Next Tuesday!

This talk will provide examples of bone tools and needles recovered from a 13,000-year-old archaeological residence in central Alaska, and explore how they shed light on the lives of the first women in the Americas.

Register now: www.umass.edu/social-scien...

Join us, Friday, May 8th, for an engaging 11 am to 4 pm Five College Symposium on Community-Based Teaching and Research. Breakfast, Lunch, and Reception included. Free registration. Share widely!

Community members, community organizations, faculty, staff, and students are welcome.

Thank you to everyone who attended our final Funding Thursday session of the semester! We will be back in the fall with new workshops to help you in your funding journey.

I am broken-hearted at the terrible news that my alma mater, @hampshirecollege.bsky.social, after 56 yrs, is closing. Its death is a victory for conformism, for corporatism, for higher education's dull love of hierarchy & status. It's a grievous defeat for imagination & experimentation.

Report: Warning signs for Mass. research economy - Amherst Bulletin AMHERST — Reductions in federal funding for research and development could negatively impact the Massachusetts economy for at least a decade, according to a new study released by the University of Mas...

A new study by the Donahue Institute offers warnings about the economic headwinds the state is facing due to federal funding cuts, notes the @DailyHampGaz amherstbulletin.com/2026/04/08/report-warnin...

List of ISSR methodology workshops offered summer 2026 May 26-27, Introduction to R: Data Management May 28-29, An Introduction to Focus Groups June 2-3, Web Scraping in Python June 2-4, Introduction to NVIVO: Uploading, Coding, and Analyzing Qualitative Data (workshop 1)

List of ISSR methodology workshops offered this summer June 9-10, Web Scraping with R June 9, 11-12, Photovoice: Visual Elicitation Meets Participatory Action Research June 15-17, Introduction to NVIVO: Uploading, Coding, and Analyzing Qualitative Data (workshop 2) June 15-17, Getting Started with Social Network Analysis June 25, Introduction to Survey Design

List of ISSR methodology workshops offered this summer June 29-July 1, Introduction to GIS July 14-15, Qualitative Research Design and Methods July 21-24, Making Sense of Qualitative Data: Learning Data Analysis with MAXQDA July 25, Introduction to Qualitative Interviewing

Head over to the ISSR website and check out the roster of methodology workshops offered this summer. Enrollment is now open! www.umass.edu/social-scien...

I hope that squirrel has a great day

Images of the new ISSR Scholars 2026-2027 cohort, featuring seven scholars at UMass Amherst.

The Institute for Social Science Research is pleased to announce the selection of the 2026-2027 ISSR Scholars. This year's cohort brings an especially strong focus to vital questions in public policy, democrat inclusion, and public opinion.

Learn more: www.umass.edu/social-scien...

Four UMass Amherst Researchers Honored with Election to American Association for the Advancement of Science | UMass Amherst Agriculture biotechnologist Om Parkash Dhankher, chemist Dhandapani Venkataraman, anthropologist Jason Kamilar and computer scientist Beverly Park Woolf all receive the prestigious scientific honor fo...

Excited and honored to be named a AAAS Fellow! www.umass.edu/news/article... @sbs-umass.bsky.social @umassamherst.bsky.social

Daniel DeCaro talk graphic

ISSR Scholars Mentor talk tomorrow, 3/11!

This talk will introduce key concepts and analytics for diagnosing the adaptive and transformative capacity of complex governance systems. Join us in-person or online at 11 am!

Register now: www.umass.edu/social-scien...

This Thursday, March 12 | Applying Theory to Qualitative Theory

This workshop will provide you with a straightforward applicable understanding of how to match your research question to a theory.

Register now! www.umass.edu/social-scien...

Webinar: "War with Iran: International and Domestic Implications,” will take place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 on Zoom. With Charli Carpenter, Sohail Hashmi, David Mednicoff, and Jamie Rowen.

Webinar tomorrow, 3/10! “War with Iran: International and Domestic Implications" will bring together experts to discuss political, legal and humanitarian consequences. Tuesday, 3/10, 4pm ET on Zoom: umass-amherst.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

This session is co-sponsored by UMass Office of Faculty Development.

Get more information and RSVP: www.umass.edu/social-scien...

