Kira Tait, Ph.D. candidate in political science, has been named the winner of the 2020 Three Minute Thesis competition. Organized by the Graduate School, the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) challenges graduate students to describe their research in an engaging manner, using non-technical language, all in three minutes or less. Tait's presentation, "Roadblocks to Access: Perceptions of Law in Post-Apartheid South Africa," was also voted the People's Choice winner by audience members at the 3MT Campus Final on Feb. 28.

On Wednesday, March 11 at 6 p.m., historian and author Erika Lee will deliver the history department's 2020 Distinguished Annual Lecture. The lecture, titled "Xenophobia in America: How We Got Here and What's At Stake," will explore the history of nativism in the U.S. from the colonial era to the present day, explaining how xenophobia works, why it has endured and how it threatens America.

Sonya Atalay, associate professor in the department of anthropology, has edited the new book “Archaeologies of the Heart.”

Inspired by calls for a different way of doing archaeology, Atalay and co-editors Kisha Supernant, Jane Eva Baxter, and Natasha Lyons make a case for a heart-centered archaeological practice.

Heart-centered practice emerged in care-based disciplines, such as nursing and various forms of therapy. In archeology, it involves not studying the subject from an objective view but studying the world with the mind, body, heart and sprit.  

Doctoral candidate Sarah Lowe appeared on a Sundance Film Festival panel titled "Moving the Needle: How Immigrant Stories Are Shifting American Culture." Lowe, who is pursuing her Ph.D. in health promotion and policy under the mentorship of Aline Gubrium, serves as the head of research and impact at Define American, the nonprofit founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented American, Jose Antonio Vargas.

Goddard House, the oldest nonprofit elder care organization in Massachusetts, has recently pledged a $500,000 gift over five years to the Goddard House – Doane Scholarship program at UMass Boston, which was established in 2015.

Financial support will be available for UMass Boston nursing students pursuing any degree or certification program who have previously worked for at least 10 years as a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, or certified nursing assistant in the City of Boston.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – what demographers call AAPIs – are the nation’s fastest-growing minority. Close to 20 million now live in the United States. But you wouldn’t know it from our public health data, where AAPIs are underrepresented. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the data on cervical cancer screenings.

I am writing to provide important new guidance on the evolving nature of the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) situation. There are reports of increasing cases in areas such as South Korea, Japan, and Italy. With these developments, we are closely evaluating university associated international travel to ensure we can best support our faculty, staff, and students.

There have been no cases of the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) at UMass Dartmouth.

Anna Maria Siega-Riz, dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and an expert in nutritional epidemiology, is the lead author of “The Current Understanding of Gestational Weight Gain Among Women with Obesity and the Need for Future Research,” a discussion paper appearing in “NAM Perspectives,” the journal of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

The Office of Equity and Inclusion is accepting applications for 2020-21 Campus Climate Improvement Grants until noon, March 16. Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff are encouraged to submit their creative ideas for fostering connections on campus in the upcoming academic year.

The University of Massachusetts Boston is establishing a new professional apprenticeship program to provide students with paying, on-campus work experience that enables them to develop increasingly complex skills and project management experience. After two years, the student apprentices will be able to participate in off-campus opportunities with over twenty "industry clusters," UMass Boston-sponsored networks of private sector firms that are advising faculty and deans on the rapidly changing needs of their professions.