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PUTTING
PASSION INTO
PRACTICE
2019 Report for the College of Humanities & Fine Arts
1
Cultural exploration lies at the core of the arts and humanities. By
delving into revolutionary ideas, unfamiliar art forms, foreign languages,
and stories new and old, students nd new ways of understanding the
world. It is our job not only to guide them through this exploration, but
also to empower them to take the skills that they acquire along the way—
analysis, insight, writing, and big-picture thinking—and to apply them as
they enter society after graduation.
Our faculty have national and international reputations. We train the
next generation of high-quality practitioners of the visual and performing
arts. We help arts and humanities students to bring their abilities to
careers in virtually every eld imaginable. And through our own faculty
and student exhibitions, lectures, and performances, we constitute a
major part of the university’s outreach to the broader community, not
only locally, but across the country and globe.
Through their innovative and ambitious projects, their passion for
justice, and their thoughtful conversations in the classroom, we know our
students to be visionaries. In the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at
UMass Amherst, we encourage students to harness their vision, embrace
their passion, and have the courage to make the world a better place.
Our current cohort of students will go on to become the next
generation of alumni. Because we expect them to do great things,
they are our number one priority. Beyond the strong foundation laid in
the classroom, we offer students the tools needed to gain real-world
experience and build a career. By supporting internships and study abroad
opportunities, programming career talks and workshops with expert
alumni, and providing academic scholarships, the College of Humanities
and Fine Arts enables students to leave UMass Amherst and go on to
change the world.
This report is but a snapshot of the remarkable work and achievements
of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts’ faculty and students during
the 2018 – 2019 Academic Year. I am proud to share with you the continued
growth and advancement of our community at UMass Amherst, both on
campus and beyond.
Julie Hayes, Dean
DEAN’S MESSAGE
On the cover: Taylor Cohen ‘22 in Cynthia Consentino’s
Art 281: Ceramics Throwing course. Photo by John Solem.
South College, home to the College of Humanities
and Fine Arts. Photo by Brittany Hathaway
PORTRAIT BY JOHN SOLEM
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 3
Theater major Garrett Sager ’19
produced, directed, and performed in
Queer & Now, a two-year-long theatrical
project with specic iterations structured
as evenings of vignettes that provide
potential futures for identity, gender,
sexuality, community, and kinship. His
honors thesis centers on drag and lip-
syncing as modes of radical celebration
and liberation for queer people and
communities.
Queer & Now has had three major
iterations: all boasting sold-out theaters
and rave reviews. Faculty members have
noted that Queer & Now is “a show with
heart and style, with long-term potential,”
that it is “exuberant and ground-breaking,”
and “a beautiful and life-afrming dance
party.... Exquisite!” Students have noted
the impact of the Queer & Now series
as well, emphasizing its “message of
unapologetic pride and radical inclusivity”
that is able to “transport its audiences to
The Rising Researcher
student acknowledgement
program is designed to
raise the prole of our most
promising undergraduate
students and to
publicly acknowledge
their excellent work.
This program is jointly
supported by University
Relations and Research and
Engagement. Six students
were recognized during
the 2018 – 2019 academic
year, among them two
students with primary
majors in HFA.
EXCELLENCE IN OUR
UNDERGRADUATES
PORTRAITS BY JOHN SOLEM
Constance Roberts ’19 is a double major
in the history of art and architecture and
in German and Scandinavian studies. Her
research concerns neglected female artists,
the history of scholarship regarding them,
and the contributions of their artwork to
depicting and solidifying a national identity.
“Constance shows a keen sensitivity to
how art relates to place,” says her thesis
advisor Professor Timothy Rohan. “On
another level, she has explored how the
murals of Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh
were shaped by early twentieth-century
feminism, the Celtic Revival, and Scottish
Nationalism,” says Rohan.
Roberts says her thesis—which focuses
on Macdonald Mackintosh (1864–1933),
whose painted gesso panels serve as visual
centerpieces in Scottish tearooms—is the
culmination of many exceptional research
experiences at UMass. In 2018, Roberts
won a grant from the Commonwealth
Honors College that allowed her to travel
to Scotland to see Mackintosh’s murals in
January of this year. She also presented a
highly original interpretation of Leonardo
da Vinci’s Portrait of Isabella d’Este at a
graduate research conference and her
article “Emily Carr’s Zunoqua of the Cat
Village and the Moment of Colonization”
was published in the journal Aisthesis.
