Research & Centers
In UMass Boston’s College of Liberal Arts (CLA), research brings together our faculty, fellows, undergraduates, and graduate students to explore ideas and advance knowledge across a wide range of disciplines.
CLA includes over 20 departments and the McCormack School of Policy & Global Studies. Our faculty are nationally and internationally recognized scholars conducting interdisciplinary and values-driven research that demonstrates deep commitment to making a difference in our communities.
Our faculty members and fellows:
- approach each discipline with academic rigor and objectivity.
- have special expertise as practitioners of public policy.
- address policy issues of all kinds, generally focusing on issues of an urban society.
- understand that social and economic inequities are inherent in our system and work to develop the tools to evaluate and address those inequities.
- see diversity—in age, race, gender, ethnicity, and nationality—as central to our makeup, to great learning, and to our region's economic future.
Projects, Initiatives & Highlights
Centers & Institutes
UMass Boston is home to over 40 centers and institutes. The centers based in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA), focus on a wide range of issues including the ethics and politics of artificial intelligence (AI), mentoring, human rights, cultural studies, archaeology, the humanities, and labor studies.
- Applied Ethics Center
- Catherine Frisone Scott Center for Italian Cultural Studies
- Center for Evidence Based Mentoring
- Center for Portuguese Language - Instituto Camões
- Labor Resource Center
- Center for World Languages & Cultures
- Center for the Study of Humanities, Culture & Society
- Fiske Center
- Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights
- The Spanish Resource Center
- Center for Governance and Sustainability
- Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management
- The John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation
- Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
- Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development
- Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration
- Center for Social Policy
Recent Publications
- Eisikovits, N., & Stubbs, A. (2026). From the Hand of God to the eye of VAR. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 1–16.
- Kim, H. M., Lee, D. N., Stevens, H. R., & Stevens, E. M. (2026). Breaking the vape-stress cycle: communicating mental health risks of vaping to mitigate reactance. Journal of Public Health, 48(1), 137-143.
- Memmott, T., & Graff, M. (2026). Energy insecurity among LGBTQ households in the United States: A national evaluation. Energy Research and Social Science, 137, Article 104769.
- Donenfeld, J., Mudundi, M., Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2026). School changes minds: A meta-analysis shows that schooling modestly improves children's executive functions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 262, Article 106371.