history into a study that will illuminate the community Joye’s family helped build in the Twin Cities.

As colleagues paused to reflect on Joye’s tremendous impact on the department and the campus community through the years, what leapt to mind for many of us were her mentorship, collegiality, and warmth, and how she models what it means to be a leader who cares deeply about her colleagues’ whole selves. What stands out at this moment are all the ways that, by seeing her colleagues holistically, and not just in the roles they play at the university, Joye helped us succeed in realizing our own visions: for ourselves, the department and the campus.

As one colleague said, "She was a great help to many of us in helping shape our ideas into programs that could work. And she took credit for nothing—even if she was at the center of an endeavor." Another observed that Joye, in a “graceful and loving way, lifts everyone into their potential.”

As Joye retires, we share our heartfelt thanks to her for all the many ways she has enriched our lives and work. Deeply appreciative for the ways she had led with grace, wisdom, integrity, and purpose, we are also so grateful for her thoughtful decision-making, caring and compassionate collegiality, and committed mentoring of people around her—embodying as a scholar, teacher, colleague, and leader the values that make our community so special.

UMass Hosts the Souls of Black Folk Teacher’s Institute

For eight days, from June 22 to June 29, 2025, a team of researchers in the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies in the College of Education led a residential teacher’s institute, the Souls of Black Folk and the Foundations of African American Studies.

Fourteen middle and high school teachers and librarians from across the country—from cities as far away as in Mississippi, California, and Washington state and as close as Boston, Somerville, and Amherst—participated in the institute. Using the life and work of Du Bois as an organizing framework, UMass Amherst faculty designed the institute to support educators interested in preparing to offer the new Advanced Placement African American Studies course or in generally expanding their content knowledge and pedagogy in African American studies. 

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“In light of the growing interest in African American studies, especially among teachers, our project team was determined to use our expertise to help support teachers in sharing such important topics with their students,” said Professor Yolanda Covington-Ward, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies. “Overall, it was an amazing experience that we hope to replicate in the future. We really appreciate all of the university’s support. We want the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, and UMass Amherst overall to be national leaders in supporting teachers seeking to teach African American Studies.”

The institute was led by Covington-Ward; Toussaint Losier, associate professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies; A. Yemisi Jimoh, professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies; and Keisha Green, associate professor of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies in the College of Education. College of Education doctoral candidate Shannon Laribo was the project coordinator and Afro-American Studies PhD student Anaëlle Cama assisted with logistics. 

Various faculty from the Five Colleges, including members of the project team, gave guest lectures, along with Amilcar Shabazz, James Smethurst, and Anne Kerth (all from the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies), and Stefan Bradley (from the Department of Black Studies at Amherst College). Dr. Alex Carter, Upper School dean and teacher at Poly Prep Country Day School as well as a PhD graduate from the Afro-American Studies Department, led a session on the AP African American studies course. Megan McLean, one of the teacher participants, discussed her perspective as both an AP instructor and a grader for the College Board.

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Among highlights of the institute were an afternoon trip to the W. E. B. Du Bois archives in the W. E. B. Du Bois Center in the UMass library and an all-day-Saturday field trip and historical walking tour in Great Barrington, Massachusetts centered on Du Bois’s life. Over the course of the institute, the teachers worked in small teams to develop sample lesson plans on an assigned topic. To close out the institute, these teams presented their lessons to all of the participants. 

“It was quite inspiring to be a part of this weekslong institute,” said Losier. “As research faculty, it was a unique opportunity not only to share our expertise in African American studies, but also to hear from educators about their own experiences presenting this material in the classroom. The institute fostered such a dynamic learning environment, while grounding us in the interdisciplinarity at the heart of African American studies and exemplified in the work of W. E. B. Du Bois.”

This project grew out of a series of local pilot teacher workshops in 2023–2024. The project team was subsequently awarded a $171,962 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in August 2024. In April 2025, after the federal grant was unexpectedly terminated, the project team collaborated with the university to organize a modified and shortened version of the original institute. Thanks to financial support from the deans of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the College of Education, project faculty research funds, the Provost’s Office, and Research Continuity Emergency Funds, the institute was able to take place. The Center for Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research (CRJ) in the College of Education provided additional resources.

