UMass Boston Appoints New Director of Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
Boston, MA (PRWEB) July 26, 2013 -- Ann Bookman, a leading researcher and social policy expert on women’s issues, work-family balance and community engagement, has been named director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Bookman comes to UMass Boston with three decades of experience in academia and government. She has directed several university-based research centers, including the MIT Workplace Center at the Sloan School of Management, where she oversaw research on redesigning the workplace to ensure gender equity and family support, including child care and elder care.
She was also appointed by President Bill Clinton as policy and research director of the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor. In that post, Bookman was executive director of a bipartisan commission that studied the impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act on workers and employers. She was principal author of the commission’s report to Congress, “A Workable Balance.”
Bookman is a senior research scientist with the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, and also works as an associate at its Center for Youth and Communities. At Heller she has conducted research on healthy aging, innovative models for building aging-friendly communities, communities and food insecurity among African American and Latino elders in Boston, the majority of whom are women She also leads evaluation research projects funded by the AARP Foundation and the Washington Area Women’s Foundation.
“I am honored to be chosen to lead the Center on Women in Politics and Public Policy, which has a long and distinguished legacy of achievement,” Bookman said. “I greatly look forward to advancing the scope, visibility and impact of the center’s work locally and nationally, informed by a global perspective.”
Bookman has also been appointed as a clinical professor in the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the university’s John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies.
“Ann is an outstanding scholar who will be a tremendous resource for our students and faculty,” said Ira A. Jackson, dean of the McCormack School. “For over two decades, the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy has made a positive difference in women’s lives. Under Ann’s leadership, I am confident that the center’s pioneering work will advance to the next level.”
Bookman earned her PhD from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College. Her first co-edited book, Women and the Politics of Empowerment (1988), highlighted the political leadership of poor and working class women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Her latest book, Starting in our Own Backyards: How Working Families Can Build Community And Survive The New Economy (2004), has been cited as “paradigm-shifting” for bringing community organizations and community engagement into the debate on the changing role of women in the workplace and the family.
Bookman will join CWPPP on Sept. 3. She succeeds Christa Kelleher, who has served in an interim role since director Carol Hardy-Fanta retired last year.
About the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy has been housed at UMass Boston since 1992with a focus on the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, politics and public policy in Massachusetts and nationwide. The center aims to advance women’s leadership at all levels of government, conduct rigorous, policy-relevant research, and address the public policy issues that affect women from diverse backgrounds. The center offers an award-winning, first-in-the-nation graduate certificate program in Women in Politics and Public Policy, which has launched the careers of more than 700 women. To learn more, visit: http://www.umb.edu/cwppp.
About UMass Boston
With a growing reputation for innovative research addressing complex issues, the University of Massachusetts Boston, metropolitan Boston’s only public university, offers its diverse student population both an intimate learning environment and the rich experience of a great American city. UMass Boston’s nine colleges and graduate schools serve nearly 16,000 students while engaging local, national, and international constituents through academic programs, research centers, and public service activities. To learn more about UMass Boston, visit http://www.umb.edu.
Crystal Bozek, University of Massachusetts Boston, http://www.umb.edu, 617-287-5383, [email protected]
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