Published: 2/21/2022 7:00:33 AM
Modified: 2/21/2022 7:00:14 AM
■Dr. William A. Darity, head of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Department of Public Health, has been named to a new National Drug Abuse Council set up by four leading foundations. Dr. Darity has been at UMass since 1965. He spent 10 years with the World Health Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, before joining the UMass staff.
■The Northampton High School Travel Club is currently planning its third annual European trip, to take place during the spring vacation. Advisers for the club are Miss Kathleen Sheehan, principal of Leeds School, and Mrs. Anne Duffney of the Northampton High School faculty.
■Two Valley residents will be lauded Sunday for contributions to the arts by the Northampton Arts Council. This year’s winner of the Jane Ahlfeld Award for Dynamic Impact in the Arts is Carol Hyde, owner of the Pearl Street Nightclub. John Reily, the music director at WRSI-FM in Greenfield is the winner of the council’s Keen Hahn Award for Community Service in the Arts.
■At Rally Day, Smith College’s annual celebration of all manner of excellence in women, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was named the first winner of a new award in honor of the college founder. She was one award recipient among many in a day that is unabashed in its gleeful celebration of the achievements of women.
■After several years of sluggish sales and prices, the real estate market in Hampshire County rebounded last year, especially in houses costing more than $500,000. The median sale price for houses in Northampton rose from $262,205 in 2010 to $275,000 in 2011.
■William A. Letendre, parking director for the city of Northampton for eight years, is retiring, according to Mayor David J. Narkewicz. Letendre, 70, was appointed parking director by former mayor Clare Higgins in 2004.
