A New Semester

Well, classes for the spring semester begin tomorrow and the campus is beginning to fill back up with students. Driving in today I noticed that most of the students appeared to be headed for the new recreation center. I can't say that I blame them, it is an impressive facility. If you are detecting a tinge of jealousy, it is because the recreation center is free for students but faculty have to pay.

I've just gotten back from a week up in the Maine woods, cross country skiing and snow shoeing (good free exercise). The other fellow in the photograph is Bill Mitchell the Director of the Stockbridge School. It was a great way to re-energize before the start of the semester.

Every once in a while I will hear faculty members say how they enjoy the quiet when the students are gone, but I don't think they really mean it. The students are the life blood of the campus. Even as dean, I still find interacting with the students to be the most rewarding part of the job. This past semester I taught a class called "The Cost of Food". It was an honors class taught through the Commonwealth Honors College. One of the nice things about honors classes is the small class size. This class had sixteen students so I really had a chance to get to know them.

We examined the food system from production, through distribution, to consumption - including our own food habits. It is interesting to me the number of issues around food that are getting so much attention. We talked about the buy local and organic movements, we talked about health concerns such as trans fats, and we talked about the impact that the food system may be having on obseity. I'm not sure if a course titled "The Cost of Food" would have attracted many students five years ago. I guess we are starting to see the impact of writers such as Michael Pollan and Jill Richardson. Another great aspect of the class was that we were able to have a couple of faculty members from the Department of Food Science come and give us some additional perspectives.

One of the students in the class sent me an email the other day to remind me that I had promised to have the class over for dinner once the spring semester began. My only problem is that I promised to feature locally grown food in the meal. All I have left of my "winter share" from the UMass student run CSA are carrots and onions, so all I have to do now is find a recipe that calls for lots of carrots and onions.