Ethnographic Research Seminar

Prof. Donna Haig Friedman has arranged this seminar:

A RETROSPECTIVE ON THE ‘MORAL FIX’:
ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

A Seminar Discussion with

JOHN VAN MAANEN, Ph.D.

Friday, May 16, 2008
12:00 noon -1:30 PM
Location: TBD
Lunch will be served.

RSVP by May 9 to Karen.means@umb.edu

John Van Maanen is the Erwin H. Schell Professor of Organization Studies in Behavioral and Policy Sciences (BPS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Dr. Van Maanen studies groups of people the old-fashioned way: by living with them. Among the groups he has studied ethnographically are Gloucester fishermen, Disneyland ride operators, US patrol officers, and London detectives and their supervisors. Cultural descriptions figure prominently in his writings about occupational conflicts, organizational careers, and work routines. His recent studies examine the social history of ethnographic understanding of work organizations and the various ways particular occupation identities take shape and change work settings.

His publications include: Managing for the Future: Organizational Behavior and Processes (1996); Representation in Ethnography (1995); Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography (1988); and Policing: A View from the Street (1978).

Sponsored by the Department of Public Policy and Public AffairsJohn W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, UMass Boston.

Political Economy and Public Policy Lecture Series

The Political Economy and Public Policy Lecture Series, as initiated by Prof. Ramon Borges-Mendez, has been a great addition to our program this year.

We are pleased to announce the schedule for the rest of this semester, and hope you will be able to join us. All talks will be held in McCormack 3-415 (PPOL classroom) and light refreshments will be served.

Thursday, April 10, 11:30am-1pm

Alan Clayton-Matthews will be speaking on The Role of Migration in New England's Educational Advantage.

How has New England managed to achieve higher rates of educational attainment among its youth? This paper explores how migration flows of college students and college-educated adults raised the educational attainment of the population in New England and each of the New England states during the period 1970 to 2005.


Thursday, April 24, 4:00-5:30pm

Christian Weller and Manita Rao will be speaking on Progressive Income Taxation as a Tool for Economic Development.

How can progressive income taxation be linked to economic development for industrializing nations? This paper explores a possible solution to the dilemma that industrializing economies often find themselves in: trying to attract more capital into their economies from overseas while having to manage the growing economic and financial risks that often are associated with greater capital mobility.

May 7 or 8 (TBD), 4:00-5:30pm

Juliet Schor (Dept. of Sociology, Boston College) will be speaking on Achieving Sustainability: A Macro Perspective. Abstract to follow.

The Political Economy and Public Policy Lecture Series is sponsored by: the Dept. of Public Policy; Public Policy Forum; Dept. of Economics; Dept. of Political Science; and the Center for Social Policy.

Keith Wailoo

Wood Professor Event & Request: April 28

This year's Wood Professor is Dr. Keith Wailoo. Save the date for Dr. Wailoo's public lecture on the evening of April 28. We are also working to arrange a student session during the day with Dr. Wailoo.

Dr. Wailoo is Director of the Center for Race and Ethnicity, Professor of History, and jointly appointed in the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University. He is the author of several books examining how patterns of disease change over time in America, and focusing especially on the ways in which scientific and technological understandings have interacted with health care politics, racial and ethnic relations, and cultural politics to inform responses to disease in the 20th century and into the 21st century.

As part of this event, we are putting together a handout that highlights PPOL students' research on issues related to health policy and or racial/ethnic inequalities. While at UMB, have you done any research focused on either of those areas? Please let us know by April 14 so we can include you in the handout! Your research can be completed or ongoing. Email the following information to publicpolicyforum AT gmail DOT com:

• Title of Project/Publication


• Your name and any co-authors. Identify if any are UMB faculty/staff/students.


• 1-3 sentence description.


• Focus on health policy and/or racial/ethnic inequalities?
  
  
  
  

Udaya Wagle-- Alumni Speaker Event

The Public Policy Forum welcomes a distinguished alumnus for a guest lecture.

Dr. Udaya Waglé

Thursday, March 6

4-5:30pm

PPOL Classroom (M3-415)

"Changes in and Characteristics of Working Poverty in the FinanciallyStruggling Economy of Michigan: 1998 and 2007"

About Dr. Waglé:

Udaya Waglé is an alumnus of the Public Policy Program at UMass Boston(Ph.D. 2004). Since 2005, he has been teaching as assistant professor in theSchool of Public Affairs and Administration at Western Michigan University,Kalamazoo, MI, which offers MPA and Ph.D. in public Administration degrees. Prior to this, he completed one year of visiting professorship at the Schoolof Management at Marist College, NY. The Public Policy Program awarded him the Academic Excellence Award in 2005.

Dr. Waglé's research focuses on inequality, poverty, policymaking, and globalization, with ongoing research in Nepal, the US, and high income OECD countries. While in the Public Policy Program, his dissertation tackled thetheoretical and operational issues of multidimensional poverty measurement using large survey data from Kathmandu, Nepal. He has established an exemplary record of research and publication with his research spanning both developing and advanced countries. He has authored over a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals including International Political Science Review, International Social Journal, Journal of Economic Inequality, Journal ofHuman Development, Policy Sciences, Review of Social Economy, Social Science Journal, Social Science Research, South Asia, and World Development. His book Multidimensional Poverty Measurement: Concepts and Applications is forthcoming (April 2008) from Springer.

More info on his research interests can be found here.

Meeting with the Dean

Stay tuned for a summary of this meeting, to be sent via email.

Meeting with the Dean

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

10am - 11:30am

PPOL Classroom (M3-415)

All PPOL students invited to discuss the current state of departmental affairs with the Dean.

This Day in Policy

We're introducing a new feature to the blog: "This Day in Policy."

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Roe v Wade.

Steven Levitt (of Freakonomics fame) and John Donohue have conducted research demonstrating that the legalization of abortion in the 1970s reduced crime rates in the 1990s. Read about that and more here.

PPOL students and faculty-- Have any of you conducted research on reproductive rights? Tell us about it in the comments!

Welcome Back

Attention chocoholics! The Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) has organized a welcome back event for the start of the Spring 2008 semester. It will be held Tuesday, January 29th from 5-7pm.

Faculty Search Update

PPOL students: please check your email for the latest update on the faculty search. Due to confidentiality concerns, we cannot post it here. If you have not received this email, please email us to let us know.