“Constance consistently challenges
traditional intellectual boundaries
and engages in independent thinking,
2018 – 2019
RISING RESEARCHER
AWARD RECIPIENTS
informed by broad cultural and historical
understanding,” notes Rohan. “She has
made and will continue to make signicant
contributions to the eld when she pursues
a PhD in art history towards a curatorial or
academic career.”
a parallel dimension… erce, riotous,
and energetic.”
Sager took the latest version
of Queer & Now to the New York
Professional Outreach Program space
in Manhattan this past March, a
considerable producorial undertaking,
says Harley Erdman, Sager’s advisor
and honors thesis chair. “He is now
writing a sophisticated academic
paper as his honors research thesis,
using Queer & Now as an example
of how to queer gender and rethink
our relationship to our environment.
I have been supervising honors theses
regularly for 25 years, and Garrett’s
thesis, augmented by his independent
projects last year, constitute the
single nest honors thesis that I have
supervised in my UMass career,” says
Erdman.
Constance Roberts ’19 Garrett Sager ’19
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 5
Ethan Bakuli ’19 double majored in Afro-
American studies and journalism. A member
of the National
Association of Black
Journalists and
winner of a 2018–19
Emerging Reporter
Fellowship from
ProPublica, Bakuli
is committed to
journalism as social
justice. In addition to
conducting graduate-
level research, Bakuli
covered crucial
issues related to race
diversity and equality on campus as coeditor
for the Rebirth Project, a digital magazine
dedicated to highlighting the voices of
students of color at UMass Amherst.
“Ethan is the most impressive and
promising undergraduate student I have
had since I arrived at UMass in 2011,” says
Professor Britt Rusert, chief undergraduate
advisor for the Department of Afro-American
Studies. She goes on: “He leads through
his writing, his research, his reporting, and
his consistent support of his peers. He is a
meticulous listener, a thoughtful contributor
to classroom and campus conversations, and
an ethical and compassionate person. He
makes me proud to be a professor at UMass.”
2019 SENIOR LEADERSHIP AWARD
FINALISTS
Allegra Pericles ’19, Art History
with a minor in Education
Kyran Schnur ’19, History
Afrikah Smith ’19, Theater
2019 WILLIAM F. FIELD ALUMNI
SCHOLAR AWARD RECIPIENTS
Zaidi Barreto ’20, Classics
Samantha Leigh Gallagher ’20,
Architecture
Sarahanne Hurtig ’20, Art History
Molly Smith ’20, Dance, English,
Communications
The Senior Leadership
Award recognizes
graduating seniors who
have demonstrated
outstanding leadership
and service to the UMass
Amherst community. Award
recipients have distinguished
themselves through important
contributions to student
organizations, campus jobs,
academic excellence, and
community service.
The William F. Field
Alumni Scholar Awards
were established in 1976 to
recognize and honor third-year
students for their academic
achievements at UMass
Amherst. The program was
named in honor of William F.
Field, the university’s rst dean
of students, for his outstanding
support of academic excellence
and his personal commitment
to bringing out the best in
every student.
CREATIVITY &
ENTERPRISING SPIRIT
DRIVE DEPARTMENT
OF THEATER’S
STUDENT WORK SERIES
EXCELLENCE IN OUR
UNDERGRADUATES
SARAH GIBBONS
JOHN SOLEM
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 7
FEATURED 2018–2019 STUDENT WORK SERIES PRODUCTIONS
QUEER AND NOW: SYNC OR SWIM
Created and directed by Garrett Sager ’19
Queer & Now is a devised physical
theater project fusing drag, lip-syncing,
choreography, and gender play to create
an evening of celebration and protest. Sync
or Swim is the second installment in the
Queer & Now series, combining ancient
world mythologies with contemporary pop
music to create a tapestry of our impending
new queer world. From fresh takes on
Mami Wata and Demeter, to Narcissus and
the Selkies, Queer & Now: Sync or Swim
embraces our possible future through
queering the past.
