December 1997
Campus Notes
Appointments
Prof. Celia Moore, associate dean of the faculty of sciences, has been named president-elect of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, an interdisciplinary group of developmental scientists from neuroscience, psychology, biology and medicine. She will assume the office in July 1998.
Prof. Lin Zhan of the College of Nursing has been appointed honorary professor at the Changzhou Allied Health School and Jiangsu Medical College, and as a consultant for the Advanced Nurse Training Center, the People's Republic of China.
Joel Fowler has been appointed as Healey Library's Science/Reference Librarian.
John Applebee has been appointed Acting Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs while Vice Chancellor Janet Robinson is recuperating from injuries she received in a fall.
Prof. Sam Walker of the Art Department has been named president of the Boston Printmakers, one of the older national print organizations in the country.
Grants and Awards
Prof. Lloyd Schwartz of the English Department was one of ten writers honored at the Newton Free Library's 2nd annual Library Lovers' Ball held Oct. 26.
Nursing Prof. Margaret McAllister received the Nursing Education Award from the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) at the 1997 MNA Awards Banquet held Oct. 29 in Newport, R.I.
Profs. Elizabeth O'Neil and Patrick O'Neil of the Math and Computer Sciences Department have been awarded a three-year $360,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for work on isolation testing for transactional systems.
The Healey Library has received a $55,000 grant from the UMass President's Reserve Fund for library technology enhancements, which will allow faster and better access to catalog and databases in the library.
Profs. Joan Lukas of Mathematics and Computer Science and Judy Clark, Graduate College of Education, received a two-year, $172,545 grant from the National Science Foundation for "Teacher Preparation in Mathematics and Science at UMass Boston."
Publications
Prof. Frank Nisetich, chair of the Classics Department, has published an article, "Pindar's Modernist Debut," in the journal Classical and Modern Literature.
Gillian Gane, lecturer in English, has published an article, "The Hat the Hook, the Eyes, the Teeth: Captain Cuttle, Mr. Carker, and Literacy," in the Dickens Studies Annual.
Economics Prof. Randy Albelda has published two books: Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty, co-authored by Chris Tilly of UMass Lowell and published by South End Press, and Economics and Feminism: Disturbance in the Field, published by Twain Publishers.
CPCS Prof. Philip S. Hart's book, Up In the Air: The Story of Bessie Coleman, was optioned by Hollywood producer Jo Mayer, who will co-produce with Hart a made-for-television movie based on the book. Coleman was the first African American to earn a pilot's license in 1921.
Prof. Russell Schutt of the Sociology Department has completed two research reports on homelessness in Boston, co-authored with several graduate students from the Applied Sociology Program. The papers are "City of Boston Homeless Services: Employment and Training for Homeless Persons" and "Boston's Supportive Housing Programs: Building the Continuum of Care for Homeless Persons."
Prof. Edmund Beard, senior fellow, McCormack Institute, has written a study, "Judicial Salaries In Massachusetts: An Update of the 1992 Boston Bar Association Report."
"What's Fair? Justice Issues in the Affirmative Action Debate,"written by Prof. Susan Opotow of the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution, was published in the October issue of the journal, American Behavioral Scientist.
Presentations, Conferences, and Exhibits
CAS Dean of Undergraduate Education Patricia Davidson was the keynote speaker at the Conference of the Association of American Schools in South America (AASSA) in Santiago, Chile, Oct. 29-31. She gave two addresses: "Enhancing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills and Dispositions in Grades K-12 (and for Life)," and "A Neuropsychological Perspective on Teaching and Learning K-12: Current Research and Classroom Strategies."
ECOS faculty member Bernie Gardner gave a presentation, "Physical Processes related to the Stellwagen Bank," at the Stellwagen Bank Science and Education Symposium held on campus in October. At the same meeting, UMass Boston faculty and staff, including Profs. William Robinson and Zong Guo Xia, and Richard Delaney, director, and Madeleine Walsh, education director of the Urban Harbors Institute met with delegates from Chinese universities and the Chinese environmental protection department to discuss environmental education and protection in the U.S.
