University Reporter: April, 2002
Center for Survey Research’s Expertise Aids National Institute on the Aging-Funded Research
Just
about everyone has responded to survey questions at one time or
another, but most laypeople don’t realize the level of care
and scholarship needed to create a truly reliable survey. UMass
Boston’s Center for Survey Research (CSR) is known nationally
and internationally for its rigorous standards in designing survey
instruments and collecting survey data that yield credible results. read more: CSR
Also in this Issue:
Exercise Scientist Is “Fit” for New Editor and Columnist Appointment
Community Breakfast Honors Dudley Square Neighborhood Planner
PBS Show on Racial Tension Is Taped at UMass Boston
Chancellor Gora Announces “Pipeline Plan” to Aid Urban Schools
Hispanic Studies Professor Receives Prize for Her Work on Families in Mexico
Mayor Menino Discusses Economic Development with CM Business Club
Community Breakfast Honors Dudley Square Neighborhood Planner
“I
am very proud to have this award from UMass Boston because you do
such great work in the community,” said Joyce Stanley, the
2002 recipient of the Robert H. Quinn Award for Oustanding Community
Leadership. At the university’s sixteenth annual community
breakfast, UMass Boston recognized Stanley for her work in city
planning and community development for Roxbury and the City of Boston.
Elected officials such as Boston City Councilor Maureen Feeney,
Representative Marty Walsh, and Representative Gloria Fox, who nominated
Stanley for the award, joined community leaders, local business-people,
and members of the UMass Boston faculty and staff to honor her at
UMass Boston’s University Club.
Stanley has been involved in city planning and community development since 1970. Most recently, she has worked with residents, building owners, and public agencies to help revitalize Dudley Square in Roxbury. A long-time resident, Stanley serves as the executive director of Dudley Square Main Streets and the Dudley Square Merchants Association. Her vision to renew economic development and foster an arts and cultural district in the area has personal roots. “I grew up in the Fort Hill area and want to stay there,” Stanley said, “But I realized there was no place to go within my community to have a cup of coffee and have a nice meal, and enjoy artwork.” read more: Community Breakfast
Exercise Scientist Is “Fit” for New Editor and Columnist Appointment
By Kim Trauceniek
As the newly appointed editor and invited columnist for the American Journal of Medicine and Sports, Professor Kyle McInnis of the Department of Exercise and Physical Education plays a major role in educating primary care physicians on the importance of physical activity. “This new post provides a forum to help further educate physicians about important issues related to physical activity and health,” he says.
In his first article for the journal, “Physical Activity Counseling in the Primary Care Setting,” McInnis provides evidence of the impact of physical activity on reducing such diseases as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and most cancers. He also counsels physicians on how to talk to their patients about changing their sedentary lifestyles. “My interest is bridging the gap between the field of sports medicine and clinical conditions in the medical community,” says McInnis.
The American Journal of Medicine and Sports has a readership of over 70,000 primary care physicians. McInnis will address a variety of “hot” topics in exercise science and sports medicine. “Doctors are an incredible resource that patients will listen to, so the potential to effect change is greatly increased,” says McInnis. “I hope to reach a lot of them.”
PBS Show on Racial Tension Is Taped at UMass Boston
By Anne-Marie Kent
On February 25, the Provost’s Conference Room in the Healey Library became a television studio, bright lights and all, as a professional camera crew filmed “Racial and Ethnic Tensions: What Should We Do?,” one of three forums nationwide filmed for inclusion in the PBS series, A Public Voice. This one-hour public affairs television program will examine how well we as a nation deal with racial tension.
The deliberative dialogue, hosted by the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, was based on a National Issues Forum discussion guidebook that examines the issue and outlines three different approaches for achieving common ground. UMass Boston assembled a group of 19 panelists representing a range of races, ages, and ethnicities.
The McCormack Institute’s Sandy Blanchette and Mike MacPhee organized the program and selected the panelists. “We tried to get a diverse group of people and drew participants from around the university and the community,” said Blanchette, assistant director of the institute. “The final panel included professors, students, professional staff, friends of staff, and community activists.”
The intensity of the panel discussion revealed the complexity of the issue and the depth of its roots here in Boston. Panelists who had attended Boston public schools during the 1970s gave troubling, first-hand accounts of racism and unrest during the implementation of systemwide busing. Others, non-native speakers of English, argued for the necessity of bilingual education and described experiences of negative stereotyping associated with being an immigrant in the United States.
“The producer and moderators were very impressed with our ability to bring together such a diverse group,” said Blanchette. She and MacPhee had been asked to help arrange the event by John Cavanaugh, a former student and graduate of the Master in Science in Public Affairs program. Cavanaugh is currently a program director at the Kettering Foundation, which supports the National Issues Forums.
