This is from somewhere between September and October 2008
The Lemelson center is alive and well. Last year, the Lemelson Assistive Technology Development Center went through some funding issues. The Lemelson Foundation had given Hampshire a two-year grace period after which time they would withdraw funding from Hampshire's Lemelson center.
While Hampshire College funds 30-40% of the operating budget of the Lemelson center, outside funding was needed to be able to keep the program intact. There were a number of grant possibilities, and each one fell through. At the last minute (end of the academic year last year), funding was solidified. In fact, Colin Twitchell, the director of the Lemelson program, said that the funding for the program is good through this academic year, and that they can continue the program at this level of funding. It is unclear how well fund raising will work with the economy in its current state. Unfortunately, bad economy means less philanthropy. To help the situation, a number of parents of students have started a Lemelson center parental fund-raising group. They are there to offer advice and, of course, funds.
Colin Twitchell states, “I'm fairly optimistic that we'll be Ok for the next academic year.” The Lemelson center has a small endowment that will be used to help pay for programs. Currently, very little is paid for by endowment, but as the endowment grows, so too will the possibility to pay with it.
So, what is the impact this year of decreased funding? It basically means that some of the extra events and speakers that Lemelson offered in the past had to be lessened this year. It also meant that administration positions in the center had to be cut back. The remaining administrative staff now has to do more than in the past. Colin remarked that now, sadly, he had less interactions with students because of increased responsibility. The other change to the program was the need to stop offering one of the Lemelson classes, “Introduction to soft goods design.”
The Sherman-Fairchild program has shown interest in Hampshire and in Lemelson. If we get this grant, it would mean $300,000 over the course of three years to create an art, design, and technology program involving the Lemelson program and interdisciplinary learning. There could be combinations of Lemelson and Cognitive Sciences or anything else, really. “The sky is the limit as far as what could be created,” says Twitchell. He is pretty sure that we will get that grant.
Lemelson is a very unique program. There are no other undergraduate liberal arts colleges in the country that have such a program. To find something similar on a higher education campus, you have to go to industrial design schools. What makes this program truly special is the combination of social entrepreneurship and assistive technology. Hopefully, funding will be found to allow such a unique program to grow and flourish.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Hampshire Slams New Mexico
This piece is dated April 3, 2008
The Hampshire College Poetry Slam team left Tuesday, April 1 for Albuquerque, NM to compete in the Association of College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. While they did not place, they received recognition in the finals.
The Invitational this year consists of 26 college teams from across the country. They are being hosted by the University of New Mexico and the competition lasts for four days.
In the past, there has been a five-college team for this competition, but this is the first year that Hampshire Slam Collective has been strong enough to assemble their own team. The team is made up of four members and one alternate. These include Sean Conlon, Esme Vaandrager, Charley Pope, Andy Locke, and Sophia Holtz as alternate.
A slam team is assembled by a standardized process involving five judges in a number of rounds. The judges rate any given poet's poem in every round from one to ten and those scores are summed up. At the end of each round, the lower-scoring poet's are eliminated. At the end of the finals the four poet's with the highest points for that round get on the team, which ensures that they are consistently good poet's not just the authors of a one-hit wonder. The rules at the competition are quite similar except that points are accumulated by school and not by person.
When asked about the competition, Sean Conlon responded, “We're really stoked. We get to see other students and what they are doing all over the country.” He also stated that Hampshire is sending a team to the National Poetry Slam in Madison, Wis., in August. Hampshire will be the first college in the United States to send a college team to this adult slam competition.
The Hampshire Slam Collective meets on Tuesday nights in the Main Lecture Hall. They have feature poets lined up every week for the rest of the semester. Next week the feature poet is James “J*me” Caroline. Next week will also be host to the Nationals team finals slam. To find out more about the Hampshire Slam Collective and what they are doing on campus, go to www.hampshireslam.com.
The Hampshire College Poetry Slam team left Tuesday, April 1 for Albuquerque, NM to compete in the Association of College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. While they did not place, they received recognition in the finals.
The Invitational this year consists of 26 college teams from across the country. They are being hosted by the University of New Mexico and the competition lasts for four days.
In the past, there has been a five-college team for this competition, but this is the first year that Hampshire Slam Collective has been strong enough to assemble their own team. The team is made up of four members and one alternate. These include Sean Conlon, Esme Vaandrager, Charley Pope, Andy Locke, and Sophia Holtz as alternate.
