Campus Notes for The Point

Events and Honors

For the third year in a row, the University of Massachusetts Boston Beacons women's volleyball team (pictured on the left) received championship rings. After defeating Plymouth State University for their third consecutive Little East Conference Tournament Championship, the nineteenth-ranked Beacons made it to the championship round of the 2011 NCAA Division III East Regional tournament for the second straight year.

Lecturer in English Joyce Peseroff's  poem “The Hardness Scale” has been selected as one of eight poems in the Massachusetts Poetry Festival’s Common Threads project. The Common Threads project provides these poems and a discussion guide to be used across the state in libraries, schools, colleges, and reading groups in the month of April. Peseroff will also be a featured reader at the 2012 Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Further details can be found on the festival website.

Lisa Kennedy Sheldon, assistant professor of nursing, recently completed a service trip to Juticalpa, Honduras. Funded by the Office of International and Transnational Affairs (OITA) Faculty Study Abroad program, Sheldon was accompanied by nursing student, Hasan Bailey, as a research assistant for the study, "Assessing the Prevalence of Hypertension, Diabetes and Obesity in Rural Honduras during Short-Term Service Trips." Working with 25 members of the Honduran Mission Team and partners at the Olancho Aid Foundation, Sheldon and Hasan collected data on over 600 patients who were seen in the clinics in rural villages. In addition to screening, they also collected information about the most common problems seen in the clinics including the treatments and/or referrals.

Presentations, Conferences, Lectures

Lecturer in Management Aleksander Lust presented papers on “Infrastructure Nationalism: Privatization and Protest in the Baltics” and “It Does Not Matter Where You End Up, But How You Get There: Economics and Euroskepticism in Eastern Europe” at the 19th International Conference of Europeanists held in Boston from March 22-24.  He also chaired a panel on “The Mechanics of Foreign Policy.” 

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy recently hosted its spring research forum, “The Political Leadership of Women of Color: What’s Research Got to Do with It?”  Elizabeth Cardona, Martina Cruz, Holyoke Councilwoman Gladys Lebrón-Martinez, Sheneal Parker, and Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong spoke about their innovative research projects to identify the opportunities and barriers to the advancement of women of color in politics. This event was co-sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor, Women's Pipeline for Change, the Institute for Asian American Studies, the Department of Women's Studies, the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, and the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture.

Michael Keating, director of operations at the Center for Peace, Democracy and Development and a lecturer in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance, was the featured speaker at the International Liberian Studies Association meeting at Cornell University. His paper was titled, "The Role of the National University in the Development of the Country."

Judith Kurland, director of the Center for Community Democracy and Democratic Literacy, hosted a group of local stakeholders working with the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative community development projects.  Staff from the Barr Foundation, Hyams Foundation, Riley Foundation, and University of New Orleans joined DSNI staff and representatives from Harvard’s Rappaport Institute, Suffolk Construction Company, the Salvation Army, Boston Redevelopment Authority, the City of Boston, and others to see a pre-screening of the new documentary film Gaining Ground,  produced by Holding Ground Productions and filmed by Vital Pictures.

Professor of Psychology Ed Tronick served as a plenary speaker at the Annual UCLA /Lifespan Learning Institute Conference on March 9-11, titled “Toward a New Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships."

Publications

Françoise Carré, research director at the Center for Social Policy, recently published a co-edited book,  Are Bad Jobs Inevitable?: Trends, Determinants and Responses to Job Quality in the Twenty-First Century. The book is published by Palgrave Macmillan as part of its Critical Perspectives on Work and Employment series.

Christian Weller, associate professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs, coauthored the article, “House Republicans Assault Social Security: Latest House Budget Plan Would Lead to Cuts in Social Security” for the Center for American Progress.  The article discusses latest House Republican budget plan and how it would lead to cuts in social security.

Assistant Professor of English Alex Mueller has had Translating Troy: Provincial Politics in Alliterative Romance accepted for publication by the Ohio State University Press. The book is set to be published in 2013.

The Institute for Community Inclusion has launched a new blog. It is a place for readers to learn about disability, employment, healthcare, and other topics related to inclusion. It will also provide an inside look at the ICI and the latest research and best practices from the field. Check out the blog.