Campus Notes

Presentations, Conferences, and Lectures

Elsa Auerbach, professor of English, coauthored with colleagues the chapter "The Logic of Non-Standard Teaching: A Course in Cape Verdean Language, Culture and History" in Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning, which was published by Cambridge University Press.

Lora Brugnaro, Joy Gould, and Lara Enien-Donovan of the Institute for Community Inclusion gave a presentation on disability awareness to Massachusetts state workforce system staff in Lawrence.

Jeff Coburn, web specialist for the Institute for Community Inclusion, presented "Accessible Web Design: Effectively Using Validator Tools" at the Boston Area Advanced Technological Education Connections IT Future Forum.

Jacqueline Fawcett, professor at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, recently served as a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Nursing at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

In February, doctoral students Megan Halloran of the Ph.D. Progam in Public Policy and Maria Paiewonsky of the EdD program in Education's Leadership in Urban Schools developed and implemented a photovoice presentation at Somerville High School: "See What I Mean: Preparing to Leave High School."

In February, Peter Kiang, professor of education and director of the Asian American Studies Program, delivered the address "Asian American Studies Pathways for Southeast Asian Americans in K-12 and Higher Education" for the Walter and Michi Weglyn Endowed Chair for Multicultural Studies Lecture Series at California State Polytechnic University, Ponoma.

Donaldo Macedo, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education, was the keynote speaker at the Second Annual Mexico/Texas Border Literacy Conference, held in January in El Paso, Texas.

In February, the College of Management's Sherry Penney, professor of leadership, and Dan Robb, associate dean, joined Liliana Mickle, director of undergraduate admissions, as speakers and panelists for the session "Accreditation: What It Means for Admissions and Financial Aid" at the New England Region of the College Board's annual conference.

Rachel Rubin, professor in the American Studies Program, participated in the symposium "The Gangster Life and Violence in the United States," held at The Humanities Institute at Stony Brook on February 26. Rubin will chair the panel "Southern Black Radicalisms" at the National Conference of the Organization of American Historians.

Mitchell Silver of the Philosophy Department spoke on "The Prospects for Peace and the Geneva Accords" at the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church of Wellesley in February.

On January 30, Nina Silverstein, associate professor of gerontology, and colleague Gerald Flaherty presented on issues related to wandering behavior for the Law Enforcement and Long Term Care Staff of the Rhode Island Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

In March, Judith Smith, associate professor of American studies, will present the paper "Left-Wing Ethnic Notions in Hollywood Film: Alternatives to Jewish and Black Exceptionalism in The Pawnbroker (1965) and The Angel Levine (1970)" for the panel "Hollywood films and Popular Culture of Race and Ethnicity from the 1960s to the 1990s," at the Organization of American Historians Conference.

Professors M.H. (Behrooz) Tamdgidi and Jorge Capetillo-Ponce of the Sociology Department presented "Classroom Publishing as a Transformative Pedagogical Process" at the Annual CIT Conference on Teaching for Transformation.
Shirley Tang, assistant professor of American studies and Asian American studies, presented research on the Lynn Documentary Research project as part the panel "Researching Multiethnic Interactions: A Dialogue between the Boyle Heights (Los Angeles, California) Project and the Lynn (MA) Documentary Research Project" at the National Conference of the Asian American Studies Association.

Brian Thompson, professor of modern languages, is leading a monthly discussion on novels by Jean Paul Sartre, Benoit Duteurte, and Andre Gide at Schoenhof's, a foreign-language bookstore in Cambridge.

Gretchen Umholtz, lecturer in the Classics Department, presented the paper "Democratic Values and Personal Victory in Classical Athens" at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, held in January.

Ellen Varney of the Institute for Community Inclusion discussed how to improve services for job seekers with disabilities at One-Stop Career Centers in Michigan and Maryland.

The Institute for Community Inclusion's Jason Wheeler and Paula Sotnick copresented a workshop at the National Service-Learning Conference on the experiences of youth with disabilities in service-learning.

On February 11, Robert Weiner, chair of the International Relations track in the Master of Science in the Public Affairs program, participated in the panel "Air Travel Security and International Relations."

On February 7, more than 80 people attended the Give Us Your Poor Project of the Center for Social Policy's forum "Out of the Box: A Community Action Forum to End Homelessness In Greater Boston," held at UMass Boston.
Publications

James Bierstaker of the Accounting and Finance Department published the coauthored article "Highlights of Current Audit Approaches" in The Auditor's Report.