A slam team is assembled by a standardized process involving five judges in a number of rounds. The judges rate any given poet's poem in every round from one to ten and those scores are summed up. At the end of each round, the lower-scoring poet's are eliminated. At the end of the finals the four poet's with the highest points for that round get on the team, which ensures that they are consistently good poet's not just the authors of a one-hit wonder. The rules at the competition are quite similar except that points are accumulated by school and not by person.
When asked about the competition, Sean Conlon responded, “We're really stoked. We get to see other students and what they are doing all over the country.” He also stated that Hampshire is sending a team to the National Poetry Slam in Madison, Wis., in August. Hampshire will be the first college in the United States to send a college team to this adult slam competition.
The Hampshire Slam Collective meets on Tuesday nights in the Main Lecture Hall. They have feature poets lined up every week for the rest of the semester. Next week the feature poet is James “J*me” Caroline. Next week will also be host to the Nationals team finals slam. To find out more about the Hampshire Slam Collective and what they are doing on campus, go to www.hampshireslam.com.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Work-Study at Hampshire: An In-Depth Look
Many of us, for one reason or another, have discovered that work-study jobs at Hampshire pay at the same wage rate. Are you one of those who wondered why?
The pay rate here is $8 an hour whether you wash dishes or monitor space or organize books at the library. "Hampshire has had a one-tier pay system since the beginning," says the Director of Financial Aid, Kathy Methot. When asked why Hampshire has kept this one-tier system, Kathy reponded that it is to keep "a level playing field." Work-study is to help students with the costs of college, not to cause unnecessary competition.
One might wonder how our sister schools deal with work-study. The rest of the Five College Consortium has varied wage systems. The differences in pay are due to skill envolved, experience, and perquisites. The concept of "work-study" is sponsored by the Federal Work-Study Program. Since this is a federal program, one might think there are unifying rules regarding how it's run. The answer is there aren't. There are some guidelines (like "Hourly wages must not be less than federal minimum wage."), but nothing substantial regarding levels of pay. Usually, the Federal Government funds about 75% any given work-study program at different colleges around the country. This amount of money is decided by the age of the institution, enrollment, and other factors. Normally, the work-study positions at these schools are given out until the school has to pay their 25%, and then there is no more aid. At Hampshire, this is not the case. According to Kathy Methot, Hampshire gives close to 85% of the money for our work-study program. To understand this, know that the Federal Government pays around $120,000 of the nearly $800,000 that is pumped into Hampshire's work-study wages.
Around 15 years ago, there was a motion to move the college to a
two-tier system. The administration was unable to define those students that would be on a higher pay system than others. Would it be by finacial need or skilled labor or both? Naturally, they were unable to reach a consensus and the motion was tabled. However, in the summer of 2006, this issue resurfaced. Michelle Green, Dean of Students, would not take no for an answer. She felt that jobs requiring certification merited higher wages. "I worked with the Business Office and the employing offices to make that [higher wages for trained positions] happen." These higher paid positions include EMTs, lifeguards, and Event Monitors. They receive $8.75 an hour.
The pay rate here is $8 an hour whether you wash dishes or monitor space or organize books at the library. "Hampshire has had a one-tier pay system since the beginning," says the Director of Financial Aid, Kathy Methot. When asked why Hampshire has kept this one-tier system, Kathy reponded that it is to keep "a level playing field." Work-study is to help students with the costs of college, not to cause unnecessary competition.
One might wonder how our sister schools deal with work-study. The rest of the Five College Consortium has varied wage systems. The differences in pay are due to skill envolved, experience, and perquisites. The concept of "work-study" is sponsored by the Federal Work-Study Program. Since this is a federal program, one might think there are unifying rules regarding how it's run. The answer is there aren't. There are some guidelines (like "Hourly wages must not be less than federal minimum wage."), but nothing substantial regarding levels of pay. Usually, the Federal Government funds about 75% any given work-study program at different colleges around the country. This amount of money is decided by the age of the institution, enrollment, and other factors. Normally, the work-study positions at these schools are given out until the school has to pay their 25%, and then there is no more aid. At Hampshire, this is not the case. According to Kathy Methot, Hampshire gives close to 85% of the money for our work-study program. To understand this, know that the Federal Government pays around $120,000 of the nearly $800,000 that is pumped into Hampshire's work-study wages.