The UMass Bird Friendly Project

Every year, more than one billion birds in the United States die from window collisions. At UMass Amherst, a collaborative effort among faculty, students, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking flight to address the crisis—starting with the Studio Arts Building. 

The project began with a simple observation: Students and faculty were noticing a troubling number of bird deaths around campus buildings. Undergraduate student Monica Mestre, now a UMass graduate student in the Department of Environmental Conservation, approached Kelly Klingler, then a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Conservation, and asked what could be done. Mestre was at the time an intern with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Through that internship, she had learned about the catastrophic loss of bird populations in North America—down almost three billion since 1970. Motivated to act, she and Klingler enlisted students to conduct bird-collision monitoring on campus buildings. Determined to address the issue, they launched the Make UMass Bird-Friendly (UMBF) initiative.  

To better understand where interventions were most needed, Mestre and Klingler organized a campus-wide monitoring project. Beginning in 2022, students in Environmental Conservation tracked bird collisions at 15 buildings as part of a structured data collection. Their findings were eye-opening. The team soon expanded their scope to 22 buildings, with results showing that just six buildings accounted for more than half of recorded bird deaths.  

Margaret “Meg” Vickery, senior lecturer and undergraduate program director in the History of Art and Architecture Department, began promoting these efforts in her architectural history classes to involve her students with these issues. Vickery had worked with Klingler in 2021, when— inspired by a UC Davis initiative to use sheep as sustainable lawn mowers—they created Sustainable EWEMass, another cross-disciplinary effort. 

UMBF’s work showed that the Studio Arts Building stood out as one of the most hazardous to birds. With almost 200 buildings across campus, the group also launched an app-based tool to help community members report collisions more broadly. By the end of the spring 2024 semester, the team had recorded 142 bird fatalities at the monitored sites. 

With the help of undergraduate environmental conservation major Mark Titus—who used a geographic information system (a computer system that analyzes and displays geographically referenced information and uses data attached to a unique location) to map collision hot spots down to the windowpane—the team identified the Studio Arts Building as a prime candidate for intervention. 

That fall, the team initiated a design competition for bird-safe window designs. The challenge: Create an adhesive window design that would both prevent collisions and celebrate the bird life found on campus. The winning design was a striking, high-contrast concept by Studio Arts student Margaret Lepeshkin.

“I wanted it to be effective in stopping collisions but also provide a glimpse of what birds can be found on campus,” Lepeshkin told Bridget Macdonald, who wrote a feature article published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this spring. Her high-contrast decal, now installed on the Studio Arts Building, features birds such as great blue herons, blue jays, cedar waxwings, and peregrine falcons. 

The decals were installed in two phases by UMass staff and a team of volunteers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The official unveiling, held on May 9, brought out faculty, students, and community members—even in the rain. 

The project team also includes Isabella Ragonese (postdoc), Feipeng Huang (MSc student), Rozy Bathrick (PhD candidate), and Nate Senner (assistant professor, Environmental Conservation).

Next steps for the initiative are planned retrofits on other high-impact buildings and an exhibition next spring about bird migration and the downstream effects of bird collisions.

From Amherst to Quito, Ecuador: Wind Studies Director Matthew Westgate and the Making of Juntos en la Mitad del Mundo

In May 2024, the UMass Wind Ensemble—56 student musicians led by Matthew Westgate, chair of the Department of Music and Dance—and eight faculty members traveled to Quito, Ecuador, for a nine-day musical exchange. They performed joint concerts with musicians from Casa de la Música, La Banda de los Bomberos, and the big band from the Universidad Central de Ecuador, culminating in a festival concert titled “Juntos en la Mitad del Mundo.” Faculty led masterclasses and collaborated on chamber music with local musicians, forming new partnerships across borders.

The trip was part of an ongoing partnership that began in 2019 when Westgate met conductor Luis Castro of the Banda Sinfónica Metropolitana de Quito. Despite COVID-19 delays, the two ensembles met virtually throughout the pandemic, building friendships between continents. Students finally met in person during the 2024 trip, deepening connections that had been four years in the making.

