Professors Heidi Levitt, Elizabeth Bussiere, and Werner Kunz will be honored when UMass Boston holds its in-person 2020 Commencement ceremony. The three will receive Chancellor’s Awards in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service during the ceremony, on a date still to be set.

The Office of Graduate Studies this year selected two students to receive top honors and serve as commencement speakers:

Dear Students, Staff, and Faculty,

As the leader of a majority-minority campus, an institution devoted to social justice and the cardinal principles of equality, it is incumbent on me to speak out about the intolerable violence that has been visited on black citizens like George Floyd. 

Two professors at UMass Boston’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) and graduate students from CNHS and the McCormack Graduate School are making the case for why tobacco-related health disparities among sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations need to be addressed in this age of COVID-19.

It’s obvious from speaking with her that Maryum Zaidi, who earned her PhD in nursing from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences in May, has a natural curiosity about her.

“Beliefs about something always fascinate me, like what a person believes about themselves—what a person believes about anything. Does that impact their behavior?” Zaidi said.

Interim Chancellor Katherine Newman and UMass Boston Police Chief Donald Baynard sent messages to the campus community on Thursday about the presence of state police on campus.

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Women in Sports Tech, Inc. (WiST) recently announced that they have awarded 15 summer fellowships to female students from colleges and universities all over the U.S., including two UMass Amherst students.

These fellowships are in the form of $5,000 grants for students to pursue summer projects in sports technology.

Ajla Aksamija, associate professor of architecture, was recently interviewed on the NPR's radio show, “The Pulse”, which focuses on the intersection of health, science and innovation.

"The Science of Staying Cool" episode explores the science behind keeping cool, heath island effect in urban areas, how to design cooler buildings, and new building technologies that use less energy for operation and improve occupants' thermal comfort.

Sheldon Goldman, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, has announced his retirement after 55 years of teaching at UMass Amherst. Goldman arrived on campus in 1965 after receiving his Ph.D. at Harvard, and during his more than half century at UMass, has become one of the nation’s leading experts on the politics of judicial selection and confirmation.

Kathryne Young, assistant professor of sociology, has been named one of ten Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders for 2020 at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

One of 10 recipients from around the country, Young was selected for her research in legal consciousness and cultural capital.

The Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader (MEFL) Awards support junior faculty whose research focuses on contemporary American history, politics, culture, and society, and who are committed to the creation of an inclusive campus community for underrepresented students and scholars.

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