Photo: Charles Tasnadi—AP | | |
Honoring the Legacy of Kitty Dukakis
The Policy School community offered its condolences to the Dukakis family on the March 21st passing of Kitty Dukakis — a remarkable advocate, author, and public servant, whose life touched many at Northeastern and across the country.
The Policy School hosts the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, which Prof. Ted Landsmark directs, and where Prof. Alicia Modestino serves as the research director. The Policy School, College, and University have served as the intellectual home for Gov. Dukakis, who taught at Northeastern for more than 30 years and continues to inspire generations of students.
A TIME Magazine article honoring the legacy of Kitty Dukakis includes reflections from Dukakis Center Director Ted Landsmark and from Policy School Director Maria Ivanova in which they recognize the extraordinary legacy of a woman whose values continue to shape the work of the School.
Dukakis broke ground by speaking openly about her struggles and championed support for the homeless and political refugees, said Prof. Ivanova, who noted that, “Kitty Dukakis brought honesty, compassion, and strength to public life. Her legacy is one of service, resilience, and truth-telling.”
Kitty Dukakis inspired many to engage in activism and was a “deeply devoted spiritual companion” to her husband, said Prof. Landsmark. “They have been truly effective change-makers on behalf of those in need of care and support.”
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Luce Scholar: Fatuma Mohamed
Policy School alumna Fatuma Mohamed '24 (MA in International Affairs) was named by the Henry Luce Foundation as one of sixteen 2025-2026 Luce Scholars. Fatuma’s experiences growing up in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya and resettling in the United States profoundly shaped her commitment to advocating for displaced and marginalized communities locally and globally. Her mission is to contribute to a just and equitable world, where all people have access to education, the freedom to move, and the opportunity to thrive.
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Rappaport Fellow: Stephane Labossiere
PhD student Stephane Labossiere was named a recipient of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's 2025 Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellowship. Stephane’s interests focus on how migration-based inequities and structural determinants of disparities in health outcomes shape population health and sustainable programs serving immigrant communities. The Fellowship will empower Stephane to take a significant step toward his professional goal of becoming a leader in immigration and equity issues, especially for minority communities.
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Valuing Democracy, Integrity, and Decency
“Democracy is a work in progress, a precious gift that needs constant nurturing,” says former Massachusetts governor, presidential candidate, and retired Northeastern Distinguished Professor Emeritus Michael Dukakis in the documentary Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy. Gov. Dukakis was the guest of honor at a March 11 screening at the Policy School of the 28-minute documentary, which takes viewers on a journey along Gov. Dukakis’s long arc of leadership.
| | | Maria Ivanova, Michael Dukakis, Ted Landsmark | | | | |
Crafting Innovative Sustainability Solutions
“Technology alone will not save us,” said Prof. Moira Zellner, speaking on the March 11 keynote panel on "AI and The Future of Climate Innovation" during Northeastern’s Sustainability Innovation Week, “if technology just keeps perpetuating the exploitation of resources, of other humans.”
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Educating Future Planners
Prof. Gavin Shatkin and MS in Urban Planning and Policy Program students as well as representatives from planning schools across Massachusetts, attended the Third Annual Massachusetts Distinguished Planner Lecture on March 13 on Northeastern’s campus. The lecture featured Gail Latimore, who has been a leading voice in neighborhood planning in Boston for more than 25 years.
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Engaging Scholarship
On March 5, the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association (ISA) presented this year’s Engaged Scholar Award to Policy School Director Maria Ivanova. The Committee recognized Prof. Ivanova’s successes in convening global leaders, shaping environmental governance, developing impactful tools, bridging research and practice, and building meaningful partnerships with governments.
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Reducing Flood Risk in Maine
Prof. Damon Hall and Northeastern colleagues Samuel E. Muñoz, P. James Dennedy-Frank, and Geoff Trussell have been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to work closely with Kennebec and Penobscot river communities in Maine on flood-risk reduction and resilience planning using long-range climate and atmospheric predictive flood inundation models.
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photo credit: ASIRI
10,000 barrels of toxic waste from Italy illicitly dumped in Koko, Nigeria; the Koko Incident created momentum for reform
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Ending Toxic Waste Dumping
Until the 1992 Basel Convention, there were no rules governing the international movement of toxic waste. Today, this convention prevents the secret export and dumping of such waste in unsuspecting communities. In a March Global Dispatches podcast, Policy School Director Maria Ivanova offers her thoughts on the impact of the Basel Convention and its implications for an international plastic pollution treaty and e-waste dumping regulations.
