University of Massachusetts Boston
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First Symposium Discussion
Get PDFFirst Symposium Discussion. Volume 36, Issue 2 of the New England Journal of Public Policy
How Did the War Escalate and What Happened?
Get PDFHow Did the War Escalate and What Happened? Volume 36, Issue 2 of the New England Journal of Public Policy
Why the Japanese Cannot Talk Openly About and Trace Their War Experiences
Get PDFWhy the Japanese Cannot Talk Openly About and Trace Their War Experiences. Volume 36, Issue 2 of the New England Journal of Public Policy
Constructing the Urban South: Race and Environmental Transition in Kentucky\u27s Tobacco Counties
Get PDFArticle for Volume 23, Issue 2 of theTrotter Review
Fostering LGBTQ Spirituality: A Campus Case Study
Get PDFThe importance of spirituality in the lives and identities of LGBTQ students is sufficiently documented in extant scholarship to encourage campus leaders to consider spiritual support in their efforts to improve campus climate (Birch, 2011; Gold & Stewart, 2011; Love et al., 2005; Means et al., 2016; Pryor et al., 2017), but there is minimal research to gauge whether, where, and how this consideration is being enacted. Even the Campus Pride Index, the nation’s premier resource for ranking the LGBTQ-friendliness of colleges and universities, does not consider support for spirituality in their campus assessment criteria. The purpose of this study was to explore whether and how a university that is known to be LGBTQ-friendly (according to the Campus Pride Index) supports a campus environment that fosters LGBTQ spirituality. Using an embedded single-case study research design, this study collected data from documents, physical artifacts, observations, archival records, and interviews with six LGBTQ students and five staff at one university. The conceptual framework provided an analytical tool to examine structural components of this institution’s campus spiritual climate and how LGBTQ students and staff experience those components. Data analysis offered insight into how one university provided resources, programs, and services to nurture LGBTQ spirituality. From my analysis, I developed three themes: 1) Closeted Spirituality, 2) Blind Spots, and 3) Pockets of Support: Places and People. Findings reinforced the importance of spirituality in the lives of LGBTQ college students and evidenced the expansive and nuanced ways LGBTQ students experience spirituality. The study concludes with a discussion of how this research contributes to extant literature, lessons that may be useful for universities that seek to improve the ways they foster LGBTQ spirituality, and implications for policy, practice, and future research
Multiple Pathways Promote Meiosis II Spindle Disassembly Independently from Cytokinesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
No full textThe specialized cellular division process of meiosis is the means by which a diploid cell produces four haploid gametes, which allows for sexual reproduction. For meiosis to be successfully completed, cells must undergo several structural changes, including disassembly of the spindle apparatus and partitioning into the four daughter cells. In this work, I used the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which undergoes meiosis as part of the developmental pathway of sporulation. Previous studies have shown that the genes encoding the Ste20-family kinase Sps1 and the Anaphase Promoting Complex (APC/C) activating subunit Ama1 are both required for spindle disassembly and meiotic cytokinesis. In this work, I showed that the phenotypes of sps1D and ama1D mutants are distinct, suggesting that they control different subprocesses of spindle disassembly. In addition, although they occur sequentially, spindle disassembly is not sufficient to induce cytokinesis. Finally, I examined the known microtubule-associated proteins Ase1, Bim1, and Cin8, and found that AMA1 is required for the removal of Ase1 and Cin8, while SPS1 is required for removal of Bim1. Thus, both pathways represented by SPS1 and AMA1 are required for complete spindle disassembly following meiosis II
Repertoires of Resistance: Latino Immigrant Food Service Workers, Covid-19, and the Struggle for Dignity and Justice at Work
No full textLatino immigrant workers in the greater Boston food service industry are at high risk of exploitation and face multiple barriers defending their rights, including deportation, retaliation, discrimination, and job loss. