The John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation Padraig O’Malley celebrated the publication of his new book in March. Following a European book launch in Belfast, O’Malley hosted a U.S. book launch for Perils and Prospects of a United Ireland in May at the Plough and Stars, a Cambridge pub O’Malley co-founded in 1969 with his brother Peter. The storied bar, which is home to the earliest editions of the lauded literary journal Ploughshares, saw friends and passersby duck out of the rain to hear O’Malley reflect on his work, including what a reunification of Ireland and Northern Ireland might look like, and sign books.

As part of its 2023 annual Africa Day event held on March 31st, 2023, the Africa Scholar Forum (ASF) at the McCormack Graduate School invited former United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Secretary General, Dr. Carlos Lopes for a keynote conversation with McCormack School interim Dean Edozie on the theme of “Africa’s 21st Century Economic Transformation.”

As part of the McCormack School’s graduation awards ceremony in May, the academic departments at McCormack selected students from their doctoral, master’s, and undergraduate programs who stood out as exemplary. The Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance awarded several master’s and doctoral students for their excellence in Global Governance and Human Security (GGHS) programs. This year, two doctoral students, Polly Cegielski and Nadezhda (Nadia) Filimonova, were selected for the GGHS Excellence in Doctoral Research Award.

In April, Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui visited the UMass Boston campus for a roundtable conversation hosted by McCormack’s interim Dean Rita Kiki Edozie and Dr. Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP). As mayor of the city whose police shot and killed 20-year old UMass Boston student Sayed Arif Faisal early this year, Siddiqui addressed members of the McCormack School community on where to go from here and what she is doing to respond to Faisal’s unjust killing.

Nina M. Silverstein, PhD, professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, retired on May 31, 2023. Highlights of Silverstein’s three decades at UMass Boston include mentoring hundreds of students, co-authoring three books, and spearheading research on aging and transportation as well as age-friendly universities.

A pioneer of women’s rights and equal opportunity in the workplace, Ellen Cassedy visited UMass Boston in May on the tail-end of her new book, which chronicles the 9to5 women’s movement association that began in Boston in 1973. Cassedy joined the community for a talk, contest, and Q&A as part of the Policy Across Disciplines series, a collaboration between the John W. McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).

After joining UMass Boston in 2005 and the McCormack School in 2014, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) has come a long way since its establishment as a free-standing state agency in 1990. This coming year, its biggest year yet, the MOPC is poised to bring in $3.6 million of funding, compared to approximately $200,000 in its first year at the university. On the funding front, which is achieved through a sizeable state investment, grants, and donated services, the MOPC has steadily grown.

In a recent list published by Stanford-Elsevier, over three dozen UMass Boston current and past researchers were named among the world’s most-cited scholars. Several current researchers at UMass Boston, including two faculty members at the McCormack School, appeared among the top 2% most-cited ranking by subfield.

In 2022 the Urban Harbors Institute launched the Municipal Technical Assistance Program (MTAP) which provides affordable capacity and expertise on relatively small or short-term coastal management and planning projects. Designed to help communities advance harbor plan recommendations or address another local need identified by the community, the types of projects can include implementing programs, evaluating projects, writing grants, reviewing and drafting regulations, engaging stakeholders in decision-making processes, background research and data analysis, and GIS mapping.

Camp Shriver is participating in the Summer Food Service Program. Meals will be provided to all eligible children free of charge. (To be eligible to receive free meals at a residential or non-residential camp, children must meet the income guidelines for reduced-price meals in the National School Lunch Program. The income guidelines for reduced-price meals by family size are listed on the next page.) Children who are part of households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly foods stamps) benefits, or benefits under the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) are automatically eligible to receive free meals.

Department of Physics Professor Maxim Olchanyi has been awarded a $212,358 three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project entitled Number-Theory-Inspired Effects in Cold Atoms. The study is one of only a few attempts in the world to use quantum mechanics to study number theory.

UMass Boston’s School for the Environment Helps Make Science Cool While Educating Youth

The Boston Teachers College held its annual scholarship luncheon last month to honor six UMass Boston students pursuing careers in education.

BOSTON – Five outstanding University of Massachusetts faculty have been awarded the 2023 Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching for their exceptional dedication to students and the university. The faculty members — one from each UMass campus — will receive $10,000 awards in recognition of their deep commitment to academic excellence.

New technologies aimed at improving prostate cancer diagnosis, enhancing employment services for job seekers with disabilities, and optimizing clinical use treatments for melanoma patients could get closer to market thanks to $250,000 in seed funding announced today by the University of Massachusetts.

New Study Analyzes Voting Habits of People Who Identify as Atheists and Agnostics, Other Kinds of Religiously Unaffiliated People

The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) has announced it will be funding the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development's (UPCD) Summer Program in Urban Planning for 2023. The award of $100,000 will support UPCD’s innovative program, which introduces youth of color to the critical role community planners and designers play in addressing the impacts of climate change.

UMass Boston’s Robotics and Engineering Club recently came out on top when competing in NASA’s MUREP Innovation Technology Transfer Idea Competition (MITTIC), winning $15,000 and mentorship from NASA experts.

Every semester, Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance students gain practical experience related to their area of study and research interests by engaging with society and institutions. In addition, they engage locally, nationally, and globally through their initiatives or projects linked to their research assistantships. The spring 2023 semester was a great example of our students making an impact.

Blue Square Pins Worn on Commencement to Raise Awareness of Hate Against Jewish People