Throughout the trip, students experienced Ecuadorian culture, visiting historic sites, exploring the equator’s significance, and rehearsing daily with their Ecuadorian peers. “They were trying new things together,” said Westgate, emphasizing the value of immersion and collaboration over tourism. He and Castro had built years of trust, which laid the foundation for an emotional and meaningful experience for all involved.

Following the trip’s success, other institutions have contacted Westgate to explore similar models. “So much of what we do in the HFA, and the arts in general, is give meaning and purpose to knowledge,” Westgate said. “Music and the arts are vital to helping our students become complete humans. This was a really meaningful experience, and I’m so thankful we were able to share it.”

Excerpt from piece written by Chloe Borgida ’25

Feinberg Series Explores the Crisis in Higher Education: What Are Universities For? Struggles for the Soul of Higher Education

Higher education is widely regarded as essential to a flourishing democracy. Today, though, the university faces serious challenges: Public funding has plummeted, student debt is in the trillions, and threats to academic freedom, critical thought, and political protest are on the rise. In response to these conditions, the 2024–25 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series brought together students, scholars, journalists, organizers, and educators to examine the historical roots and contemporary dimensions of the crisis—and to imagine new paths ahead.

Organized by the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the series launched in September with a keynote address by Trinity College Professor Davarian L. Baldwin. Titled “Is Higher Education Good for Our Communities?,” the talk assessed how the “public good” of higher education has shifted and how the university might once again serve communities rather than commercial interests.

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Eleven events held throughout the academic year continued this investigation. Speakers addressed urgent topics such as restorative justice in the academy (Timothy Eatman), ideological attacks on critical thought (Jesse Hagopian, Paul Ortiz, and Ellen Schrecker), the academic labor movement (Joe Berry and Diana Vallera), and the role of the humanities in public life (Christopher Newfield). Events in the spring examined the relationship between universities and Indigenous sovereignty, the global dimensions of student debt, and student-led activism in the 1980s. There was also a student-curated history exhibit on display in the Bromery Center for the Arts and a student-organized event featuring workshops by community and campus organizers.

The 2025 James Baldwin Lecture, delivered by Steven Salaita, was co-presented by the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies and capped the series. Titled “The Meaning of Honesty in Academe,” Salaita’s lecture asked whether it is possible—or even ethical—to live honestly within the constraints of contemporary academic culture.

The series was co-directed by Asheesh Kapur Siddique, Jess Johnson, Sigrid Schmalzer, and Kevin Young and presented in partnership with more than two dozen university and community collaborators. Now in its eleventh iteration, the Feinberg Series is made possible by the generosity of Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates. All events were free and open to the public.

Spotlight Scholar: Malcolm Sen

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For being a pioneer in the interdisciplinary field of environmental humanities, Associate Professor of English Malcolm Sen was named a UMass Amherst 2024 Spotlight Scholar. 

Sen says he believes that “the greatest gift of literature is its ability to provoke empathy across distant spaces, and also distant times.” Nowhere is the need for this power more urgent today than in confronting the existential threat of climate change. 

“The way environmental, ecological, and biological issues have been packaged in the contemporary world is actually quite detrimental to the kind of action we need on the climate-change front,” Sen says. “Today, it’s the scientists who are turning to the humanists to figure out how we can actually engage the public on this issue and advocate for impactful climate-change policies. Neither politics nor economics has the life cycle necessary for the kind of deep historical thinking that questions of ecology raise.”

He has been at the forefront of environmental humanities scholarship since the field’s emergence, about 20 years ago, and has dedicated his career to building coalitions of scientists and humanists to address issues of climate change. The editor of a field-defining volume, A History of Irish Literature and the Environment (Cambridge University Press, 2022), among others, Sen is the author of 20 articles and counting.

College Outstanding Teaching Awards

Presented annually, the College Outstanding Teaching Award (COTA) recognizes faculty members who have made significant contributions to undergraduate education. Recipients are honored for their exceptional teaching, mentoring, and curriculum development, and for the meaningful impact they have on students’ academic and personal growth.