RED by John Logan
Directed by Kayla Theresa Marshall ’21 and
Kevin Lundstrom ’21
Master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko
has just landed the biggest commission
in the history of modern art, a series of
murals for New York’s famed Four Seasons
Restaurant. In the two fascinating years
that follow, Rothko works feverishly with
his young assistant, Ken, in his studio
on the Bowery. But when Ken gains the
condence to challenge him, Rothko
faces the agonizing possibility that his
crowning achievement could also become
his undoing. Raw and provocative, Red is a
searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and
vulnerability as he tries to create a denitive
work for an extraordinary setting.
NEXT TO NORMAL by Tom Kitt and
Brian Yorkey
Directed by Brennan Stefanik ’19
Next to Normal is a musical that follows
Diana Goodman, a wife and mother
diagnosed with bipolar depression after a
traumatic event.
THE REVOLUTIONISTS by Lauren
Gunderson
Directed by Erin Nicole Eggers ’21 MFA
The Revolutionists is a brutal comedic
quartet about four very real women who
lived boldly in France during the French
Revolution’s Reign of Terror (1793–1794).
Playwright Olympe De Gouge, assassin
Charlotte Corday, former queen Marie
Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne
Angelle hang out, murder Marat, lose
their heads, and try to beat back extremist
insanity in revolutionary Paris.
ECHO CHAMBER
Created and conceived by Alexander
Blaustein ’19
An original, interactive sound installation
about living with anxiety and panic.
The Department of Theater’s mainstage season gets a lot of
notice as a linchpin of their teaching, but it’s the ourishing
Student Works Series that serves as an opportunity for
the students themselves to pursue specic passions, and as
a venue where they can put into practice the artistic and
practical skills imparted to them in the classroom.
Student works can come from undergraduates (either majors or minors)
as well as graduate students, and are performed in theater department
spaces—like the Curtain Theater or Rand Theater—or elsewhere, on
campus and off.
Students who decide to produce a student work typically consult
with the department’s general manager, Willow Cohen, and production
manager, Julie Fife, who help book a space, discuss logistics, and assess
funding (frequently, students apply for grants or pursue crowdfunding).
Many also consult with public relations director Anna-Maria Goossens on
publicity and work with other faculty and staff mentors. But after that,
the actual work of the productions—from writing the grants, to projecting
a build schedule for scenery, to managing rehearsals—is in the hands of
the students.
The types of projects supported last year included:
• staged readings performed with minimal production design
• traditionally mounted plays and musicals
• original devised works
• sound installations and other nontraditional work
Over the years, original works rst developed as part of the Student
Work Series have gone on to further development and performances,
notably Dysfunctioning Just Fine (rst produced on campus in 2016) and
Queer and Now, both of which went on to be performed in New York.
DEPARTMENT
OF THEATER’S
STUDENT WORKS
SERIES
Next to Normal
Next to Normal
Red
PHOTOS BY TERRANCE PETERS
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 9
While Rusert was working on her biology
degree she was also pursuing an English
major and specializing in LGBTQ literature
and queer theory.
“I went to a small liberal arts college
where it was possible for me to redirect and
nish up a major in English. We had faculty
in the English department at Allegheny
College who were thinking about the
cultural valences of science and medicine. So
my particular cross section of interests really
fomented early on. I continue to think of my
work as being at the intersections of feminist
and queer studies, literary studies, cultural
studies, and black studies,” says Rusert.
Rusert’s work addresses unique aspects
of the history of racial science in the United
States. Her rst book, Fugitive Science (NYU
Press), is an accounting of African Americans’
responses and resistance to the rise of racial
science in the nineteenth century. It won an
honorable mention from the 2019 Modern
Language Association prize for a rst book,
and was sole nalist mention for the 2018
Lora Romero Book Prize presented by the
American Studies Association.
