The Fall 2020 Semester at the
McCormack Graduate School
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December ends our semester, and this uniquely turbulent year, one in which we’ve been challenged as individuals and a community.
As we still reel from the COVID-19 pandemic, we fear for ourselves and our loved ones, and our routines remain scrambled. I cannot overstate the gratitude and admiration I have for staff, students and faculty who have gone above and beyond, who are juggling work, teaching, learning, research and childcare and parentcare. I think we all share a deep love-hate relationship with Zoom as it brings us together in these isolating times, and yet it...relentlessly brings work into our kitchens, dining rooms, and living spaces. As a policy school, we are diving in to understand how the United States just surpassed 300,000 deaths, how we can right the wrongs of predictable disparate COVID-19 impacts that break along race and class lines, and what tools to use to get out of the worst economic downturn in our memories.
The memory of George Floyd’s murder remains seared in our collective consciousness and we endeavor to seize this moment to understand and fight structural racism. Our research, teaching and outreach are shaped by this, and we are committed to looking inward. To this end, Associate Dean Kiki Edozie and I launched the McCormack Racial Equity Task Force (M-RET) this semester, with students, staff and faculty to reflect, learn and take action to make our community more self-reflective, diverse and inclusive.
And, we are now six weeks beyond an election like no other that we’ve experienced. One that illuminated the deep divisions in our country and what is at stake. We witnessed our notion of democracy being tested, and the very underpinning mechanisms being stressed. And we saw courageous election officials and workers defined by their role as public servants, not political party members, make choices in the public interest.
As new leadership enters the White House, we maintain our role as Boston’s public research university, devoted to examining the impacts of policy through evidence-based research, crafting solutions that support social equity, engaging communities, and training the next generation of leaders. We celebrate that one of UMass Boston’s own, former US EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy (anthropology, ’76), was just appointed by President-elect Joe Biden to be the National Climate Advisor to head the newly formed White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
As we enter the winter holiday season, I again express deep gratitude for the members of the McCormack Graduate School community who have persisted with determination, and I hope that each of us can find time to relax, reflect, and enjoy loved ones.
Warmly,
David W. Cash
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McCormack Making A Difference |
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Students Success
While the transition to full-time online has been quite the adjustment for faculty and staff, students have finally settled into their first full semester remotely. Prince De Makele (left) & Katie Rohan O’Brien (right) share their experience.
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Faculty Accomplishments
Mark Warren, a McCormack Graduate School Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, is the first education researcher from UMass Boston to be named a fellow by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
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Alums Making a Difference
Perri Leviss, Ph.D., graduated from McCormack Graduate School’s Department of Public Policy in August with a goal of helping young adults learn and grow, specifically working with young people from marginalized communities.
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Staff and Virtual Support
The McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston are pushing ourselves to think about diversity, equity, and inclusion from a university perspective and work together as faculty, staff, and students to be better civic leaders both on campus and out in the community.
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Yamiche Alcindor describes the life experiences that make her a formidable reporter for a national audience.
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Moderated by Dean David Cash, MGS had a conversation with Robert Draper, author of Unwanted Truth: Inside Trump's Battles with the Intelligence Community and Margaret Henoch, former Central Intelligence Agency Chief of Station.
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Elizabeth Chen, PhD, Gerontology, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs & Leslie Stevenson, Graduate Certificate, Gender Leadership and Public Policy, Project Coordinator at HealthPath Foundation of Ohio discuss their career pathways and perspectives as leaders in civic and public engagement.
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Dean David Cash and his brothers, Attorney Steven Cash, expert on national security, and Doctor Sydney Cash, neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital discuss the truth and consequences of the Trump Administration from their own area of expertise.
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In the first of three panels, faculty from MGS, the College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Education and Human Development explore the implications for the 2020 election and the Four Priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration: Economic Recovery, COVID-19 Response, Racial Equity and Climate Change.
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Centers Delivering Impact |
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The Africa Scholars Forum is working to establish a formal African Studies educational presence on campus that serves the teaching, research, and programmatic needs of Africanist faculty, students, and community members.
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Raising citizens’ awareness of rights in administrative disputes with the government & highlighting problems with public officials’ handling of such cases are the focus of Rwandan TV & radio shows being aired as part of a project led by the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development (CPDD) at MGS.
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This research brief provides statewide representative data about the early care and education (ECE) workforce. It presents findings about the professional and financial status of family child care and center educators and program directors in order to understand how distinct segments of the early childhood workforce are faring both professionally and financially and to inform policy and programmatic reforms addressing workforce needs.
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McCormack Speaks
Dean David Cash explains the need for the Biden-Harris Administration to re-construct the scientific infrastructure of federal agencies whose staff, processes and institutions are severely diminished.
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Media Hits
A snapshot of recent McCormack news items.
(Top Row: Professor Christian Weller, Director of Policy and Research Christa Kelleher, Senior Vice President of Research at LeadingAge Robyn Stone, and Associate Professor Darren Kew. Bottom Row: PhD Candidate Candace Famiglietti, Associate Professor Maria Ivanova, Director of Gerontology Institute Len Fishman, and Director of Collins Center Michael Ward.)
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Check out the
eMcCormack Spring 2021 Resource Center
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McCormack Graduate School Newsletter Editorial Board
Robert Turner
Jack Li
Rashelle Straker
Associate Dean Rita Kiki Edozie
Dean David Cash
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John W. McCormack Graduate School
of Policy and Global Studies
University of Massachusetts Boston
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