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified workers’ vulnerability to exploitation in the wake of widespread unemployment and social insecurity. Studies suggest that immigrant workers are unlikely to contest poor working conditions unless they are organized into larger collective actions. However, in other contexts, workers with limited freedom to directly protest injustices leverage everyday forms of resistance to combat subjugation. This project examines how Latino immigrants in the greater Boston food service industry resist exploitation at work and the impact of COVID-19 on these strategies. Through a participatory action research approach in collaboration with five Latina immigrant co-researchers, the Las Mariposas Monarcas research collective conducted forty telephone interviews with Latino immigrant food service workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that Latino immigrant workers deployed dynamic “repertoires of resistance” across three spheres: 1) individual strategies characterized by narratives of resilience and hope, quitting, and vigilance; 2) interpersonal strategies characterized by direct appeals to supervisors, co-worker solidarity, and mutual aid; and 3) institutional strategies characterized by seeking help from allied institutions. Workers carefully assessed the tools of resistance available to them, considered the strengths and dangers of each one, and engaged with multiple strategies over multiple attempts and contexts. These findings demonstrate that immigrant workers are active, savvy, and persistent participants in the protection of their rights and dignity in an industry notorious for worker rights violations, and during one of the most turbulent periods for workers in modern history. Additionally, these findings have implications for how workers, advocates, and oversight agencies can incorporate everyday resistance into organizing models and frameworks to combat injustice in low-wage, high-risk industries
Three Essays on the Outcomes of Formalizing Purpose in Organizational Structures and Practices
No full textManagement literature focusing on the interaction of business and society has highlighted the role of purpose-driven for-profit organizations in benefiting society. While this literature has advanced the scholarly understanding of purpose-driven firms broadly, we need more understanding of the outcomes of formalizing purpose in organizational structures and practices. This dissertation investigates the formalization of purpose in a population of firms that identify with social and environmental commitment. The first study focuses on employees as internal stakeholders and investigates the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and practices on job satisfaction using logistic regressions. Findings show that while embedded CSR contributes to job satisfaction, peripheral CSR has a heterogeneous impact in these organizations. The second study investigates impact assessment practices among social enterprises. Results from multilevel modeling suggest that formalizing purpose in internal structures and practices such as governing body and training is associated with greater social impact assessment. The third study uses multi-case study approach and identifies the drivers and processes by which purpose-driven firms engage in and disengage from third-party evaluations. Overall, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of the different outcomes of formalizing purpose among organizations that use market mechanisms to create social and environmental value
Opportunities and Limitations of Nature-Based Strategies for Transformative Adaptation: An Examination of Stakeholder Values and Social Contracts in Boston
No full textThe City of Boston has emerged as a leader in the Northeastern United States for developing and implementing definitive climate action plans for both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Such steps are essential as the city is vulnerable to coastal flooding from storms and exceptionally high tides. These risks will increase in the future due to climate change and associated sea-level-rise (SLR). Among numerous approaches to manage flooding, Nature-Based Strategies (NBS) have emerged as potentially the most reasonable adaptation measures for Boston to the extent that the city has committed to using primarily shore-based NBS as an adaptation approach. There are engineering challenges associated with these adaptation strategies, particularly in the coastal urban context, but equally important are those challenges relating to community dynamics. This research focuses on the influence of human values and interactions in determining adaptation responses, including proposed local climate change adaptation strategies and policies such as NBS. To this end, I apply a case study research approach and follow a Values-focused Thinking (VFT) framework of analysis. This research explores: 1) How the subjective motivations and priorities among stakeholder groups are influencing their perceived notions of acceptable coastal adaptation approaches, specifically nature-based strategies; 2) What adaptation objectives across various stakeholder groups are informing the selection of coastal adaptation strategies and associated decision actions; and 3) How integrated stakeholder objectives can guide the development of climate change adaptation strategies for transformative adaptation outcomes. The results demonstrate how climate change adaptation strategies designed and informed by diverse stakeholder perspectives and values, placing the human face of climate change at the center of adaptation discourse, can support transformative adaptation. The key contribution of this research is a deeper understanding of the socio-economic and political processes that shape the choice of adaptation strategies and the outcomes for an urban coastal community in fundamental ways