Each of these faculty members represents the very best of our shared mission to teach and to learn. Their dedication to our students, their willingness to innovate within and beyond the classroom, and the skill with which they approach and share their subjects — all are brilliant examples of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts’ commitment to excellence.

Theater’s Elisa Gonzales Made Broadway Debut as Voice and Dialect Coach—and Brought a Student in on the Act

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Elisa Gonzales, assistant professor of voice and acting in the Department of Theater, made her Broadway debut as a voice and dialect coach with the musical production of Real Women Have Curves, which previewed at the James Earl Jones Theatre in April 2025.

Based on the play by Josefina López that inspired HBO’s film of the same name, the musical follows Ana Garcia as she dreams of flying away from East Los Angeles and her family’s sewing factory. When her family receives a dress order that could make or break many community businesses, she finds herself juggling her ambitions, her mother’s expectations, and a neighborhood of women trying to make it work despite the odds.

“As a Chicana from Southern California, Ana’s story as a Mexican American teen caught between her own ambitions and her family’s expectations has always resonated with me,” Gonzales said. “It has been the honor of my career to be so intimately involved with this production, especially with the task of representing my cultural home sounds on stage.”

Gonzales joined the production during its initial pre-Broadway run at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., as voice and dialect coach and was invited to stay through its transfer to Broadway.

The scope of Gonzales’s dialect design on this production includes Boyle Heights, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, and Mexican accents, and Spanish and Ki’che’ language pronunciation. She also works with the actors on the vocal elements of the spoken text.

“The whole team is working incredibly hard to tell the best story possible, so the actors are working every day to incorporate script, music, and choreography changes,” Gonzales said.

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Gonzales is also part of a history-making event on Broadway: This is the first time that two Latino shows are playing on Broadway at the same time (the other is The Buena Vista Social Club. It’s also only the second time a Mexican American story has been told on Broadway; the last time was in 1979, with Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit.

“This kind of Latino representation on Broadway is long overdue, and I’m just so proud to be playing a small part to make sure our stories are told with authenticity and specificity in terms of the dialect and voice work,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales was also thrilled to bring UMass Amherst linguistics and theater student Lindsay Forauer, whom Gonzales mentors, to watch the production’s final dress rehearsal. This opportunity enabled Gonzales to connect the work in the classroom to professional theater.

The UMass Amherst Rising Researcher program recognizes undergraduate students who excel in research, challenge their intellect, and exercise exceptional creativity. In the service of helping others, these undergraduates are learning about themselves, their passions, and their resilience as they tackle complex problems and find novel solutions.

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Inspiring Authentic and Inclusive Theater Performance with Lindsay Forauer ’25

Forauer marries linguistics and theater research to inform her work as a dialect coach to actors in theater at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels.

“Hearing someone find a new voice within themself and knowing I helped get them there brings me so much pride, as I hope it does for them,” Forauer says.

Read the interview

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Expanding Access to Knowledge Around the Globe with Mia Klotz ’25

Through her research and outreach work with the World Librarians club, Klotz is helping students around the world gain access to educational information.

“UMass has provided me with the resources to succeed in a plethora of careers,” Klotz says.

Read the interview

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Research to Protect Language Diversity with Evan Owens ’25

Owens conducts linguistics research to uncover the inner workings of languages and studies biases people may hold against certain languages or ways of speaking.

“I’m also fascinated by the vast diversity in language choices, even among native English speakers. The variety is striking, and I believe people should take pride in these differences rather than feeling pressured to conform to a single way of speaking,” Owens says.

Read the interview 

Piecing Together the Puzzle of Human Language with Thomas Truong '25

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Truong studies cross-linguistics semantics, investigating various languages to discover how they contribute to our knowledge of linguistic theory. “The intellectual environment in the UMass Department of Linguistics has made my education at UMass worth the world,” Truong says.

Read the interview

Student Excellence

Charles Walker-Hoover Recognized by NAACP Youth and College Division

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Afro-American studies and history major Charles Walker-Hoover was recognized by the NAACP Youth and College Division for his work in student advocacy. 

