The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Student news

International Youth Forum in Russia

Dear current and prospective students,

The international youth forum ‘Seliger – 2010’ offers a wonderful networking opportunity for CPPA students. The Forum will be held in the form of an eco-camp on the shore of Lake Seliger (Tver region, Russia) from July 1 through July 8, 2010, with English as its working language. It aims to bring together 3,000 participants from the US, Europe, Russia and Asia. Some prominent experts from Russia and Europe are also expected to be there.

The participation is free of charge; you will only need to cover your travel expenses to Moscow or St Petersburg. The working language will be English. The organizers will provide you visa support, and cover your lodging, food and transportation costs in Russia.

The Forum will also present a Career Fair organized by major Russian companies, as well as foreign companies working in Russia, interested in recruiting and cooperating with young talented graduates and students.

For more information please go to www.seliger2010.com or write to info@seliger2010.com

Elena

Categories
Alumni news Events

2010 Local Alumni Celebration

Join CPPA on Thursday, April 8, 2010 for a local alumni gathering. Stop by for a drink, few hors d’oeuvres, and to catch up on all the happenings from your alma mater.

What:    CPPA Local Alumni Celebration
When:   April 8 from 5:30 – 7:30PM
Where:  Bistro Les Gras, 25 West Street, Northampton, MA 01060

Bistro Les Gras is located just down the street from the Smith College parking garage, which provides free parking after 5PM.

RSVPs are appreciated but not required. Please email Kathy Colon if you plan to attend: kcolon@pubpol.umass.edu

CPPA holds yearly alumni gatherings across the US. If you’d like to suggest a location for our next alumni gathering, let us know!?

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Events

Princeton University Demographer Douglas Massey to Speak on Mexico-U.S. Migration

Douglas Massey of Princeton University will speak on “The New Reality of Mexico-U.S. Migration: The Effects of America’s War on Immigrants” on Tuesday, April 6 at 12:30 p.m. in Thompson 620.  The talk is part of the Center for Public Policy and Administration’s Mellon-funded Grants Workshop Speaker Series and is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, the Department of History, and the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies.

Massey is Princeton’s Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, and also holds an appointment with the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.  He is widely known for his work on immigration, housing, race and poverty, and for his use of large-scale survey data to document and illuminate pressing social issues. He co-directs the Mexican Migration Project, a bi-national research effort that investigates the evolving nature of transnational migration between Mexico and the U.S.  He also launched the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, a comprehensive survey of white, black, Latino and Asian American first-year students that provided the data for The Source of the River, Massey’s widely-read book about issues affecting access to American colleges and universities. Douglas Massey is a past president of the American Sociological Association and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In his talk, Massey will discuss the ways that Mexico-U.S. migration patterns have historically shifted in response to changes in U.S. policy.  He will especially focus on the end of the 20th century, when we saw several events that led to the militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border and the escalation of U.S. enforcement.  Massey will argue that these events have caused undocumented migration to effectively cease, even though legal immigrants and guest workers continue to enter the country.  However, because unauthorized immigrants already living here are not returning to Mexico, a majority of Mexicans living in the United States currently do so outside the protection of the law and at a time when penalties for illegality and the persecution of undocumented immigrants have reached record levels.  Increasingly, Mexicans in the United States are cut off from their homeland and estranged by anti-immigrant policies, practices and attitudes, finding themselves in unusually marginalized and vulnerable positions.

While at UMass, Massey will also mentor Assistant Professor of History José Angel Hernández, who is developing a grant proposal for support of his research on the recent deportation of Mexicans living in New England.  Hernández is a Fellow in the 2009-2010 CPPA Grants Workshop, which is supported by the UMass Amherst Office of Faculty Development’s Mutual Mentoring Initiative, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This talk is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Susan Newton (snewton@pubpol.umass.edu or 413-577-0478)

Categories
Faculty Research

NSF Grant Funds Anthro Research Experience for Students

Congratulations to Krista Harper for recieving $149,500  for the implementation of “Cultural Heritage in European Societies and Spaces (CHESS).”  Krista Harper and Jacqueline Urla will direct this three-year International Research Experience for Students (IRES) project that will allow fifteen undergraduate and graduate students from UMass Amherst and the Five Colleges consortium to participate. 

Krista is an Associate Professor of anthropology and CPPA.  Her research includes post-socialist societies, environmentalism and social movements. 

For the complete article on this topic, visit here.

Categories
Faculty Research

Fountain Discusses IT & Information Flow at Dubai School of Government

Jane Fountain,  Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, was an invited lecturer on “Governance and Information Technology: From Electronic Government to Information Government” at the Dubai School of Government last week. The panel coincided with an Arabic release of a book with the same name.

