Monthly Archives: October 2012

South Campus Advancements

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The Final Installment

Today is the last installment of the epic 3 part series I have been working on. Here are the changes and projects occurring to South Campus. South campus has made many strides in the past years involving the new O’Leary Library renovation, the renovations to the Comley Lane Theater, and last but not least the installment of Starbucks, Subway, and The Hawk’s Nest. All of those improvements to South campus have proven to be great but now it’s time to focus on the big projects! Here we go!


 The Health and Social Sciences Building

 Say hello to the first new building on south campus in over 30 years! This new building will be the home to health, criminal justice, psychology majors. This new building will ready for the Spring academic semester. The UML website describes this building as:

” The new Health and Social Sciences building will be four stories high and span 69,000 gross square feet. It will house seven classrooms, 16 seminar/project rooms, eight conference rooms and 72 faculty offices. The four-story atrium lobby space with skylights is built in response to requests from members of the University community for space that promotes student and faculty interactions.”

Fun Fact:  75 percent of regularly occupied spaces receive natural light. 40 percent of construction materials manufactured within 500 miles. 75 percent of construction debris recycled. Lastly, although you can’t see it now, there is going to be a very attractive green space area outside of the building. 

Riverview Suites

Although this project won’t be finished for quite some time.  It will be located on South Campus on Marginal Street. It will however have convenient access to South campus. So don’t be afraid. According to the UML website: 
“Riverview Suites, a six-story, 173,000-square-foot residence hall near South Campus will feature suites with two or three double-occupancy bedrooms, a kitchen and a common area. The two-bedroom suites will include one full bathroom, while the three-bedroom suites will have two full bathrooms. “
Fun Fact: Rumor has it there will be a fully functional rec center in this new building.
  


South Campus Garage

The new South campus garage that is being constructed is part of the University’s solution to what was once a parking problem. This is the second garage the University has built in one year. This parking garage is a little bit bigger than its relatives on north and east campus. The University website describes this garage as:

“The South Campus garage will provide parking spaces for 762 cars on South Campus. Tucked between Mahoney Hall and Riverview Parking Lot, the garage will be conveniently located to all South Campus facilities. The six-and-one-half level open-parking facility is a 191,000-square-foot structure that will provide pedestrian access via a large, glass-enclosed stairway located at the north end of the building.”

Fun Fact: There will still be a parking lot outside from this garage. I remember teaching one of my friends how to drive in this parking lot this summer during one of the evenings. She nearly crashed my car…

Well, that’s all folks. Those are the publicly released projects and developments of the University. Beware, rumors are circulating around the fate of and renovations of many more buildings on campus. Be careful what you believe, but bear in mind that if you know someone (perhaps even me) with insider information to listen carefully. By 2020 Lowell and the UML campus will look astonishingly different than how it looks today. I hope you are as excited as me!

In case you missed the other installments here they are:

East Campus: http://www.umlorientationambassadors.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-changing-east-campus.html

North Campus: http://www.umlorientationambassadors.blogspot.com/2012/10/umass-lowell-progressive-change.html


-Tim Brown 






 

AHHH whats coming up this week?!!

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Welcome to a beautiful week to come. Such beautiful weather, isn’t it? =D YEY US!
Here are a couple of events happening this week….
Career Fair is THIS Wednesday the 24th
at the Campus Recreation center
from 1pm-4pm


Over 145 employers are expected at UMass Lowell’s Fall 2012 Career Fair!
This is an unequaled opportunity for students and alumni to meet with over 145 employers in many professional fields to discuss opportunities for internships, co-ops, part-time, summer and full-time permanent jobs.
Dress professionally and to bring resumes! Also, guys you should take an opportunity to review the list of companies registered to attend by accessing a list filterable by major(https://www.myinterfase.com/uml/event_view.aspx?token=PZpz2WDX6GV6m5DJj1e1GQ%3d%3d), and to research companies of interest to help in engaging in meaningful and fruitful conversations with our guest recruiters.
Sighs, was that Career Fair filled with important information; you’re kind of overwhelmed right? But you know you did the RIGHT THING in going. Now it’s time to blow off some steam at UML’s HALLOWEEN BASH this FRIDAY the 26th!
It would be a shame if you missed ANY of this…..
<3 Giselle =D 

Minors! They can be fun!