Walker-Hoover participated in the 47th-Annual Legislative Conference, in Washington, D.C., where he was selected to assist in the recharter of the United States Students Association. He received training in protesting, legal observation, and lobbying Congress. 

As part of the program, Walker-Hoover also rallied on Capitol Hill to advocate for the continued existence of the U.S. Department of Education. In recognition of his contributions, he received a Certificate of Leadership from the NAACP Youth and College Division. 

“This experience reinforced my passion for policy, education, and community organizing—values I continue to develop within our department,” said Walker-Hoover. “I’m grateful for the support and knowledge I’ve gained at UMass Amherst, which have prepared me for these opportunities.” 

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English and Applied Plant Soil Science Major Hannah Gould Named Student Employee of the Year

English student Hannah Gould has been awarded the Chancellor’s Gerald F. Scanlon Student Employee of the Year Award. Gould, the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies’s Renaissance of the Earth Fellow, received this honor in recognition of her outstanding research and public humanities projects at the Kinney Center and contributions to the Renaissance of the Earth project.

Watch a Video

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Letícia Fernanda Carvalho Silva Receives Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship

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Letícia Fernanda Carvalho Silva, a PhD student in the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, has been awarded a prestigious Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship.

She is the only UMass Amherst graduate student to receive this nationally competitive award in the 2025 cohort. The fellowship supports early-stage doctoral students pursuing bold and innovative dissertation research in the humanities and interpretive social sciences.

Venice Captured in Art: Undergraduate Curators Bring New Light to Iconic City

As part of Professor Monika Schmitter’s Curating Views of Venice class, undergraduate students in the Department of History of Art and Architecture are collaborating to curate their own exhibition, opening September 13, 2025, at the Smith College Museum of Art. The project reflects a semester-long effort to research and select artworks from the collections of the Smith College Museum of Art, Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum, and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.

The idea for the course emerged from Schmitter’s Gen Ed class Venice: Art, History, Environment. “I realized that there were a tremendous number of images of Venice in the Five Colleges’ collections,” Schmitter said. “These works, mostly by American and British artists, focus on the more modern representations of Venice, particularly from the 18th century and beyond. It seemed like an ideal topic for undergraduates to research.”

At the Mead, Miloslava Hruba, study room manager and European print specialist, guided students through the collection, presenting insights into printmaking techniques and processes. The students examined the works with great attention, considering color, cohesion, and the visual impact of each piece both individually and as part of a larger whole. “We’re still brainstorming ideas,” said Arlo Kellie, a senior history of art and architecture major, “but we’re definitely focusing on water and reflections . . . and including representations of people: the actual people of Venice, not just touristic views.”

Each student is researching and writing about two of the works in the installation. After each museum tour, the group gathers to discuss their discoveries, share ideas, and draw connections. “I love seeing the students be so engaged in it,” Schmitter said. “It’s their project, you know, and I’m just along for the ride.” Their approach has been both professional and infused with youthful energy—thoughtful debate combined with a confidence and enthusiasm that reflects an environment of true collaboration. One of the standout elements of the course is its connection with the Five College community. “We’re fortunate to have met so many incredible people,” said Kate Zelley, a junior in the program. Schmitter has worked closely with Danielle Carrabino, curator of painting and sculpture at the SCMA: “It’s been incredibly open minded of the Smith Museum to collaborate so closely with a UMass class.”

“The people at the museums have been very welcoming and helpful with the students,” Schmitter added. “Although the Five College museums share a collections database, there are definitely bureaucratic and financial hurdles to more thorough Five College cooperation in creating installations and exhibitions. I’m hopeful that our installation may lead to more of that.” The exhibit will be on view in the Nixon Gallery at the Smith College Museum of Art from September 13, 2025, through March 22, 2026. The members of the team extend their gratitude to Five Colleges, Inc. for its generous support and for covering additional expenses connected to the class.