According to a news release, Governance and Information Technology: From Electronic Government to Information Government ” analyzes the shift from the narrow focus of electronic government on technology and transactions to the broader perspective of information government, which includes the information flows within the public sector, between the public sector and citizens, as well as among citizens. ”

Fountain’s discussion focused on the flow of information in bureaucracies and the impact of information technology on public administration. According to Fountain, “information technologies offer spectacular opportunities to the public sector, bringing synergy between the government and the society. Strategic use of information tools enables governments to be more efficient and allows them to be more attentive and responsive to the needs of citizens.”

In addition to the invited panel presentation, Fountain authored a chapter in the book titled “Challenges to Organizational Change: Multi-Level Integrated Information Structures (MIIS)” which explores how information is structured at the micro-, organizational-, and institutional-levels. (See Fountain’s National Center for Digital Government working paper for an earlier version of this work)

In its first publication, the book was edited by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Director of the Information and Innovation Policy Research Centre, and David Lazer, Associate Professor of Political Science at Northeastern and Director of the Program on Networked Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. The Arabic edition also includes editor  Fadi Salem, Fellow at the Dubai School of Government, and Dr. Yasar Jarrar, Partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Research Fellow (nonresident) at the Dubai School of Government.

More information about the book release and panel presentation is available through Al Bawaba.com. Further information about Fountain’s research is available through the National Center for Digital Government.

Categories
Student news

Christa Drew named International Food Information Council Foundation Sylvia Rowe Fellow

The International Food Information Council Foundation in Washington DC has selected Christa Drew for its 2010 Sylvia Rowe Fellowship. Christa is a student at the Center for Public Policy and Administration pursuing an MPPA with emphasis on food science policy.

During the fellowship, Drew will work on projects and policies regarding food safety and risk communication.  She plans to incorporate food science research into consumer education about nutrition and health. According to Drew, “The Sylvia Rowe Fellowship nicely compliments my previous years of work experience on hunger, nutrition and obesity and my food science policy studies at UMass. In addition, my time with IFIC will augment an internship, also this summer, with the International Life Science Institute where I’ll work on research funding/food science conflict of interest policies.”

The Sylvia Rowe Fellowship Award was established in 2007 as a tribute to former International Food Information Council Foundation President and CEO, Sylvia B. Rowe, to help promising nutrition and food safety communicators enhance their capabilities. The goal of this award is to develop the recipent’s communications skills so that they can communicate nutrition and food safety information to the public in an academic setting, professional situation (either for-profit or nonprofit sector), or other public venues.

For more information about the International Food Information Council, visit their website. For details on the food science specialization at CPPA, click here.

Categories
Faculty Research

Mednicoff Participates in Migrant Labor Working Group at Georgetown University

David Mednicoff, CPPA and legal studies, participated in a “Migrant Labor in the Gulf” working group at Georgetown University’s Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS).  The working group is made up of academics, experts, and representatives from various governmental, non-governmental and labor organizations.  The group discussed the issue of migrant labor from a broad range of perspectives and gave recommendations for further research.

Mednicoff’s participation in the working group relates to his research project “Migrant Labor and Legal Regulations in Doha and Duba,” which is funded through CIRS. In this project, Mednicoff examines the regulatory policies adopted by Gulf States to manage labor migrant populations. He also compares these policies to those adopted by states in other parts of the world. This work is based on interviews with attorneys, policy consultants, journalists, academics, and government officials in Qatar and the U.A.E.

For more information about the working group, visit CIRS’ website.

Categories
Policy Viewpoints

Election reform and the Oscars

As you may have heard, the Academy Awards will be happening on Sunday night.  Although Avatar seems like the inevitable choice for best picture (although I’m hoping that my personal favorite, “A Serious Man,” is a Serious Dark-Horse Candidate), there are certain aspects of the best picture race that still make it intriguing AND tie in to election reform, as unlikely as that might seem. First, there are ten best picture nominees, the most since 1943.  This is a good thing publicity-wise, promoting interest in lesser-known but high quality films. But, with so many candidates, how well will the winner actually reflect the will of the voters?

The answer is instant-runoff voting.  Election reform advocates have been working for this type of voting system for a while but it has yet to catch on widely.  In a typical, single-round election with more than two candidates, the winner only needs a plurality to win: he or she needs only to garner the most votes of anyone on the ballot, not necessarily a majority–50% plus 1–of voters.  This is obviously problematic because the system fails to adequately register voters’ preferences.  Let’s take as an example the 2000 presidential elections, specifically in Florida.  Let’s say that your absolute favorite candidate is everyone’s favorite elderly consumer-rights advocate, Ralph Nader.  If Nader doesn’t win, though, you’d MUCH prefer Gore to win over Bush.  However, you’ve only got a single vote, and by awarding it to Nader, you’ve essentially helped Bush by depriving Gore, the only other candidate you like, of your vote.  If the margin between Bush and Gore is small enough, a very small number of Nader voters who would by all accounts prefer Gore to Bush can tilt the election toward Bush.