Rusert says there’s long been a
dominating narrative about histories of
scientic and medical exploitations of black
people (think: the infamous Tuskegee syphilis
study). “The power and intensity of that
story has made us miss the people who are
actually responding to and challenging those
regimes of science and experimentation,”
says Rusert. “A lot of my work has thought
about practices of science from below; how
African Americans were refusing biological
theories of race in the nineteenth century,
how they were ghting regimes of scientic
and medical exploitation,” she adds.
Rusert also teaches and works in black
speculative ction and Afrofuturism, which
encompasses a broad array of non-realist
genres such as romance, mystery, detective
ction, horror, and science ction. It’s an
area of scholarship that she’s passionate
about and that has a presence in much
of her work. “I teach a black speculative
ction course and we engage all of those
different genres. We study Harlem detective
novels; we do black sci- and fantasy. It
also becomes a way to think about the
speculative and experimental dimensions of
more traditional forms of black literature,”
says Rusert.
Though she was trained as a “nineteenth-
centuryist,” Rusert’s interest in race, science,
and speculation often bring her into more
modern times. “As I’ve been doing more
teaching in Afrofuturism and thinking about
black speculative writing today, it’s allowed
me to return to nineteenth-century texts and
see them in a different way.”
The question of the speculative is what
drew Rusert to collaborate on a second
book, W.E.B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits:
Visualizing Black America (Princeton
Architectural Press), with anthropologist and
UMass Amherst colleague Whitney Battle-
Baptiste, director of the campus’s W.E.B. Du
Bois Center.
Rusert calls the response to her Du Bois
book “inspiring.” “We are hearing from so
many groups: sociologists, historians, artists,
people who run museums. We are hearing
from public policy people. People who do
data visualization. Already there are some
who are using Du Bois’s data and producing
new data visualizations. Or they are taking
different measures from the images and
using data from today to try to update
images. I really love projects that can take on
new life and can be used in all kinds of ways
by different actors,” says Rusert.
With two widely successful books
in circulation, Rusert is on to the next
challenge. She received an American Council
of Learned Societies Fellowship and a
National Endowment for the Humanities
summer stipend to support her next book.
“I’m writing an entire book about one text
that was written in the mid-nineteenth
century. It’s a ctional series that was
published in The Anglo-African Magazine
in 1859 called the ‘Afric-American Picture
Gallery.’ The text is really experimental and
even avant-garde. There are also parts of
the story that read like quest fantasy,” says
Rusert. One of the goals for the project,
she says, is to think about how the author,
William J. Wilson, is theorizing about black
art and the problems of black art in the
nineteenth century.
As part of her academic duties, Rusert
directs the Afro-American undergraduate
studies program, a major, she says, that has
great interdisciplinary opportunities and
is growing. “This semester, I’m teaching
a general education course on Southern
lit, and I ended up with students from
disciplines as varied as the Isenberg School
of Management to kinesiology,” says
Rusert. “I could see every week little light
bulbs going off. A lot of my research and
work increasingly is being inspired by my
students. And the Du Bois department has a
history and a wealth of its own that is both
important and inspiring to me.”
Adapted from Research Next, the university’s
online publication on research.
Associate professor Britt Rusert has taken
what some would consider a circuitous
route to her faculty position in the W.E.B.
Du Bois Department of Afro-American
Studies. A published scholar of black
literature and culture, Rusert’s rst love
was biology, which she hoped would lead
her to medical school. An unfortunate
(or fortunate, as it may be) turn of
events led her down a very different
road. Says Rusert, “I decided not to go
on to medical school after I passed out
from seeing blood while I was doing an
internship at a local hospital. I thought,
‘I need a different career path.’”
SPOTLIGHT SCHOLAR
Britt Rusert
Explores Cultural
and Historical
Perspectives of
Race and Science
Rusert’s rst book, published by NYU Press.
JOHN SOLEM
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 11
SONJA DRIMMER
Assistant Professor, History of Art
& Architecture
Professor Drimmer is recognized by her students as an
inspiring, dynamic, creative, and caring teacher. Her focus
is medieval art—which means she has the challenge of
looking to centuries-old works to engage students. “She
kicked off class by brazenly tossing a scrap of bone on the
table and telling the students it was a relic,” says Associate
Professor of English Jenny Adams, for whom Drimmer
guest-lectured. “This paved the way for a 90-minute
discussion about the status of body parts, the methods
for presenting them, and the ways medieval reliquaries
worked to authenticate their contents,” recalls Adams. I
strive to hone my students’ abilities in taking nothing for
granted,” says Drimmer. “My main objective is to guide
students to perceive everything they see as the product
of decisions and history, and to understand how those
decisions and histories not only led to the production of
the image but also shaped and continue to shape the way
we think.”
