Law, Policy and Society is an interdisciplinary program that offers the Ph.D. and M.S. degrees. It prepares students for careers in research, teaching, government, non-profit, or legal institutions. Our courses examine how law, regulation, and policy interact with social structures and political institutions. Students gain a solid grounding in legal, social science, and humanistic research methods and a deeper knowledge base in their chosen area of law and policy. Students may take courses in all Northeastern colleges and schools, including the School of Law. The program values practical experience in its applicants and especially welcomes mid-career students, but it is open to all.

The Law, Policy and Society program attracts students from a number of professions, including law, education, policymaking, engineering, health care, government, and business. Students also come to the program directly from a variety of academic programs. Students tend to concentrate in the following fields among others: criminal justice; culture diversity and gender issues; education policy; environmental policy, health policy, international development, labor market policy and workforce development; law and society; technology policy and urban policy.

Each student's individual program is , of course, more specific; the following is a sample of students' specific concentrations:

* Comparative judicial review practices and womens' rights

* Collective bargaining in the public sector

* Legal and policy dilemmas in deterrence of crime

* The impact of imformation technology on rights to privacy and property

* Comparative constitutional practices

* Policy and regulation in water-quality management

* Public responses to medical mistakes and impaired health professional

* Alternative dispute resolution in state trial courts

* Health-care costs and prices, and the delivery of health care

* Ethical issues in the delivery of financial services

* Policy implications of labors laws and its impact on minorities and women in labor markets

* Environmental protection in Asia and Africa and the effects of world trade

LPS students are a diverse group. Students choose to attend full or part time and range in age from their twenties to their sixties. The academic work of all students is enriched by studying with others who have different experiences and training but share a common interest in law and policy.

Spotlight News

Congratulations to our Fall 2008 graduating students:

PhD

Rose Egbuiwe

Catherine Gildae

ML Langlie

Mary Ellen Mastrorilli

John McDevitt

MS

Ryan Clement

Lauren Schleyer-Hinchey

Ronald Marlow

LPS alum Sebastian Albuja (May, 2008) has taken a position as a Country Analyst for Central and South America with the Norwegian Refugee Council's Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

LPS Professor James A. Fox published an article in the Boston Herald Wednesday,July 23 entitled "Sighted world lacking vision: ADA needs to pick up the slack". For full article please follow the link.

Sighted world lacking vision: ADA needs to pick up the slack

LPS Ph.D. candidate Jack McDevitt and LPS alum Amy Farrell are featured on the NEU web site reporting on a study on human trafficking they completed with colleagues at Arizona State University and Sam Houston State University.

LPS Director Joan Fitzgerald recently gave a presentation on how cities are linking climate change strategies to economic development at the MassImpact Cities and Climate Change Symposium in Boston on June 9th. She presented on the same topic at the opening plenary session of the California Labor Federation Workforce and Economic Development Conference in Los Angeles (11-13 June). She also organized a panel, Emerald Cities, at the LA conference.

LPS Director Joan Fitzgerald signed a contract with Oxford University Press for her next book: Emerald Cities: Linking Climate Change and Economic Development.

LPS student Ronald G. Marlow has been appointed Assistant Secretary for Access and Opportunity at the Executive Office for Administration and Finance for the Massachusetts State Government.

LPS PhD Candidate Corey Dehner is featured in this week's Northeastern Voice. Corey has created a course for Law,Policy and Society which gives students a chance to go green for credit. Please see link below for full story.

LPSU303: Environmental Law, Policy and Social Movements in the voice

LPS PhD Candidate Valeria Ramdin was chosen to receive an Early Academic Career Award from the Massachusetts Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Congratulations to LPS Ph.D. candidates Sebastian Albuja Bayas and Catherine Gildae, who have been awarded Dissertation Writing Fellowships for the spring semester, 2008. Students apply for this new competitive Northeastern program for students in the final stages of completing their dissertations. The univerity will provide a one-semester stipend, dissertation continuation registration, and health insurance fees to fellowship recipients.

