McCormack Student Chair Deepens the Student Success Agenda Through New Student-Centered Initiatives
McCormack Student Chair Deepens the Student Success Agenda Through New Student-Centered Initiatives
As the Student Chair of the Dean’s Office Student Success (DOSS) Ambassadors, Global Governance and Human Security PhD student Jiedine Phanbuh is wholeheartedly committed to enacting initiatives on behalf of all McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies students to better serve their needs. Phanbuh and her fellow DOSS Ambassadors serve as a liaison between student needs and faculty response, saying, “We will be representatives of McCormack students when decision making needs to be done.”
As a representative of the DOSS Program, Phanbuh wants to maximize the efforts taken up by the McCormack Dean’s Office to provide McCormack students with meaningful and practical opportunities, whether that comes in the form of internships, workshops, or events. Phanbuh was inspired by the Dean’s Office dedication to student success and became involved in the DOSS program as a student who demonstrates leadership and commitment to her community. Phanbuh explained the role that she and her fellow Ambassadors play in this way: “We are a group of passionate leaders who want to do a little more than just classes. We want to see how we can involve ourselves with the bigger McCormack governance. What Dean Edozie has established, and I am very much in support of this, is that when decisions are being made in the McCormack School—the governance, the workings, the events, what students need in terms of professional development—it’s not done just by the administration alone. As Ambassadors, we fill that bridge between the students and the faculty to hear the voices of the students.”
As the Student Chair of the DOSS program, Phanbuh considers herself a representative of McCormack’s undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students. She wants to make sure she does not operate only as a representative for other PhD students. “When we need the students’ representation, I’m always ready,” she said. “I’m up front, and I’m there to do the things that are needed.” Phanbuh is committed to the fruition of the many McCormack student-proposed initiatives. “I will take responsibility as a DOSS Ambassador to make sure that this is executed for the students,” she said. “They know what they want, they have their ideas, and they are going to be heard. That’s how we grow. I want to see all our initiatives being carried out, and I want to see more students being engaged, coming with ideas, and being involved.”
Phanbuh has collaborated on several new DOSS Program efforts this year, including expanding student community engagement across the Boston area, fostering student-led community-building across the UMass Boston campus and the McCormack programs, and recruiting volunteers for peer-to-peer mentorship. Most notably, she and the DOSS Ambassadors, along with the help of Dean Edozie and Dr. Christopher Graham, the Dean’s Office Manager for Student Success and Undergraduate Advising, launched the McCormack Scholars, an officially registered UMass Boston club. Phanbuh serves as the club’s president and is very involved in its operations. She and the DOSS Ambassadors played a key role in developing and fostering its vision. The McCormack Scholars aim to represent all students of McCormack who want to be a part of the larger McCormack community, including activities, events, and decision-making. Although the club is a recent venture whose formal operations are still being determined, its vision is grand. It seeks to increase engagement between McCormack and the Boston area, including more involvement with Beacon Hill, other universities, professional workplaces, and figures in local government. Importantly, Phanbuh and the leaders of the McCormack Scholars want club involvement to span across all programs at McCormack. “This is for everyone within the McCormack School,” she said. “I really see this as something where everybody will work together.”
For Phanbuh, her involvement in the DOSS Program and the McCormack Scholars is about more than just having the title of “Student Chair” or President. It is about being involved in the daily operations of these student-centered groups to make sure that initiatives are carried out. Phanbuh regards her continued studies as a contribution to a large body of scholars at McCormack, and she hopes to work as an advocate for students to level the playing field across the McCormack’s degree programs, including BA, MA, and PhD programs. The deliberate choice of the term “Scholars” conveys her belief that “There’re no levels within the McCormack Scholars. Everybody is going to be together in this mission.”
Outside of her work in the DOSS program, Phanbuh studies global governance and international environmental policy. Her research interests involve the study of water conflict and water governance, with particular attention to the transboundary water conflict between India and Pakistan and across global contexts. She came to the McCormack School due, in large part, to its core faculty in the Global Governance and Human Security program, including Professors Maria Ivanova and Stacy VanDeveer. She studied both as part of her Master’s in Public Policy program at the University of New Hampshire. Following her MA program, Phanbuh participated in a one-year Optional Practical Training work opportunity with the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, D. C. There, she appreciated the fast-paced and important work the Association was doing on immigration. She dubbed it an “amazing” professional experience but realized she wanted to return to higher education to pursue a doctoral program and resume her research on water conflict. She joined the McCormack School’s Department of Conflict Resolution, Global Governance, and Human Security in September of 2021.
Phanbuh plans to defend her dissertation proposal. Its focus is on mitigating national conflicts over water as an essential natural resource, thus enabling nations to better conserve and sustain this precious resource. That said, her involvement in and dedication to McCormack has no apparent expiration date beyond completion of her program. “Even when I’m not a student, there will always be a part of me here,” she said. “My goals and my work with DOSS and McCormack are not just limited to this timeframe when I am holding this position. Beyond my studies, I will find a way to support the McCormack School or the DOSS initiatives. I see it as a long-term vision, not a short-term one.”