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Interested in declaring a minor? 
 Here’s some information to put you on the right track!
Here’s a list of undergraduate minors:

Another way to find out more about minors is by using CLASS aka the Centers for Learning!
Once you’ve thought about a minor you’d like to declare, talk to that department. It’s always nice to pop into their department office to get information from them.
To declare your new minor head over to the Registrars Office. Grab a Declaration of Minor form and have the department head fill it out. Sometimes the department has these forms, so that should be the first place you try!

Unfortunately this will be my last blog so I hope you all enjoyed the information! See you around!

–Craig

A Changing East Campus

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Welcome Back Everybody! 


Here is part two of the three part series emphasizing the changes that are coming to the University. This week we will be focusing on the three new construction projects located on the lovely:

East Campus
University Suites

Welcome to what is going to be the most luxurious residential building yet. This brand new building opens up in the Fall of 2013. I am very excited for this to open up and I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to sneak a spot into one of these suites. The UML website emphasizes: 

 “The residence hall will provide housing for 472 students in four and six bed suites. There will be a ground-floor common area with café and multi-purpose room open to the Umass Lowell community. Each residential floor will have two common kitchen/lounge areas, two quiet study rooms and a group study room.”

Fun Fact: This residence hall will be the home to students in the honors program as well as other students.

View from Salem & Pawtuckets Streets.
 University Crossing

This new project will be ready by Fall 2014. It will be the pride and joy of campus life  and will hopefully be finished on time and before I graduate. The UML website describes it as:

” Situated at the center of the Umass Lowell campus, University Crossing will serve as a hub of student activity with a large new bookstore, food court and event spaces, as well as some administrative offices. University Crossing will provide an important connection between the University’s three campuses and the downtown business and cultural district, all located within walking distance.”

Fun Fact: This property, which was originally a hospital, was acquired by the University for $6.3 million dollars. The University also intends to renovate this buildings with millions more. 

The New University Avenue Bridge

Last on the list is the new University Ave bridge. As you can see, construction on this bridge is already under way. This bridge will help connect the future University Crossing, East campus, and North campus. Currently, the bridge we have is a little bit packed and creates an awkward intersection for vehicles. The new bridge hopes to fix all of those issues.

Fun Fact: The fate of the current bridge, formally referred to as the Lowell Memorial Textile Bridge, is up in the air. There is currently a debate as to whether or not to keep the bridge as a walking bridge or to destroy it altogether. 

Well I hope you enjoyed my blog this week. Don’t forget to come back next week for the final blog of this three part series that will focus on South Campus. 

Also if you missed part 1 of this series here is a link to it: http://www.umlorientationambassadors.blogspot.com/2012/10/umass-lowell-progressive-change.html

-Tim




Studying Abroad, Yeah? YEEEAAHHH!

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Thinking of study abroad? Yes? PERFECT! No? Well you should! I have all the information to guide you through the right direction.
First off, if you plan with enough time ahead, you can get the money situation out the way, which I KNOW is one of the most stressful parts of this process and a large deterrent in deciding whether to study abroad or not.  There are plenty of ways you can get funded to study abroad:
*      Financial Aid (if you receive it already fro school)
*      Scholarships (get to them ON TIME!)
*      Loans
*      The study abroad program itself, depending which you use, sometimes gives the student money to cover part of their bill
*      Then there is good all SAVING YOUR OWN MONEY (which is why planning ahead of time is ESSENTIAL)
Now that we have all the boring stuff out of the way, let’s talk about all the WONDERFUL  reasons why YOU, yes YOU, should study abroad!
*      Whether you just want to just experience studying abroad and possibly take a course in another language and in the country of this language while learning its culture, then that’s a good reason!
*      Whether you want to make international partnerships and Exchanges, where they have collaborations with educational partners from around the globe. You can broaden your learning experience, stimulating new research, discussion, and insights that will ensure you’re ready to take on the world.
*      Then there is the Global Service learning part of studying abroad which ignites that explorer in you who explores the world while making a difference. You can participate in community service missions and teaching projects across four continents.
If you have any further questions you can reach the UML study abroad staff
General inquiries– StudyAbroad@uml.edu
Manager, Fern_MacKinnon@uml.edu
Asst. Manager, Emily_Brazer@uml.edu
Phone – 978-934-4660
The office is located at:
UMass Lowell, South Campus
O’Leary Library, 271M
Lowell, MA 01854
OR you can email me at Giselle_Colon@student.uml.edu I have studied abroad before and can try to help you out with the process, it’s a lengthy one.

