Assistant Dean Ellison Returns

Assistant Dean Angeline Ellison, nee Lopes, returned to work several days ago from maternity leave. Her daughter Nina was born weighing seven pounds, eleven ounces, and is currently sixteen pounds.

Ellison reports that she is “doing well” and is excited to be back, although human interaction has been difficult after four months of baby talk. She says, laughing, “The first interaction I had with someone, I thought, ‘You mean, I have to finish my sentences?'”

Ellison said she is looking forward to moving into the new campus center and working with J. Keith Motley, the new vice chancellor of Student Affairs.

Ellison served as interim dean of Student Affairs for much of the spring 2003 semester after Dean Stephanie Janey stepped down in late fall. Motley was picked for the newly created position of vice chancellor for student affairs after a nation-wide search ended here in Boston at Northeastern University where Motley was dean of student services.

Board of Trustees Honors UMB Professors

Two UMass Boston professors were among the six winners of the 2003 President’s Public Service Award. The awards were given out during a meeting of the Board of Trustees’ Academic and Student Affairs Committee.

Professors Susan Opotow and Alan Clayton-Matthews were honored for “utiliz[ing] their academic expertise to address a priority need of the Commonwealth,” according to the press release. Opotow, a College of Public and Community Service professor of Dispute Resolution, whose expertise lies in conflict in schools and environmental fairness, led a study dealing with class-cutting in Boston public schools. Clayton-Matthews, a professor of Public Policy, is a self-described weatherman of the economy and co-edits a quarterly journal, Massachusetts Benchmarks.

“Today, we are gathered to say thank you in our own modest way to seven individuals whose service has benefited, and continues to benefit, the citizens of this Commonwealth. Each of today’s honorees is also truly representative of the powerful impact that the University of Massachusetts has on the economic and social landscape of the state,” said Interim President Jack Wilson, according to the press release.

Also honored were Professors Carol Bova (UMass Worcester), Joyce Taylor-Gibson (UMass Lowell), William Israel (UMass Amherst), Robert Nakosteen (UMass Amherst), and Thomas Puryear (UMass Dartmouth).