April 2016
Alumna joins Marie Stopes International
Five years after graduating with an English degree and Women's and Gender Studies degree, Katrina Semich finally saw everything fall in to place. This March after receiving her Master's Degree in Public Administration, she secured a position as a development associate with Marie Stopes International-US (MSI-US). Marie Stopes International, one of the largest international family planning organizations in the world, gives some of the poorest and most vulnerable women access to family planning and reproductive healthcare. 
 
As a development associate, Semich supports the MSI-US Development Team through supporting new business development and grants management with existing and new US-based private foundations, partner organizations, and individuals. She is also responsible for helping support private foundation growth and grassroots fundraising. "The best thing about working at Marie Stopes International is contributing to its impact," Semich said. "MSI helps to prevent millions of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions, and saves the lives of thousands of women around the world."
 
It was during her time as a student at UMass Dartmouth that the path to this position began to unfold. "It was through the connections that I made at my internship during my senior year that I had the opportunity to apply for my current position," she said.  During her senior year, Semich interned for the YWCA Southeastern Massachusetts, which led to many other opportunities. And it was as a board member for the YWCA, that Semich attended the YWCA Annual Conference and Advocacy Day and learned about the job opening with Marie Stopes International-US.
 
For Semich, her studies as a Women's and Gender Studies major prepared her to work in the women's health nonprofit sector. She wrote papers on radical feminist theory and abortion, global women's NGOs, and social franchising, which directly relates to her current position with MSI-US. Semich also found her English degree to be pertinent to her current position. "I found that my English degree is indeed a coveted and valuable asset," she said. "Every employer seeks people who can write and communicate well, regardless of the nature of their position."
Honoring student research in the College of Arts and Sciences
Every year, the spring semester brings a slew of activity to campus, especially within the College of Arts and Sciences. As the largest college on campus, CAS values undergraduate and graduate research and believes it is an important aspect to a liberal arts education. To honor and celebrate students' research, a series of events and programs are being sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences. These events aim to showcase students' research and to encourage continued conversations.

The English Department celebrated students' research by hosting their annual Student Research Conference on April 28th in the LARTS atrium . The conference highlighted for the larger university the range and quality of research English students do in their classes. It also provided students with a supportive forum for receiving feedback on their final projects. "Not only do students get feedback on their final papers before they are due, they also engage in discussions about the research done in our literature and writing classes at the undergraduate and graduate level," said Associate English Professor  Karen Gulbrandsen. "It's an exciting moment for everyone involved."

For the last 12 years, the Psychology Department has held their annual conference, which is supported in part by Psi Chi, the Psychology club, The Gerontology Center, and the Psychology Department. This year's conference will be held on May 5th, and it will host Dr. Janessa Carvalho from Bridgewater State College and Dr. Spencer Lynn from Northeastern University, along with students and faculty poster presentations. "Students are translating their questions from academia to real world," said Dr. R. Thomas Boone, Chair of the Department of Psychology . " It's an event where you can learn a few more pieces about how we all live our lives."
A Multidisciplinary Collaboration Between Professors And Departments
At the end of March, three College of Arts and Sciences professors represented the university at the 2016 Community Engagement and Research Symposium at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Led by Sociology Professor Robin Robinson, the group presented a breakout session titled " Creative Approaches to Building Community Research Partnerships: Resources and Collaborations ." "The symposium provided a space for participants to talk about the kind of work they are doing," Anthropology Professor Andrea Klimt said. "This is recognition that community engagement matters."
 
College of Arts and Sciences Professors Klimt and Christina Cipriano joined Dr. Robinson and presented their community engaged research partnerships along with the range of funding sources that support their research. "We had a nice showing of participants at our symposium and we demonstrated collectively the breadth and depth of our community engaged research," said Psychology Professor Christina Cipriano. "As one of the few interdisciplinary panel presentations, we exemplified the range of opportunities for community engaged research at UMass Dartmouth. "

According to Dr. Robinson, community engaged research has real and immediate implications for a diverse range of community partners - past, present, and future. It's important to work across disciplines in academia because it opens the community-engaged scholar to the complexities of social contexts and cultures.  "We don't live in bubbles, and we don't work in bubbles," Robinson said. "UMass Dartmouth has a strong tradition of reaching across all sorts of boundaries, with purpose and meaning, and together with our insistence on a liberal education, these values cultivate and support our leadership in community-engaged research."
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