UMass Amherst Faculty and Staff Achievements Noted
June 15, 2009
| Contact: | Daniel J. Fitzgibbons 413/545-0444 |
AMHERST, Mass. – Several University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty and staff members have received recognition for their work in recent weeks:
Professor Jeffrey Blaustein of the Center for Neuroendocrine Studies, neuroscience and behavior program, and the psychology department, has been elected president-elect of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology (SBN).
SBN is an international society that promotes intellectual exchanges between basic scientists studying interactions between behavior, genes and neuroendocrine systems. Members study these interactions from the behavioral to the molecular level, in laboratory, field and clinical settings, using a variety of animal models.
Blaustein will hold the president-elect position for two years followed by two years as president, and then two years as past president.
******
Martha L. A. Stassen, director of assessment, has been re-elected president of the New England Educational Assessment Network (NEEAN).
NEEAN’s mission is to promote quality assessment of student learning and development, and thus to enhance the effectiveness of institutions of higher education. It supports the assessment efforts of faculty and higher education administrators throughout the Northeast by sponsoring conferences and workshops and providing other networking opportunities across the region.
******
Andrew F. Cavanagh, a technical assistant in the department of plant, soil and insect sciences, has been named to a state advisory panel on ways to adapt to climate change.
The 36-member Climate Change Adaptation Advisory Committee will advise state leaders on strategies for adapting to sea level rise, warming temperatures, increased incidence of flood and drought and other predicted effects of climate change.
Created by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008, the panel comprises experts from business, academia and nonprofit organizations, who will meet periodically and report their findings to the Legislature by Dec. 31.
******
Health educator Amanda Collings Vann of University Health Services was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick to the Governor’s Council to Address Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.
The council is charged with creating and updating law enforcement guides, revising and updating state policies, evaluating the response of legal, health and human services systems and considering legislative needs.
Vann is a peer health education instructor, directs the Not Ready for Bedtime Players and oversees the Women’s Health Project. She is a member of the Five College Sexual Assault Prevention and Intervention Committee and the Five College AIDS Committee and serves on the Western Massachusetts Development Committee of Planned Parenthood.
******
Astronomer William Irvine was recently selected to the board of the International Astronomical Union’s Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences).
The IAU is the principal organization for international collaboration among astronomers, and its work is carried out by several divisions, each of which has several commissions.
Irvine is the incoming president of the Bioastronomy Commission within Division III.
******
Ronald K. Hambleton, Distinguished University Professor in the department of educational policy, research and administration, was recently inducted as an Inaugural Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
Hambleton is executive director of the UMass Amherst School of Education’s Center for Educational Assessment which conducts research and provides training in the areas of psychometrics, research methods, and educational statistics to promote fair, useful, and efficient educational assessment practices.
The AERA Inaugural Fellows include past presidents and scholars who have been selected to receive the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award and association members who have been inducted into other research organizations through 2006.
It is the AERA’s expectation that fellows will be visibly engaged in important programs and activities and that they will serve as models and mentors to the next generations of scholars in the field.
The AERA is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.
E-mail story to a friend 
Printer-friendly version
