On April 10, the Office of Community Partnerships held the annual Community-Engaged Partnerships Symposium, which displayed projects of UMass Boston faculty in Massachusetts neighborhoods. The event went from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and featured a variety of workshops and speakers.
The event began in Campus Center Ballroom A, with breakfast and speeches given from Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Winston E. Langley as well as members of the Urban Research-Based Action Network (URBAN), a group of researchers, faculty, and community members who take on projects that can better communities. URBAN has different chapters around the nation in large metropolitan areas including Boston, New York City, and Los Angeles.
In his opening speech, Langley discussed the importance of civic engagement. “We seek to develop partnerships, as we seek to focus on civil engagement and discussion engagement … We are dealing with the well-being of human beings.” He added, “[We have] a special responsibility to societies not only here at home, but elsewhere.”
After the opening speeches, the audience dissolved and went to different workshops and information sessions located throughout campus. Six facilitated conversations targeted specific groups of faculty in UMass Boston’s different colleges.
Breakfast and lunch were catered by Haley House, a Roxbury-based nonprofit group which provides food to people in need in the community. Haley House caters events, and uses the profits earned to pay for the nonprofit’s other efforts.
At 12 p.m., the audience went to Ballrooms B and C in the Campus Center, for the Poster and Showcase Session. During this part of the event, different members of the UMass Boston faculty showed off their projects.
88 posters showcased faculty collaborations with different UMass offices and partners in the Greater Boston area. The College of Public and Community Service and the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies presented a research report that addressed how to achieve equality for women in the construction business.
Representatives from the archives and special collections departments of the Healey Library explained the work they do with digitizing and saving photographs of families and of everyday life in places such as Milton and Lowell.
Associate Professor Mark R. Warren of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies said, “Urban communities are facing profound and complex challenges: growing and economic inequality, intense poverty, stark racial disparities, [and] deep crises in [the] environmental and educational systems of our institutions.”
The objective of the Office of Community Partnerships is to work collaboratively with local activists to help citizens in their neighborhoods, which is an important part of UMass Boston’s urban mission.
Eighty-eight posters showcased faculty collaborations with different UMass offices and partners in the Greater Boston area. The College of Public and Community Service and the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies presented a research report about gender equality in the construction business.