Originally reported by Chloe Borgida ’25

Launching to London: Lily Avina ’28 on Her Experience with the UMass Global Launch Program

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This fall, first-year women, gender, and sexuality studies major Lily Avina was one of four students from the College of Humanities and Fine Arts selected to participate in UMass Global Launch, a program that sends a small cohort of high-achieving incoming students to spend their first semester studying abroad. Avina spent the semester in London, where she immersed herself in both the city’s culture and its curriculum.

Among the classes Avina took were London Museums, Geosciences and Sustainability, and London as a Global City, a course that combined walking tours and local instruction to explore the history of London’s neighborhoods and landmarks. Outside the classroom, she and her peers took in the city’s museums (“Being able to explore and be so hands-on, not just learning about art in a classroom but also being able to go and see the paintings in real life, was really an amazing time,” she said), public markets, and holiday lights, embracing both the adventure and the challenge of living abroad.

Avina described the group of Global Launch students as a “tight-knit” and supportive community. “It was definitely a big jump, but it was part of the reason why I chose UMass: because of this program,” she said. “You’re gonna hit your bump in the road for sure . . . but just know that you have a great support system: People care about you.” Now back in Amherst, she’s eager to form new relationships and build on the strong start to her college experience.

Originally reported by Chloe Borgida ’25

HFA Alumni Honored at UMass Amherst’s 2025 Commencement Ceremony

The university bestowed honorary degrees to HFA alumni David Korins and Stephen P. Driscoll at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s 155th Undergraduate Commencement.

David Korins ’99: Keynote Speaker

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Renowned creative director and designer David Korins ’99 urged graduates to embrace curiosity.

A global powerhouse in immersive storytelling and design, Korins encouraged graduates to step boldly into their greatness and put aside ego for the collective good. 

"Fear is an opportunity killer. You don’t need to be fearless; you just need to be one percent more curious than you are afraid."

— David Korins '99

Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67, ’02 Hon. and Hisao Kushi ’88 Receive 2024 UMass Alumni Honors

From left, Hisao Kushi ’88, Mary V. Díaz Santana ’18 PhD, Rachel Weston Eschenbacher ’03, Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67, ’02 Hon, and Monserrate Rodríguez Colón ’95

College of Humanities and Fine Arts alumni Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67, ’02 Hon. and Hisao Kushi ’88 were each recognized with an award at the UMass Alumni Honors 2024, held on Oct. 10, 2024. Feinberg received the Distinguished Leader Award and Kushi received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kenneth R. Feinberg is a prominent attorney who has helped to resolve many of the nation’s most challenging and widely known disputes. His work in victim compensation began in the 1970s with the Agent Orange settlement. An international expert in complex mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution, he is well known as the special master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. He has also worked on Virginia Tech’s Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, the BP Gulf Coast Claims Facility, and One Fund Boston, following the Boston Marathon bombings on Patriots’ Day 2013.

After earning a cum laude degree in history from UMass Amherst in 1967, Feinberg delivered the inaugural Student Commencement Address at graduation. He went on to the New York University School of Law. He served as a clerk for Chief Judge of the State of New York Stanley H. Fuld as a federal prosecutor and as chief of staff for Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Feinberg founded his Washington, D.C.–based law firm in 1992. In his capacity as an arbitrator, he helped determine the fair market value of the original Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination and legal fees in Holocaust slave labor litigation. In 2004, Feinberg was named Lawyer of the Year and has been named repeatedly as one of The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal. He was appointed to two presidential-level commissions and has written a book about his experiences entitled What Is Life Worth? UMass Amherst awarded Feinberg an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2002 for his varied contributions to victims compensation.

Feinberg has donated his professional and personal archives to the UMass Amherst Libraries Special Collections & University Archives to preserve the record of his groundbreaking mediation work on high-profile cases. The Feinberg Papers contain correspondence, memos, drafts, reports, research files, and memorabilia. In addition, Feinberg has donated his opera music collection, with more than 9,000 items, to the new Music & Media Collection in the Du Bois Library—doubling the library’s classical music collection, which is open to students for browsing and borrowing.

