Trustees Approve the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies 

By Ed Hayward

The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees has approved the creation of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, which will significantly deepen UMass Boston's commitment to policy analysis and public service devoted to Boston and the Commonwealth.

The new school will expand on the urban mission of the university and the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, which is widely recognized as Greater Boston's premier policy center. Trustees approved the program on August 6.

"For the last 20 years, the McCormack Institute has been helping this university carry out its urban mission with astute research, respected analysis, and nationally recognized public service," Chancellor Jo Ann M. Gora said. "The new graduate school will elevate the profile of these projects and advance the work of the institute, the master's degree in Public Affairs and Public Policy Ph.D. programs, and our Gerontology team."

The school will include the existing institute's Centers for Social Policy, Women in Politics and Public Policy, Democracy and Development, and State and Local Policy. It will also serve as the new home for the university's Gerontology Master of Science and Ph.D. programs, the Gerontology Institute, the Ph.D. Program in Public Policy and Master of Science in Public Affairs.

"When we started the McCormack Institute in 1983, Boston was not on any policy analyst's map," said Edmund Beard, the founding director of the institute, who will serve as interim dean of the new school. "The institute immediately responded to the need for policy study and public service focused on Boston and the Commonwealth. Elevating this work to graduate school status makes sense for our faculty and students, as well as the university and the city we serve."

The school will continue to be funded, in part, by a $6.2 million endowment awarded by Congress to conduct policy research vital to the city and the state. The units that will form the new school received external funding of nearly $9.2 million during the last five years, in addition to state appropriations for faculty and operations.

The McCormack Graduate School will build upon the institute's local focus on contemporary policy issues, including education, economic development, labor markets, health, housing, family, criminal justice, and the environment.

The school will serve as a center of excellence with regional, national, and international visibility. The school's programs will give professionals the theoretical and practical tools they need to serve in leadership positions within government and academia, as well as within the non-profit and private sectors.

"UMass Boston is a serious player in the most competitive intellectual, academic, and research market in the world," said DiNatale, director of the UMass Poll. "The McCormack School will allow the business, non-profit and public policy sectors to more easily tap the expertise of all faculty and researchers at UMass Boston."

The university's Ph.D. in Gerontology is one of six such programs in the nation and the only program in the Northeast.

"Joining the new McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies will strengthen the Gerontology Department and its graduate programs and define it as the preeminent venue in the nation for research and training in aging and gerontological policy," said Jeffrey Burr, chairman of the Gerontology Department. "This is particularly important because of aging Baby Boomers and critical issues as long-term care, health services, income security and productive aging."

Image: Members of the executive planning committee for the new McCormack Graduate School of Public Policy (from l to r): James Ward, Edmund Beard, interim director, Frank Caro, Mary Stevenson, and Jeffrey Burr. (Photo by Harry Brett)

Go to menu