The world isyour classroom!

Even after college, you may want to consider working overseas, studying abroad while in college, could give you the connections you need =)

watch this:


<3 Giselle

Umass Lowell – A Progressive Change

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Umass Lowell: What an Exciting Change
It’s Tim here and today we are going to talk about the exciting changes that both the city of Lowell and the University of Massachusetts Lowell are going to be taking together by 2020. Although not many university students may be aware, but the City of Lowell is going to make a remarkable change over the next couple of years. Before I bore you with the minute intricacies of the changes. How about a video instead? 
 The Lowell Plan
As you can see, there is a lot to be changed and a lot to be developed and a lot of excitement to feel for the amazing changes that are going to effect all of us. As much as I complain that I have lived in Lowell my entire live and it is true that I do get sick of Lowell sometimes, I still love it here. Lowell will always be my hometown and the place I grew up and the place I have spent all of my academic life.
I feel as if there is a lot of confusion across campus of what exactly is happening to our University. Hopefully that video answered some questions for you, but I want to go further and explain what the new buildings and construction will function as. I’m going to break down each construction site and explain its purpose. 

After spending a very long time trying to mash together all of the changes going on at Umass Lowell, I realized this blog was going to be extremely long. Therefore, it will be in all of our interests for me to break this up into an epic 3 part series of awesomeness. First up: 

North Campus: Engineering Awesome

 
The Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center 

As most of you have already probably noticed, this is the University’s newest building. Here is some info on the building from the UML website:

“The opening of the Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center (ETIC) will mark the beginning of new scientific discovery and ground-breaking research at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

The ETIC houses cutting-edge programs in nanomedicine, nanomanufacturing, plastics and elastomers, clean-room technologies, biomaterials develoment and more. These are fast-developing fields with growing career prospects and promising industry partnership opportunities.”

Fun Fact: The ETIC’s opening day was October 11, 2012. 


The North Campus Garage
This is the new North Campus garage that has alleviated what used to be a huge parking problem on North Campus. This parking lot opened up this September and has already been a huge help. The UML website explains description goes:
” This five-tier garage, which opened in September 2012, has added more than 550 parking spaces to the North Campus parking inventory. The garage is not only a useful addition to the campus, but also an attractive one, with features not usually seen in such facilities.”
Fun Fact: This garage actually has restrooms located on the ground level. 

The Pulichino Tong Business Building
The wind has been whispering rumors of a new business building for UML’s Manning School of Business. Well, here it is. The project begins this summer with the destruction of Eames Hall (sorry honor students, but you get to live in University Suites which I will talk about next week). The University’s description is as follows:
“A new building to house the Robert J. Manning School of Business is named for John Pulichino ’67 and his wife, Joy Tong, who donated $4 million to the University for scholarships. To give back to his alma mater amid their highly successful business careers, Pulichino and Tong recently created the Pulichino/Tong Family Foundation scholarship fund for students studying in the Manning School of Business. The Robert J. Manning School of Business in the new Pulichino Tong Business Building will offer students a world-class business education with the best facilities, including a trading room.”
Fun Fact: The manning School of Business was renamed last year because of Robert J. manning and Donna Manning who together made a multimillion-dollar commitment that will create more than $5 million in endowment to support ongoing initiatives for the new Manning School.
Well that’s all for this week. Next week I will be going over the changes to East Campus. So get ready for that. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend and you all better be at the game tonight supporting our D1 Hockey Team.
-Tim Brown

Campus will be HOT this weekend

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GREAT WEEKEND TO STAY ON CAMPUS!!! DON’T MISS OUT GUYS!