Hisao Kushi is cofounder and chief legal officer at Ernesta Inc., a direct-to-consumer retail rug company. He launched the company with colleagues from his previous position as cofounder and chief legal officer of Peloton Interactive. A unique experience, Peloton Interactive’s mission was to connect more people to online fitness classes at home. The firm combined cutting-edge technology, content, and best-in-class instructors to create a first-of-its-kind global fitness community. By April 2022, the company had become a household name valued at some $8 billion.

Kushi’s dedication to innovation, interactive technology, and design is further illustrated by his roles within multiple internet platforms in the digital marketplace. Before founding Peloton, Kushi held leadership roles at internet technology companies, including chief operating officer at Evite, general counsel at several companies within the Liberty Media portfolio, and assistant general counsel at Ticketmaster. He was also in-house counsel for Universal Studios Internet Group.

Kushi earned a bachelor’s degree in English from UMass Amherst and his juris doctor from Boston College Law School in 1992. As a student at UMass Amherst, he attended the university’s Summer Seminar at Trinity College, Oxford University.

In 2018, Kushi hosted an exclusive networking event for UMass Amherst alumni at the Peloton Interactive Penthouse in New York City. He gave a special presentation, giving insights on how Peloton was revolutionizing the fitness industry by merging high design with modern technology. He also told of many fond memories of his time in Amherst and how his UMass experience had shaped his career trajectory.

He and his wife, Karen, also a 1988 graduate of UMass Amherst, established the Opportunity Scholars Endowed Fund in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts to promote personal development, scholarship, leadership, community service, and connection to people, cultural centers, and resources on campus. Most recently, Kushi served as a judge for the 2023 Innovation Challenge Competition hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship. The competition awards an aspiring student or recent graduate entrepreneur with up to $65,000 in equity-free funding to support the individual’s business idea.

Hilda Greenbaum Fueling Student Access to the Arts

Hilda Greenbaum and Joye Bowman embrace at Bowman’s retirement celebration on May 8, 2025, where the Dr. Joye Bowman Cultural Resources Fund Endowment was first announced

Through the Dr. Joye Bowman Cultural Resources Fund Endowment, Dr. Hilda Greenbaum makes the arts more accessible to the next generation of undergraduate students.

Music has always played a central role in Hilda Greenbaum’s life. Her mother was a conservatory graduate; her father took weekly opera lessons. As a teen and young adult, she attended concerts and theater performances. Her late husband, Louis—a longtime UMass Amherst history professor—was a singer. And one of their three children, Jessie, is the principal viola for the Naples Philharmonic.

That deep, personal connection to the arts and her concern for their future inspired Greenbaum to make a generous, $100,000 gift to establish the Dr. Joye Bowman Cultural Resources Fund Endowment at UMass Amherst. 

The fund, named in honor of former College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA) Interim Dean and History Department Chair Joye Bowman, provides support for students to attend plays, concerts, gallery openings, museum visits, and other cultural experiences across western Massachusetts, Boston, New York City, and beyond. 

“I grew up in a house with a lot of music, and my kids had the same experience. These days, though, it’s hard to get people excited to go to a concert or the opera,” Greenbaum says. “That was my impetus for this fund. We need supporters of arts in every way possible.”

Dr. Greenbaum, who earned her bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology from Mount Holyoke College in 1958 and a PhD in psychoacoustics from Columbia University in 1963, worked with Bowman to conceptualize the endowment.

They drew inspiration from a longstanding HFA program called New York Professional Outreach Program (NYPOP). Established in 1990, NYPOP brought students to New York City to meet professionals working in the arts. It gave aspiring artists a glimpse into what their careers could become and helped make the arts feel attainable and relevant. 

Though NYPOP ended during the COVID-19 pandemic, Greenbaum and Bowman hope this new fund will revive a similar spirit of exploration and inspiration among students.

“I remember years ago as an undergraduate having an opportunity to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.  Students had a chance to meet and speak with the performers. Those kinds of connections can be lifechanging,” Bowman says. “They can turn a student into a lifelong lover of the arts.”

Bowman recalls one instance in which she bought tickets for her history class to attend an on-campus student performance of “The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite,” by Wole Soyinka.

