PhD student Candan Turkkan has received the 2011-2012 Best MA Award from the New School for Social Research for her master's thesis, "State, Autonomy, Distance: An Ethnography of Bureaucracy."

At UMass, Turkkan's research explores political theory and ethnography. She is researching the relationship between law and politics, theories of constitutional law, state formation and bureaucracy, and nationalism. 

She holds a bachelor degree from Sabanci University and MAs from the New School and New York University.

Faculty members John Brigham, Barbara Cruikshank, Judy Holmes, and Athena King, and

Alix Olson, political science PhD student, will be a featured speaker at the Woodstock Writers Festival in Woodstock, New York from April 19th - 22nd. The Festival, coined "Occupy Woodstock," is " 3 1/4 days of books" bringing together some of the nation's leading authors and artists. 

Olson, a spoken word artist and poet, will convene a workshop and presentation with acclaimed poets Sonia Sanchez (Philadelphia's Poet Laureate), Joan Larkin, and John Murillo. The four authors will explore the role of poetry in the current politically-charged climate. 

Henry Barr'68 is recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award. Mr. Barr is the senior partner of the law firm of Barr and Cole. He has served UMass Amherst as a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, Center for Public Policy and Administration Advisory Board, and UMass Amherst Foundation, to name a few. He has also endowed a scholarship fund allowing urban youth from the West End House Boys and Girls Club of Allston, MA to attend UMass Amherst.