McCormack News: “Actively Engaged: Seeking Solutions”

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The John W. McCormack School

of Policy and Global Studies

“Actively Engaged: Seeking Solutions”

April-13-2023

Dean's Message

Actively Engaged: Seeking Solutions

With Spring Break 2023 fully behind us at the McCormack School, I am pleased to present a mid-semester review of our activities, which have, as usual, been multi-fold—scaling active engagement on campus, in Boston, in the Commonwealth, nationwide, and around the world—as well as impactful in their efforts to solve societal and planetary problems. So far this semester, McCormack’s faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners continue to demonstrate their remarkable skills and talent as savvy problem-solvers who actively co-engage with the educational initiatives of the School to find solutions to public problems. Read the dean's message here.

McCormack Making a Difference

Apologizing for Boston’s Role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Conversation with Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson

Representing District 7 residents in Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway, and parts of the South End, Councilor Fernandes Anderson was elected in November of 2021...

Late UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, A Model Leader of our Times

The Africa Scholars Forum at the John W. McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies hosted its third annual Black History in Africa Series event honoring the “internationalist icon” Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

When Will This War End? Moakley Chair and Panelists Weigh In on the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The Moakley Chair webinars are a newly-created channel for conversations, organized by Moakley Chair Padraig O’Malley and hosted by the John W. McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies. O’Malley has convened two panels within the past four months related to the war in Ukraine. The first examined the conflict through a psychoanalytic and psychological lens, while the second viewed the war within a political and military framework.

Faculty Spotlight

Gerontology Department Receives Massachusetts Health and Human Services Pilot Grant: Program Director Ellen Birchander to Lead Project

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services awarded UMass Boston Gerontology a $410,000 grant to pilot Pathways to Building an Aging Services Workforce.

Student Success

GGHS PhD Student Nkasi Wodu on the State Department’s African Electoral Reform Project

To build an Africa-wide Democracy Network of activists committed to electoral reform across the continent.

Alum Student Success

Former Conflict Resolution Student Becomes Executive Director of a National NGO in South Sudan

Panther Alier is the new Executive Director at Smile Again Africa Development Organization (SAADO), a national non-governmental organization in South Sudan...

Donors and Alumni Making Impact 

McCormack PhD Program Founder and Northeastern U Russell B. and Andree B. Stearns Trustee Professor Emeritus, Dr. Barry Bluestone Continues Tradition of Supporting Students

For Barry Bluestone, Founding Director of one of UMass Boston’s earliest PhD programs, located at the then-McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, the reason for his continued philanthropic support for current UMass Boston students is simple: “My heart is in UMass.”

Leading Higher Education in the 21st Century: From McCormack to MassArt with Dr. Mary Grant

A “cherished alum” of the McCormack School returned to the UMass Boston campus on March 10^th for a series of conversations with McCormack’s interim Dean Rita Kiki Edozie. A national leader of public higher education herself, Dr. Mary K. Grant, now president of Massachusetts College of Art and Design...

Staff Spotlight

Jamie Tull, McCormack’s College Business Coordinator, Is the School’s Go-to Problem Solver

Jamie Tull serves in McCormack’s Dean’s Office as the College Business Coordinator, a plain title that belies the complex range of knowledge, experience, and capabilities the job demands.

Centers Making an Impact

Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy Welcomes Cohort of Massachusetts Public Leadership Mentors

Marking the start of a new 18-month long fellowship program, the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) welcomed its fourth cohort of fellows...

Early Warning Signs of Politically Motivated Violence Across America: A MIIPS Brown Bag Event

As part of its Public Service Brown Bags series, the McCormack Institutes of International and Public Service (MIIPS) hosted a panel titled “Addressing Politically Motivated Hate and Political Violence through Conflict Early Warning” in February.