Congrats to MPA alumnus Tom Tinlin!

Congrats to our friend Tom Tinlin on being appointed to the Director of Operations and Maintenance for Mass DOT.  See today's Boston Globe for the story.


http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/27/thomas-tinlin-menino-top-transportation-official-take-post-with-state/qigYcjwDc2Ng3P2MHXFqrN/story.html

From wise leaders

A few weeks back I had the honor of attending a celebration for my friend and colleague Ed Davis, who recently retired as Boston Police Commissioner. 

I listened closely to Commissioner Davis speak about his career, and in his reflections, I heard him echo the sentiments of leaders from various sectors, across time and place.   He talked about the importance of building a good team to help set and attain goals.  He spoke about the importance of relationships with diverse constituents - those who benefit from your public service, and those who you partner with to deliver those services.  He spoke about the importance of thinking - taking the time to think, and spending time with those who think differently.  And lastly, he spoke about mentorship - specifically, how he benefited greatly through mentor relationships.

These ideas should be of value to those who lead, those who manage, and those who participate more directly in the delivery of service.  I think we would all benefit from taking these ideas to heart in any role that we play, now and in the future.

Speaking of leading, here I am surrounded by winners - the Red Sox Trophies, and my good friend Capt. Kevin Sullivan of the Lowell Police Department

Job postings

Sharing resources and announcements of open job opportunities is a key aspect of this blog.  If you are looking, be sure to check out my job posting page on a regular basis.  If you come across a post, or have one to share, please email it to me at bbond@suffolk.edu and I will include it on the blog.

Happy snow day!

Research Opportunity with Boston Area Research Initiative

Interesting research opportunity
Boston Area Research Initiative

• Subject: Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students

The Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) is pleased to announce two funding opportunities for area graduate students and to send along a reminder about a third. Applications for all three are due in January.

The opportunities are:

Research Seed Grants, which will support pioneering work by graduate students on novel digital data sets as part of a new NSF-funded project at BARI;

BARI Urban Doctoral Fellowships, which will support students collaborating with a local agency or organization during the spring semester; and

Radcliffe/Rappaport Summer Doctoral Urban Fellowships, which give area doctoral students the opportunity to work in full-time positions with the City of Boston or in other state and local agencies in the Greater Boston area.

More information about the grants and fellowships is below and on BARI’s website: www.bostonarearesearchinitiative.net.

Research Seed Grants

BARI is offering several seed grants of up to $5,000 for graduate students interested in using novel digital data sets about the region to carry out original research projects. The grants, which are part of a new NSF-funded project, are intended to stimulate pioneering work on data sets that are available from a public or private source and were not created for research purposes, but could provide valuable insights into the patterns of human behavior and society. Modified versions of the data sets that are "research-ready" will then be published in the BARI Data Library. Applicants can apply to work with data sets identified by BARI (listed on the BARI website) or to suggest another data set that is available to them, provided it is sufficiently novel, digital, and is about some aspect of greater Boston.

The application deadline for these grants is Monday, January 6, 2014.

Information on how to apply as well as more information about the grants, including the list of data sets identified by BARI and its partners, is available online at www.bostonarearesearchinitiative.net/SeedGrants.php.

Urban Doctoral Fellowships
BARI also is offering part-time spring semester fellowships for graduate students working on data-intensive projects that can improve both public policy and scholarship about key urban issues. If appropriate, fellows can spend a substantial portion of their time working directly with municipal departments or agencies, or other local organizations. As part of their project, the fellows’ main responsibilities will include: identifying relevant data on Boston from private and public sources; preparing that data for large-scale analysis; constructing a documented version of the data that will be accessible through the BARI Data Library; and pursuing original research with the data that might inform policymaking or scholarship.

The application deadline for these grants is Monday, January 6, 2014.

Information on how to apply as well as more information is available online at www.bostonarearesearchinitiative.net/urban-doctoral-fellows.php.

Radcliffe/Rappaport Summer Doctoral Fellowships
Finally, BARI is again helping support the Radcliffe/Rappaport Summer Doctoral Public Policy Fellows Program. Students selected as doctoral fellows receive a $7,000 stipend to work full-time in positions with the City of Boston or in other state and local agencies in the Greater Boston area. Fellows work with their supervisors to develop projects that are of immediate value to practitioners while also furthering their own research. The doctoral students also join the masters’ degree students who are Rappaport Summer Public Policy Fellows for weekly activities.


The application deadline for this fellowship is Friday, January 17, 2014.

Information on how to apply as well as more information is available online at www.bostonarearesearchinitiative.net/summer-fellowships.php.

Interested in a change?

Attending graduate school was a life changing experience for me.  I met an incredible group of faculty and peers who have become lifelong friends, and I have been able to apply the knowledge and skills attained during my graduate studies to my research and teaching.

If you are interested in making a change, and opening new doors, think about the Master's in Public Administration offered at Suffolk University.  Located in the heart of Boston, our program and faculty foster the development and advancement of leaders in all types of public service organizations.  Suffolk is a motivating place to learn and grow.  We are living  in an exciting time of reflection and development at Suffolk - see more in our Strategic Plan  http://www.suffolk.edu/explore/153.php

Winter is a busy time of year, and also a great time to reflect on your personal and professional goals.  Check us out online, then come and visit to see for yourself!

http://www.suffolk.edu/business/graduate/13465.php

Change is in the air in NYC

Many of us are very excited to see that Bill Bratton will once again be the leader of the NYPD.  For those of us who monitor the police scene across the nation, it will be quite interesting to see how Bill integrates what he knows about NYC and NYPD, with all of what is new about the policing world - terrorism, research to inform practice, new technologies, and just plain-old higher expectations from the community.  I for one am watching with a close eye see see if and how he changes the organizational structure, practices and outputs to reflect a 21st century police organization.  Good luck to him and all of those at NYPD who commit their professional lives to the safety of others!

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/william-bratton-named-nypd-commissioner-article-1.1538251

Job Doc chat Monday with Elaine Varelas

Hi All -

The following was advertised on Boston.com.  Not sure if anyone has seen Elaine's work before, but worth a look:

http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/jobdoc/2013/12/job_doc_chat_monday_with_elain_3.html