Chancellor Gora Announces “Pipeline Plan” to Aid Urban Schools
By Anne-Marie Kent
Forty-four
percent of those currently hired to teach in urban public schools
leave the profession within three years. Not surprisingly, Massachusetts
urban schools are eager to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers.
At the March 4th “Connecting Higher Education and Public Schools”
meeting, Chancellor Jo Ann Gora announced a new initiative to help
answer this need.
Sponsored by the Dean’s Advisory Council and the Graduate College of Education, the meeting was attended by Boston Superintendent Thomas Payzant, Dorchester High School Partnership supporter Pamela Trefler, Dorchester High Headmaster Robert Belle, and other key urban educators. They applauded Gora’s plan, which combines monies from a Great Cities Universities grant and the university’s own resources to create a “pipeline” designed to channel a stream of highly qualified teachers into the local urban public schools.
“At the beginning of the pipeline,” Gora explained, “UMass Boston will advise and recruit the best-qualified high schoolers from Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville and encourage them to take advantage of the state-wide scholarship program ‘Tomorrow’s Teachers,’ through which the costs of their undergraduate education will be fully paid. Upon graduating, the scholarship students with a 3.3 cumulative average or higher, along with any other bachelor’s degree holders with a minimum 3.3 GPA interested in urban teaching, will be eligible to apply for a new UMass Boston scholarship to cover full tuition and fees at the master’s degree level. Upon entering the graduate program, scholarship recipients must make a commitment to teach for a minimum of three years in urban schools.” Twenty scholarships will be offered.
To assist participants after graduation, the program includes support, counseling, seminars, a special website with chat rooms, and networking and mentoring opportunities. It will also help ensure that they receive their National Professional Standards Board Certification.
Image: Chancellor Gora meets with Boston Superintendent Thomas Payzant. (Photo by Harry Brett)
Hispanic Studies Professor Receives Prize for Her Work on Families in Mexico
By Jeanne Wallace-Buckley
While
students and faculty were enjoying winter break, Ann Blum was already
planning summer break—in Mexico. The Hispanic studies assistant
professor received notification in January that she’d been
awarded the Endowed Faculty Career Development Fund Prize for 2001-2002.
The prize will be used by Blum to support travel to Mexico City
to select archival documents and commission microfilm.
The award will allow Blum to continue to study families and children, and the intersection of state and private matters. She plans to capitalize on a rich trove of materials at the National Archives, consisting of unusually detailed case files for clients of the Oversight Council for Juvenile Delinquents.
What makes the records significant is their ability to illuminate the domestic environment in post-revolutionary Mexico of the 1920s and 30s. The documents provide a unique historical perspective—that of children and of economically marginalized families during political and social upheaval and rebuilding.
“There was a remapping of the relationship of the state to individuals at this time,” explains Blum. “The responsibility of the state to social welfare was hotly debated at all levels: education, what to deliver, measures of success; access to medical care.” This project will be a continuation of Blum’s studies of Mexican institutions of public welfare.
Blum’s began her UMass Boston career as an undergraduate in American studies. She continued on to UC Berkeley for master’s degree and doctoral programs before returning to UMass Boston to teach in 1998.
Blum admits a fascination with the intersection and interaction of history and society. “Historians get an intimate look into people’s lives—how they parent, pay their bills, care for their families,” explained Blum. “Essentially, I walk right into people’s houses and look under the bed.”
Mayor Menino Discusses Economic Development with CM Business Club
By Leigh DuPuy
Boston
Mayor Thomas M. Menino returned to his alma mater on March 13 to
discuss economic development in Boston with students from the UMass
Boston Business Club and the College of Management (CM). At the
event, held at the Harbor Art Gallery, the city budget, affordable
housing, and the importance of workforce development were at the
heart of Menino’s address.
“There are some tough decisions ahead. How are we going to make our budgets work?” said Menino, referring to an upcoming review of the city budget in April. “Through this crisis, we need to maintain services.”
Menino reviewed some of his on-going initiatives to aid workforce development, including the creation of the Office of Business Services to assist new and existing businesses and support partnerships between the public and private sectors. He said, “The private sector should come forward with more jobs. Workforce development is key because we are training people for jobs for the future.”
The mayor also argued for stronger partnerships between cities and municipalities, which would include a commitment to provide affordable “workforce” housing to people in Massachusetts. “There should be a penalty for cities and towns for not funding affordable housing,” he proposed.
Education was also a touchstone for Menino. He praised the services of UMass Boston, speaking from his own experience of earning a degree in community planning from the College of Public and Community Service in 1988. He admonished legislators for recent budget cuts, saying, “Massachusetts underrates public education. We are the fiftieth in the country in public higher education.”
What is the solution that will help shape state leadership? “Government needs young people to be involved,” Menino said. This sentiment found the right audience in the many student leaders in attendance. The event was organized by the UMass Boston Business Club, a student-run organization under the leadership of CM students Jackie Larsen and Darrell Roberts.