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Upholding Human Rights
On March 14-15, Prof. Kim Lucas, Prof. Martha Davis (Northeastern Law School), and aleja jimenez jaramillo (City of Boston) participated in the FORGE 2025 Conference at NYU Law. They presented their joint project funded by NU's Tier 1 grant (Smart Human Rights Cities) and engaged with City of Boston government leaders in a discussion about their roles, the use of AI, and upholding of human rights in their day-to-day work.
Prof. Lucas also recently delivered a workshop ("People-Centered Design: Focus on Designing for the Margins”) on how family engagement specialists at the Boston Public Schools and Boston Pre-K might incorporate human-centered design principles into their work bringing families in.
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Making Breathing Easier
“There’s an old saying that you can’t fix what you don’t measure,” said Prof. Dan O’Brien at a March 27 joint legislative briefing at the State House in Boston. “We need to collect more data on air pollution in the Commonwealth—especially who is impacted the most and why—so we can develop targeted strategies for improving the environmental health of our communities.” The briefing featured firsthand testimony and expert opinions on the importance of indoor and outdoor air quality and healthy living spaces, particularly in environmental justice communities.
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Navigating Strategic Challenges in Europe
Prof. Cristina Stanica participated, on Mar 30th in Washington, DC, in a 2025 ASPA conference panel entitled “Central and Eastern Europe and USA: strategic challenges for governance and universities.” The panel was coordinated by Maria Aristigueta of the University of Delaware and Calin Hintea of Babes Bolyai University in Romania.
| | | Bogdana Neamtu, Cristina Stanica, Cristina Hintea | | |
Taming the Burden of State Subsidies
“While subsidies can be effective tools for poverty alleviation and reducing inequality,” says PhD student Kishan Narayan in a new article he has published on India’s federal fiscal structure, ”their fiscal sustainability has become increasingly questionable, particularly in the challenging post-pandemic economic environment.”
| | | Gerardo Gentil engaged in fieldwork by the transboundary Milk River in Montana. | |
Creating Water Solutions
PhD student Gerardo Gentil has co-authored a a book chapter on transboundary water. The book is part of the World Scientific Handbook of Transboundary Water Management. The chapter is titled "Transboundary Water Organizations: Mechanisms and Challenges for Managing Evolving Disputes" and explores the role of binational institutions in managing shared bodies of water and resolving transboundary water conflicts.
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Investigating Waste-Inducing Behaviors
PhD alumna Gloria Schmitz '24 published a sole-authored article “Investigating the “Stickiness”of Waste-Inducing Behaviors Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Massachusetts, USA: A Geospatial and Machine Learning Analysis” in the Journal of Cleaner Production. The article is one of the three papers from Gloria's dissertation
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FRI, APR 11th
Policy Hour
Renaissance Park Open Space and Zoom
3:30 - 5:00 pm
Join NAPPS for the inaugural Policy Hour, which will focus on the housing crisis.
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THU, APR 10th
Giving Day
12:00 am - 11:59 pm
Join Northeastern's annual 24-hour celebration of philanthropy and friendly competition. You don't have to wait until Apr 11th. You can make your donation to the Policy School early by visiting the Policy School Giving Day donation page any time!
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TUE, APR 15th (Boston)
Capstone Symposium
Renaissance Park 310, 5:15 pm
THU, APR 17th (virtual)
Capstone Symposium
Zoom, 12:00 pm
Please join graduating students for their presentations of their Capstone projects to faculty, peers, community partners, family, and friends.
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FRI, APR 11th
BARI Conference 2025
Roxbury Community College
1234 Columbus Avenue, Bsoton
9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Join the BARI 2005 Conference gathering of community leaders, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers as they share how they advance data-driven research and policy in Greater Boston.
This years's Annual Insight-to-Impact Summit is being co-hosted with Roxbury Community College’s Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), which was established to organize college and community resources to advance economic mobility and opportunity through collaboration,.
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THU, APR 24th
End of Year Celebration
Cabral Center, 5:30 - 8:00 pm
All members of the Policy School community and friends and family are invited to celebrate this year's graduating students!
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FRI, APR 25th
NULab Spring Conference
350a/b Snell Library and Zoom
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
The NULab will host its annual spring conference on the theme of “Social Justice,” showcasing the work of faculty, students, and research collaborators.
NULab Co-Director Moira Zellner will deliver opening remarks at 9:45 am.
| | | | | Making a Difference from the Local to the Global | | | | | |