MAZEN NAOUS
Assistant Professor, English
Recognized by his students as a passionate and nurturing
teacher, bent on their success, Professor Naous nds
inspiration not only from the subject matter he teaches,
but from the students themselves. “I chose a faculty career
because I am committed to social justice in many forms,”
he says. “This commitment allows me to move seamlessly
between my areas of research on Arab American and post-
colonial literature and teaching future global citizens.” But
in addition to addressing and facilitating larger societal
conversations, Naous recognizes that, “to teach English is
also to teach four imperative skills: close reading; critical
thinking; composition; and independent thought.” His
primary challenge, he says, “is to teach these skills to
my students in ways that allow them to experience the
excitement of encountering and generating new ideas.
Then students begin to consider how writing helps raise
their ideas to new levels.”
The purpose of
the College
Outstanding
Teaching Award
(COTA) is to
recognize excellence
in teaching and to
honor individual
faculty members
for their teaching
accomplishments. The
COTA was instituted as
a complement to the
Distinguished Teaching
Award. Each college
selects outstanding
faculty members
for the COTA, thus
providing an additional
opportunity to
recognize faculty for
excellence in teaching.
Faculty
Publications
& Creative
Projects
106
Articles, public
engagement pieces, or
short creative works
50
Books (including novels
and collections of poetry)
47
Performances, Exhibitions
& Musical Recordings
EXCELLENCE IN
OUR FACULTY
2019 College Outstanding Teaching Award Recipient 2019 College Outstanding Teaching Award Recipient
OCEAN VUONG’S NOVEL RELEASED TO
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
Ocean Vuong, assistant professor of English and the Poets
and Writers MFA program, released his second book, On
Earth We’re Briey Gorgeous, on June 4, 2019. It is Vuong’s
rst novel, following his poetry collection Night Sky with
Exit Wounds.
Critically acclaimed by the New York Times and
Washington Post, the novel is written from the perspective
of an adult son to his mother who cannot read. The
narrator, Little Dog, explores his family’s history, beginning
in Vietnam, and parts of his life his mother was removed
from, like his experience as a gay immigrant in high school.
Ron Charles of the Washington Post describes the book
as “a lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate
and insistently universal… Not so much briey gorgeous as
permanently stunning.”
Vuong’s novel was a fast hit, with Vuong appearing on the
Late Show with Seth Meyers to discuss his writing process and
literary success. Additionally, On Earth We’re Briey Gorgeous
was listed in the coveted top 10 of the New York Times Best
Seller List.
In September 2019, (outside of the dates captured in this
report), Vuong received a MacArthur ‘genius grant’ for his
outstanding literary contributions.
TOM HINES
ANGELA SCIONTI
SARAH GIBBONS
July 2018 through June 2019
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 13
Felipe Salles
Debuts “The
New Immigrant
Experience” in
Old Chapel
The event included a panel discussion on immigrant rights activism featuring
Salles and Tereza Lee—the original Dreamer who inspired Senator Richard Durbin
(D-Illinois) to write the Dream Act (the Development, Relief, and Education for
Alien Minors Act)—as well as the performance by the Felipe Salles Interconnections
Ensemble, a New England-based, 18-piece jazz ensemble.
The New Immigrant Experience is a powerful new work inspired by the lives of
“Dreamers,” the more than 3.6 million individuals currently protected by DACA, the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Written by Salles and developed
with the aid of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, the
work uses speech cadences and melodic motifs based on key words as its main source
of musical material. Compelling and personal video interviews of a representative
group of Dreamers collected during the summer of 2018 were projected on a screen
during the performance. Their personal stories and experiences of growing up
bilingual and undocumented informed Salles’s musical choices.
Salles also performed the work on Thursday, April 11, at National Sawdust in
New York City.
