MassBay in Wellesley to hold spring Open House, April 28

April 22, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

MassBay Community College will hold its annual Spring Open House on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 10am. President David Podell along with faculty, staff and students will be on hand to greet and welcome prospective students and their families to the Wellesley Hills campus.

The Spring Open House is an opportunity for prospective students to meet and talk with current students, faculty, and staff to learn about the 70 degree and certificate programs offered at MassBay and transfer opportunities after MassBay. Prospective students are encouraged to attend to learn more about student clubs and organizations, the admissions and financial aid process, and talk with academic divisions. The Open House will include a self-guided tour of campus, mock classes, information sessions, student and alumni panel discussions, information for veterans, on-the-spot admissions, and more.

WHERE: MassBay Community College, 50 Oakland Street, Wellesley Hills, MA
WHEN: Saturday, April 28, 2018
TIME: 10am (registration starts at 9:15am)

Prospective students can learn more about the event and RSVP at www.MassBay.edu/OpenHouse or call the Office of Admissions at 781-239-2500.

Colleges in Wellesley announce commencement speakers line-up

April 18, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley College and MassBay have joined Babson College in making public their 2018 commencement speakers. Drum roll please…

Wellesley College, Commencement — Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate of the Unted States, will deliver remarks at Wellesley College’s Commencement exercises. Photo credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths / Blue Flower Arts

Tracy K. Smith, poet laureate of the United States and the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities and director of the creative writing program at Princeton University, will speak at Wellesley’s 140th Commencement Exercises on Friday, June 1, at 10:30am.

Smith’s work explores a diverse range of topics, from faith, grief, and loss, to dystopia and Afrofuturism, to deep space and life on other planets, to America’s troubled racial history and the legacy of slavery. In her role as poet laureate, Smith aims to expand the audience for poetry through rural outreach, traveling to communities writers might not usually visit.

As we reported in an earlier post, Babson’s speakers at the College’s May 19 ceremonies will be president and CEO of UNICEF USA, Caryl M. Stern; and co-founder and CEO of Endeavor Linda Rottenberg. Stern will receive an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree and will deliver the commencement address at the undergraduate ceremony at 10am. Rottenberg will be receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree and will give the commencement address at the graduate ceremony at 3pm.

Attorney General Maura Healey will speak at MassBay’s Commencement ceremony. Photo credit: Healey’s office

MassBay will welcome Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey as the keynote speaker for the College’s 56^th Commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 17 on the Wellesley Hills campus. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to address graduates at a school with such a strong commitment to preparing students for lives of active citizenship and cutting-edge careers,” Healey said.

In addition, MassBay will honor the Attorney General with the Distinguished Service Award. The MassBay Distinguished Service Award is given out to individuals for their advocacy and service to MassBay and the communities we serve.

Sworn in as Attorney General in January 2015, Healey has tackled issues touching the lives of residents across Massachusetts including the heroin and prescription drug abuse epidemic, escalating health care costs, workers’ rights and student loan costs.

Wellesley Symphony Orchestra concert: Favorite American Composers

February 5, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Serious food rescue operation underway in Wellesley

December 15, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Wellesley’s 3R Working Group — which consists of representatives from the Department of Public Works, the Sustainable Energy Committee, and the Natural Resources Commission — has united with the Environmental Protection Agency/New England and the Cambridge-based non-profit Food For Free to develop a collaborative food rescue initiative with vendors that provide food service at local school K-12 schools and universities. Food rescue refers to repacking leftover food, such as from school lunches, for those in need, including people living in shelters or receiving Meals on Wheels.

Program participants include Wellesley Public Schools, Babson College, Bentley University, Olin College of Engineering and Wellesley College. More than 4,000 pounds of food have been donated since September from Bentley, Olin and Wellesley Middle School; the program was rolled out in the other schools in recent weeks. Other local organizations with serviceable leftover food will be encouraged to join, too.

One of side benefit that stems from food waste donation programs, according to the EPA, is that organizations that donate food see new opportunities for reducing leftovers. The donation process creates an informational feedback loop for waste generators that reduces both
their wasted food, and their food waste removal costs.

As the 3R Working Group recruited local colleges for this program, conversations with MassBay Community College, located in Wellesley, revealed that 52% of the students surveyed there indicated they were insecure about food. Food For Free is now working with MassBay to develop a program for these students to receive food from the Food For Free Family Meals program.

For more information, go to https://wellesleyma.gov/811/4282/Waste-Wise-Wellesley or contact Marybeth Martello, Administrator, Wellesley Sustainable Energy Committee at [email protected] or 781-431-1019 x2229.

MORE: So how’s the Wellesley food waste pilot program going, Supt. Azano-Brown?

MassBay to tackle student food insecurity issues

October 12, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

MassBay Community College’s Student Development Office conducted an on-line survey of enrolled students to determine if students had food insecurity and found that more than half (52%) who participated in the survey reported “low” or “very low” food security.

Students were classified as having “low” or “very low” food security if they reported at least two of the following during the past 30 days:

· Food that was purchased didn’t last and they didn’t have money to purchase more

· They could not afford to eat balanced meals

· Students were cutting the size of meals or skipped meals because there wasn’t enough money or food

· They were eating less because they felt there wasn’t enough money or food

· Students were hungry, but didn’t eat because there wasn’t enough money or food

To fight hunger on MassBay campuses, the college has spearheaded food insecurity initiatives to ensure members of the MassBay community have access to food while on campus. These initiatives include;

– A MassBay partnership with The Greater Boston Food Bank to host a monthly mobile food market with free fresh fruits and vegetables. This farmer’s market style food distribution is located on the Wellesley campus, and students on the Ashland and Framingham campuses can pre-register and the food will be brought to those campuses for them. This has benefitted more than 2,648 students, faculty and staff since it came to campus.

– Snack bins have been placed in Student Development, Athletics, Advising and Financial Aid on the Wellesley Hills campus, offering free, sustainable snack options to all students.

– The Student Development Office, Student Government Association and the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences held a student essay contest around hunger issues. The two winners of the contest will join Student Development staff in attending the National Convening on College Food and Housing Insecurity Conference in Philadelphia later this month.

MassBay has also started a Student Hunger Assistance Fund, where individuals can make a donation to the MassBay Foundation and their contribution will go directly to helping students have access to food. To make a donation visit; https://donate.massbay.edu/sslpage.aspx?pid=298