The Center for Public Policy and Administration is the hub of interdisciplinary public policy research, teaching, and engagement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

CPPA attracts high-caliber national and international students to its Masters of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) program. CPPA also offers an undergraduate certicate in public policy available to UMass Amherst students.

Home to a growing number of research initiatives, CPPA houses the National Center for Digital Government; the Science, Technology and Society Initiative; and the Public Engagement Project.

	Read the January 2010 eBulletin for updates from students, faculty, and alumni. [more]
	Extensive coverage of California's Proposition 8 trial has featured research and testimony by CPPA Director Lee Badgett. Badgett, who is also a Professor of Economics, testified that same-sex couples prefer marriage over domestic partnerships. [more]
	Prudence Carter, Associate Professor of Education at Stanford University will speak on school desegregation in South Africa and the US on February 2 as part of the CPPA Grants Workshop Speakers Series . Her talk "The Paradox of Opportunity: Race, Class, Culture, and Boundaries in South African and U.S. Schools" will be in Thompson 620 at 12:30 [press release PDF]
	Join CPPA on February 1 at 12pm in Thompson 620 as we kick off the Spring 2010 Faculty Colloquia. Maria Bulzacchelli will discuss "Why Don’t Workers Protect Themselves from Injury? Challenges to Implementing Effective Workplace Safety Policies" See a full press release. [pdf]
	David Mednicoff, CPPA and legal studies, was interviewed by Al-Jazeera International about how migrant workers are treated in Persian Gulf countries. Mednicoff is currently in Qatar conducting research on the role and treatment of migrant workers in the region.
	In the New York Times blog "Economix," Nancy Folbre discusses "What you got for Christmas." She examines the worth of holiday gifts to the receiver versions the amount paid by the giver. Add your two cents about gifting in the blog's comments.
	CPPA Director, Lee Badgett was interviewed for the BusinessWeek article " A Booster Shot for Gay-Owned Businesses." Badgett says certification by the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce can help overcome various forms of discrimination that have an impact on gays and lesbians seeking to start new businesses
	David M. Mednicoff, CPPA and legal studies, comments in a Hampshire Gazette story about President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan. Mednicoff says the plan correctly connects troop surge strategy with efforts to stabilize the Afghani government, improving local social and economic development, and coordinating the policy with what the U.S. is trying to do in neighboring Pakistan.
	Joya Misra was selected as a finalist for this year’s Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. The award is a partnership of the Center for Families at Purdue University, the Center for Work and Family at Boston College, and the Alliance of Work-Life Progress. [more]
	Lee Badgett's When Gay People Get Married has been listed among the "Best LGBT Books of 2009" from Band of Thebes. Congratulations, Lee!
	CPPA has received $78,000 from the Olympia-based Albatross Fund to conduct a feasibility assessment for a sustainable center that engages students and faculty in conducting research on how community organizations can help to improve the lives of citizens in Springfield.  Fred Rose, former director of the Pioneer Valley Project and visiting scholar at CPPA, will direct the project.
	Jane Fountain has been appointed for a second year to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government. The information and recommendations developed in the Councils provide the central ideas and proposals presented at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

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