Applause for 2020 Commencement Faculty and Student Honorees

Applause for2020

Faculty and Student Honorees

The campus lawn may have been empty at commencement time this year, but that did not prevent UMass Boston from bestowing traditional graduation honors on some of its best and brightest. We’ll have to wait to celebrate their achievements—and the accomplishments of all our graduates and honorees—in person, but in the meantime, here are the outstanding faculty and students selected for awards and honors this year.

Professor Elizabeth Bussiere Department of Political Science College of Liberal Arts Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching

Since Professor Bussiere arrived at UMass Boston in 1988, she has been notable for her excellence in teaching. She regularly teaches three upper-level courses on the American judicial system, her primary area of focus. However, her frequent offerings of first-year and intermediate seminars bring the issues raised in those courses to a wider audience. Students praise Professor Bussiere’s mentorship outside of class. She provides opportunities for students to interact with professionals, particularly in legal careers, and she has successfully guided students to seek law school admission and to become practicing attorneys. Professor Werner Kunz Department of Marketing College of Management Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service

Professor Kunz, a leading authority on business applications of social media, has made many significant contributions to the UMass Boston community. Since 2011, he has conducted the highly regarded Social Media Day, an annual conference for members of the business, hi-tech, and social media communities, featuring lectures, panel discussions, training, and networking opportunities. In 2014, he founded the Digital Media Lab, which seeks to turn academic research about digital and social media and innovative media services into insights for real-world applications. In addition, Professor Kunz has worked for the last seven years with SERVSIG, an American Marketing Association group dedicated to services research. He received the College of Management Dean’s Award for Distinguished Service in 2018.

Professor Heidi Levitt Department of Psychology College of Liberal Arts Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship

Professor Levitt has changed the way research is evaluated in the field of psychology. Her 2018 article in American Psychologist, advancing a conceptually driven approach to evaluating reporting by considering researchers’ epistemological aims and study characteristics, was the most downloaded paper across all 89 of the American Psychological Association’s journals. In addition, Professor Levitt has written two books, 99 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 35 academic chapters on qualitative methods; psychotherapy processes; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer gender communities. She is committed to the development of the next generation of researchers, having published with 87 students. Her scholarly productivity has been extraordinary, and the impact of her work has been widely felt.

Maria Vasco ’20 John F. Kennedy Award for Academic Excellence

Environmental studies and sustainability major Maria Vasco ’20, the first-ever recipient of UMass Boston’s Entrepreneur Scholarship, was an outstanding student with a 3.8 GPA and a member of the Honors College. She is also an entrepreneur who, while still a student at UMass Boston, started UVIDA, a plastic-free product shop and website. Her goal is to help individuals reduce their plastic waste through the use of eco-products.

The John F. Kennedy Award winner traditionally speaks at the commencement ceremony, but Vasco will have to wait to deliver her address until the in-person ceremony is held. In the meantime, she says, “We should celebrate all the hard work that we put into the past years and pride ourselves on the dedication we had in our education and carry that into the next steps of our life.” Marta Pagán-Ortiz ’20 Graduate Student Speaker

Marta Pagán-Ortiz ’20 graduated with her PhD in counseling psychology. She is recognized for her research and service to the Latinx communities at UMass Boston, in Boston, and in her home community of Puerto Rico. Her dissertation, “Feasibility of an Online Health Intervention for Latinas with Chronic Pain,” offers a voice to an underrepresented and underserved population.

Through the Latino Mental Health Team at the Cambridge Health Alliance she provided outpatient psychotherapy to individuals and groups. When Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, she helped to secure funding for a team of doctoral students and faculty to travel there to help with relief efforts. “For me, being a Latina and an immigrant, diversity is really important,” says Pagán-Ortiz. “I’m really glad I ended up [at UMass Boston].”

Christie Towers ’20 Graduate Student Speaker

A graduate of the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Program, Christie Towers ’20 is a poet who actively published while at UMass Boston. In addition, Towers volunteered at the Black Seed Writers’ Workshop for the homeless at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. Even as the coronavirus pandemic escalated, her work with those most at risk of COVID-19 complications did not let up. She says that through her MFA program and volunteer work, she’s “really connected with the community,” which sets the stage for the next chapter of her life.