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Fall 2022 in Review

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As we wrap up the semester, there is a term's worth of news, photos, and congratulations to share. 

At the beginning of the semester we welcomed two new members to the department.  The first, Dr. Danielle Morales has been introduced to you here before.  But we were also joined by Midaly Carrasquillo as the Assistant Director of the Urban Action Institute.  

Mimi earned her BA (double major in Visual and Performing Arts and Spanish) and her MA (Spanish Language and Literature) at Worcester State University.  Her office is across the hall from CityLab in S-134



In November, we continued our Career Conversations series.  This time we talked with Olanike Olejabi, a PhD candidate at UMass Boston; Jozefina Lantz, a Refugee and Immigrant Services Professional; and Dante Comparetto, a Teacher and Community Organizer in the Washington DC Area and Fairfax County Schools. 

The series, which is an outgrowth of the pandemic, brings former students and department graduates back for informal discussions with our current students to discuss their professional and personal pathways in and after their various Urban Studies programs.    



Also that month, we celebrated the publishing of Dr. Adam Saltsman's first book, Border Humanitarians: Gendered Order and Insecurity on the Thai-Burmese Frontier.  Dr. Saltsman read some passages and engaged in a dialog with Dr. Tim Murphy and the audience about his time in Southeast Asia that informed the book.   

According to one review, "Border Humanitarians is a nuanced and insightful analysis of migrants' lives in Mae Sot, Thailand. Exploring violence, precarity and ethical challenges of power and positionality, this is a highly recommended ethnographic study." 
― Kirsten Mcconnachie, University of East Anglia



In December, the Department was authorized to launch an Urban Studies Honors Society, Upsilon Sigma, next semester.  

Dr. Thomas Conroy is the faculty advisor and he will be sending out invitations to prospective undergraduate and graduate student members in the new year.  We will keep you informed about an indication ceremony during the Spring semester.  
  


Congratulations to Urban Studies professor, Dr. Danielle Morales, who, with Dr. Nafisa Tanjeem from Interdisciplinary Studies, was named as a university recipient of a North Star Collective Faculty Fellowship.  

This fellowship is "part of the New England Board of Higher Education's broader reparative justice initiative, which is committed to restoring, nourishing and uplifting BIPOC faculty in the region, and supporting leaders as they transform institutions around racial equity." 

To learn more, follow this link to the WSU News Feed.

Once again, the UR 401 Research Seminar students celebrated the completion of their capstone papers with the time-honored "lunch" at The Boynton.  Dr. Murphy led the seminar this semester as evidenced by his inclusion in the photo.  

Many alums will remember participating in a similar scene.  Dr. Conroy has been investigating the origins and length of this tradition.  Apparently, it goes back to at least 1999 with Dr. Steve Corey who normally took a class to The Boynton at the end of each semester.  In the fall, it was always the Research Seminar.  Dr. Lisa Boehm continued the tradition as did Dr. Conroy when he took the class over in 2013.  Now, Dr. Murphy continues the tradition.  

We are very happy to continue this long-standing Urban Studies tradition.   


 

Finally, students in a joint Urban Studies-Visual and Performing Arts First Year Seminar (FYS) performed their final sketches this week.  Over the course of the semester, students in Sketch Comedy as Art and Urban Criticism have written and performed in 29 original sketches that have run the gamut from "The Drunken Santa Clause" to "Batman Gets Busted" and "The Reverse Mugging."  They have satirized TV shows and movies, brought attention to social issues, and lampooned a variety of social conventions all the while using pointed comedy as social commentary.  

Their final sketches were particularly special in that the show was open to the public and the audience included students' friends, classmates, and families as well as visiting professors and university staffers.    

The faculty and staff of the Department of Urban Studies wish you a happy holiday season and a great new year.  Enjoy the break.  See you in January.

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