Lawrence native wins Emmy for Andy
NEW YORK CITY — Lawrence native and filmmaker Melanie Perkins won an Emmy award for her documentary "Have You Seen Andy?" about the disappearance of childhood friend Angelo "Andy" Puglisi.
Puglisi vanished from a Lawrence swimming pool in 1976. Perkins' documentary is the story of a childhood friend's search for answers.
She produced, directed and wrote the feature-length documentary.
Perkins accepted the award at the Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Center, and immediately marked the accomplishment by holding up her Emmy statue and exclaiming "This is for Andy!"
The film first aired on HBO's Cinemax Reel Life series in the summer of 2007. It will be released on DVD on Oct. 14 though HBO and Amazon.com.
Through her work, Perkins uncovered new information about Andy's case, including that five known pedophiles were at Higgins Memorial Pool when he disappeared. She hopes her Emmy win will motivate the Essex County District Attorney's office to reopen the 32-year-old case.
Merrimack College names interim VP
NORTH ANDOVER — Merrimack College has appointed Dr. Michael J. Bell as interim vice president for academic affairs, a position formerly known as provost.
Bell served as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire from 2005 to 2008, and as vice president for academic affairs for Elmhurst College in Illinois from 1997 to 2005.
He has held several faculty positions as a professor of English, and is published in numerous publications.
"I am delighted to be at Merrimack and to have the opportunity to work with such an excellent community of teachers and scholars, students, and administrators," Bell said.
In his new position as interim vice president for academic affairs, he will provide college-wide leadership for academic programs and a campus culture of learning, teaching and study.
Strike up funds for charity
LAWRENCE — Family Service Inc. will host Bowl A Strike for Kids on Friday, Oct. 24 to raise money for its mentoring programs.
Twenty, five-member teams will participate, with each bowler raising at least $125 for the cause. Bowling will be at Pilgrim Lanes, 600 Primrose St., in Haverhill, from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
All proceeds will benefit the agency's Big Friends Little Friends and Amigos programs, which offer one-on-one mentoring, family mentoring and Mentoring Out Loud for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The Amigos program matches adults with at-risk students in Lawrence public schools.
Pulitzer-prize winning author comes to city
LAWRENCE — Pulitzer Prize winning author Junot Diaz reads from his work Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at Lawrence Public Library, 51 Lawrence St.
Diaz is the author of "Drown" and "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," which won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize.
He will speak during the program, "Whispers from the New World: A Reading."
Diaz is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
