Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts Creates Endowment for BCT Program at UMass

Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts Creates Endowment for BCT Program at UMass

May 18, 2018 AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst has received a $100,000 gift from the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts (AGC MA) of Wellesley, Massachusetts. The gift, also made possible through the Construction Industry Association of Western Massachusetts in Springfield, will provide support for the building and construction technology (BCT) program and its students. The BCT program is part of the department of environmental conservation in the College of Natural Sciences. AGC MA is the state’s leading commercial construction association. The gift represents the second endowment dedicated to supporting UMass Amherst’s BCT program. In addition to providing financial support for BCT’s programs, the gift will make it possible for four students a year to receive scholarships. The BCT program prepares students for careers in construction management, sustainable building systems, and building materials technology. BCT offers undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as continuing education programs. The program is located in the new John W. Olver Design Building, a distinctive architectural...
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Reviving the Noble Elm

Reviving the Noble Elm

Courtesy of UMass News & Media: https://www.umass.edu/gateway/feature/reviving-noble-elm    It takes the mind of an urban forester to envision how a seed the size of a pinky nail will grow into a towering elm tree. “That’s the future, right there,” says Justin Hailey ’18S, ’20, as he gently pokes an elm seed into a seed tray in the potting classroom of the UMass Amherst College of Natural Sciences Research and Education Greenhouse. Hailey is one of 16 arboriculture/urban forestry students in the community forestry course taught by Richard Harper, Extension assistant professor in the department of environmental conservation. On an April afternoon, his class planted six different varieties of American elm seeds provided by the USDA Forest Service lab in Delaware, Ohio. Harper’s class is taking part in a UMass field trial of Dutch elm disease-resistant trees. American elms, with their graceful, vase-like shape and rapid growth, were once ubiquitous and beloved street trees, but Dutch Elm disease notoriously wiped out most of them by the mid-20th...
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