Funding Thursdays graphic promoting the sixth session Planning for Sabbaticals: Fellowships, Funding, and Future-oriented Thinking

Join us on Thursday on preparing for sabbaticals. Faculty from the humanities and social sciences will share how they planned to get the most out of their time away. Attendees will be equipped with tools to plan purposeful, well-resourced sabbaticals that position them for their next career chapter.

Today at 4pm at Old Chapel, UMass Amherst!

Invite your students, colleagues, and friends to attend an expert panel debate the pros and cons of universal voting policies.

excited to share that I am *officially running* to represent Massachusetts state employees on the MA public pension board!

I'm running because public pensions are *ours* and should serve the interests of state workers and our communities

I'm endorsed by @massteacher.bsky.social

www.mapension.com

Professors Denise Ives and Kysa Nygreen have released the latest issue of Equity & Excellence in Education, featuring a new section they have launched with the article, “On Academic Freedom and Autocratic Breakthrough.” Read here:
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JST7A...

Happy first day of Spring classes! ISSR is here to assist you on research and funding journey. Our first Funding Thursday session of the semester is one week from today on Data Management Plans, an important aspect of grant writing.

Get more information and RSVP: www.umass.edu/social-scien...

This month, we acknowledge the long struggle and celebrate the hard-earned victories in the course of Black History in our nation.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words frequently remind us, the work continues for all of us.

The U.S. Care Affordability Crisis Cuts in government spending and deportation threats against the workforce have sent costs soaring in daycare, eldercare, and long-term medical care.

If you're paying for daycare, eldercare or long-term medical care, inflation is rising much faster for you. In this piece for Dollars & Sense, Prof. Emerita Nancy Folbre @umassissr.bsky.social explains why. www.dollarsandsense.org/the-u-s-care-affordabili...

Happy first day of Spring classes! ISSR is here to assist you on research and funding journey. Our first Funding Thursday session of the semester is one week from today on Data Management Plans, an important aspect of grant writing.

Get more information and RSVP: www.umass.edu/social-scien...

stop using AI to do your research. it hallucinates too often. if you want an answer to something, post something arrogant on the appropriate subreddit. something like: "this item performs 10% better than everything else. only idiots deny this." this will bait nerds into doing your research for you.

Can you please tell your colleagues to do the same?

Why tech billionaires dream of servers in the sky Behind the hopes for artificial general intelligence is the desire for a world without obligations to governments, workers or fellow citizens

Why do tech billionaires want server farms in orbit? So that they don't have to deal with communities trying to defend their energy grids, water supplies and well being: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...

Map of state higher ed restrictions

The scale and speed of state censorship of campus really is amazing.
More than half of America's college students attend institutions in states that have passed laws censoring higher education since 2021.
From @penamerica.bsky.social
pen.org/report/ameri...

Register for this session: www.umass.edu/social-scien...

Graphic for ISSR's Funding Thursdays session 5

Join us for the first Funding Thursday workshop this semester! This session will provide models and help you complete the data management plan for a proposal submission. Our guest speaker @jenchaput.bsky.social will help you create a plan to keep your project data safe, secure, and well-organized.

UMass Amherst Experts to Examine Law, Politics of US Intervention in Venezuela | UMass Amherst The public is invited to attend the Jan. 20 webinar which will feature faculty members from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

I'll be speaking today at 4pm on this webinar about international law and the Venezuela raid that captured Maduro. Register here to join and listen: www.umass.edu/news/article...

Will Employers Invest in Our Kids? An Interview with Nancy Folbre | Common Dreams ​Children are getting more expensive for parents even as investment in future workers is becoming less cost-effective for employers. What should be done about it?

Prof. Emeritus Nancy Folbre @umassissr.bsky.social explains how we need to do a better job explaining the public benefits of investment in human capabilities, including the care of people experiencing illness, frailty, or disability. www.commondreams.org/opinion/empl... via @commondreams.org

In one hour, oral arguments begin at the SCOTUS on the two cases contesting the rights of transgender athletes to participate in school-sponsored sports.

They will be live-streamed here: www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...

With hope and a broken heart, I will listen. Bravest youth you’ll know.