— COMMONWEALTH COLLEGE —
Announcements & Activities
- Dean's Book Course Starts Feb 4 with A Primate's Memoir
- Pizza & Prof with Biologist Jeff Podos, Feb 5
- Advising: Appointments and Contract Information
$cholarships and $upport
- Honors Research Grants Available, Apply by Feb 5
- Nutrition Department Offers Support for ALANA Scholars
- Maureen Flanagan Scholarship Supports Study Abroad & More
- UMass Amherst Alumni Association Offers 4 Scholarships
Internships & Employment
- Spring Internship with Local Research Organization, Verité
Academic Opportunities
- Seminars for First-Year Residents of Butterfield and Brooks Halls
- Dean's Book Course 391D + Film Production = Honors 391V
- Dean's Book Course + Community Service = 291R or 391S
- Community Service Learning Independent Study
- UMass Amherst Spring Recess: Gulf Coast 2008
Campus & Community Events
- Library to Offer RefWorks Workshops
- Visiting Writers Series Presents Stephen Graham Jones, Feb 7
- INFORMS Speaker Series Offers Full Spring Line-up
- Senior Student Speaker Sought for '08 Commencement
— ANNOUNCEMENTS & ACTIVITIES —
DEAN'S BOOK COURSE STARTS WEEK OF FEBRUARY 4
The Dean's Book Course starts the second week of classes. Prepare ahead by reading Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir before your first class. Books will be available at Amherst Books, 8 Main Street, as well as other local bookstores.
Reminder: Students currently registered for the DBC must attend the first class meeting to remain enrolled. If you wish to take the course but are not registered and can't find an open section, you may attend the first class meeting of any scheduled section. Should anyone currently enrolled failed to attend, you'll be given that open seat.
PIZZA & PROF WITH BIOLOGIST JEFF PODOS, FEB 5
Professor Podos will discuss a research project he and his team have been conducting since 1999, on the behavior, ecology, and evolution of Darwin's finches of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. His research team has been examining the mechanical basis of song production, relationships between feeding and singing, causes for vocal diversity, responses to vocal variation, and human impacts on adaptive radiation. This work will be discussed in the context of the theory of "ecological speciation," which posits that adaptation to divergent ecological resources can lead to the generation of biodiversity.
Pizza & Prof takes place on Tuesdays in 504 Goodell. Antonio's pizza is served at 6:15. The program starts at 6:30. RSVP by Monday night to reserve a seat and a slice.
ADVISING: APPOINTMENTS AND CONTRACT INFORMATION
Students wishing to speak with an advisor can call 413.545.2483 to schedule an appointment (normal office hours are 9:00-5:00.). Advisor information is listed on our website CONTACTS page. Please bring your current SPIRE Degree Progress Report to the advising session.
Students needing Honors Independent Study or Independent Capstone Experience contracts can obtain them online from the FORMS page or at our forms kiosk just outside the main door of 504 Goodell. Deadline date for submission of contracts for Spring 2008 registration is the end of the Add/Drop period.
— $CHOLARSHIPS AND $UPPORT —
HONORS RESEARCH GRANTS AVAILABLE, APPLY BY FEB 5
Spring 2008 deadline: February 5, 2008
Honors Research Grants of up to $1,000 for materials and/or activities directly related to the student's honors research. Information and application are available from the Commonwealth College website.
NUTRITION DEPT OFFERS SUPPORT FOR ALANA SCHOLARS
The Departmentof Nutrition is seeking applicants for the HANDS program (Health and Nutrition Diversity Scholars). HANDS is a multicultural scholarship program funded by USDA to increase the diversity of students in the field of nutrition. HANDS Scholars will be awarded a $6000 scholarship annually for up to three years, while they participate in a 1-credit Scholars Seminar each semester, and have access to department and campus-based supports. The Nutrition Department is looking for qualified ALANA and other underrepresented students who will become nutrition majors and receive support and funding through the HANDS scholarship program beginning this spring semester. If you qualify and are looking for a new major or have not yet declared a major, please see the Nutrition Department website for further details.
FLANAGAN SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORTS STUDY ABROAD
The Maureen Flanagan Scholarship supports students pursuing study abroad and/or other educationally enriching experiences. [More information]
UMASS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFERS 4 SCHOLARSHIPS
UMass Amherst Alumni Association is proud to offer the following scholarships:
•Leaders in the Making Scholarship
Four $2,000 scholarships given to promising sophomores and juniors with diverse records of achievement in academics and volunteerism.
•Life Member Scholarship for Internships
One $2,000 scholarship given to a sophomore or junior to help defray the cost of a summer, unpaid, away-from-home internship.
•Michael W. Morris Scholarship
One $2,000 scholarship given to a student from Lawrence or Lowell, MA. The scholarship is in honor of Lawrence native and longtime UMass Amherst champion, Michael W. Morris ’63.
•Senior Leadership Award
Twenty-five $500 savings bonds will be given to graduating seniors who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and service to the campus community.
Students must be nominated by faculty or staff. Deadline for most scholarships is Friday, Feb. 22, 2008. For scholarship eligibility and applications, visit UMassAlumni.com/students or Memorial Hall.
— INTERNSHIPS & EMPLOYMENT —
SPRING INTERNSHIP WITH VERITÉ RESEARCH ORG.
Verité is an independent, non-profit social auditing and research organization which offers interns the unique opportunity to participate in work of international scope while still studying in Amherst. Currently, Verite has internships available in Labor Law and Rights Research, Translation, and Network Development for Spring ‘08. Foreign language skills, relevant academic work, or international experience are particularly valuable in applying. Please see www.Verite.org for more information or send a cover letter and resume to aroscoe@verite.org to apply.
— ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES —
SEMINARS FOR 1ST-YEAR RESIDENTS OF BUTTERFIELD & BROOKS
Register Now Via Spire:
1) Honors 191B: Butterfield Visiting Writers Seminar
Mondays, 2-3pm in Room 007 Butterfield Hall
Starts February 4th
In this one-credit course we shall read and discuss the work of writers who are visiting Amherst during the Spring 2008 semester. We will attend these writers' public readings. We will think about and write about and talk about reading and listening, literature and writing, scholarship and craft, sound and vision. Reading list to include work by James Tate, Stephanie Grant, Alice Notley, Yannick Murphy, and Stephen Graham Jones. Special in-class visit by author P.M. Woods. For more information, contact the instructor, Anjali Khosla: akhosla@english.umass.edu
2) Honors 298L: Literary Journals
Mondays, 4-5pm in 007 Butterfield Hall
Course Begins February 4th, 2008
In this course we will study literary journals from the perspective of artists, scholars and businesspeople. We will also work on our own freshman literary journal, The Butterfield Ellipsis. For more information, please contact the instructor, Anjali Khosla: akhosla@english.umass.edu
DBC 391D + FILM PRODUCTION = HONORS 391V
Honors 391V (Video DBC) combines the final level of the Dean's Book Course with an introduction to the elements of documentary film production.
Video DBC follows the regular Honors 391D curriculum but with an emphasis on documentary film projects. Students learn the foundations of video/film technique and theory necessary to produce their own short subject documentaries on topics related to the semester's text and arising out of their class-based research.
This is a special three-credit section of the Dean's Book Course, which meets 4 hours a week for the full semester. Prerequisites are Honors 191D and 291D or Honors 291G or R. No previous film/video courses are required and all levels of experience are welcome. Join and learn the how to place your views on the screen by stepping behind the camera. DBC classes start the week of February 4, so there's still time to join.
DEAN'S BOOK COURSE + CSL = 291R OR 391S
Do want to give back to the community? Are you in Commonwealth College? Consider taking this “two-in-one” Dean’s book course!
The Dean’s Book Community Service Learning class, or CSL Dean’s Book, is a 3-credit course that combines either 191 and 291 or 291 and 391 along with a community service component. You must have second-semester freshman status or above to be eligible for the 291R class and sophomore status or above to be eligible for the 391S class. Both classes will be held on Tuesdays from 4:00-5:55. This spring, there will be two books, A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky and another chosen by the instructor.
Students then do 20 hours of community service in Holyoke based on the themes from the book. If you would like to apply for the course, either stop by 610 Goodell to pick up an application, or print out an application from www.umass.edu/csl. Contact the community service coordinator, Ashley Pratte at CSLdeansbook@comcol.umass.edu for any additional questions. DBC classes start the week of February 4, so there's still time to join.
COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING HRS INDEPENDENT STUDY
Are you interested in designing your own service-learning independent study? The Community Service Learning Honors Independent Study (CSLHIS) program, offered through the Office of Community Service Learning, gives you the opportunity to link service with a community organization to course work.
This program enables you to earn up to two additional credits by integrating a service-learning experience with one of your UMass courses of 3 credits or more (from this semester or last semester). You will need to find a service placement that relates to your course content and also ask your course instructor to sponsor you. If you need assistance finding a placement, visit Community Service Links at www.umass.edu/csl or speak with the CSLHIS Coordinator. CSLHIS is open to all UMass students. For more information, visit www.umass.edu/csl/CSLHIS, or contact the Office of Community Service Learning, 610 Goodell, 545-2015, servelearn@acad.umass.edu. Applications will be accepted during pre-registration through February 25.
UMASS AMHERST SPRING RECESS: GULF COAST 2008
Let's make history! This spring, participate in the first UMass Amherst interdisciplinary curricular service trip to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Join this one-credit, student-run trip to relate your major to real-world issues. Road-trip to a different part of the US, and swing some hammers with over 100 of your UMass Amherst peers. Contact abaldi@student.umass.edu for more information on UMass Amherst Spring Recess: Gulf Coast 2008.
— CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EVENTS —
LIBRARY TO OFFER SPRING RefWorks WORKSHOPS
Workshops on RefWorks, the online bibliography management program, will be offered by the DuBois Library. See the workshop flyer for more information, including dates and times.
VWS PRESENTS STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES, FEB 7
The UMass Amherst Visiting Writers Series invites you to a fiction reading by Stephen Graham Jones on Thursday, February 7, at 8 pm in Memorial Hall. Jones’ most recent novel is Demon Theory. Other works include The Fast Red Road and All the Beautiful Sinners. He has won the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction and the Texas Institute of Letters Jesse Jones Award for Fiction. His short fiction has been published everywhere from Writing Fiction to The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror.
Visiting Writers Series events are free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible. Series events are sponsored by the UMass Amherst MFA Program and English Department, and are made possible in part by grants from the Amherst Arts Council, UMass Arts Council, and UMass Alumni Association.
INFORMS SPEAKER SERIES OFFERS FULL SPRING LINE-UP
The UMASS Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter is pleased to present the Operations Research/Management Science Spring 2008 Speaker Seminar Series. The talks take place on scheduled Fridays at 11AM in the Isenberg School of Management, Room 112. After the talks, interested members may join the presenters for lunch at the University Club, the oldest building in Amherst, to discuss topics of interest and enjoy a wonderful meal. Those interested in attending can view this link for more information and a complete schedule of talks.
SENIOR STUDENT SPEAKER SOUGHT FOR COMMENCEMENT
What are your thoughts as a graduating senior? Would you like to share them with your classmates, family and friends? If so, you are invited to submit a proposal for consideration as the Student Commencement Speaker. Submission deadline: 2/12/08. [More Information]
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