On Tuesday, April 9,
Felipe Salles, associate
professor of jazz studies in
the Department of Music
and Dance, presented the
world premiere of his work
The New Immigrant
Experience to a sold-out
audience of about 175
concert-goers.
JOHN SOLEM
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 15
“I graduated with a degree that did not reect
the high level of arts training I had at UMass—a
bachelor of science in physical education with a
dance concentration!” says Guimond. Regardless,
Guimond credits his 25 years as a professional
dancer with the training he received here, both
as a student and a member of the University
Dancers, and especially under the direction of
Marilyn V. Patton.
Interested in taking a dance class but nding
himself bumped from the roster, Guimond poked
his head into the studio and asked the instructor
if there was room for him. “Dan Peterson, as any
dance teacher would do, saw a man interested
in dance and without hesitation invited me to join his class—male
dancers were in short supply in those days,” Guimond recalls. That
pivotal moment fomented Guimond’s lifelong commitment to
dance. Shortly thereafter, he had his rst performance where he
caught the eye of Marilyn V. Patton, the founder and then-director
of the University Dancers, UMass Amherst’s dance company.
Patton, who taught at UMass from 1965 until1992, would go on to
establish the dance program and the BFA in dance.
Guimond continued to receive “expert training in dance
technique, dance history, dance production, composition, and
performance,” under the guidance of the dance faculty. After
graduation, he immediately moved to New York City, where he
danced professionally for more than 25 years before moving on
to choreograph for renowned institutions such as Senta Driver,
Molissa Fenley, the New England Opera Company, and the Elinor
DONOR PROFILE
Professional Dancer
Establishes Scholarship
in Honor of UMass Dance
Pioneer Marilyn V. Patton
Coleman Dance Ensemble. Over the course of his career, Guimond
recalls, “I regularly attended dance performances throughout the
city. At those shows, to my surprise, I would pick up a program and
often nd a UMass dancer represented,” many of whom he saw
perform with the nest dance companies in the world, including
Bob Fosse’s. Guimond counts this as part of the legacy of Marilyn
V. Patton’s dance leadership [at UMass] throughout the ’60s, ’70s,
’80s, and ’90s. He notes that a number of UMass dance graduates
who studied under Patton have held top-level dance leadership
positions at colleges and universities throughout the country.
To honor her legacy, and decades of “high positions of
inuence and power in the worldwide dance community,”
Guimond established the Marilyn V. Patton University Dancers
Fund in 2018 and will add a generous estate gift in the amount
of $250,000. The fund will support University Dancers, dance
performances, and teaching opportunities for dance majors
at UMass Amherst.
When Richard Guimond ’75 rst became intrigued
by dance as a sophomore at UMass Amherst, the
edgling program didn’t even offer an arts degree.
Marilyn V. Patton, (center in white), with the University Dancers in 1973.
SARAH GIBBONS
COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC & DANCE
LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
INSPIRES GENEROUS ALUMNI GIFT.
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS
After graduating from UMass
Amherst with a BA in philosophy
in 1978, John Kendzierski set
to work applying his degree,
growing a thriving business in an
industry most would not associate
with philosophy: drywall. But
Kendzierski directly equates
his success to his philosophy
degree. “I was the most educated
person doing what I did in the
marketplace,” he says. “It gave me
a leg up in understanding people
and understanding a lot of things
that my competitors didn’t.” After
starting out with his brother in 1979
and setting out on his own in 1995,
Kendzierski has grown his business,
Professional Drywall Construction,
to be a leading commercial drywall
contractor in the commonwealth
that employs 150 people and serves
customers in both Massachusetts
and Connecticut.
Kendzierski is a rm believer in
the importance of going to college
to learn “how to think, not what
to think.” He started UMass as the
rst person in his family to attend
DONOR PROFILE
A Philosophy Alum
Invests in the Future of
Humanities Studies
a four-year school, without a clear idea of
what he wanted to study, but quickly came
to realize that studying the humanities was
a powerful and valuable thing. “Philosophy
was at one point in time what people
studied; science was secondary,” he points
out, speaking to the high regard society once
held for new ideas and sound thought. To
Kendzierski, it’s clear that the humanities
equip students with the tools needed to think,
write, and—most importantly—produce the
ideas that make the world a better place.