Francoise Carré, research director for the Center for Social Policy, published a book review of Temporary Work: The Gendered Rise of a Precarious Employment Relationship in the journal Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations.

A third edition of Italy: From Revolution to Republic. 1700 to Present, a book written by Spencer DiScala of the History Department, has been published by Westview Press.

Weston Dripps, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Geographic Sciences, coauthored the chapter "Groundwater Issues" in Water: Science, Policy, and Management: Water Resources Monograph.

Jacqueline Fawcett, professor in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, published the article "Conceptual Models of Nursing: International in Scope and Substance? The Case of the Neuman Systems Model" in Nursing Science Quarterly.

A chapter by Carroy Ferguson, professor at the College of Public and Community Service, "Follow the Leader: Fear and Projection as Root Causes of the War in Iraq," appears as one of ten original essays in Art Shostak's edited book Volume One: Culture Clash/Media Demons.

The article "Community College: A Pathway to Success for Youth with Learning, Cognitive, and Intellectual Disabilities in Secondary Settings," by Debra Hart of the Institute for Community Inclusion, will be published in Education and Training on Developmental Disabilities.

Stephanie W. Hartwell, professor of sociology, published the articles "Triple Stigma: Persons with Mental Illness and Substance Abuse Problems in the Criminal Justice System" in Criminal Justice Policy Review and "Comparison of Offenders with Mental Illness Only and Offenders with Dual Diagnosis" in Psychiatric Services.

Peter Kiang, professor of education and director of the Asian American Studies Program, coauthored the chapter "Asian Pacific American Students: Challenging a Biased Educational System" for the second edition of the Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education.

The Engineering Program's Tomas Materdey published two papers, "The Quantum Wigner Function in a Magnetic Field" and "Wigner Function in the Symmetric Gauge: de Haas-van Alphen Oscillations, Magnetic Field Localization, and Uncertainty Principle," in the International Journal of Modern Physics.

Sathasivam Mathiyalakan, assistant professor in the Management Science and Information Systems Department, published the article "A Longitudinal Examination of Web Technology Adoption and Implementation of Small and Micro-Sized Businesses" in the Journal of E-Business.

Askold Melnyczuk, director of the Creative Writing Program, has published an excerpt from his new novel in Irish Pages and has had another section accepted for publication in the Antioch Review's summer fiction issue.

The article "Urban Universities and Urban Leadership" by Sherry Penney, professor of leadership in the College of Management, was published in Metropolitan Universities.

Asgedet Stefanos, associate professor at the College of Public and Community Service, published the chapter "An African Vantage Point on Feminist Research: Contemporary Eritrean Women and Revolution" in Sharpened Edge: Women of Color, Resistance, and Writing.

Mitchell Silver of the Department of Philosophy published "Rethinking Secularism" in The Proceedings of the International Institute of Secular Humanistic Judaism.

Exhibits, Readings, Performances, Shows

Jon C. Mitchell of the Music Department conducted a recording session of the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlin, Czech Republic, in February.
Sixteen UMass Boston Theatre Arts students recently participated in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (Region I), held in Providence, RI. John Conlon, senior research fellow in liberal arts, appeared in a new play, Communication, as part of the Festival.

Grants and Research

The Ford Foundation awarded UMass Boston a two-year, $350,000 grant to support the creation of a New England Center for Inclusive Teaching (NECIT), a faculty-based consortium of colleges and universities that will foster diversity-oriented curricular and pedagogical change, as well as the scholarship of teaching. The project's principal investigators are Jay R. Dee of the Graduate College of Education and Rajini Srikanth of the English Department. NECIT founder Esther Kingston-Mann of American Studies/History serves as project consultant.

Weston Dripps, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Geographic Sciences, is the lead principal investigator in the feasibility planning of a professional master's degree program in Geographical Information Technology, which is funded by a Council of Graduate Schools/Ford Foundation grant of $6,000.

Mari Koerner of the Curriculum and Instruction Department received a $50,000 award for the proposal "Physics and Mathematics in Elementary Grades" in the Improving Teacher Quality State Grant Program grant competition for 2003-2004.

Center for Social Policy staff members Jennifer Raymond, Michelle Kahan, and Consuela Greene completed an evaluation study, One Family Scholar Project Evaluation, in January.

In February, the Center for Social Policy was awarded a multiyear grant to evaluate a Boston Foundation and Tufts Health Plan initiative supporting eighteen homeless prevention programs throughout Massachusetts.

