UMass Amherst School of Public Policy

We are incredibly proud of Megan for this achievement! Congratulations Megan Di Giovanni!

Michael J Nicholson, MPP ’17, has received this year's Outstanding Young Alumni Award. He is now serving his third term as the Mayor of Gardner, MA, and is the city's first Hispanic/Latin American elected official. SPP extends a sincere congratulations to Michael on this award! To read more about Nicholson’s story, click the following link https://ow.ly/AZOA50U3vfo. #umass #umassspp #localgovernment #publicpolicy

Next summer Georgetown University Press will publish "Rules of the Road for Nonprofit Leaders: Using the Law to Achieve Your Mission." It provides a plain speaking, affirmative explanation of nonprofit law, both as it is and as it should be. Georgetown just sent me a copy of the cover, which I am proud to share! UMass Amherst School of Public Policy Georgetown University Press #nonprofit #nonprofitlaw #nonprofit #nonprofitleadership #nonprofitboard #law

Megan Di Giovanni, 4+1 MPA candidate, spent her summer interning at the U.S. Department of State in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI). S/GWI’s primary mission is to advance the status of women and girls globally across many different policy areas, including peace and security, economic empowerment, and gender-based violence. During her internship, she focused on program development and administration, noting that, “Every day looked different for me. One day, the office was hosting the NATO Summit, and the next I was in consultation meetings with Burkina Faso and South Sudan. I even got to shake hands with the Secretary of State Antony Blinken!” Additionally, her internship gave her the opportunity to confirm her passion for gender policy. “This internship has reignited my passion for gender policy and justice, for if I could do so much as an intern, there is no telling how much change I will be able to make in my future career.” Want to learn more about Megan’s internship experience? Read her Q & A at https://ow.ly/U5mq50TmhZA #umass #umassspp #internship #publicpolicy #genderpolicy #statedepartment

This summer, Emma Coles, MPPA '25, interned with the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) as a fellow through the Civic Action Project (CAP). During her time at the BHA, Emma worked on the Real Estate Development team and the Scattered Site Initiative conducting data analysis, planning resident meetings, and learning the intricacies of public housing regulations set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, according to Emma, the road to success in the policy world is rarely straight and narrow: "Policy in the real world is tough and complicated, and there is no perfect solution to every situation. However, the lack of an easy and obvious answer is what makes policy work so exciting." Emma met up with us more about her work this summer with the BHA. Learn more about her experience here: https://ow.ly/ivJB50T3jtI #umass #umassspp #publicpolicy #housingpolicy #internship

Marta Vicarelli, assistant professor of economics and public policy, recently brief the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on the findings of her recent research on the economic viability of nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction. The importance of this work, coauthored by several SPP alumni, is heightened by increased global disaster risk brought on by climate change. "Nature-based solutions that mitigate hazards also mitigate the impacts to human health and human security," Vicarelli recently told MassLive. Read the full UMass News article and previous coverage of the research release at https://ow.ly/37gf50T43EY. #umass #umassspp #nbs #drr #publicpolicy #environmentaleconomics

Internships are a crucial part of a public policy education; look no further that Olivia Soolman, Public Policy '27, as an example of that. Olivia was a Policy and Advocacy intern at RCAP Solutions, a non-profit community development organization based in Worcester, MA. During her internship, Olivia used her writing skillset to work on local policy issues, including water quality and maternal health in Massachusetts, and her experience writing in her undergraduate courses helped make the transition to applied policy work that much easier: "Having already written policy papers for Controversies in Public Policy and Public Policy, I felt very prepared to thoroughly research a policy topic and write a white paper for my internship." Want to learn more about internships at the School of Public Policy? Check out our Careers and Internships page here: https://ow.ly/BQeO50T2i3Q! #umass #umassspp #nonprofit #internship #publicpolicy

Joya Misra, distinguished professor of public policy and sociology, recently published two new articles addressing different aspects of faculty inclusion in higher education spaces. In an article published in the journal Social Problems and titled “I don’t believe that I have been wanted”: Processes of Overinclusion and Exclusion in Racialized and Gendered Organizations" Misra and coauthors find various forms of both overinclusion and exclusion of faculty of color in professional spaces. Additionally, in a column in Inside Higher Ed titled "COVID's Lasting Impacts on Faculty Inclusion," Misra and coauthors discuss how feelings of faculty inclusion have dropped dramatically since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more about these publications, visit the SPP News page at https://lnkd.in/eA-VvVta

What a treat to see our fantastic SPP alumni Julia Fox, Ayla Thorntona, MPP, and Isaac Blustein Gibbons back at the Civic Action Project sharing their experience and knowledge of state and local government with the current class of fellows! #civicactionproject #umass #umassspp #localgovernment #stategovernment

Have you ever dreamed of traveling the world? Trading your textbooks for tapas... or in this case, smørrebrød? Please tell me we spelled that right (insert Kierkegaard joke about poor spelling here). Well, at UMass and SPP, you can study abroad at 300 different locations! Take it from Maya Couto, Public Policy '25, who recently studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her time in the Danish capital gave her real exposure to how public policies can impact the day to day life of everyday people. "I learned so much about what makes a city revolve around the people rather than cars, which makes for a lively, sustainable, and meaningful place. It was interesting to compare the development of city planning and policy from the U.S. to modern Copenhagen." Want to learn more about Maya's experience studying abroad? Learn more at our Study Abroad Blog at https://ow.ly/kuiI50SO96p #umass #umassspp #studyabroad #copenhagen #denmark #sustainability