Women in Politics & Public Policy
Faculty & Staff - UMass Boston
Carol Hardy-Fanta is Director of the Graduate Certificate Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston's John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies. She received her Ph.D. in Public Policy from Brandeis University's Heller School, an MSW from Smith College, and a B.A. from Occidental College. Dr. Hardy-Fanta is author of three books: Latina Politics, Latino Politics: Gender, Culture, and Political Participation in Boston (Temple University Press, 1993); Latino Politics in Massachusetts: Struggles, Strategies and Prospects (Routledge Press, 2002); and Intersectionality and Politics: Recent Research in Gender, Race and Political Representation in the United States (Haworth Press, 2006). She is a nationally recognized scholar on Latina/o politics and has published widely on the intersection of gender, race and ethnicity in politics and public policy and is Co-Editor of the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy . Her policy experience also includes welfare reform, substance abuse and criminal justice, community organization, reproductive rights, mental health, HIV/AIDS programs, and bilingual education. Carol Hardy-Fanta also serves as Director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy.
Donna Stewartson is the Associate Director of the Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy. She received her MBA from the Simmons College Graduate School of Management and a BA in Political Science, as well as a Minor in Black Studies, from Boston College. She has worked as the Special Project Manager at Dimock Community Health Center, Testing Coordinator and Mortgage Scam Consultant at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and Program Technician at the New Boston Pilot Middle School. Additionally, as a community activist in Boston, she is an Executive Board Member of the Columbia Washington Street Neighborhood Association, an active member of the Four Corners Action Coalition and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. Donna is a former member of the Reverend Michael Haynes Early Education Center's Parent Council and served on the Planning Committee for Youth International: Women's Project Sierra Leone." In 2007, Ms. Stewartson published "A Seat at the Table? Racial/Ethnic & Gender Diversity on Corporate, Hospital, Education, Cultural and State Boards", a report that was the catalyst for the development of the McCormack Graduate School's Commonwealth Compact. In 2008, she was appointed to the Governor Deval Patrick's Education Readiness Council's Education and Technology Committee. Ms. Stewartson has been with the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy since November 2004. She has experience in public policy, diveristy, urban education, homelessness, housing policy, community organizing, women's leadership and health education.
Christa Kelleher, Faculty
Christa Kelleher is currently a faculty member in the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has been affiliated with the School's Graduate Certificate Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy since 2002. Christa previously taught courses in Sociology, Community Health and Public Policy as an Assistant Professor at Pine Manor College and, as a Lecturer at Brandeis University and Tufts University, taught a course on women and politics. Christa earned her M.A. in Sociology and Women's Studies (1998) and Ph.D. in Sociology (2003) from Brandeis University. Her doctoral research examined the complex issues facing women during the early postpartum period in Canada and in the U.S. with the goal of using sociological insights to inform public policy developments related to this area of women's health. After graduating from Union College with a B.A. in Political Science, Christa worked in the Massachusetts State Senate as a Legislative Aide to Senator Lois Pines. Christa has actively served on the boards of several women's organizations, including the Greater Boston and Massachusetts chapters of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (MWPC). Christa teaches the Fall "Contemporary Public Policy Issues."
Billie Gastic, Faculty
Dr. Gastic earned a Ph.D. in the Sociology of Education and an M.A. in Sociology from Stanford University. She also has an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Economics from Yale University. The primary focus of her scholarship and research is the effectiveness and effects of policies, interventions and programs aimed at improving youth safety in communities and schools. Her research interests also include educational policy; Latino/a youth; research methods. Prof. Gastic teaches the two-course research methods sequence for the Program. These include Case Study Methods for Policy Analysis in the fall, and the Case Study Seminar in the spring.
Karen Courtney, Faculty/Internship Coordinator
Karen Grasso Courtney is the faculty member for PAFG 622 and 624 and serves as the Program’s Internship Coordinator. She is President of K. Courtney and Associates Inc., the only consulting firm in New England that works exclusively with labor and labor/management organizations. Ms. Courtney has worked with over 30 unions performing such services as government relations, lobbying, and public relations. She is also the founder and director of the Foundation for Fair Contracting of Massachusetts, and serves as Secretary and Executive Committee member of the National Alliance for Fair Contracting, as well as Chair of the Advisory Board of the Labor Resource Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to starting her own company, Ms. Courtney was Assistant Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries. She has a master's degree in labor studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is an alumna of Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy (formerly the Women in Politics and Government Program, when it was located at Boston College).
Apply now for Sept. 2010
If interested in applying, contact Donna Stewartson, Associate Program Director, at 617.287.6785 or Donna.Stewartson@ umb.edu.
News about our recent graduates
Dalié Jiménez, Class of 2006, is now in her third year at Harvard Law School.
Find out more about what our graduates have accomplished!
History of the Program
• The first-in-the-nation Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy was founded by Betty Taymor in 1968 as a demonstration project at Simmons College. At that time it was called the Program for Women in Politics and Government as it was developed to provide opportunities for women in government at a time when such opportunities were few and far between. After a two year hiatus, the Program then moved to Boston College, where it remained for 20 years.
• In 1992, with support from the Chancellor and women faculty, the Program moved to the University of Massachusetts Boston where it became full-time. It also began to attract a more diverse student body and now boasts one of the highest levels of diversity of any graduate program on campus.
• There are now over 650 women in Massachusetts, across the nation, and around the world who were trained in the Program for leadership roles in politics, government, and public policy. They are a great source of information, connections, and mentoring for new students.
Visit the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy
The Graduate Program is part of the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy, which also offers exciting opportunities for research in women's issues and connections for current and future female leaders.