Friday October 12

Break the record Rally
4-6pm
CRC Lawn
Kick off hockey with our spirited pep rally
THEN…..
7-10pm
OPENING HOCKEY GAME @ the Tsongas Center
After stay to enjoy the postgame FIREWORKS

Saturday October 13

FAMILY DAY….yey for family =)
11:30am- 3:30pm
@ the Tsongas Center back lawn
Come enjoy some food, music and have tons of fun with pony rides, crafts and inflatables
TO END A PERFECT DAY WITH A PERFECT NIGHT…..
KARAOKEEEEE @ Rowdy zone (ICC) 8pm- 12am
You know you don’t want to miss out on this AMAZING weekend guys! By the way, if you are early for the hockey game Friday, first 500 people get a #codeblue hockey jersey, how cool is that? COME CHEER ON YOUR RIVERHAWKS and show your BEST SCHOOL SPIRIT! We wouldn’t have it any other way. Hope to see you there <3
–         
 —            ——–Giselle

Talk about a throwback

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When a baby is born the hippocampus has yet to be fully developed. At around eight or nine months after being born a baby has fully developed a hippocampus. For those of you reading this thinking “What in the world is Brady talking about?” The hippocampus is a part of your brain located in the limbic system that is responsible for storing memories as well as being responsible for your spatial navigation. 
An MRI picture of a hippocampus
Why am I talking about this? It is simple I am going to cause you to delve into the depths of your hippocampus and revive your memories about some of the best shows that were broadcasted on Nickelodeon in the 90’s, according to me. My qualifications to conduct an analysis as strict as this are extremely subjective and lengthy so I will not bore you with them. But I assure you they do exist. 
If my qualifications were tangible they would look like this

Best Show #1:
The Ren and Stimpy Show

The Ren and Stimpy show started airing in 1991 and ran until 1998, while I was not allowed to watch this show due to my mother not being a fan of the “toilet humor” that ran rampant throughout the series, I was still able to catch clips of it after I discovered the recall button on my remote. The show was based around the zany adventures of Ren, the psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpy, the dimwitted cat. Often viewed as controversial due to the sexual innuendo and violence, Ren and Stimpy soon won their way into homes and my young, tender heart with gems like this. 


I never got a log as a child


Best Show #2: 
Kenan And Kel

The show that started airing in 1996 ran until 2000 gave us bundles of laughs, a Good Burger spin-off, and forever locked the shows stars Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell in their respective roles as Kenan and Kel. Think about it, how many times have you seen Kenan or Kel in another TV show or movie and gone “That’s Kenan/Kel from Kenan and Kel!” It happens to me at least once a week. The show also gave rapper Coolio something to rap about besides his “Gangsta’s Paradise”. It also gave him something else to be known for. Also, Kel was never able to shake the stigma of loving Orange Soda.   
  
Talk about forcing your acting career into a corner


Best Show #3: 
All That

It is safe to say that were it not for the TV show All That then there would be no Amanda Show, no Drake & Josh, and no Kenan & Kel. All That was a sketch show that really was the gateway to hilarity in the 90’s, who can forget the lovable skits of “Good Burger” and “The Loud Librarian”. All That originally aired in 1994 and ran all the way until 2005 when it was finally cancelled. Honestly the show was done once the original cast left but much like a lot of other TV shows they wanted to keep it going and milk every last view they could. The show was also the launching pad of many teen icons careers in the 90’s. The list includes, but is not limited to, Amanda Bynes, Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, and Nick Cannon. 
When the police arrested Amanda Bynes she was quoted in saying “That’s me” 
The list of TV shows that entertained us throughout the 90’s is obviously a lot greater than this. It is hard to illustrate such an awesome decade into one blog. I know that Ren and Stimpy can be found on Netflix if you ever feel the need to expose yourself to Gritty Kitty or Marooned. As for Kenan & Kel and All That I do not know where their episodes have dispersed to, but I would love to find out. 
-Brady


Anger, learn to let go

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We have all gotten angry at someone or something at some point, but what really causes our anger? Is it our fault? Is it the other factor’s fault? How can we address anger to reduce it from our lives?

Just a few questions I’m sure we have all pondered and now we can take a journey together on how to fight fire with water!

First i’d like to state that anger is a normal human emotion that is usually healthy to express, it is only when it gets out of control and becomes destructive do we have to address and intervene. When this happens anger can effect almost everything in your life from work, relationships, classes and even how you treat yourself.

The three main strategies for controlling anger are to; express, suppress, and calming. 

1) Express: Express your anger in an assertive non-aggressive manner. Learn how to make clear what you need and plan out how to get it, without hurting others. Being assertive does not mean pushing everyone else out of your way to achieve something but to be respectful of others as well as yourself.

2) Suppress: Anger can be suppressed and converted or redirected. This happens by holding in your anger, stop thinking about it and focus on something positive. Inhibit your anger and convert it to positive, constructive behavior. The last thing you want is for your anger to turn inwards, to yourself, this can lead to; hypertension, high blood pressure, or depression.

