News & Profiles

Class Notes

Brett Wagner (2009, SOM) is currently living and working in Auckland, New Zealand. Recently he attended a semi-pro basketball game with fellow alumnus Matthew Perry '10 that featured former UMass Basketball Stand-out Anthony Gurley '11. Anthony is currently the star shooting guard for the Wellington Saints of the NBL.

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Alumni News and Profiles

Alumna Wins Second Prize in National Competition
Alaina Hanlon '05G, '08G, the president and CEO of the PhenotypeIT company that provides health and wellness software solutions to help individuals and organizations better identify and manage chronic health issues, took home the second-place $3,000 prize at the National Health Promotion Summit.
Mark Russell Receives Honorary Doctorate
Mark E. Russell '85G received an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering Degree from UMass Amherst at its 2012 Commencement ceremonies. Russell is the Raytheon Corporate Vice President of Engineering, Technology, and Mission Assurance.
Distinguished Alumna Lectures on Campus
Chemical Engineering (ChE) alumna Rena Bizios ’68 recently lectured at UMass on “Strategies to Promote Mammalian Cell Functions Pertinent to New Tissue Formation for Biomedical Applications.” The highly accomplished Dr. Bizios is currently the Peter T. Flawn Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Heather Christle wins The Believer Poetry Award
MFA Program for Poets & Writers alumna Heather Christle '09G, has been awarded The Believer Poetry Award for 2012 for her newest collection of poetry The Trees The Trees. The Believer says her poetry creates "powerful, living experiences —poems that echo everywhere with the skittery pulse of contemporary life.
A true believer in the good fight
Dan Curley '77, 85, commissioner of the recently embattled Department of Transitional Assistance, is a true believer ... not a pol. More than 40 years ago, when Curley came home from the Navy and was looking to go to college, the GI Bill enabled him to attend UMass-Amherst. “What we do here is help people who are in trouble,” he said, “offer them a hand so they can stabilize their lives and move on toward an independent future. (Boston Herald interview)
Amy Levinson Millan, Dramaturg
Amy Levinson Millan ‘04, ’07G, Theater alumna as well as Literary Manager and Dramaturg at the Geffen Playhouse, discusses working with Bill Pullman '80G for The Jacksonian and learning Yiddish to complete her dramaturgy project at UMass. Her favorite memories all involve the Rand Theater with its "less than chic orange carpet everywhere."
Bernard-Johnston Appointed
Jean Bernard-Johnston '93 Ed.D. was appointed to a three-year term as a Member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. She is also head of Spectacle Learning Media in Stratham New Hampshire. She recently wrote about her work in Somalia that appeared in the United States Mission to UNESCO e-newsletter.
Writing Her Way Around the World
World traveler, journalist and economic analyst Rosemary Hussey Werrett ’62 recounts tales of her astounding travels and career for her upcoming 50th Class Reunion in May. From hitchhiking across Europe in the 60s, to meetings with Fidel Castro in the 70s, and traveling the Sendero Luminoso dominated highlands of Peru in the 80s – Werrett has left an indisputable mark on the world since she graduated.
Student and alumni team win Challenge
FACTbase, a team of student and alumni entrepreneurs from the Geosciences Department, won the top prize in the 2012 UMass Innovation Challenge. The team includes geology alumna Kendra Clark '04; physics and geosciences alumnus Steve Nathant '99G, '05G; and mathematics alumnus Jonathan Leachman '05.
Alumni work together to improve student learning
Classrooms figure prominently in the life of University of Houston Professor Kent Divoll '10 and his wife, Angelica Ribeiro '08, an ESL teacher in the Pasadena Independent School District. The pair met while enrolled in the same class at UMass. He was a doctoral student and she, a master’s student. Two years later, the couple exchanged vows in the same classroom where they met.
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@UMASS eNewsletters

This month in @UMASS
UMass Amherst Commencement Ceremonies will take place on May 11–12. Legendary newsman Ted Koppel will receive an Honorary Degree and provide the Undergraduate keynote address.
This month in Student @UMASS
The 14th Annual Commencement Ball – themed Keep on Dancing Till the World Ends – was a resounding success! View the slideshow.
This month in Graduate Student @UMASS
The Alumni Finance Network welcomes special guest speaker Jean-Marc Berteaux '86 to its May gathering. Berteaux is a partner, senior vice president and portfolio manager of International Equities at Wellington Management.