2008 Woodie Awards
A deal has been reached, a price has been set, and the destruction of five Frat Row houses is imminent, according to University of Massachusetts officials. The five pieces of property on North Pleasant Street, formally home to four fraternities and one sorority, will be dissembled in the near future, as part of an agreement between the company which owns the property and UMass, according to Joyce Hatch, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance.
What was supposed to be nine days filled with relaxation and fun left two University of Massachusetts students grateful to escape with their lives when their cruise ship nearly tipped over in July. "There were people all around the boat bleeding," said UMass junior Elizabeth Sweeney, who was boarded on the ship along with her family and boyfriend, UMass sophomore Charles Thebado.
A spectacular fire tore through the Bank of America at the corner of Triangle and East Pleasant streets Aug. 25, leaving the branch behind as nothing more than a pile of rubble. Amherst Fire Chief Keith E. Hoyle said investigators have narrowed the possible cause of the blaze to something electrical in the mechanical space in the void above the first floor.
The freshman class at the University of Massachusetts will reach approximately 4000 students at the onset of the 2006-2007 academic year, dropping from an all-time high of 4,427 students in 2005-2006. "The issue of the number of freshmen is actually the result of a combination of circumstances.
In hopes of making the school year most beneficial for students and faculty, officials at the University of Massachusetts are reviewing the school's current academic calendar and discussing possible adjustments. "There are currently various conversations ongoing about our calendar," said Chancellor John V.
Nearly five months after being safely returned to the United States, former University of Massachusetts alumna Jill Carroll has unveiled a harrowing account of her nine-month abduction through an 11-part series in the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, where she is currently employed.
Among the handful of major construction projects on campus last year, the North Residential Apartments at the University of Massachusetts has been cared for like a newborn baby. UMass provided 24-hour live Web cam footage, along with a Web site of architectural renderings and updates of their first residential development in 35 years.
In recent months, the North Residential Apartments went under several changes of status, keeping students on their heels about what would come next. The new housing was originally "on-schedule," then was "delayed." And then about a week ago, it was put back on-schedule to open on its originally scheduled date, according to University of Massachusetts campus housing officials.
A new set of eyes will be watching when students enter and exit all dormitories at the University of Massachusetts this fall. The installation of approximately 325 new security cameras, which will cover all 45 residence halls on campus, will be completed for the start of the semester, according to UMass Chancellor John Lombardi.
As part of a nationwide effort, the University of Massachusetts is beginning to crack down on plagiarism with the introduction of unified detection programs and tools to educate students. Defined in the Student Code of Conduct as "knowingly representing the words of another one's own work in any academic exercise," plagiarism accounts, to some extent, for 10 percent of academic dishonesty cases.
A new SAT test filled with more advanced math problems, more reading comprehension and the addition of a new writing section were blamed for the sharp decline in Massachusetts SAT scores in 2006. The new writing section on the SAT, which closely mirrors the SAT II Writing test, is an hour long test that includes a writing sample and multiple-choice editing questions.
The Student Government Association duo President Elvis Mendez and Student Trustee Mishy Leiblum have plans to "flip the SGA on its head" in the upcoming school year at the University of Massachusetts. In an effort to increase the level of accountability held by student senators, Mendez and Leiblum have created a referendum that would lower the number of senators seated in the SGA from 80 to 49.
In hopes of wiping out some of the world's deadliest diseases, one University of Massachusetts professor recently published an article to shed some light on possible solutions. UMass professor of chemistry, Lila Gierasch, has recently published an article along with her co-author Zoya Ignatova of the Max Planck Institute in Martinsried, Germany outlining their recent work on the anti-protein clumping capabilities of the molecule known as proline.
All across the country children of deployed parents, who are stationed overseas or out of state in the military, are suffering from stress and fear of what lay ahead. UMass Extension, a program which addresses high priority issues within the commonwealth, and its 4-H program, made their effort towards helping these children with a Family Fun Day that took place this past July at Camp Marshall in Spencer, Mass.
Three presentations on substance abuse from the University of Massachusetts were selected to be included in the 20th annual National Meeting on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention in Higher Education. The conference, which is coordinated by the U.