3) Calming: calming means not just controlling your outward behavior but also controlling your internal responses. Take steps to lower your heart rate, calm yourself down and let the feelings subside.

Some people may feel that letting their aggression out is the best method all the time, but this is not the case. Since anger builds on anger the more you lash out at everyone and everything the more your anger will become uncontrollable and you will need to seek outside help to help yourself.

Relaxation is a key step in reducing anger. Some tips you can try are: Breath deeply and slowly. slowly repeat a calming word over and over, repeat it to yourself until you’re calm.  Use imagery, picture a relaxing experience and hold on to it, either from memory or imagination! Yoga has also been shown to help relax not only you but your muscle as well.

Another tip is to use what experts call: Cognitive Restructuring, which is a fancy phrase for change how you think about something in a positive way. Turn something you hate into something you love by changing your thought process about it. Try something you think you hate, don’t knock it till you tried it!

A couple other strategies are problem solving, better communication, and humor.

For a better idea of where you are at you can take this anger quiz: http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=3396&cn=116

Be safe, be smart, make good decisions,

Craig

Jeepers Creepers

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As most of you hopefully know it is currently October. Do you know what the best part of October is? Halloween. What is the best part of Halloween? Having an excuse to watch an unreasonable amount of scary movies for an entire month. Oh and the candy, the candy is definitely a plus. 

I’m not here to tell you that you should be watching scary movies instead of doing your school work because you should definitely do your school work but if you ever have any free time and want to watch a scary movie because it is October or if you want to be too scared to go to sleep so you can finish your homework here are some suggestions from me. 
Suggestion number 1:
The Thing
When I say to watch “The Thing” I am talking about the good version made in 1982 by John Carpenter that was a rip off from a movie made in the 50’s. You know The Thing with Kurt Russell and Wilford Brimley. This movie is easily one of the scariest movies I have ever seen because not only does it feature a shape shifting alien that could take the form of your best friend then try to kill you but because the first reaction by Kurt Russell when he finally realizes that there is a shape shifting alien taking the form of his friends and killing everyone is to kill it with fire.  
Kurt Russell’s beard was neither harmed or singed in the making of this film

I know that most of you reading this are thinking one of two things, one being “Wow I value Brady’s opinion so much!” others might not be sharing the same sentiment so if you don’t wish to believe me The Boston Globe ranks The Thing as the number one scariest movie of all time. 
Those of you who are not thinking about how much you value my opinion are thinking, “Wow this movie has Wilford Brimley, surely that can’t be the very Wilford Brimley from those diabetes commercials!” I should have you know that it is that very Wilford Brimley. 
Suggestion number 2:
Nightmare on Elm Street
Nightmare on Elm Street features a lot of the same elements of a traditional slasher film except that this one stars Johnny Depp. Wes Craven created probably one of the most vile looking villains of all time when he envisioned Freddy Krueger. Krueger was killed with fire and is now exacting his revenge by killing his victims through invading their dreams and cutting them with a bladed glove, so if you wish to eliminate the desire to go to sleep for the next week I suggest watching this movie. Freddy Krueger’s weakness besides not being afraid of him is energy drinks. 
All he really wanted was some skin cream, that stuff is hard to get in the dream world. 

This movie also spawned a song by none other than the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and his trusted DJ side-kick Jazzy Jeff. 
Suggestion number 3
Halloween
I know that having Halloween be on this list is a bit of a cliche but the movie is quite scary and really deserves a lot of credit for what it did. Granted the movie used a lot of elements from Hitchcock’s Psycho but Halloween because the poster child for low budget slasher films in the 80’s and 90’s. If John Carpenter did not make the movie Halloween then there would be no Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street and I would have had to choose other movie for suggestions two and three. Halloween features a psychotic murder who escapes captivity and wreaks havoc on his hometown. The antagonists name is named Michael Myers, not the Mike Myers who is quite groovy. 
Deranged serial killer
International Man of Mystery
I didn’t want to make this excruciatingly long but I feel like I might have. Regardless here are some other movies you should check out if you are ever in the mood for a good scare; Friday the 13th, Psycho, and Troll 2. Maybe Troll 2 isn’t scary but it is worth the watch. Who can deny this as the best line ever uttered in a film?
How he didn’t swat the fly off his head still eludes me

-Brady