Recent News from the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs

Working with the United Nations mission in Liberia, public policy doctoral candidate and conflict resolution alumnus Ndumba J. Kamwanyah provided technical assistance to the Liberian National Police. Kamwanyah’s work places literacy and training for law enforcement and security forces as a central focus for peacekeeping efforts in this African country.

In June, Heather MacIndoe, assistant professor of public policy and public affairs, delivered her paper, "The Rationalization of Performance in the Nonprofit Sector: Understanding the influence of external versus internal stakeholders" at the European Group for Organizational Studies conference in Helsinki, Finland.

Georgianna Meléndez, director of the Commonwealth Compact and recent alumna of the master’s degree program in public affairs, penned a blog on the top ten reasons to go to graduate school.  Her blog was reposted in Latinos in College.  Read the story on our website.

Kudos to Felicia Sullivan, a PhD candidate in public policy, accepted a new position as a senior researcher with the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.  Sullivan expects to defend her dissertation, “Engaging Youth: Linking Design and Implementation Choices of Out-of-School Time Programs in Boston to the Development of Political Engagement Attitudes in 14-18 Year Olds,” this fall.

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs Mark Warren has earned an honorable mention for the American Sociological Association’s 2012 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award.  His book, Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice competed in the Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities category.

Christian Weller has assumed the helm of the public policy doctoral program. Kudos to Associate Professor Michael Johnson for his fine leadership as graduate program director over the past three years.

Personal notes:

Congratulations to Associate Professor Michael Ahn and his wife on welcoming a new addition to their family. Their daughter Elizabeth Hyungie was born July 8, 2012 weighing seven punds.

Congrats also to David Gonzalez Nieto and his wife Deanna on the birth of their son Nicolas who arrived just in time for Father's Day.  Nieto is a candidate for the PhD program in public policy.