Every four to five years, Amherst College IT makes big changes in its various facilities. Due to the fact that computers become outdated almost immediately after they enter homes and offices, IT attempts to stay on the cutting-edge of technology by making sure that Amherst’s computers can run the newest software.
Today, I had the chance to take part in the revamping of the A-Level’s computer systems. Fancying the old, clunky Dell monitors unfortunate eyesores, IT decided to replace the unsightly equipment with the wide screen loveliness posted above.
IT also brought in new mice, keyboard, headphones, and Dell Optiplexes – but Amherst students wont be staring at those come next semester, obviously.
Click the jump for more details.
Filed under: online
Scrutiny, Amherst’s student-run, student-written course evaluation site, has been all dolled up, decked out in a pretty coat of purple paint. James Buchanan ‘09 is at the helm of the revamped project and encourages Amherst students to inform him of any bugs and pass him along any suggestions concerning how make Scrutiny that much more awesome.
Incoming freshman should take note: Don’t make the same mistakes as your predecessors. Research the course professors as well as the classes themselves. Also, Freshman Drop is your very, very best friend.
In a move that is certain to make other colleges rethink their own practices, the trustees of Amherst College voted to eliminate loans from student financial aid packages.
The policy, which will be implemented during the 2008-2009 school year, will replace student loans like the Perkins and Stafford loans, with scholarship money. It will affect new as well as returning students.
A third of Amherst students receiving financial aid are forced to take out loans to attend Amherst. This policy change is believed to be a godsend to the middle-class students whose families earn too much for the students eligible for full Amherst scholarships but earn too little for them to be able to afford to go to Amherst without the aid of loans.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Typically a source for vaguely important campus-centered news, the Amherst College Intranet announcement page gave word today of the death of one of Amherst’s professors.
Mirjana Lausevic, or Minja as she was affectionately called , died on Sunday, 15 July of undisclosed causes. She came to Amherst in 2006 as a Valentine Professor, teaching Music 11 during Fall 2006 semester and Music 6 – Music in American Life in Spring 2007. I took both classes with her, both of which were dual-taught with her husband, Tim Eriksen.
Minja and her husband were both extremely influential people for me during my freshman year. Taking Music 11 helped to eliminate my distaste for singing in front – or with – others and inspired a what I hope to be life-long love of Sacred Harp singing. I am extremely grateful for these things.
Minja was a brilliant ethnomusicologist. One of the greatest lessons I learned from her and Tim came from her revelations on music and culture. On a few occasions, the two of them sang a Baltic love song together in front of their classes. To the students’ ears, the song held an air of melancholy and distress. But Minja revealed something to us: Though the song was indeed in a minor key and sounded quite unsettling to our ears, the fact that she and Tim were singing it together, their voices supporting each other, made the song less sorrowful and more uplifting. The fact that the students interpreted the song as an unhappy one was attributed solely to the minor key’s role in Western culture. The song did not have the same interpretation where it was originally sung.
So I suppose that there is a message here. If Minja’s death is a minor key, something sad and unfortunate, Minja’s life – a life spent on learning and teaching the joys of music – is the uplifting, misunderstood component of it all.
(Thanks to http://www.sheldonfinlay.com/dynamic/php/zphoto/wmshc-2007/page/3/ for the picture)
UPDATE: David Schneider, head of the Music department at Amherst, sent out an email to all music majors and former students of Minja:
Dear Music Majors and Former Students of Professor Lausevic,
It is my sad duty to report that Mirjana (Minja) Lausevic, Valentine
Professor of Music 2006-’07, passed away on Sunday July 15th. Her death
was due to what I understand was a rather sudden return and quick
progression of an illness (cancer, I believe) that she had battled in
past years. She is survived by her husband Tim Eriksen (Amherst Class of
‘89) and her two children, Anja (3) and Luka (5). At this point it looks
as if Tim and the children will remain in the Northampton/Hadley area
where they have a number of close friends.
As of now there is no date set for a memorial service, but we willdo our best to let you know if one is scheduled. This is also information that is likely to appear on the College Intranet Announcements.
In sorrow–
Sincerely yours,
David Schneider
UPDATE 25 July: A memorial service for Professor Lausevic will be held on Saturday 28 July in Greenfield. There, in addition to sacred harp singing as well as a potluck dinner, donations will be accepted for the Luka and Anja Eriksen Education Fund. Details here.
Filed under: Town of Amherst
I am nearly certain they are there to allow this camera to record your eating habits that much easier. That’s all kinds of creepy.
Amherst College itself has a few webcams – affectionately titled “AmhCam.” – on campus,. Live feeds can be seen of the Charles Pratt Construction and the Freshman quad.