This is a systemic problem with the American voting system: a vote for a third- (or fourth-) party candidate is essentially a vote for your least-favorite candidate.  This has resulted in a panoply of ills: a rigid, two-party system, national politics that is dominated by corporate money, personality politics and frivolity, and the inability of many views to be represented at all.  The two major parties are, of course, opposed to election reform because our current system is heavily weighted against the emergence of strong third parties, which is part of the reason it’s so difficult to effect meaningful change in the first place.  Regular runoffs–where a second election is held with the top two vote-getters if no one candidate garners a majority–are a definite improvement, but they still typically result in a vote between the two establishment candidates.

In instant-runoff voting, voters rank their preference for every candidate in order.  In the 2000 election scenario, a Nader voter would rank Nader 1, Gore 2, and Bush 3.  Now here’s the cool part: if no candidate has a majority, the votes start being re-allocated.  Since Nader is the lowest vote-getter, his voters’ votes will be allocated to whatever their second preference is, in this case Gore.  In other words, there would no longer be wasted votes: expressing your preference for a minor candidate would not prevent your vote from going toward a more viable candidate, if your first choice is the lowest vote-getter.  (Note that for fields of more than 3 candidates, this process is iterative: the votes of the lowest vote-getter are reallocated, then the next-lowest etc. until at least one candidate has a majority).

The Wall Street Journal had a really interesting story up recently about the advantages and disadvantages of this approach for Oscar balloting, and the implications for political elections.  Who knows, maybe instant runoffs will start catching on!

Categories
Faculty Research Science, technology & society

Fountain Presents on Ethics in Science and Engineering at AAAS Annual Meeting

CPPA Professor Jane Fountain was part of a panel discussion on ethics education in science and engineering in light of the National Science Foundation’s Responsible Conduct of Research requirement at the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Diego this February.

Fountain is PI of the Ethics in Science and Engineering National Clearinghouse (ESENCE), a beta site for an online repository of ethics education resources, and the International Dimensions of Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (IDEESE) Project, which, with Professor MJ Peterson, has developed a framework for incorporting international dimensions of ethics into research and education. Both projects are part of the Science, Technology and Society Initiative at CPPA.

The workshop panel, “National Science Foundation and Ethics Education in Science and Engineering,” featured presentations, materials or comments from the National Postdoctoral Association, the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Engineering, and a representative for graduate studies administration. Slides from each presentation are available through the ESENCe website:

RCR for Postdocs: Promoting Ethical Professional Development
Kathleen Flint
Project Manager
National Postdoctoral Association

Expanding Ethics Education in Science & Engineering
Jane E. Fountain
Professor of Political Science and Public Policy
Adjunct Professor of Computer Science
Director, National Center for Digital Government
Director, Science, Technology & Society Initiative
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Update on Responsible Conduct of Research
Michael E. Gorman
Program Director
Science, Technology & Society
National Science Foundation

Kelly Joyce
Program Director
Science, Technology & Society
National Science Foundation


NSF Supported Case-Studies Done by Systems Engineering Graduate Students at UVA
Michael E. Gorman
Program Director
Science, Technology & Society
National Science Foundation

Science and Engineering Ethics Education: Recipes for Success
Philip J. Langlais, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies & Research
Old Dominion University

Moderator: Michael E. Gorman
Program Director
Science, Technology & Society
National Science Foundation

Organizer: Rachelle Hollander
Director of the Center for Engineering, Ethics, and Society
National Academy of Engineering

Categories
Faculty Research Science, technology & society

Fountain Discusses Networked Governance with Gov Officials in Spain

Jane Fountain, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Director of the National Center for Digital Government (NCDG),  traveled to Madrid and Alicante, Spain in February as part of her research on the European Union’s “paperless” Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).

With Raquel Galindo, Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and Jeffrey Rothschild, NCDG Research Fellow and UMass political science senior, Fountain is writing a case study on the institutional challenges and opportunities OHIM faced in its transition to a paperless office.  While in Spain, Fountain met with OHIM’s president, managers and other agency leaders to discuss her research and tour OHIM facilities.

While in Spain, Fountain also met with leaders of the Escuola de Organization Industriel in Madrid and gave an invited lecture “Government 2.0: Opportunities and Challenges.” Video from Fountain’s presentation is available here.

The OHIM case study will be published in late March 2010 and will be posted to the NCDG website.