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Research Bulletin Highlights University's Commitment to Intellectual Inquiry |
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Mergers and Takeovers Topic of Recent Forum for 21st Century |
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Spotlights |
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Designer Joseph Abboud '72 Hosts Reception at Manhattan Show Room on December 2
Everyone was dressed up&emdash;the guests, the wait staff, and even the mannequins. One of UMass Boston's best known alumni, designer Joseph Abboud (Class of 1972), welcomed fellow alums from New York and New Jersey to his Manhattan showroom on December 2. President William Bulger, Chancellor Sherry Penney, and Abboud mingled with alumni and guests, 27 floors above bustling, holiday-lit Fifth Avenue. During the reception&emdash;which was coordinated by Jane Parker, assistant vice chancellor for alumni relations, and New York alumna Josephine Dixon Hall, Class of 1988&emdash;Chancellor Penney shared campus news, and presented Abboud and Hall with gifts of gratitude. Pictured above at the reception are (left to right) Joseph Abboud, Vice Chancellor Michael Luck, friend of the University Jeri Marshall of the Lipton Companies, and Assistant Vice Chancellor Jane Parker.
Forum on the Future of the Healey Library to be held January 24
Gordon Gee, President of Brown University, a national leader on issues affecting the future of universities, will be the guest speaker at a forum, "Healey Library at a Crossroads: What is its Future in the 21st Century?" The forum, scheduled for January 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Media Auditorium, lower level, Healey Library, will offer an opportunity to discuss the future of the library in the context of changing expectations for library services and collections. While there is a growing demand for research materials and new opportunities for inter-library cooperation, funding to provide new initiatives is often inadequate. Among the most urgent challenges are the increasing amount of information and spiraling costs associated with it, changes in copyright laws restricting the distribution of information, and the need to make fundamental changes in traditional building-based services model. In addition, the forum will explore the role libraries can play in facilitating student retention, enhancing learning on campus, and in preparing students for lifelong learning in the information age. If there are topics you would like to see included in the program, you can offer your suggestions on the Healey Library website at http://libraryforum.lib.umb.edu. The forum is sponsored by the Offices of the Chancellor and the Provost, the Faculty Council Library Committee, and the Healey Library.
Division of University Communications Welcomes New Staff Members
The Division of University Communications is pleased to announce the addition of three new members to its staff. Anne-Marie Kent joins the Communications Office from the Division of Continuing Education as the new senior staff writer. Her responsibilities include speech writing and public relations activities. Melissa Fassel has assumed the position of web/communications specialist. She comes to the Communications Office from the Office of Institutional Research. Fassel's responsibilities include overseeing the News and Events section of the University website and public relations activities. Lauren Lynch, previously of the Joiner Center, has come aboard as administrative assistant. Her responsibilities include administrative support and publications billing. Previously, Lynch has worked for the Office of the Registrar and the Healey Library.
Two New Sculptures Added to Arts on the Point Collection
The Arts on the Point Initiative will oversee the installation of two new works by artists Tony Smith and Dennis Oppenheim in late January or early February. These new works promise to engage the senses from all angles. Tony Smith's "Stinger", originally designed in 1967, is an imposing structure of painted black steel standing 6 1/2 feet high and over 33 feet across. The geometrically-influenced sculpture is meant to allow people to feel both openness and confinement as they walk through it. Jane Smith, Tony Smith's widow, is enthusiastic about the placement of "Stinger" and hopes to attend the installation at its site along the perimeter road, overlooking Boston Harbor. "Searchburst" is the second work by artist Dennis Oppenheim to be displayed as part of Arts on the Point. His sculpture "Black" is located on the patio behind the Quinn cafeteria. "Searchburst" is a lighted cylindrical sculpture which promises to bring a lighthearted feeling to the campus this winter. The Healy Library will soon appear to be rocketing into the Boston sky with the help of "Searchburst" hanging from the refurbished underside of the building.
College of Nursing Sponsors Conference on the Health Needs of the Urban Community
The College of Nursing sponsored a conference, "Innovative Health Care Policy for the Urban Community: Nursing's Strategic Role" from November 12 through the 14 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge. Nursing professionals, educators, and policy planners gathered to discuss the specific health needs of urban populations. Professor Margaret McAllister of the College of Nursing was the principal organizer of the conference, sponsored by the College of Nursing, the Theta Alpha Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International, Nursing Spectrum, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and Star Market and Colleen's Flower Shop of Dorchester. Presentations by UMass Boston faculty and students ranged in scope from "Health Care Delivery to Pregnant and Parenting Teens" to "Advanced Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence to Support a National Health Policy." Also up for discussion were issues including Coalition Building and Advocacy, Research and Innovation in Women's Health Care, and Research and Innovation in Health Promotion for Populations at Risk. Policy recommendations developed at the conference will be brought to the attention of legislators in Washington D. C.
Biology Professor's Book Named to American Scientist's Top 100 of the Century List
Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth by Professor Karlene Schwartz of the Biology Department and Professor Lynn Margulis of the Department of Geosciences, UMass Amherst, has been named "One of the 100 (or so) Books that Shaped a Century of Science" by American Scientist Magazine. Listed as a field guide, Five Kingdoms joined the Oxford English Dictionary, Roger Tory Peterson's A Field Guide to Birds, andThe Hubble Atlas of Galaxies by Allan Sandage among others in this category. According to Schwartz, she and Margulis wrote the first edition of Five Kingdoms out of their own need for "a concise, illustrated description of the world's biodiversity." The first edition was published in 1982, after eight years of work by the authors on weekends and summer vacations, using a manual typewriter and carbon paper. "Hundreds of specialists in the U.S. and abroad expressed their enthusiasm by sending us biological specimens, theses, manuscripts, photographs and drawings, and by reading portions of our manuscript," says Schwartz. The second edition was published in 1988. The book is used by scientists, teachers, science students&emdash;"anyone who is curious about the living organisms that inhabit Earth," she adds. Five Kingdoms has been translated into Japanese, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
WUMB's Folk Power Increases in Western Massachusetts
The WUMB Public Radio Network has increased the power of its central Massachusetts repeater transmitter and now broadcasts to a larger audience. After waiting for more than a year, the station received permission to increase power from the Federal Communications Commission last summer. The new signal, which can be heard on 91.9 FM, now reaches north past Gardner and Fitchburg to the New Hampshire border, west to Palmer, and south to Webster near the Connecticut/Rhode Island border. The WUMB Public Radio Network signals now reach nearly two million people in Massachusetts. The station is also broadcasting its signal on the world wide web and has listeners in Switzerland, Israel, and France.
This month's Spotlights were written by Annette Fernie, Kim Burke,OUC intern, and Amy Osborne of the Office of Institutional Advancement.