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This Month at the McCormack Graduate School April 2020

Dean's Message

Dogged determination, courage, and brilliant collaborative evidence-based policymaking brought us through the darkest chapters in modern history, and it must again. While he was alive, our namesake and inspiration, John W. McCormack of South Boston, had a role in all of these historic nightmares: He was a soldier in World War I; as a congress member, he helped advance President Roosevelt's New Deal to provide a safety net for those hit by the Great Depression; and after the assassination of President Kennedy, McCormack gave pivotal support to civil rights and voter rights legislation and to President Johnson's Great Society to work toward stepping beyond the nightmare of racial injustice. Guided by McCormack’s ethos, our job is to limit the damage, to protect the most vulnerable, to create benefits where we can, and to question where we see policy and public administration failing, as I did in a recent op-ed, The Cost of Abandoning Norms . Over the last month, in response to the COVID crisis, our faculty, staff and students have shined, and we have highlighted some of those beacons in this newsletter. We have also continued to focus on our varied areas of work, and explored how those areas are influenced by the global pandemic. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with Earth Week 2020 at UMass Boston. It was nothing like what we envisioned when we started planning last fall, but it was still a dynamic and engaging week, and in fact, reached thousands of people online, instead of hundreds in person (with almost no carbon footprint). It featured long-time friend of UMB and architect of the Paris Climate Agreement, Christiana Figueres, in an in-depth discussion with our own Professor Maria Ivanova, about her new book,  The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis followed by a podcast recording of  Christiana and Living on Earth director and MGS collaborator, Stephen Curwood . And on Earth Day itself, Rebecca Herst, the Director of the  Sustainable Solutions Lab  at UMass Boston, and I gave a presentation on  COVID-19 and Climate: Policy and Practice . As we continue to struggle and innovate and navigate this upheaval, know that we do so with dogged determination.  Warmly, David W. Cash

McCormack Making A Difference

Student Success PhD Students Show Resilience in Responding to COVID-19 Determined PhD students Maria Athayde (left) and Samiya Khalid learn life lessons from COVID-19 -- some of them positive.

Student Success Africa in the Storm of COVID-19: Lessons from Thandika Mkandawire’s Critique of Neo-Liberalism Dennis Jjuuko is a doctoral student in the Global Governance and Human Security. This is his passionate and powerfully- argued case against the privatization of health care in African nations, or elsewhere.

Faculty Accomplishments “Older People are Part of the Solution”: A Conversation with Beth Dugan on COVID-19 in Aging Populations The risk is greater for older people, but many have the experience to help younger people suffering with the loneliness that the pandemic compels.

Faculty Accomplishments How South Korea Flattened the Coronavirus Curve with Technology A detailed strategy, step by step, with important lessons for U.S. policy makers.

Events and Engagement Earth Week 2020 Containing links to several Earth Day events -- all online, of course, offered by McCormack and other UMB schools. Highlights include an appearance by Christiana Figueres, the architect of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, first as the Robert C. Wood Visiting Professor and then interviewed on Steve Curwood's radio show Living on Earth. Later, Dean Cash and Rebecca Herst, director of the Sustainable Solutions Lab, conducted a conversation comparing the COVID-19 and climate change crises. The programs attracted several thousand "attendees."

Centers Delivering Impact Beacon2Beacon Goes Virtual to Support Students Facing Conflict Frustrated with the tone of online messages? Does it sound like your friends are ticked off? Here's help, from a student-initiated program.

Alums Making a Difference Virtual Ombudsing: Tips and Considerations Former master's student in the MGS Dispute Resolution program, Teresa Ralicki, now the ombuds at the University of Colorado, gives hints for mediating disputes online (a 4-part article series).

Alums Making a Difference Our Muslim Health Forum was Zoombombed. I Still Believe In The Good of Humanity A real-life drama of bigotry and understanding, as experienced by McCormack graduate Saadia Ahmad.

McCormack Speaks Art Creates Community and Comfort – and We Must Defend It PhD student Hsin-Ching Wu encourages those discouraged by the pandemic to embrace artistic and other cultural pursuits.

In the Media (a snapshot of recent McCormack news items)

The Cost of Abandoning Norms Commonwealth Magazine, April 9 2020 David Cash, Dean, McCormack Graduate School

Competency, Consistency, Confidence: Training Medical Workers in Response to COVID-19 Training Industry, April 14 2020 Robyn Stone, Co-Director, LeadingAge LTSS Center

Migrant Workers in India: Insecurity in the Time of Coronavirus New Security Beat, April 14 2020 Chantal Krcmar, Student, Global Governance and Human Security

For the Elderly, Coronavirus Is Not Necessarily a Death Sentence. But It Can Feel Like One The Boston Globe, April 21 2020 Elizabeth Dugan, Associate Professor, Gerontology

As Earth Day Turns 50, the US Has Abdicated Its Role The Boston Globe, April 21 2020 Maria Ivanova, Associate Professor, Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance

Job Losses Higher Among People of Color During Coronavirus Pandemic NPR, April 22 2020 Christian Weller, Professor, Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs

Post-COVID Reimaginings Commonwealth Magazine, April 23 2020 Stephen Crosby, Founding Dean, McCormack Graduate School Ira Jackson, Former Dean, McCormack Graduate School

Join us for these upcoming events!

International Relations Capstone Project Presentations Date: Tuesday, May 12 at 5:30PM–8:00PM Location: Online Join us for this student presentation event of major research papers exploring scholarly, policy-relevant themes in the field of international relations. Register here! eUbuntu Award Ceremony 2020: Race, COVID-19, and The African Identity Date: Friday, May 15 at 2:00PM Location: Online Africa Scholars Forum and Pan African Graduate Student Association at UMass Boston invites you to celebrate our graduating Africanist students, recognize a distinguished community leader, and award our first Fatima Kyari Mohammed Student Scholarship award. Register Here!  CR Master’s Project Thesis and Integrative Seminar Presentations 2020 Date: Monday, May 18 at 5:30PM–7:00PM Location: Online Join us for an enlightening evening: Conflict Resolution Master’s Students will showcase their hard work, presenting the findings of their master's projects or theses, representing a wide variety of topics. Register Here!

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John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies University of Massachusetts Boston 617.287.5550 ‌