With a long and generous giving history
to the Fine Arts Center, UMass Athletics, and
other areas, Kendzierski remained deeply
connected to UMass Amherst over the years.
But in 2018, he wanted an opportunity to
affect students’ lives in a direct way.
Working with the College of Humanities and
Fine Arts and the Department of Philosophy,
Kendzierski established the Valuing Humanities
Scholarship with a gift of $125,000. Eligible
recipients are rising seniors with a primary
major in philosophy (or a primary major
in another HFA department with a second
major in philosophy) who have demonstrated
nancial need. “There are a lot of parents who
are reluctant to fund liberal arts education for
their children,” says Kendzierski, who hopes
the availability of the scholarship will alleviate
the reservations students who want to study
philosophy may have.
Kendzierski knows there are many other
UMass Amherst alumni whose professional
achievements were bolstered by their
experiences in humanities classrooms. He
hopes the establishment of the Valuing
Humanities Scholarship will inspire others
to follow suit, and help sustain generations
of humanities majors who will, “make the
world a better place.”
DEAN’S ADVISORY COUNCIL
In spring 2018, the new cohort of Dean’s Advisory
Council members met with Dean Julie Hayes in
the Tower Room of South College. This group of
accomplished and committed alumni, most of
whom graduated UMass Amherst with degrees
in the arts and humanities, offer their experience
and expertise in support of advancing the College
of Humanities and Fine Arts.
The HFA Dean’s Advisory Council exists to
extend through volunteer efforts the network and
depth of committed alumni, parents, and friends
who can be engaged to increase the number of
donors and the level of philanthropic support.
Expanding this pipeline is critical to Dean Hayes’s
vision for HFA, student success, and positioning
for the next comprehensive campaign.
The HFA Dean’s Advisory Council is the highest
level of volunteer engagement in the college.
Council members are entrusted with helping to
develop a framework that expands alumni, parent,
and friend participation and philanthropy through
strategic engagement. Founding members will
serve for two years and help develop governing
protocols.
Andy Arons ’81
Philosophy
Cofounder and CEO of Gourmet Garage
Laura Bailey ’04
Theater and English
Film professional, Independent Motion Pictures
Pat Baillieul ’68
English
Certied nancial planner practitioner and
nancial educator
Jean-Marc Berteaux ’86
French
Retired partner and portfolio manager,
Wellington Management LLP
Robert Cummings ’83
History
Founder of American Benets Group, board
member of National Association of Professional
Benets Administrators
Stephen Driscoll ’73, ‘75G
Dance
Actor, choreographer, theater and dance
professional and educator, executive
committee member and chair of LGBT
outreach for the Massachusetts Democratic
Party, founding member of National
Stonewall Democrats, owner and promoter
of New ProWrestling
Jonathan Fortescue ’89
English, Linguistics, and German
Managing partner of Park Square Executive
Search
Rick Guimond ’75
Dance
Dance/performance teacher at NYC
Department of Education
David Kaplan ’92
Comparative Literature
and Philosophy
Cofounder and co-CEO of Shepard Kaplan
Krochuk LLC
John Kendzierski ’78
Philosophy
Founder of PDC Construction
Bob LaRussa ’76
History
International Trade and Investment Counsel
at Shearman and Sterling
Bob Lynch ’71
English
President and CEO, Americans for the Arts
Kathleen Mirabile-Wagner ’82
Women’s Studies
Marketing professional
Bill Noland ’86
Psychology
Contract consultant with Client Server
Specialists, Inc.
Madeleine Noland ’86
Music
President, Advanced Television Systems
Committee
Michael Partridge ’92
English
Senior vice president of Investor Relations,
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Judah Phillips ’97
English and Communication
Author and cofounder, president and CTO of
Squark
Ben Preston ’93
History and Political Science
Executive vice president, Corporate
Development, and general counsel of RXSense
Jill Roberts ’83
Art History
IT project manager, National Museum of
African American History and Culture
Carol Taylor ’66
French
Executive director of development,
Massachusetts General Hospital (retired)
17
SARAH GIBBONS
Left to right: Professor Joe Levine, Nicholas Yelle ’20
and Evan Kagle ’20 (both recipients of the inaugural
round of Valuing Humanities Scholarship prizes),
John Kendzierski ‘78.