“There was one young undergraduate who came up to me after the performance to say he’d never seen a live play, except for in grammar school,” Bowman says. “He was so taken away by the performance. It was a brilliant thing to see.” 

As for how Bowman feels to have the fund established in her name, she says it’s an honor.

“I’m humbled by it,” she says. “I’m excited to see what it might become, and I’m hoping others will recognize its potential and make this program sustainable for years to come.”

The Dr. Joye Bowman Cultural Resources Fund Endowment is the latest in a long line of generous gifts made by the Greenbaums. They have made several contributions to the university through the years, supporting scholarships in the Department of History and the Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community.

For Greenbaum, giving back is second nature.

“It’s a family value. You grow up in a family that’s always giving back, and it sticks with you,” she says. “UMass allowed my husband many years to do what he loved most, to teach, and they’ve been supporting us. So now it’s nice to be able to give back in this way” 

With this newest gift, Greenbaum hopes to give UMass students meaningful access to the arts. 

“I want to give students an opportunity to see what’s going on in the world,” she says. “We need to support artists and build an audience who can appreciate those who are producing the art—whether it’s music, theater, sculpture, or otherwise.”

Bowman agrees, adding: “Arts and humanities programs are being defunded nationally, and the value of the arts and humanities is being questioned. We must do what we can to push back against that, to save the cultural institutions that we have, and to make sure that students understand that survival of the arts depends on a populus that understands why the arts matter. If people haven’t been exposed to the arts, how can they fight for them?”

Hilda Greenbaum attends Joye Bowman’s retirement celebration in the Fine Arts Center lobby, where her generous new fund was unveiled

Help expand student access to the arts! Make a gift to the Dr. Joye Bowman Cultural Resources Fund Endowment today.

*Based on QS World University Rankings, 2024

New Funds Established in 2024–2025

WGSS Faculty Conference Travel Fund

The purpose of this fund will be to provide support for faculty in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies for conference travel.

Dr. Jean E. Ferson Memorial Scholarship

The purpose of this gift is to provide scholarship support to undergraduate students enrolled in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, or its successor, at the university.

Nadine and Wayne Shank Composition Fund

The purpose of this gift is to commission works featuring the saxophone that advance that instrument’s repertoire in classical music. In addition to the saxophone, the works can include any instruments, vocal, or dance. Commission of awards should be made without bias and will not be chosen on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, or any other characteristic that may from time to time be specified in the foundation’s or the university’s policy. The fund will be administered at the discretion of the chair of the Department of Music and Dance or their designee.

Avedis Zildjian Drumline Scholarship in Honor of Thom Hannum

The purpose of this gift is to provide scholarship support to student members of the UMass Marching Band drumline.

Dr. Joye Bowman Cultural Resources Fund

The purpose of this gift is to provide support for students to attend plays, concerts, gallery openings, the opera, museums, and other artistic and cultural productions and events throughout the 5 Colleges, Amherst, western Massachusetts, and Berkshire communities; as well as in Boston, New York City, and other locations in the Northeast. All students are eligible for funding, with preference for College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA) majors. Additional uses of the fund include HFA course-specific or education-related student trips, HFA career-oriented student trips, and development/support of HFA courses focusing on cultural experiences in the greater Amherst, Boston, Hartford, and New York areas.

Ernest May Award for Research in Music

The purpose of this gift is to recognize an outstanding graduate thesis, dissertation or portfolio in music history. The thesis or dissertation must have been advised by a member of the music history faculty in the current or previous two semesters.

Departments, Institutes, and Centers

• Department of Architecture
• Department of Art
• Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies
• Arts Extension Service
• Center for the Study of African American Language
• Department of Classics
• Cornerstone Initiative
• DEFA Film Library
• Digital Humanities Initiative
• Department of English
• Department of History
• Department of History of Art and Architecture
• Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies
• Interdisciplinary Studies Institute
• Film Studies
• Edwin C. Gentzler Translation Center
• Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies
• Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
• Department of Linguistics
• Department of Music and Dance
• Department of Philosophy
• Department of Theater
• Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Warring States Project
• W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
• UMass Amherst Writing Center
• UMass Amherst Writing Program