Around 15 years ago, there was a motion to move the college to a
two-tier system. The administration was unable to define those students that would be on a higher pay system than others. Would it be by finacial need or skilled labor or both? Naturally, they were unable to reach a consensus and the motion was tabled. However, in the summer of 2006, this issue resurfaced. Michelle Green, Dean of Students, would not take no for an answer. She felt that jobs requiring certification merited higher wages. "I worked with the Business Office and the employing offices to make that [higher wages for trained positions] happen." These higher paid positions include EMTs, lifeguards, and Event Monitors. They receive $8.75 an hour.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Local Reporter Goes Off the Record to Enlighten Students
Amherst- Nick Grabbe, a reporter at the Amherst Bulletin, spoke yesterday in an interactive question and answer session at Hampshire College. The question and answer session was the second in a series of similar discussions in a a class entitled “Newswork.” Newswork is a January Term class where students learn all about journalism, and even do field-work.
Nick Grabbe introduced himself as the senior writer for the Amherst Bulletin. Reporting is relatively new for him. Before reporting, he was an editor there for 19 years. He started out in journalism working for Lafayette College's school newspaper, where he was a Copy Editor. Later, he had an internship at the Boston Globe on the copy desk. Grabbe had three other copy editing jobs before he landed at the Hampshire Gazette and later the Amherst Bulletin.
As preparation for his visit, the students were expected to read four of Nick Grabbe's stories. Each of these was discussed in class. In discussing the stories, many students had pertinent questions about different situations that may have arisen from reporting on these stories. This led to lots of advice on Grabbe's part about how to do his job. For example, when discussing a story about an Episcopal Church that has stopped performing marriages so as to be in solidarity with homosexuals, Grabbe stated that journalists are naturally biased. This statement raised some eyebrows in the class, but he further explained that a journalist is biased toward those that help him out and against those who hinder him. That same story was published on the wire. Grabbe tracked it over the internet and found an astonishing array of hate-based web-sites and chat rooms that discussed it. As a consequence, the rector of the church received a number of hate phone calls because of his stance of acceptance toward gays. Grabbe feels bad that he is the root of this, but at the same time feels that he can not regret his part in getting a good story out.
Nick Grabbe had other opinions and advice for the students. He said that it is risky to use anonymity in stories, because it gives more responsibility of creditability to the reporter. This is why the Amherst Bulletin and Hampshire Gazette have policies against its use. When asked if there was a set ethical code that he follows, he responded that there probably is one in the employee handbook, but he has not read it. However, as ethics go, he does not put bumper stickers on his car, or participate in local protests. When asked about plagiarism and if it was ever caught at the Gazette or Bulletin, he stated that there has been no problem with blatant plagiarism, but that the internet makes that a hazy area. He is currently working on a story about real-estate pricing, and a reporter at the New York Times wrote a piece that has the exact information he wants to use. Instead of using the Times directly, he has tried to insert words into the mouths of his sources. This method works sometimes, but so far, he has not spoken to the right source.
Nick Grabbe feels like a dinosaur in a changing world. He is trying to adapt, but finds it difficult. He thinks that his is a dying profession. Grabbe feels that there will always be a need for local news, but the medium may change very soon.
Nick Grabbe introduced himself as the senior writer for the Amherst Bulletin. Reporting is relatively new for him. Before reporting, he was an editor there for 19 years. He started out in journalism working for Lafayette College's school newspaper, where he was a Copy Editor. Later, he had an internship at the Boston Globe on the copy desk. Grabbe had three other copy editing jobs before he landed at the Hampshire Gazette and later the Amherst Bulletin.
As preparation for his visit, the students were expected to read four of Nick Grabbe's stories. Each of these was discussed in class. In discussing the stories, many students had pertinent questions about different situations that may have arisen from reporting on these stories. This led to lots of advice on Grabbe's part about how to do his job. For example, when discussing a story about an Episcopal Church that has stopped performing marriages so as to be in solidarity with homosexuals, Grabbe stated that journalists are naturally biased. This statement raised some eyebrows in the class, but he further explained that a journalist is biased toward those that help him out and against those who hinder him. That same story was published on the wire. Grabbe tracked it over the internet and found an astonishing array of hate-based web-sites and chat rooms that discussed it. As a consequence, the rector of the church received a number of hate phone calls because of his stance of acceptance toward gays. Grabbe feels bad that he is the root of this, but at the same time feels that he can not regret his part in getting a good story out.