Five dollars to anyone that can actually spot where those cameras are located. I have failed at that task multiple times.
Filed under: odd
During its latest iteration, FastWeb’s “Scholarship Detective” contest – which I have unabashedly participated in – presented potential Scholarship Sherlock Holmes’ with four ostensibly unlikely options. Among the improbable possibilities, one in particular stood out – The Amherst Shuffleboard Scholarship, which, according to FastWeb, makes any member of the new Amherst Shuffleboard team eligible for free cash.
Now, I was quick to assume that this dubious Amherst scholarship was the fraud by because, to my knowledge, Amherst doesn’t even have a shuffleboard team. A few Google searches confirmed my suspicions. Yet I was still left with a lingering suspicion that there was a joke that I wasn’t getting. I gave FastWeb a call, but their customer service failed to answer the phone.
Would anyone actually be interested in joining a shuffleboard team if Amherst created one?
Food Management Magazine, a mainstay of any college, business, or hospital looking to improve its dining services, recently wrote a feature on UMass Amherst Dining Services’s complete amazingness.
The June article details the various improvements the folks over at UMass have made during the fast few years, including (but certainly not limited to) its Breakfast on the Run program and the renovation of UMass’s Berkshire Commons.
One of the more interesting factoids featured in the article concerned itself with the actual number of people that utilize the Dining Services facilities:
The proof of its popularity lies in the numbers: the meal plan base currently stands at 13,000 despite the fact that there are only 11,000 resident students, and only the 7,700 resident freshmen and sophomores are required to purchase meal plans.
These numbers are staggering if you compare them to the situation at Amherst, where, though just about all Amherst students eat at Valentine Hall each day, most students wish they didn’t have to.
My question is this: How can a huge school like UMass administer the “Boutique Philosophy” better than a small school like Amherst? Is it simply a result of a difference in vision? Funds?
Mark this news as at least one reason why going to UMass is more wonderful than going to Amherst. You can read the whole Food Management article here.
An unfortunate combination of potatoes, minced meat, corn, and (sometimes) cheese creates an unfavorable Valentine Menu staple. Shepherd’s pie, as it is known, is at first glance an entirely unsavory meal. But the dish is a favorite for many, and the existence of the sheer number of variations of the dish begs the question: Who is this “Shepherd” whose pie we are eating? Also, why are we still eating it?
For starters, the “shepherd” in “shepherd’s pie” refers to the meat of the dish – lamb. The pie is widely believed to have its origins in northern Scotland and England, where large flocks of sheep were kept. The dish itself is said to have come as a result of the need for wives to create an economical and interesting way to reuse leftovers.
The variations on the dish are many, but the more notable modifications is created with a simple change of meat. Exchanging minced lamb meat for minced beef creates the shepherd’s pie’s cousin – cottage pie. Shepherd’s pie can also be made Lent-safe with Fisherman’s pie, which features – surprise! – fish.
Shepherdless pie is created by removing the meat altogether. Leave it to vegetarians to create something interesting.
But here is a question: Is Valentine’s shepherd’s pie actually made with lamb? I find that hard to believe. Thus, it may just be that Valentine has not been serving Shepherd’s pie at all, rather, they have been serving cottage pie.
Oh, the scandal!
(Sources:http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html#shepherdspie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherds%27_pie)
(Thanks to reader JT for the story idea.)
It might be hard to see this in the above picture, but that’s the new location of the Campus Center Supervisor’s office. The office is being displaced due to the construction of the Center for Community Engagement. Thus, the office is now directly opposite to where it was before.
If you are curious as to what the other side of the hall now looks like, click the jump.
Filed under: Town of Amherst
Not surprising to some, an understandable relief to others, the 2006 Water Quality Report reveals that Amherst, Massachusetts does indeed possess clean drinking water, at least by the EPA and Massachusetts standards.
Amherst College consumed 5% of the 3.322 millions of gallons of water consumed by Amherst in 2006. Compare that to the town itself, which consumed 58% of the total and the University of Massachusetts, which consumed 34% of the total. Yes, UMass is that big.
As for disturbing findings, the trihalomethane(a byproduct of chlorination) level, was measured at 78.9 ppb, which is dangerously close to the maximum contaminant level of 80 ppb. In addition, the haloacetic acid level, exceeds the maximum contaminant level but does not pose any violations.
Amid all the talk of microbial contaminants, inorganic contaminants, pesticides, radioactive contaminants, herbicides, and septic systems, the report also revealed that “the town has over 5000 fire hydrants.”
Never knew that.
