A Look Back: Nov. 28

50 Years Ago

■A top official at Pro Brush in Florence has informed its workers that the company has no plans for curtailing production or laying off employees because of the energy crisis. Pro Brush officials said today that the company employs a total of slightly more than 1,000 people.

■Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts have announced changes in their winter calendar to meet the fuel shortage. Instead of returning on Jan. 7 as previously scheduled, students will return on Monday, Jan. 14, to UMass, and on Tuesday, Jan. 15, to Amherst College.

25 Years Ago

■The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center has honored Jim Mias of Leeds as its October employee of the month. Officials at the VA said Mias takes the medical center’s stated mission of service to veterans personally — and involves his wife and son in this same spirit. The Mias family opens its home to veterans at least once a month, serving home-cooked meals.

■Advances in the Internet that could be available as early as this week will boost research and communication efforts at the University of Massachusetts and throughout academe, people involved say. The new technology is expected to be between 100 to 1,000 times faster than the current network, able to transmit the entire contents of the 30-volume Encyclopedia Britannica in one second.

10 Years Ago

■The University of Massachusetts plans to establish a permanent presence in Springfield by opening the school’s first satellite center in the state’s third-largest city next fall. The announcement was made Tuesday by Gov. Deval Patrick, who called it a “great day” for the city and the UMass system.

■Efforts to redevelop Pulaski Park for the first time in four decades are moving ahead now that the committee that doles out Community Preservation Act money has made a financial pledge that will help the city hire an architect to map out the prominent downtown square’s face-lift.