UMass Event Calendar

June 28, 2018 2:00 pm August 2, 2018 2:00 pm September 6, 2018 2:00 pm Drupal is the open-source content management system widely used to build websites around UMass. This meeting is open to newcomers and not limited to members of the UMass community. We welcome questions from absolute beginners and are happy to hear from developers and designers who wish to share their latest discoveries.

March 1—August 22, 2018 This event does NOT occur on: May 13—August 19, Sundays, May 28, July 4 The UMass Amherst Libraries host “Of Our Spiritual Strivings: W. E. B. Du Bois at 150” in the W. E. B. Du Bois Library, both on the Lower Level and in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA), on Floor 25. The exhibit, celebrating the sesquicentennial anniversary of the birth of W. E. B. Du Bois, examines Du Bois and his influences. Drawing its title from the first chapter of Du Bois’s "The Souls of Black Folk," the exhibit includes materials from his papers as well as the papers of other figures in the Libraries’ social change collections.

June 18, 2018 2:00 pm-4:00 pm April Eisman from Iowa State University presents a talk on "Five Myths about East German Visual Art." East German art was long ignored by those who believed that the country was artistically isolated behind the Berlin Wall and did not have art—just kitsch or political propaganda. In actuality, East German artists engaged with modern art and with German and international artistic traditions until the end of the Cold War.

June 18, 2018 7:30 pm The Juniper Summer Writing Institute hosts readings of prose and poetry at UMass Amherst June17- 23. Books will be available for sale and the authors available for signings. Stephen Graham Jones is the author of 16 novels, most recently Mongrels, six story collections, and some comics. He has received an NEA fellowship in fiction and other accolades. Evie Shockley is the author of the new black, for which she won the 2012 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry, and semiautomatic(Wesleyan, 2017), among other collections of poetry. Her honors include the 2015 Stephen Henderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry and the 2012 Holmes National Poetry Prize. The Juniper Summer Writing Institute, a program of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers, brings together writers of all levels to work closely with world-renowned poets and writers. Workshops in poetry, fiction, and memoir are the heart of the program that includes craft sessions and manuscript consultation with guest writers. The Juniper Summer Writing Institute is supported, in part, by the UMass Amherst English Department, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Amherst Books, Factory Hollow Press, Fiction Collective 2, The Valley Advocate, The J.E. and Marjorie B. Pittman Foundation and the Edwin L. and Elizabeth L. Skelton Foundation, jubilat, The Massachusetts Review, Orion and individual contributors.

June 19, 2018 2:00 pm-4:30 pm Intro by Seán Allan, University of St Andrews Revolution of a Culture Revolution einer Kultur (GDR, 1968, dir. Heinz Müller, 39 min., b/w, doc.) Cultural developments after WWII and the need to create art that would inspire the masses. Intellect and Power Geist und Macht—That Was the GDR (Germany, 1993, dirs. Christian Klemke & Lothar Kompatzki, 45 min., color, TV, doc., EN ST) A post-Wall overview of the history of intellectuals and artists in the GDR.

June 19, 2018 6:00 pm-7:00 pm Join MaryBeth Kimball, director of New Business Development and Recruitment for Professional Programs, for an in-person information session in Boston. The session will cover FAQs about the admissions process and curriculum overview. Register today.

June 19, 2018 7:00 pm-9:30 pm Intro by Barton Byg, UMass Amherst Ehe im Schatten (Germany, 1947, dir. Kurt Maetzig, 104 min., b/w, EN ST) The first German feature film to address the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany—only two years after WWII. Based on the real fate of an acclaimed German theater couple.

June 19, 2018 7:30 pm The Juniper Summer Writing Institute hosts readings of prose and poetry at UMass Amherst June17- 23. Books will be available for sale and the authors available for signings. Terrance Hayes is the author of five poetry collections. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a 2014 MacArthur fellowship. He is the current poetry editor at New York Times Magazine and has two forthcoming manuscripts. Eileen Myles is a poet, novelist, performer and art journalist. They are the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship in nonfiction, an Andy Warhol/Creative Capital art writers' grant, four Lambda Book Awards, the Shelley Prize from the PSA, and others. Lisa Olstein is the author of four poetry collections, most recently, Late Empire (Copper Canyon, 2017). She co-founded and for 10 years directed the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. The Juniper Summer Writing Institute, a program of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers, brings together writers of all levels to work closely with world-renowned poets and writers. Workshops in poetry, fiction, and memoir are the heart of the program that includes craft sessions and manuscript consultation with guest writers. The Juniper Summer Writing Institute is supported, in part, by the UMass Amherst English Department, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Amherst Books, Factory Hollow Press, Fiction Collective 2, The Valley Advocate, The J.E. and Marjorie B. Pittman Foundation and the Edwin L. and Elizabeth L. Skelton Foundation, jubilat, The Massachusetts Review, Orion and individual contributors.

June 20—June 21, 2018 The public is invited to witness sunset and sunrise of the shortest night of the year among the standing stones of the UMass Amherst Sunwheel at sunset, Wednesday,June 20 at 7:30 p.m., and  sunrise, Thursday, June 21 at 5 a.m. The actual moment of the solstice will be 6:07 a.m. on June 21 when the sun’s position relative to the stars reaches its northern extreme. This marks the astronomical start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere. On the dates closest to the moment of the solstice, nights are shortest and days are longest in the Northern Hemisphere and the sun rises and sets at its most northerly spots along the horizon, marked by tall standing stones in the Sunwheel. At the hour-long gatherings, UMass Amherst astronomer Stephen Schneider will discuss the astronomical cause of the solstice. He will explain the seasonal positions of Earth, the sun and moon, and the design of the Sunwheel and other calendar sites at Stonehenge and at Chankillo in Peru. He will also be available to answer other astronomical questions. While the Sunwheel events mark the northernmost sunset and sunrise of the year, the sun’s northerly position changes so gradually around the solstice that it rises and sets at almost the same position for more than a week. This is the origin of the word solstice, which means “stationary sun.” Sunwheel visitors who stop in on their own will be able to see the sun rising and setting over the summer solstice stones from roughly June 16-26. If it is clear for the evening session, telescopes will be set up to safely observe the surface of the sun before sunset, and to observe the moon, Venus and Jupiter after sunset. Visitors to the Sunwheel should be prepared for wet footing and mosquitoes. The UMass Amherst Sunwheel is located south of McGuirk Alumni Stadium, just off Rocky Hill Road about one-quarter mile west of University Drive. Donations are welcome to help with the cost of additional site work and future events. The events will be canceled in the event of heavy rain.