Weekly Preview April 22 - 29

Welcome to the last week of April!

Friday April 22

Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, Campus Center, 8:00am – 5:00pm.  Commonwealth Honors College will host the 17th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference. More than 700 students from 17 of the state's public higher education campuses will present thesis research, creative work in the visual and performing arts, independent study, and reports on community service and study abroad. Through poster displays and oral presentations, students will explain their research, share their findings and respond to questions. The event will feature a 10:00 a.m. keynote address "Searching for fulfillment: What it means for your future" by Susan K. Whitbourne, professor of clinical psychology. Based on the results of a 40-year study of personality following college students into their middle years, the talk will show students how to chart out life pathways to achieve fulfillment in college and beyond. They will learn how to find the “Authentic Road” in life and avoid the traps of the “Downward Slope.”

Tuesday, April 26

OK - You Have Selected Your Major...Now What? A Program Just for Sophomores. Du Bois Library, Room 1667, 4:00pm – 5:00pm. Learn “What You Can Do With This Major?”, “How You Can Find Great Internships” and “What UMass’s Career Services Office Can Do For You!” Registration is required! RSVP by sending an email to Candice Serafino, Assistant Director of Field Experience, UMass Career Services, serafino@acad.umass.edu.  Include your full name and major.

Wednesday, April 27

Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Mullins Center, Massachusetts Room, 4:00pm. Professor Manisha Sinha of the Department of Afro-American Studies presents a lecture entitled Did the Abolitionists Cause the Civil War? To help mark the sesquicentennial of secession and the American Civil War in 2010-2011, Professor Sinha will revisit the place of abolition in the sectional conflict. As she traces its development from radical agitation for social reform to a broad-based antislavery political party, she will describe the often overlooked role African Americans played in the movement and note reverberations in contemporary political rhetoric on secession and states’ rights.

Thursday, April 28

Lecture: Why Software Security?, Computer Science Building, Room 151, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm.  In some sense, software is the lifeblood of most modern complex systems. Software can fail, but worse yet, software can be intentionally made to fail by attackers. Instead of defending our systems by isolating them from the network (an impossible task), we must build security in from the beginning. Both social networking and mobile device security provide important security lessons that can inform a reasoned approach. Modern malicious code, including the Zeus Trojan, Stuxnet, and other persistent web threats, is as sophisticated as it is insidious. And future trends in attacks are even more alarming, leveraging rootkits, multi-core attacks, and hard-to-diagnose timing issues. Our sole recourse is software security. The good news is that we actually know what to do to build security in. After the talk, Gary McGraw and Cigital recruiters will be available to discuss positions available at Cigital.

NOBCChE Interest Meeting, 374 Lederle, 4:00pm.   The National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers presents the NOBCChE interest meeting. This meeting is open to all graduates and undergraduates of any major that are interested in learning about chemistry, chemical engineering, or any science related topics. For more information, contact Ololade Fatunmbi, ololade.fatunmbi@gmail.com.

Workshop: Job Searching While Keeping Your Cool, 508 Goodell, 5:00pm.  Learn about job searching and stress relief techniques. Presented by Career Services.

Friday, April 29

Founders Day: Campus Cookout, Goodell Lawn, 11:00am – 2:00pm.  Faculty, staff, and students are invited to Celebrate UMass, a free cookout on the Goodell lawn an event that will serve as campus appreciation day. Our award-winning Dining Services is preparing a locally-grown "green" meal, one that uses as many local and sustainable products as possible. Please register online to help us obtain an accurate count.

Important Dates and Information

Isenberg School of Management B.B.A., Sports Management and Hospitality & Tourism Management applications are due by 5:00pm on Sunday, May 1.  Applications are available online.

Basic Math Skills R1 Exemption Test, Monday, May 2, 7:30pm, 131 Marcus Hall.

Last Day of Spring Classes, Tuesday, May 3.

Final Exams begin on Thursday, May 5.  Do you have two exams scheduled at the same time, OR three exams scheduled on the same day? If yes, you MUST go to the Registrar's Office in Whitmore 213 TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO THE FINAL EXAM so they can reschedule them for you. To do so, print your final exam schedule from SPIRE and take it to the Registrar's Office. For more information, visit their final exam page.  If you have not already done this, take care of it immediately!

ongoing

BDIC (Bachelors Degree with Individual Concentration) Information Sessions for Spring 2011.  Learn about the most unique major on campus, and receive guidance on how you can design your own major. Information sessions will be held every Monday (3pm), Tuesday (1pm), Wednesday (10am), Thursday (11am), Friday (1pm) in 608 Goodell.