Welcome to the fall semester. On campus, the bookstore is crowded (the parking lots are, too!), new faculty have moved into their offices, and McCormack graduate students are exploring new topics in policy and global studies. For many, it is a time of excitement and transition.

More than 125 matriculated students are beginning their graduate studies with us in one of our thirteen certificate or degree programs, another 250 or so are enrolled in courses, internships, or conducting research to complete their theses or dissertations...and thinking about their careers after graduation.

We have some changes here at the McCormack Graduate School as well: Following the retirement of David Sparks at the Collins Center for Public Management, Stephen McGoldrick assumes the helm as interim executive director. At the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, Christa Kelleher is serving as interim director after Carol Hardy-Fanta's retirement.

New McCormack graduate program directors are Professors J. Samuel Barkin (International Relations), Timothy Shaw (Global Governance and Human Security), and Christian Weller (Public Policy PhD Program). We offer our gratitude to Professors Robert Weiner, Craig Murphy, and Michael Johnson who shepherded those programs over the past years. (See news article on Professor Weiner's retirement.)

We also welcome our new McCormack faculty and staff:

Education policy specialist Mark Warren has joined the Public Policy and Public Affairs Department. Global health expert Courtenay Sprague and global governance professors Tim Shaw and Jane Parpart are joining us in the Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance Department. Muna Killingback has left the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters to lead recruitment efforts for the Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy. And in our dean's office, Liz Sanchez has been promoted to assistant to the dean.   In addition, the search for a MGS interim dean is now underway.

We are also very proud to welcome a very impressive group of thirteen new doctoral students. They are making history as the inaugural class of the new PhD Program in Global Governance and Human Security. Read the news story about their eclectic experience in global health, sustainable development, gender and human rights, and environmental issues. 

I hope that you have had a chance to take in some rest and relaxation over the summer months and are ready for the cooler fall weather. In August, I was able to do some hiking in the mountains and have been reflecting on some of Thoreau's writings. As our leaves begin to fall, I would like to share with you this quote:

"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain." -Henry David Thoreau