Catch the Obama Bus!
Overnight bus trip to Washington
 Boston Workers' Alliance - Dorchester People for Peace are offering a Round Trip Bus to Washington for the Inauguration of President Barack Obama.
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 Message from the Dean
Friends and Colleagues:
So we are off to a new year. For me and my family it is already intensely bittersweet. Many of you know by now, as Helen and I sat at friends' home for dinner, and were talking hopefully about our new President, the state of our economy, domestic politics and international stature, a Brookline police officer knocked on the door. When our friends opened the door, the cop asked if Steve Crosby was in the house, and proceeded to inform us that our home of 28 years was on fire. Helen and I raced back to our 175 year old Greek Revival home and sadly watched it be totally destroyed on that bitterly cold and windy night, with all of our belongings inside. ( Brookline TAB and Boston Globe). Grim events like this do make you think. The obvious good news is that no one was hurt (not us, and no firefighters or members of the family who were living with us at the time). Beyond that, as we begin to organize the resources to re-build our life and belongings, we are painfully aware of how frequently such catastrophes befall people who genuinely have nothing. Helen and I have money, insurance, jobs, friends and family: all taken together, we will be fine. But most of the victims of Katrina, or of so many of the other hurricanes, tornados and fires that occur everyday, have little or none of that . In that sense, we are extraordinarily lucky. We are poignantly reminded of the urgency of a functioning safety net, and of the importance of public safety services that will protect those among us who have little. Helen and I have been deeply gratified by the expressions of support and offers of help that have come from so many people. We have lots of turkey soup, edible bouquets, a delicious rum cake, Red Sox caps, advice on negotiating with the adjuster and the insurance company, blooming potted plants and lots of wine. We moved into a furnished apartment, near Fenway, while we figure out the new economics of our life, and plan for the future. Meanwhile, as the numbness wears off, we approach the inauguration of a new President with bated hopefulness. And meanwhile, it turns out the universe does not revolve around our house fire: the Graduate School is moving forward on exciting new faculty members; we are expanding the staff and operations of the Commonwealth Compact, the Edwards J. Collins Center, and the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership; the Center for Social Policy and Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy are moving into health care reform; the estimable John McGah has produced some fabulous videos for " Give Us Your Poor." And life goes on. May we all have a Happy New Year. Sincerely,
Steve Crosby
Dean |
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Job Opportunities of Interest
New postings of the week:
Associate Director
Governmental Training, Education, and Development
University of Georgia
Director of Clinical and Community Services
Family Service of Greater Boston
Director of Public Health
City of Somerville
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| MGS in the News
Critical choices ahead
Boston Globe January 11, 2009
Associate Professor of Public Policy & Public Affairs Christian Weller is quoted in a story about President-elect Barack Obamas proposed stimulus plan. "A big stimulus," said Weller, "has the potential to be a game changer."
From change agent to 'comforter in chief'
Boston Globe January 11, 2009 Dean of the McCormack Graduate School Stephen Crosby is quoted in an article about Governor Deval Patrick coping with his roles and responsibilities with the state in troubled times.
Alternet.com January 8, 2009
Associate Professor of Public Policy & Public Affairs Christian Weller and doctoral student Manita Rao crunched global data on economic growth and progressive tax rates for 1981 through 2002 and found no evidence that progressive taxation adversely affects economic stability by reducing growth.
Who Pays If Mass. Pumps Up The Gas Tax?
WBUR January 7, 2009
Alan Clayton-Matthews spoke with WBURs Meghna Chakrabarti and mentioned that tobacco taxes will help in narrowing the states tax deficit.
New Low For State Business Confidence
Worcester Business Journal January 6, 2009
"The state's economy managed to sustain some growth through the first three quarters of the year, but there is no doubt that we are now following the nation into recession," said Associate Professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs Alan Clayton-Matthews.
Fierce recession hits Mass. late, but hard
Boston Herald - December 30, 2008
"We're suffering from the same recession that the whole country is suffering from - it just hit us a little later," said Professor of Public Policy Alan Clayton-Matthews. Clayton-Matthews said the Massachusetts economy began falling apart in June, roughly six months after a nationwide recession began. He said the Bay State only held out longer than other locales because Massachusetts has below-average exposure to the troubled home-construction and auto-manufacturing sectors.Outlook for 2009 is grim
Boston Globe December 28, 2008
Excerpt: The state's unemployment rate, which rose to 5.9 percent in November, is forecast to reach 7.6 percent by the end of next year, and keep rising until peaking at 8.3 percent in mid-2010.It's pretty bad," said Alan Clayton-Matthews, a professor at UMass Boston who prepared the state forecast.
