News

Keller '91 Receives NYC Division Chief Award for Law Work

December 19, 2011

“I was always told by my parents and teachers that I was a good public speaker,” says Janet (Rubinstein) Keller ’91, “and I usually liked getting up in front of people and giving my point of view.” This knack for public speaking has formed the basis for Keller’s career as senior counsel in the Office of the Corporation Counsel at the New York City Law Department, where she was recently recognized—for the second time—with a Division Chief Award for superior legal accomplishments.

Shulman Receives NSF Grant to Analyze Organizational Engagement

December 18, 2011

Stuart Shulman, Assisant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Qualitative Data Analysis Program at UMass, is part of a $395,458 grant from the National Science Foundation to "[Use] Computer and Information Science to Understand Organizational Engagement."

The research project, which is led by Holly Brasher, associate professor of government at the University of Alabama Birmingham, seeks to integrate computer, information, and social sciences to "develop a model of organization influence on legislative outcomes."

Hard Work Lands Alum at Dept. of Homeland Security

December 12, 2011

After graduating from UMass Amherst, Philip McNamara ’97, joined the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as the assistant to the director of party affairs and delegate selection. “It was my first ‘professional’ job,” reflects McNamara. “I was 23 and figured I would stay there for a year or two.” After the first year, however, McNamara became the deputy director of party affairs and delegate selection, and, in 2002, the director. His temporary job effectively became an 11 year career.

Shulman Gives Invited Lecture at Univ of Haifa, Israel

December 11, 2011

Stuart Shulman, assistant professor of political science and founder and director of the Qualitative Data Analysis Program at UMass Amherst, was an invited speaker at University of Haifa in Israel. His presentation, "Coding the Twittersphere," explored how and why posts on micro-blogging forums such as Twitter should be gathered, filtered, searched, and analyzed.

iSurvey Releases MA Senate Poll: Warren Leads Brown

November 30, 2011

A political poll conducted by the University of

Glaun, Shamey Represent UMass at SCUSA

November 21, 2011

Daniel Glaun ’12 (Political Science) and Nicholas Shamey ’13 (Political Science) were selected to represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Department of Political Science at the Student Conference on US Affairs (SCUSA) at West Point in November 2011.

Has the Arab Spring Passed Jordan By?

November 20, 2011

Jillian Schwedler, associate professor of political science, was a featured "blogging head" with Hisham Bustani, a reporter at Jadaliyya, on a special edition of Bloggingheads.tv on the Arab Spring.

Haas Collaborates on UN's Global Environment Outlook 5

November 15, 2011

On November 1st to 4th, Professor Peter Haas participated in the creation of the UN's Global Environment Outlook 5, a periodic report that details the global state of the enviroment. Started in 1995 in an effort to document environmental issues, these reports are created by various groups and prestigious experts in enviromental policy. Professor Haas has a sustained interest in international relations, especially as they relate to enviromental politics and controversies.

To see the UN's GEO's website, please see this page.

Cross-Cutting Political Research Motivates Graduate Student

November 6, 2011

“The events of 9/11 were a formative experience for my generation,” says Melinda R. Tarsi, a fifth year PhD student in the Department of Political Science. Since 9/11, Tarsi has watched many friends enter and serve in the military. Once their terms were up, Tarsi also watched these same friends leave the military and start to utilize many of the benefits designed to support veterans. “I quickly became interested in what appeared to be a parallel welfare state,” Tarsi reflects.

Legal Studies Professor Uses Art to Record Peace & Conflict

November 1, 2011

For nearly eight hundred years, and most recently three bloody decades, Northern Ireland/the north of Ireland was characterized by violent and politically-charged conflicts over the constitutional status of the territory. While the ceasefires and political peace talks regularly made the news, a series of non-violent, artistic demonstrations were often overlooked. According to Leah Wing, a faculty member in the Legal Studies program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, nearly 2,000 murals have been constructed across the region in the past forty years.

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