SARAH GIBBONS
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS 19
TOTAL GIVING
HFA SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS
NUMBER OF DONORS
TOTAL: 2,869
Faculty and staff: 117
UMass Gives: 893
HFA SCHOLARSHIPS AND
FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED:
$832,632
■ Current use: $655,651
■ Endowed: $176,981
TOTAL GIVING:
$2,446,593
Planned:
$1,293,780
■ Pledged: $1,000,000
■ Realized: $293,780
All other gifts:
■ $1,152,813
#2
Linguistics
TOP
150
Modern Languages
TOP
150
English Language
and Literature
#141
Arts & Humanities
2,293
Undergraduate
Declared Majors
37
Undergraduate
Major Programs
12
Dance Performances
302
Full-time Faculty
366
Minors Awarded
22
Graduate and
Undergraduate Certicates
48
Theater Productions
12:1
Student/Faculty Ratio
627
Graduate Students
38
Undergraduate
Minor Programs
153
Music Concerts
470
Graduate Teaching Assistants
536
Awards Granted
10
Doctoral Programs
17
Recipients of Internship Assistance Fund
$832,632
Scholarships & Fellowships Awarded
23
Master’s Programs
$16,634
Total Internship Assistance Fund
HFA BY THE NUMBERSWORLDWIDE RANKINGS*
Making the
Director’s Chair
Accessible: Online
Certicate in Film
Studies
offering it for the rst time to non-UMass
Amherst students, as well as on-campus
students who wish to take the courses online.
Admission to all classes is open, and anyone
can enroll.
With the option to complete the 18-credit
certicate or to take a single class, this online
program offers the opportunity to study
with award-winning professors and national
or international professional lmmakers at
the top of their eld. Classes are offered
in general and specialized lmmaking,
screenwriting, lm theory, lm criticism, and
other subjects.
All online courses are designed to be
the equivalent of on-campus courses while
serving diverse student needs.
The Certicate Program in Film Studies
offers undergraduates a comprehensive
course of study in the history, criticism,
theory, aesthetics, and production of the
moving image in the unique context of the
Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies at
UMass Amherst.
Since the program began in 1991, lm
studies graduates have used the certicate
to compete successfully for admission
to prestigious lm schools and graduate
programs; for positions in lm and video
production; for employment in lm and
video distribution and exhibition, digital and
new media, and as editors, producers, actors
and independent lmmakers.
In 2018, lm studies launched the online
version of their face-to-face certicate,
ONLINE CERTIFICATES
OFFERED BY HFA
Arts Management
Film Studies
Medical Humanities
Translation and Interpretation
Teaching of Writing (Graduate)
*QS World University Rankings, 2019
2019 REPORT | COLLEGE of HUMANITIES and FINE ARTS
DEPARTMENTS AND CENTERS
Department of Architecture
Department of Art
Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies
Arts Extension Service
Center for the Study of African American Language
Department of Classics
DEFA Film Library
Digital Humanities Initiative
Department of English
Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies
Department of History
Department of History of Art and Architecture
Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies
Interdisciplinary Studies Institute
Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Department of Linguistics
Department of Music and Dance
Department of Philosophy
Department of Theater
Translation Center
Warring States Project
W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
Western Massachusetts Writing Project
Department of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies
The Writing Program
THE COLLEGE OF
HUMANITIES AND
FINE ARTS PUTS
PASSION INTO PRACTICE
JOHN SOLEM
In the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, we celebrate the power of ideas. As the
creative and cultural heart of UMass Amherst, we bring together scholars and artists from
a wide range of disciplines and offer exceptional opportunities for students to broaden
their perspectives, apply their knowledge, and prepare to make contributions to their
communities, to the workplace, and to the world.
South College
150 Hicks Way
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-9274
umass.edu/hfa
NONPROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
AMHERST MA
PERMIT NO. 2
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DEREK FOWLES