Nick Grabbe had other opinions and advice for the students. He said that it is risky to use anonymity in stories, because it gives more responsibility of creditability to the reporter. This is why the Amherst Bulletin and Hampshire Gazette have policies against its use. When asked if there was a set ethical code that he follows, he responded that there probably is one in the employee handbook, but he has not read it. However, as ethics go, he does not put bumper stickers on his car, or participate in local protests. When asked about plagiarism and if it was ever caught at the Gazette or Bulletin, he stated that there has been no problem with blatant plagiarism, but that the internet makes that a hazy area. He is currently working on a story about real-estate pricing, and a reporter at the New York Times wrote a piece that has the exact information he wants to use. Instead of using the Times directly, he has tried to insert words into the mouths of his sources. This method works sometimes, but so far, he has not spoken to the right source.
Nick Grabbe feels like a dinosaur in a changing world. He is trying to adapt, but finds it difficult. He thinks that his is a dying profession. Grabbe feels that there will always be a need for local news, but the medium may change very soon.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Local Reporter Records Her View for the Next Generation
Amherst- At Hampshire College, a classroom was filled with eager students of journalism during the optional January Term. Some were there for curiosity, others to improve their writing, and still others wanted training in the reporting arts. The class is called “Newswork”, and it is has a very broad subject area; by the end of the January Term, the students will have studied perceptions of journalists as depicted through popular culture and scholarly accounts as well as ethics and principals. The students will also do a field-study where they will shadow journalists at work in a newsroom and in the field.
On January 7, the class was visited by Tina Antolini, a reporter and broadcaster from WCFR, the NPR-affiliate station at UMass Amherst. Antolini has had her current job for two years. Her job entails going into the field, doing her research, and recording her story. She records more than an hour of sound for a story, and in it's final edited form it might be just 1.5 minutes but could be as much as five. In her introduction to the class, she stated that unlike newspapers, the audience can not reread the radio, and unlike television there are no images, just sound. She said that this could be a problem, but that it also allows for intimate story-telling. One of the important tips that she gave the class was that a radio journalist should sound like they are on the scene. For any given story, she would have recorded ambient sound that goes well as a background to the piece, but she would narrate parts of the story from the newsroom. In editing, the ambient sound would be overlaid with her narration. Interestingly, Antolini does much of her own editing. She learned to use audio mixing software in college, and now uses it for a living. Apparently, Antolini does not have a regular 'beat' like many reporters. Instead she will be assigned to a case based on experience or availability. When asked if she had to do a lot of quick learning, she responded with an emphatic yes. She finds however, that it is better not to make oneself an expert in the subject they are covering, such that they will ask the same questions that the public might want answered.
On January 7, the class was visited by Tina Antolini, a reporter and broadcaster from WCFR, the NPR-affiliate station at UMass Amherst. Antolini has had her current job for two years. Her job entails going into the field, doing her research, and recording her story. She records more than an hour of sound for a story, and in it's final edited form it might be just 1.5 minutes but could be as much as five. In her introduction to the class, she stated that unlike newspapers, the audience can not reread the radio, and unlike television there are no images, just sound. She said that this could be a problem, but that it also allows for intimate story-telling. One of the important tips that she gave the class was that a radio journalist should sound like they are on the scene. For any given story, she would have recorded ambient sound that goes well as a background to the piece, but she would narrate parts of the story from the newsroom. In editing, the ambient sound would be overlaid with her narration. Interestingly, Antolini does much of her own editing. She learned to use audio mixing software in college, and now uses it for a living. Apparently, Antolini does not have a regular 'beat' like many reporters. Instead she will be assigned to a case based on experience or availability. When asked if she had to do a lot of quick learning, she responded with an emphatic yes. She finds however, that it is better not to make oneself an expert in the subject they are covering, such that they will ask the same questions that the public might want answered.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Strange Day for All Concerned
Today is a strange day. I have decided a number of things that make this day strange. First, that I would like to follow the news. Second, that I may consider going into journalism. Third, I am blogging about something that is not Israel-centric. Fourth, I am going to use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. Fifth and final, I saw The Nutcracker today.
To be fair, that last one does not match the others. I threw it in to see if you were paying attention. I did, however, go see it for the first time. I thought it was marvelous, but that is not the news that we are here to address.
I want to blog here as an exploration of my personal journalism. A "journal" if you will. I will take news, and give it my spin, and see if I can write in an interesting, engaging way. Here goes nothing!
To be fair, that last one does not match the others. I threw it in to see if you were paying attention. I did, however, go see it for the first time. I thought it was marvelous, but that is not the news that we are here to address.
I want to blog here as an exploration of my personal journalism. A "journal" if you will. I will take news, and give it my spin, and see if I can write in an interesting, engaging way. Here goes nothing!
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