LPS professor James A. Fox authored an op-ed in USA Today (December 5, 2007) titled, "Declines in Crime Lull Americans into Complacency."

LPS PhD candidate Sarah Abbott Carr Director of the program "The Jail Diversion Program" was credited in an article in the Boston Globe on November 25, 2007. Just hit the link below if you would like to read the entire artile.

Police officer credits crisis program in Rte 9 rescue

LPS Professor and Director Joan Fitzgerald was on a panel at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Workforce Summit sponsored by Massachusetts Technology Collaborative on October 30th. She discussed her Emerald Cities research project.

LPS Professor James A. Fox is speaking at a Mass Bar Association Symposium at the State House on Sentencing Reform today (10/23) and will also be testifying today at the State House on HB 1511 to reinstate the death penalty. On October 19th, Prof. Fox was on a panel in NYC with Denzel Washington and Cuba Gooding, Jr. about the role of the Boys & Girls Clubs as violence prevention.

LPS Ph.D. student Fabio Costa Morais De Sa E Silva was granted a fellowship by CAPES, the Brazilian Ministry of Education agency for graduate studies. The grant covers tuition, academic fees and stipends and will be implemented next Fall Semester. 13 candidates were selected for the applied social sciences area and Fabio was classified in first place.

LPS Ph.D. candidate Maria Gracia Andia has been granted a Visiting Researcher Fellowship at Columbia University School of Law. This program hosts doctoral and post doctoral students from different parts of the world and with diverse interests in the legal and social research. She will continue her dissertation research while in residence.

We are pleased to announce that criminologist James Alan Fox is joining the faculty of the Law, Policy and Society program as part of a dual appointment with the College of Criminal Justice where he holds the Lipman Family Chair. Professor Fox has published 16 books and hundreds of articles in academic and popular outlets, primarily in the areas of multiple homicide, youth and school violence, capital punishment and statistical methodology. He frequently consults with government officials here and in Washington, often testifies in Congressional or State House hearings, and is regularly quoted or featured in the national media. Finally, he was recently honored with the Hugo Adam Bedau Award for scholarly excellence in the area of capital punishment.

Professor Fox will teach LPS G310 (Research Design and Analysis) and various elective courses pertaining to violence-related public policy. In addition, he will work with doctoral students both on methodological issues and on substantive concerns related to crime and violence.

INTRODUCING TWO NEW LPS UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

LPS has added two new electives to start in Spring 2008.

Please use the link below to see the course descriptions for LPS U302 HUMAN RIGHTS GOBAL ECONOMY And LPS U303 TOPICS IN LPS (which for spring 2008 will be Environment Law)

Course Descriptions

LPS Ph.D. candidate Jack McDevitt, Director of the NU Institute on Race and Justice, and Associate Director and LPS graduate Amy Farrell were awarded a $440,448 grant by the U.S. Department of Justice to develop and implement the first data collection and reporting system on cases of human trafficking in the United States. See the Northeastern Homepage for more information on the project.

LPS Ph.D.student Fabio Costa Morais De Sa E Silva edited a book that was published this August by Sergio Antonio Fabris Editor, a Brazilian publisher of legal scholarship. The book is titled Ensino Juridico: A Descoberta de Novos Saberes para a Democratizacao do Direito e da Sociedade (Legal Education: Discovering New Knowledge for Democratizing Law and Society).

LPS Ph.D. candidate Mayte Rivera was recently named the Director of Community Development for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Banks. She will focus on the same topic as her dissertation--mortgage and fair lending practices and developing foreclosure prevention initiatives.

LPS Professor Joan Fitzgerald received a $30,000 research grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation toward her Emerald Cities project. The project is examining the economic development potential of various green technologies.

LPS student Timothy Mann recently published an article, College Fund Raising: Using Theoretical Perspectives to Understand Donor Motives,in the International Journal of Educational Advancement (2007) 7, 35ï½45.

LPS Alum Morris Jenkins was promoted to associate professor with tenure at the University of Toledo.

LPS PhD Candidate Ron Marlow was promoted to Development Cabinet Director, for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's admimistration.