News & Announcements

Past news and announcements are shown below. Current news is shown on our homepage.

Distinguished Alumni Awards

The UMass Amherst Alumni Association recognized the outstanding achievements of alumni, faculty, and friends with its highest honor at the Massachusetts State House on April 14, 2010. This year's recipients share an ongoing passion for their work and for UMass Amherst. Dr. Melinda Novak, Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience faculty member, received the Distinguished Faculty Award.  On April 13, 2011, Dr. Jeffrey D. Blaustein, Director of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program received the Distinguished Alumni Award at the State House in Boston.

Distinguished Teaching Award

Lauri Kurdziel received a 2010 Distinguished Teaching Award. This is a campus-wide award reliant on nominations, evaluations and recommendations from current faculty and students. Each year, faculty, graduate, and undergraduate student committees review well over 100 nominations in a two-step process of data collection and analysis prior to selecting three faculty and two teaching assistant awardees. DTAs receive a monetary prize and are recognized at both the Undergraduate and Graduate Commencements. While at UMass, Lauri has taught or served as the TA for Methods Lab (Psych 241, Fall 2008), Behavioral Neuroscience (Psych 330, Spring 2009), Learning and Thinking (Psych 320, Spring 2009), Statistics (Psych 240, Fall 2009), and Junior Writing (Psych 392, Spring 2010). John Mullin (Dean of the Graduate School) honored Lauri Kurdziel and Brian Yellen (Geosciences) at an award luncheon at the University Club on April 28, 2010.

Melinda Novak - Recipient of Distinguished Primatologist Award

The American Society of Primatologists (ASP) presented Dr. Melinda Novak with the Distinguished Primatologist Award at their Annual  Meeting, September 16-19, 2011 in Austin Texas.  In the 34 years of  their existence, this is only the 16th time the ASP has chosen to bestow this award. The Distinguished Primatologist Award honors a primatologist who has had an outstanding career and made significant contributions to the field. Dr. Novak is one of the world's leading experts on the psychological well-being of non-human primates, and as a recipient of this award, she will be invited to deliver the Distinguished Primatologist Address at the 2012 meeting of the Society.

Nancy Forger - Recipient of Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship

The Office of Research & Engagement is pleased to announce the following recipients of the 2010-2011 Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship Awards:
Donal A. Carbaugh, Communication
Nancy G. Forger, Psychology
Lynnette Leidy Sievert, Anthropology

The UMass Amherst Samuel Conti Faculty fellowship consists of a cash award of $3,000 and a year's leave of absence to encourage award recipients to concentrate on activities related to graduate education, research, creative work, and scholarly attainment.

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