Twenty four faculty, staff and Ph.D. students from the Gerontology Institute and program participated in the 50th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, held in Cincinnati Nov. 17-18. They were participants in seven symposia and twelve paper and poster sessions.
Fifty representatives of organized labor met at a forum, Labor at the Crossroads, sponsored by the Labor Resource Center here in October. Featured speakers included columnist Robert Jordan of the Boston Globe and Sarah Nathan, media coordinator for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
Prof. Anne McCauley of the Art Department was co-curator of the first exhibition devoted to the Second Empire French photographer, Olympe Aguado held at the Musées de Strasbourg, France, Oct. 18 1997 to Jan. 4, 1998. She is also the author of catalogue essay, "Les frères Aguado, photographes amateurs à la cour du Second Empire."
The Ninth Annual Conference of the Haitian Studies Association, held Oct. 23-25 in Detroit, Mich., was attended by Profs. Marc Prou and Jemadari Kamara of the Africana Studies Department, and Alix Cantave, director of UMass Boston's Haitian Studies Assn. who co-chaired the conference. Prou's paper, "Haitian Creole Onomatopoeia: An Analysis," and Kamara's paper," Pan Africanism, Redistribution, and Reparations: The Case of Haitians and African Americans," will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Haitian Studies.
Prof. Dolores Gallo of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program gave the keynote address, "THINK BIG, Start Small, Cultivating Creative Potential," at Bunker Hill Community College's professional development day in October. She also was the keynote speaker at the Third International Conference on Creativity at the University of Malta, where she spoke on"Empathetic Role-taking: Its Nature and Impact."
Prof. Estelle Disch of the Sociology Department gave the plenary address, "Creating Community across Differences in the College Classroom" at the National Women's Studies Meeting in St. Louis.
Prof. Siamak Movahedi, director of the Graduate Program in Applied Sociology, was the discussant and moderator of a presentation by child psychoanalyst Leo Hoffman, M.D., at the Forum of the Psychoanalytic Society of New England East. The presentation was "Passions in Girls and Women: Toward a Bridge between Critical Theory of Gender and Modern Conflict Theory."
In October, Prof. Steven Sweeney of the Theater Arts and Communications Program was in New York City working on a film with actor Peter Falk.
Elizabeth Sherman, director of the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy, spoke at a gathering of the Newton Democratic City Committee on "The First Ladies and History" on November 19.
In the News. . .
Prof. Barry Bluestone of the Political Science Department and McCormack Institute was interviewed on Neighborhood Network News about the results of the study, The Greater Boston Social Survey on October 31.
Prof. Lois Rudnick, director of the undergraduate American Studies Program, was interviewed by National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition" on her book, Utopian Vistas: The Mabel Dodge Luhan House and the American Counterculture, November 8.
Prof. Ramona Hernandes of the Latino Studies Program co-authored a socio-economic report on New York City's Dominican community which appeared in The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Newsday, La Prensa, and El Nacional of the Dominican Republic.
Serving the Community
Approximately 50 people affiliated with UMass Boston participated in the Oct. 5 "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer," a five-mile walk held by the American Cancer Society. The walk raised more than $2 million to support research, the Reach to Recovery program, one-on-one support programs, and a mobile mammography van. UMass Boston's participation was sponsored by the Office of Human Resources.
WUMB's October fundraiser raised $105,000 from 1,320 supporters, $5,000 over its goal. An additional piece of good news&emdash; 40% of the donors were first-time supporters.
International Relations
Six executives from Turkmenistan's petroleum and natural gas industry have begun a six-month course in English language and American business customs in a program developed by Jack Hughes, director of the International Executive Program of the Division of Continuing Education. Their studies are sponsored by Mobil Oil Corporation, where the executives will hold paid internships before returning home.