Inbox [Aug. 6-12]: News and notes from American Cancer Society, Assumption, Auburn and Solomon Pond malls, Hanover Theatre, UMass Medical School, state

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American Cancer Society honors Worcester business leader

The American Cancer Society recently honored Kham Inthirath of Northbridge with a Sandra C. Labaree Volunteer Values Award.

The award recognizes Inthirath’s accomplishments in support of its mission to celebrate and save lives and to lead the fight for a world without cancer.

Courtesy of American Cancer Society

Kham Inthirath, right, receives the Sandra C. Labaree Volunteer Values Award from Holly Grant, executive director, American Cancer Society.

As founder and president of Worcester-based Envision Digital Group, Inthirath donated the services of his digital marketing agency to produce compelling videos to illustrate the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events in Worcester and Boston in 2016 as well as the Real Men Wear Pink of Worcester Reveal Party.

The videos included aerial footage from a drone, personal interviews and time-lapse video. Inthirath and his team’s many donated hours resulted in professional promotional videos that can be used in a variety of ways.

“Kham never says no to ideas and is always willing to listen and help where he can,” said Nicola Deary, ACS community development manager. “He is compassionate, generous and creative. He inspires me to do more and to be better at it. He is a powerful advocate and creative force in the fight to end cancer and for the making Strides Against Breast Cancer events.”

Assumption garners fourth consecutive Princeton Review nod

For the fourth consecutive year, Assumption College has been included in The Princeton Review’s annual “Best 382 Colleges” publication. The nationally recognized education services company also ranked Assumption one of the “2018 Best Colleges: Region by Region” for the Northeast.

“We chose Assumption College for this book because it offers outstanding academics,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief. “Our selections are primarily based on our surveys of administrators at several hundred four-year colleges. We also visit dozens of colleges each year and give considerable weight to opinions of our staff and our 24-member National College Counselor Advisory Board. Most importantly, we look at valuable feedback we get from each school’s customers — our surveys of students attending them.”

The Princeton Review recognized Assumption as a “ ‘very welcoming and inclusive institution’ that focuses on giving its students every resource possible to help them succeed and be happy,” including tutoring, career assistance and campus jobs.

One student said, “the guidance counselors, teachers, [and] coaches are truly a blessing to have at this college.” The Princeton Review includes another quote from a student stating that overall, Assumption “helps foster well-rounded, creative, intelligent, and caring young adults to be successful and morally sound in their future endeavors.”

Read the entire story on the Assumption College website

Local malls “Better Than Tax Free” next weekend

Auburn Mall and Solomon Pond Mall in Marlborough will host a “Better Than Tax Free” weekend Aug. 11-13.

If shoppers spend $150 or more at select stores and present receipts from the participating stores to Simon Guest Services or the Mall Office they will receive a $25 American Express Simon Giftcard while supplies last.

Other participating Simon Malls are: Burlington Mall, Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis, Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro, Northshore Mall in Peabody, The Shops at Chestnut Hill, South Shore Plaza in Braintree, and Square One Mall in Saugus.

Hanover Theatre to host auditions for Nutcracker

The Ballet Arts Worcester production of The Nutcracker will be held Nov. 23-26 at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Auditions will be held on Saturday, Sept. 9, at the theater. Reservations are required.

Performers 13 and older will audition 9-11 a.m.; ages 10-12, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.; ages 7-9, 1:15-2:45 p.m. Performers are asked to bring pointe shoes if they have two years or more of training.

Read the entire story on The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts website

Wikimedia Commons/Photo by og-emmet

UMass Medical School

UMass Medical School prof earns Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine honor

Nancy Byatt, associate professor of psychiatry and obstetrics & gynecology at UMass Medical School, has been selected as the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Don R. Lipsitt Award for Achievement in Integrative and Collaborative Care from the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Byatt will accept the award and give a special presentation at the annual meeting of the academy in November. Her presentation will focus on her collaborative work with the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Quantitative Health Sciences developing scalable interventions, including the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program for Moms (MCPAP for Moms), for addressing depression in obstetric settings.

Sheldon Benjamin, interim chair and professor of psychiatry, said the award is another national recognition of the groundbreaking work Byatt has spearheaded in collaboration with Tiffany Moore Simas, associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology; Jeroan Allison, vice chair professor of quantitative health sciences; and Kathleen Biebel, associate professor of psychiatry and deputy director of the Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center.

Read the entire story on the UMass Medical School website

Auburn, Sutton among towns awarded $14M in Green Communities Grants

Auburn and Sutton are among 10 Central Massachusetts communities recently awarded Green Communities Grants by the Baker-Polito administration.

Auburn received $213,804 to fund energy conservation measures in municipal facilities, including Auburn High School, Bryn Mawr Elementary School and the public library. The energy conservation measures funded by this grant are: lighting upgrade, retrocommissioning, steam trap replacement, building automation system and rooftop unit CO2 controls.

Sutton received $204,888 for to fund energy conservation measures in municipal facilities, including the town vehicle fleet and the Early Learning Center. The energy conservation measures funded by this grant are: boiler replacement and electric vehicle purchase.

In total, 72 communities received grants worth more than $14 million for clean energy projects. With this year’s grants, the largest in the program’s seven-year history, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has awarded more than $80 million to Green Communities grants since the program’s inception.

Other Central Mass. towns receiving grants were: Ashburnham, $217,300; Ashby, $100,981; Barre, $116,199; Hardwick, $116,592; Harvard, $249,972; Holland, $150,085; Littleton, $250,000; and Mendon, $89,579.

Read the entire story on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts website