The McCormack Institutes of International and Public Service (MIIPS)

"McCormack's Institutes are a bridge to a worldwide community of connections and partnerships with public and private institutions that create meaningful intellectual and experiential exchanges for McCormack's faculty and students." -

Rita Kiki Edozie, Interim Dean and Professor of Global Governance and International Relations 

The John W McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies was founded in 1983 as the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs as an applied public policy research center focusing on issues of immediate concern to Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the New England region, and by 1991 - the World. In 2010, the Institute further expanded to become the small, college-school that it is today convening nationally and internationally recognized policy studies education that fuses applied policy research and public service in a single mission via graduate training and advanced, undergraduate teaching and learning. In addition to three academic departments and fourteen programs, the current School delivers its historical, educational mission through seven major outreach and research centers and institutes – the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC), the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center, the John Joseph Moakley Chair of Peace and Reconciliation, the Center for Women and Politics in Public Policy (CWPPP), Center for Social Policy (CSP), the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development (CPDD), the Center for Governance and Sustainability, and the Gerontology Institute (which includes the LeadingAge Center for Long-Term Service and Support, Osher LifeLong Learning Institute (OLLI), the Pension Action Center (PAC), and Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging). Like the Institute that gave birth to the School almost 40 years later, today’s conglomeration of McCormack centers and institutes, ergo The McCormack Institutes of International and Public Service (MIIPS), provide for students and faculty a bridge to a rich network of connections and external partnerships with nonprofits, public agencies, and community organizations that create meaningful intellectual and experiential exchanges in extensive community engagement and outreach on and off campus. Read more on Consolidating a Distinguished Legacy of Research, Public Scholarship and Public Engagement: The McCormack Institutes of International and Public Service (MIIPS).

MIIPS Public Service Brown Bags

  •  In collaboration with McCormack’s Dean’s Office Student Success (DOSS) program, the McCormack Institutes, will host a monthly public service seminars/brown-bags (MIIPS Public Service Brown Bags) that showcase the exciting activities conducted by McCormack’s centers and institutes. The brown bag seminars will serve to foster McCormack and UMass Boston student and faculty engagement and collaboration with the Institutes’ many exciting community and outreach research activities, projects, and programs in Greater Boston, the State, the Nation, and around the World.

Spring 2022 Series

  • MIIPS Brown Bag #1: The Road to Negotiations: South Africa, Northern Ireland, and the Role of The McCormack School- A Conversation with Moakley Distingushed Chair Padraig O’Malley featuring Marcie Williams (Former Chancellor, UMass Amherst). 
  • MIIPS Brown Bag #2: Modernizing MA Municipal Government: A Conversation on City and Town Charters, Local Services, Democracy, and Power in the Twenty-First Century. Featuring The Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management. (Presenters: Michael Ward, Collins Center Director,  Alanna Mallon, Vice-Mayor, City of Cambridge, and Mandi Jo Hanneke, Amherst Town Councilor and former Charter Commission Vice-Chair).
  • MIIPS Brown Bag #3: How Applied Research is Making a Difference in the Long-Term Services and Supports Sector: The Case of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston (Re-watch the talk here). Presenters: Marc Cohen, Co-director LeadingAge LTSS,  Robyn Stone, Co-director LeadingAge LTSS,  Leena Sharma, Deputy Director, Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation at Community Catalyst, Kim Brooks, COO Senior Living, Hebrew SeniorLife, and Carolyn Villers, Mass Senior Action Coalition.

MIIPS Convenors/ Administrative Support 

  • Rita Kiki Edozie, Interim Dean and Professor of Global Governance and International Relations
  • Christopher Graham, Manager, Student Success and Undergraduate Advising (and Multimedia Manager)

McCormack's Center and Institute Directors 

Sustainable Solutions Lab

Developing, testing, and implementing environmentally sound, economically sustainable, and socially just solutions to the complex impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. 

Executive Director: Rebecca Herst
Contact: rebecca.herst@umb.edu

Center for Governance and Sustainability

Global scholars working in solidarity to produce and circulate research at the science-policy interface.

Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management

Providing professional services to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government.

The Gerontology Institute

Conducting basic and applied social and economic research on aging and engages in public education on aging policy issues.

The John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation

Reinforcing a commitment to nonviolent methods in the reconciliation process.

Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPP)

Promoting women's political leadership through quality education and policy research.

Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development (CPDD)

Promoting conflict resolution, democracy, economic development, education, media, legal and judicial reform.

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration

Facilitating collaboration and building capacity for conflict resolution and consensus building with government and across state sectors.

Center for Social Policy (CSP)

Dedicated to improving efficiency, effectiveness, governance, and accountability at all levels of government, with a particular focus on state and local government.