Boston Globe December 23, 2008
Dean of the McCormack Graduate School Steve Crosby is mentioned in an article about the political stakes involved in responding to the extreme weather conditions in the state. Referring to the cautious storm responses this year, prompted by a storm last year that resulted in horrific traffic jams, Crosby said, "I think everybody learned a lesson this time."
Click here for more stories |
| Wood Professorship
Please Submit by January 19, 2009
Begun in 1998, the Robert C. Wood Visiting Professorship honors Robert C. Wood, a former President of the University of Massachusetts, and a distinguished scholar of urban affairs with an abiding commitment to social justice. The Visiting Professorship was established as a vehicle for bringing distinguished and thoughtful public leaders to the UMass Boston campus to deliver a formal lecture. The Visiting Professor will also engage public policy students and faculty in discussions of public policy which may involve health, aging, housing, immigration, social inequality or urban development or any other public policy issue.
Nomination Form |
| Dissertation Defense
Natalie Wiatrowski "The Relationship of Fall Severity to Residential Adjustment, Functional Status, and Future Falls."
Friday, January 16, 2009
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wheatley Hall, 3rd Floor, Rm. 1
Committee Members
Frank Porell, Ph.D. Gerontology
Francis G. Caro, PhD Gerontology
Susan Murphy, PhD VAMC Ann Arbor GRECC
The University Community is invited to attend.
Sponsored by the Gerontology Department | |
IMPACTS OF ALTERNATIVE STAFFING MODEL - Press Announcement
The Center for Social Policy (CSP) at the University of Massachusetts Boston's McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies today released the report Brokering Up: The Role of Temporary Staffing in Overcoming Labor Market Barriers. This study of alternative staffing organizations (ASOs) in four U.S. urban areas suggests that these unique social-purpose staffing programs can help low-income workers succeed in the labor market by finding temporary and temp-to-perm jobs, while also meeting the needs of employers. |
| Center for Social Policy
On December 15, 2008, Françoise Carré, Research Director at the MGS Center for Social Policy, together with Prof. Chris Tilly of UCLA convened a group of national researchers to discuss their research on low-wage employment and low-wage workers. This is part of a Ford Foundation project on low-wage employment. Other members of the faculty and staff who were part of this meeting include Profs. Randy Albelda, Ramon Borges-Mendez, Arthur MacEwan, Senior Fellow Elaine Werby, and Public Policy doctoral candidate Brandynn Holgate.
 On December 19, 2008 Donna Haig Friedman, Director of the Center for Social Policy in the McCormack School of Policy Studies presented a paper titled Participatory Action Research for Social Change: Opportunities and Challenges at the International Movement ATD Fourth World Movement Conference on Extreme Poverty, Family Ties and Gender at Sciences Po in Paris France, December 17-19, 2008.
 Julia Tripp, Constituent Coordinator/Research Assistant at the Center for Social Policy presented a paper titled, The Long Arm of Poverty: Mental Illness, Homelessness and HIV/AIDS - Disgraced or Embraced?, at the International Movement ATD Fourth World Movement Conference at Sciences Po in Paris France, December 17-19, 2008. |
| Street ball, swim team and the sour cream machine.
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| Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters
Professor Adenrele Awotona, Director of the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters, delivered two papers at the 2008 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict representing the Twelfth Annual Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Conference, at Columbia University, New York, from December 11 to 12, 2008. The papers were titled "Integrating Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies into graduate programs in Global Disaster Studies" and "The role of Dignity and Humiliation for addressing global challenges." |
India's Open-Economy Policy
 Jalal Alamgir, Assistant Professor of Political Science and a regular faculty member of McCormack's graduate program in Public Affairs (international relations), published a book titled India's Open-Economy Policy: Globalism, Rivalry, Continuity (London and New York: Routledge, 2008). The book has recently been selected by Asia Policy (a journal published by the National Bureau of Asian Research) as one of approximately two dozen notable 2008 books for its "Policymakers' Library." |
| Congratulations to David Nieto!
The PhD Program in Public Policy is pleased to announce that our third year student, Mr. David Gonzalez Nieto, has been awarded the David L. Clark Fellowship in Educational Leadership and Policy. The Chair of the selection committee noted that a record number of doctoral students were nominated this year from universities in the US and abroad and David was selected among the 40 fellows.
As part of this honor, David will participate in the Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar which brings together emerging educational leadership and policy scholars with noted researchers for two days of presentations, generative discussion, and professional growth. | |
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