Story and Source Ideas for Journalists
10/21/2013
This is a notice of upcoming events, photo opportunities and story ideas at UMass Lowell, compiled by the Office of University Relations, 978-934-3224. For more stories about UMass Lowell, visit www.uml.edu and click on “Media” at the top of the page. Please note that contact names below are for the media and are not for publication.
Sources of the week are available to discuss:
- The testing process performed in UMass Lowell’s Baseball Research Center on the baseballs that will be used in the upcoming World Series;
- Advice on Halloween-related parenting issues;
- Lessons learned from the federal government shutdown and the potential for another closure when funding runs out on Jan. 16, 2014.
Contact UMass Lowell media relations if you need an expert source on any subject.
- Author Discusses History, Effects of U.S. Immigration Policies
- Students Make Products to Aid People with Disabilities
- ‘Engineering It’ Open House Highlights Interactive Learning
- Huge Career Fair Matches Employers with Student Job Candidates
- Halloween Event Offers Safe, Spooky Fun for Families
- Writer Traces Division of America at Event
- Prospective Students Visit Campus on the Move During Open House
- Flecktones’ Founder to Perform at Scholarship Benefit
Immigration Author Discusses History, Effects of U.S. Immigration Policies
When: Monday, Oct. 21, 3:30 p.m.
What: Author Ben Railton will explore the history of legal and illegal immigration and multiculturalism in the United States in a talk about his latest work, “The Chinese Exclusion Act: What it Can Teach Us about America.” The first significant act restricting U.S. immigration, the legislation banned Chinese laborers from entering the country. When the legislation expired in 1892, Congress extended the ban through its passage of the Geary Act, which regulated Chinese immigration until the 1920s.
Where: O’Leary Library Learning Commons, Room 478, South Campus, 61 Wilder St., Lowell
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Technology Students Make Products to Aid People with Disabilities
When: Tuesday, Oct. 22, 9 to 1:50 a.m.; 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 25, 8 to 9:50 a.m.; 9:50 to 11:50 a.m.; 4 to 5:50 p.m.
What: Sessions that teach UMass Lowell engineering students to solder are part of their coursework in the Assistive Technology Program, through which they design and build custom items that enhance the mobility and everyday life of people with disabilities. The soldering lessons will offer a glimpse into the initiative and the projects that are on students’ drawing boards this year. The program is offered through UMass Lowell’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Where: Sessions on Tuesday, Oct. 22, Ball Hall, Room 402; morning sessions on Friday, Oct. 25, Ball Hall, Room 416; afternoon session, Ball Hall, Room 402, North Campus, 185 Riverside St., Lowell
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Boott ‘Engineering It’ Open House Highlights Interactive Learning
When: Tuesday, Oct. 22, 3:30 to 6 p.m.
What: Teachers, students and the public will have a chance to view and experience the new “Engineering It” Workshop, an exhibit for third- through 12th-graders that combines history and science with the engineering principles behind the Industrial Revolution that propelled the city of Lowell to international fame. An inclined plane, a pulley and a wheel will be some of the machines on view. Speakers are scheduled to include Sheila Kirschbaum and Kristin Gallas of the Tsongas Industrial History Center. The center, a partnership between UMass Lowell and Lowell National Historical Park, offers field trips for students and training for teachers from across New England and the world.
Where: Tsongas Industrial History Center, Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John St., Lowell
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Career Huge Career Fair Matches Employers with Student Job Candidates
When: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1 to 4 p.m.
What: From IBM to iRobot, Raytheon to Radio Disney, organizations that need employees who are ready for the working world will find them at UMass Lowell’s largest career fair to date. The fair will bring more than 300 representatives of 155 employers together with more than 1,000 UMass Lowell undergraduate and graduate students who are seeking full- or part-time jobs, internships or cooperative-education opportunities. Visit the fair to interview UMass Lowell students about their career plans and talk to employers about what they are looking for from employees and how they assess the job market. The event is presented by UMass Lowell’s Career Services and Cooperative Education Center. Note: The fair is not open to the public but the media is encouraged to cover this event.
Where: Campus Recreation Center, East Campus, 100 Pawtucket St., Lowell
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Halloween Halloween Event Offers Safe, Spooky Fun for Families
When: Thursday, Oct. 24, 4 to 7 p.m.
What: Lowell children and families are invited to an evening of spooky fun at UMass Lowell’s Halloween fright fest. The celebration will include family activities and safe trick-or-treating throughout two of the university’s residence halls. Student volunteers and UMass Lowell Residence Life staff present the annual community event.
Where: Sheehy and Concordia halls, South Campus, 6 Solomont Way, Lowell.
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Hedrick Writer Traces Division of America at Event
When: Friday, Oct. 25, 2 p.m.
What: Author, television producer and journalist Hedrick Smith will discuss his latest book, “Who Stole the American Dream?,” which examines the political and economic shifts in U.S. capitalism under the last six presidents that have helped dismantle the middle class and create “two Americas” – the rich and the poor. Smith, an Emmy winner for his television work, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1974 as a New York Times reporter for his coverage of the Soviet Union and was among the Times’ team of reporters that covered the Pentagon Papers controversy in 1971. Free and open to the public, his talk is presented by UMass Lowell’s Sociology, Political Science and History departments, along with the Peace and Conflict Studies program.
Where: O’Leary Library Learning Commons, Room 222, South Campus, 61 Wilder St., Lowell
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Open Prospective Students Visit Campus on the Move During Open House
When: Sunday, Oct. 27. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Exhibits, 9 to 11:30 a.m.; campus tours, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
What: Prospective freshmen, transfer and graduate students thinking about enrolling at UMass Lowell will learn about the breadth and depth of the university’s academic programs and exciting campus life during the Fall Open House, the largest on-campus information event of the year. Attendees and their families may meet with faculty, staff and students and tour UMass Lowell’s campus, where in the past year the university has opened six new buildings, including new residence halls and academic facilities. Exhibits, resource and financial-aid information and academic presentations will also help illustrate why PayScale.com recently rated a UMass Lowell education as providing the 10th best return on investment among the country’s public universities, based on the cost of attending and graduates’ lifetime earning potential, and why Forbes ranked UMass Lowell 10th among the nation’s Top 25 Best Value Colleges.
Where: Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Lowell
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Levy Flecktones’ Founder to Perform at Scholarship Benefit
When: Monday, Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m.
What: Grammy Award-winning musician Howard Levy – an incomparable master of the harmonica and piano perhaps best known as a co-founder Bela Fleck and the Flecktones – will perform in concert at UMass Lowell. Among an eclectic mix genres, the concert Monday, Oct. 28 concert will feature a piano duet between Levy and Meg Ruby, who teaches piano at UMass Lowell, as well as the world premiere of “8-Bit Attitude,” a composition for digitally processed harmonica written by John Shirley, chairman of UMass Lowell’s Music Department. Concert admission is free but donations accepted at the door will benefit scholarships for UMass Lowell music students.
Where: Durgin Concert Hall, South Campus, 35 Wilder St., Lowell
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu