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 The McCormack Update
December 22nd,  2010
Friends and Colleagues:                                                                                                                                                                 Steve Crosby Santa Hat 

It's hard to believe we are more than 10% of the way through the 21st Century! And this holiday season marks the mid-point of my 5th year as Dean. Time does fly when you are having fun. And we are having fun:

Our colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Lowell coordinated the launch
of the Commonwealth Compact in Merrimack Valley, extending our initiative to make Massachusetts a welcoming home for people of color and a model of diversity and inclusion, to the rich mix of race and ethnicity in the Merrimack Valley. The release of our second Benchmarks Report was announced at the third annual meeting of the Compact. In addition, the work of the Commonwealth Compact was noted in two impressive news pieces, Boston Business Journal and WBUR. As recent news reports and our own experience continue to demonstrate, the battle to diversify our workforces, our leadership, our vendor relationships and our multi-cultural competence continues, as does our resolve to persist in addressing these challenges.

The Collaborative Institute for Oceans, Climate and Security, and University of Massachusetts Boston are now an official focal point for the International Ocean Institute, joining a network of 28 organizations worldwide in the effort to promote sustainable use of the ocean through international stewardship of marine resources.

Students! Several of the units within MGS have heard from Michael Gaskins, in the Office of Career Services, and are totally impressed with his commitment and ability to help our students find both part-time and full-time work. I hope you will avail yourselves of this resource by contacting Michael and his team.

MSPA graduate Lainey Titus, from the MSPA class of 2007, was recently elected to a seat on the Nahant Board of Selectman. Lainey won the hotly contested race that for the first time pitted two women running for the same seat. Congratulations Lainey!

Please help! We're trying something new with this month's McCormack Update: We'd like to ask for your help in supporting our academic and research work by becoming a regular contributor to the McCormack Graduate School. We know how many claims there are on your resources, and we hope that you will consider promoting student success and faculty development at an important enough priority to be included on your year-end donation list. If you click on this link, you can make your contribution by credit card. I and the 350 students, 22 full-time faculty and 52 staff will be deeply appreciative.

Check out our new certificate program in Global Post-Disaster Reconstruction and Management. It will be attracting an exciting international student body.

I had the recent pleasure of being a part of the City to City Delegation from the Boston area to spend 5 days in Israel, mostly getting a sense of this new culture and learning how the city of Haifa has become such a center of innovation and economic development. The University of Haifa, with which UMass Boston has a variety of relationships, has been a key part of this economic development, and we hope to continue to develop relationships with them.

Hot off the presses! Our Center for Social Policy has just been awarded a $500,000 five year grant by the Boston Foundation. CSP will serve as the analytical and evaluation partner for The Boston Foundation's multiple investments in Boston's Fairmount Corridor, comprising some of the most distressed neighborhoods in Boston. Congratulations!

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes to you all.

Deans signature
Steve Crosby, Dean
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12/17/2010 Operations Manager
Center for Nonprofits and Voting

12/07/2010 Graduate Student Public Policy Internship
Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council

11/30/2010 Governor's Office Internship Program
Governor Deval Patrick's Office

11/24/2010 Policy InternThe National Center on Accessible
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11/23/2010 Deputy Director of Research& Evaluation
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11/15/2010 Chief Development Officer
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MGS in the NEWS

Budget leaders forecast more pain
The Boston Globe, December 14, 2010
Professor Christian Weller is interviewed for a story about a predicted $2 billion state budget shortfall in the coming year.

The Business and Economic Case for Letting Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Expire
Milford Daily News, December 14, 2010
MGS Professor Randy Albelda argues that upper income tax cuts harm the economy.

Task force to investigate judicial hiring
The Boston Globe, December 8, 2010
Steve Crosby, Dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies is selected to serve on the state task force to reform the probation department.

Behind Obama's Pay Freeze Plan
CNBC, November 30, 2010
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs Christian Weller debates President Obama's proposed salary freeze for all civilian federal workers.

Women On Beacon Hill
WGBH Boston, November 16, 2010
Carol Hardy-Fanta, Director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy appears with Massachusetts State Representative Patricia Haddad to discuss the status of female politicians in Massachusetts today.

Center for Democracy and Development
Micheal Keating .Michael Keating, Associate Director of the Center for Democracy and Development, co-chaired a conference at the New School University (10/-10/30) on the subject of "The Future of the Truth and Reconciliation Process in Liberia". Over 100 participants heard from members of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as a panel of distinguished panel of international experts on Transitional Justice, who discussed the current status of the Liberian TRC and what the next steps should be to address the overall human rights framework in Liberia.

Michael was also a presenter at an international conference on the subject of New Media/Alternative Politics that took place Oct.14-17 at the Center for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, at Cambridge University in the U.K. Michael's paper explored the prospects for using New Media in the upcoming elections in Liberia. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Facebook.
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 Center on Media and Society
 Center on Media & Society Nearly 50 ethnic media journalists met with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Dec. 8   at UMass Boston for the governor's fifth on-the-record discussion with ethnic media since 2009, hosted by the Center on Media and Society. Topics covered included education, immigration, driver's licenses and in-state tuition for undocumented residents, health care and mentoring.  The meeting also included some breaking news.  During the one-hour session, the governor got word that the Governor's Council confirmed Justice Roderick Ireland as chief justice of the highest court in the state. He immediately passed the word on to the ethnic media, an appropriate setting for the announcement of the confirmation of the state's first black chief justice.

Full Story
 Give US Your Poor
Give us your poorThe University of Massachusetts Boston is pleased to announce two scholarship opportunities for students who have experienced homelessness. The Beacon's Hand Scholarship, a four-year full scholarship to attend UMass Boston; and a new, nearly 1,000-scholarship program, offered by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., in partnership with Give US Your Poor, a national campaign to end homelessness which is based at UMass Boston's McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies.

First awarded in 2008, the Beacon's Hand Scholarship is a full, four-year scholarship to UMass Boston, given to a Massachusetts resident. To apply, students should visit the Give US Your Poor website. The next application deadline is January 15, 2011 for the Beacon's Hand.

Full Story
 Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
Sarah RialSarah Cleto Rial, a 2006 graduate of the Women in Politics and Public Policy Graduate Program, will be was recognized by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC, as one of three recipients of the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award. Sarah was recognized for her humanitarian efforts in her home country of Sudan; she is program director for My Sister's Keeper, a Boston-based humanitarian organization--which was her internship placement during her year in
the WPPP program.

Full Story
Conflict Resolution,
Human Security, and Global Governance
Achebe ColloquiumDarren Kew, MGS Associate Professor in the Conflict Resolution Programs, presented at the Achebe Colloquium "Nigeria-Elections and Political Transparency" at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. The colloquium, focusing on the forthcoming Nigerian elections, was part of a 2 day conference organized under the auspices of the Nigerian writer, poet, social critic, and professor, Chinua Achebe, who is the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana studies at Brown; where he oversees a major new initiative in keeping with his life's work to foster greater knowledge of Africa.

Maria IvanovaOn November 16, Professor Maria Ivanova spoke about global environmental governance and sustainability at a high-level discussion on Earth Summit 2012: Sustainable Development 20 Years After Rio. The event, hosted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Worldwatch Institute and the UN Foundation, aimed to stimulate critical analysis between government and civil society leaders about the upcoming Rio 2012 Conference and its two key themes: The Green Economy and Environmental Governance.

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