In This Issue
Upcoming Events
Beyond the 'Busy Ethic': The Meaning and Measurement of Engagement in Later Life

April 1, 2013, 1:00 p.m.

Wheatley Hall, 3rd Floor, Room 125

April 2, 2013, 7:00 p.m. 
Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Ballroom A
April 8, 2013, 11:30 a.m.
Campus Center, 2nd Floor, Alumni Lounge


Kudos
Discover the many accomplishments of our  McCormack Graduate School Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.

Awards and Honors
Community Engagement
Conferences and Meetings
Grants
Presentations
Publications
Special Events
Message from Dean Ira A. Jackson
Dear Friends and Colleagues, 
Part of my mission is to share the story of our namesake, John W. McCormack, and tie his life and political legacy into the living legacy of the school named in his honor here at UMass Boston.   

 

McCormack was a member of Congress for 40+ years and Speaker of the House for nearly a decade. He grew up in extreme poverty in South Boston, where he and his mother and siblings lived in at least eight different apartments in the first dozen years of his life, staying just one step ahead of the eviction notices. Four of McCormack's siblings died of tuberculosis, a disease of urban poverty. He had to drop out of school in the 8th grade to support his mom and the surviving kids. 

 

When he got to Congress, he was a legislative giant but never forgot where he came. He was instrumental in the passage of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. In a legislative lifetime that spanned the New Deal and the Great Society, John W. McCormack remained deeply, fiercely committed to the urban poor and to social justice. When he died, this powerful politician owned no property and was renting an apartment on Columbia Road in Dorchester, again not far from where we are today.

 

Today, we honor his legacy with the extraordinary scholarship and services activities impacting local and global communities. I am proud of our work and I'm sure John McCormack would be, too.

 


Ira A. Jackson     

Local Impact
At Collins Center Conference, Gov. Patrick Announces Next Phase of Performance Management Efforts

On March 20, Governor Deval Patrick addressed federal, state, and local leaders at the second annual Conference on Performance Management in State Government hosted by the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston to highlight the progress the Patrick-Murray administration has made in building a results-oriented government.
Global Impact
Student- Faculty Delegation Present at the Creation of the UN Environment Assembly

Nairobi, Kenya was the site of historic changes in the UN system for the global environment the week of February 18, as governments met for the first ever universal session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Attending the meeting was a student-faculty delegation from the UMass Boston, on hand to conduct research, participate in panel discussions, and film a new documentary on governance of the global environment.

Quick Links
Age Notes
Career Corner

Policy and System Strategies Director, United Way of Massachusetts Bay,  

(Boston MA) 

Training and Policy Specialist, Institute for Health and Recovery, Inc. (Cambridge, MA)

MA Department of Energy Resources Summer Intern Program 

(Boston MA) 

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More News
Center for Social Policy Labor Researcher Joins Global Policy Dialogue on Informal Work

Gerontology Department Careers in Aging Event on April 8     
Professor Michael Johnson Earns Grant to Improve Neglected Baltimore Properties 


Informal work - a diverse array of economic activities and workers that are not regulated or protected by governments�-is increasingly on global policy agendas.

 

According to Francoise Carr�, "These activities represent an important share of the global labor market but often remain hidden from economic calculations and policy discourse."  

As more and more baby boomers reach retirement age, the United States is experiencing a shortage of people trained to meet the unique needs of older adults. In an effort to help close this gap, the Gamma Upsilon chapter of Sigma Phi Omega national gerontology honor society at the University of Massachusetts Boston is sponsoring a local event during Careers in Aging Week.

Read on...

With a $50,000 grant from the Abell Foundation, researchers at UMass Boston, Tufts University, and the City of Baltimore seek to intervene in neighborhoods facing persistent disinvestment, population decline, and reduction in habitable housing stock by designing strategies to transform chronically vacant lands and structures into usable non-residential and green urban spaces. 
 
New England Journal of Public Policy Re-Launches as Online Publication

Breaking the Silence of Extreme Poverty: Katrina Survivors Share their Stories

Gerontology Student Wins Top Prize at AGHE Meeting
    


The New England Journal Public Policy will launch this month on the digital repository, Scholar Works.

The first online edition will include a selection of the best articles that were published during the journal's 20+ years.

Stories of struggle. Stories of survival.

Tales of extreme financial hardship, homelessness, and oppression, yet they are also tales of courage, strength, and hope.



PhD student Kristen Porter received the 2013 Graduate Student Paper Award from the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) at their annual meeting earlier this month.



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Please support the McCormack Graduate School Service Project, U-ACCESS Food Pantry Food Drive

Your donation of a non-perishable food item or gift card will support a student struggling to buy food. To volunteer at the pantry or for further information, contact Shirley at 617.287.3195 or [email protected].