In This Issue

Awards and Honors
Community Engagement
Conferences and Meetings
Grants
Presentations
Publications
Special Events

 

 

I experience every day that we are a school with a soul, and with a deep desire to educate the next generation of public servants, change agents, and academics -- all of whom are committed to making a difference and to making the world a better place.

 

I'm ending my fourth month at the McCormack Graduate School, and my time has reaffirmed what I suspected: McCormack is unlike any other public policy school in our region, and maybe even any in the nation. 

 

Our McCormack students and alumni have received accolades this month that leave me in awe of their talents and dedication to building a stronger Commonwealth. Class of 2013 MSPA student, Stacy Randell, was named the top public affairs student in the state-and that means that McCormack has walked away with that distinction for three of the last four years! Shawn MacMaster (also MSPA 2013) was honored at the Community Legal Services And Counseling Center's annual volunteer appreciation party for his work as director of community partnerships in the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. With Associate Professor Darren Kew, Conflict Resolution students and alumni have formed a Veteran's Court Consortium and spoke to Massachusetts legislative representatives about their plans to study and propose alternative justice programs for distressed veterans in Massachusetts. In preparing for an evaluation site visit by a panel of outside experts, we discovered that our Gerontology PhD graduates have produced no fewer than 550 peer-reviewed journal articles (the gold standard in academia) and many hold full-time faculty appointments at institutions such as Duke, Northeastern, Simmons, USC, UConn, UMass Medical, and the University of Miami, among other great institutions. And kudos to the dozens of students who polished their capstone and final research products to complete their graduate degrees this month.  

 

Faculty and staff at our McCormack School centers, institutes, and special projects continue to bring a focused, evidence-based, and action-oriented awareness to major public policy issues ranging from inequity and  social justice, to performance management, diversity, and more. Donna Haig Friedman was featured on a national webinar on school evaluation projects, using our Center for Social Policy's work as a national model. Padraig O'Malley, our resident peace-broker, spoke on NPR about the historical role of hunger strikes in light of current events at Guantanamo Bay. Our Collins Center published a new primer for local governments on crafting land development agreements in Massachusetts. And the Commonwealth Compact celebrated its fifth anniversary with over 400 attendees listening to Governor Deval Patrick and a panel of local leaders discuss the challenges and importance of hiring and maintaining a diverse workforce in the state. As the governor put it so succinctly, to not actively pursue broader diversity and inclusion is "absolutely nuts."  

 

No wonder that at a recent event celebrating students and alumni, Assistant Prof. Amy Smith observed, "McCormack Rocks!"

 

             

  

Students and Graduates,

Share your success stories with us.

We might even profile you in an upcoming issue, so send us a photo, too!

 barbara.graceffa@umb.edu

Managing Up: Managing Diversity in Challenging Times, the third Benchmarks Diversity Survey report analyzing employment data from more than 100 Massachusetts employers, indicates diversity held steady during the Great Recession, while efforts to promote diversity are increasing. The report was based on data collected by Commonwealth Compact, the statewide diversity initiative at UMass Boston's McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies.

"These results are particularly encouraging", according to Compact Executive Director Georgianna Meléndez, "given that the report looks at data from 2011, compared with 2008, right when the recession was hitting employees of color particularly hard all across the country."

McCormack Grad School's Center for Governance and Sustainability is small but it is having a big impact across the globe.

 

Its applied mission is a lofty one−to facilitate thought and action for strengthening development and environmental policymaking at the global level. While accomplishing this goal entails rigorous research and analysis, it is critical for the center associates to communicate findings and ideas to interested citizens, academics, and policy makers−including those at the United Nations.

 

To that end, the center has a multi-pronged approach to share its work. In addition to their international partnerships, state-of-the-art academic research, public service activities, forums, and training tools, they have also produced an Issues Brief Series.

Read on...

Collins Center
Pens Primer on State Development Contracts

The newest publication out of the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management, Understanding & Crafting Development Agreements in Massachusetts, is now available on the center's website. The report is meant to be a primer for municipal officials, community members, and developers involved in large scale or particularly complex developments in Massachusetts.