The National Service Inclusion Project at the Institute for Community Inclusion has been extended to a fourth year by the federal Corporation for National and Community Service.

Appointments and Honors

John Butterworth, research coordinator at the Institute for Community Inclusion, was elected to a three-year term on the TASH Executive Board, an international association of people with disabilities, advocates, and professionals.

Caroline Coscia of the Ph.D. Program in Public Policy was hired by the Boston Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to conduct a community profile of breast cancer incidence and treatment options in Massachusetts.

Debra Hart of the Institute for Community Inclusion was appointed a member of the National Alliance on Secondary Education and Transition's national panel.
Liz LaPuh was appointed the new director of the Dance Program. LaPuh earned her B.A. from UMass Boston and an M.F.A. from the Boston Conservatory. She is also the artistic director of the Cambridge Chamber Ballet.

Joe Marrone of the Institute for Community Inclusion was appointed to a 15-member federal study group by the U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration to examine ways to help people with mental illness find jobs.

Laura Schrader, professor of Theatre Arts, was elected vice president of the Theatre Company of Saugus.

Miscellaneous

In March, Sherry Penney, professor of leadership in the College of Management, visited the National University of Ireland Maynooth campus as part of an evaluation/quality review visit. Previously, Penney has chaired sixteen regional accreditation teams in the U.S.

Thesis and Dissertation Research

Edie Mas, a doctoral student in the Ph.D. Program in Public Policy, successfully defended her dissertation "Why Act? The Roots and Potential of Precautionary Environmental Action in Three Vermont Watersheds."

Walter Martinez and Jeffrey Morgan, two political science majors and honor students, had their proposals accepted for presentation of their honors-thesis research at the Undergraduate Research Conference in April.

In the News

Deborah Boisvert, director of BATEC (the Boston Area Advanced Technology Education Connections) discussed the program's mission to develop and promote a regional IT education and workforce development system in the January 12 issue of Mass High Tech.

Joan Becker, associate vice provost, and UMass Boston students discussed Pell grants and rising tuition on NPR's "All Things Considered" on February 4.

Caroline Coscia of the Ph.D. Program in Public Policy was featured in a recent Patriot Ledger article on her profile of bilingual education services in the town of Randolph.

Lou DiNatale, director of the Center for State and Local Politics, was quoted on Massachusetts voter opinion of gay marriage in the LA Times on February 6.
CPC's Reebee Garofalo discussed the college's new Community Media and Technology degree, of which he is program coordinator, in a January 13 profile on the program in the Patriot Ledger.

Donna Haig Friedman, director of the Center for Social Policy, participated in a panel on homelessness that was broadcast live on WMBR-FM on February 12.

Carol Hardy-Fanta, director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, was quoted by the Baltimore Sun on January 22 on the role of women's voting patterns in the Democratic primary elections, and by the Sunday Boston Globe on February 1 on Charlestown resistance to a proposed Homeland Security detention center.

David Howard, an undergraduate honors student, was quoted in the Boston Globe on February 8 about his ability to leverage a 2003 internship with the Massachusetts Democratic Party into a paid position.

Harriet Tubman: Her Life and Her Life Stories by Jean Humez, director of the Women's Studies Program, was featured in the Baltimore Sun on January 25, the Boston Globe on February 5, and the New York Times Book Review on February 15.

John McGah, senior research associate at the Center for Social Policy, spoke about the recent activities of the Give Us Your Poor: Homelessness and the United States project for a January 12 article in Banker & Tradesman. He also was interviewed on the project's February 7 community action forum on WBZ Radio.

Sherry Penney, professor of leadership at the College of Management, participated in a new TV program, "Ready for College!," produced by the Higher Education Information Center through the Boston Neighborhood Network.
Marc Prou, assistant professor of Africana Studies, was quoted in the New York Times on January 30 on Haiti's embattled political situation. He was also interviewed on WHDH-TV's "Urban Update" to discuss the significance of the Haitian Bicentennial Celebration on February 1.

Research by Jean Rhodes and Katia Frederiksen of the Psychology Department linking self-esteem to the sleep patterns of middle-school children was reported by NPR's "All Things Considered," the New York Times, ABCNEWS.com, the Boston Herald, and Scripps Howard News Service.

On February 11, the Boston Globe published the editorial "Pine Street Power," which cited the Center for Social Policy's information about the size of the homeless population in Massachusetts.

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