"The College of Public and Community Service at UMass Boston plays a vital role in shaping the future of our city. Our next generation of leaders is studying planning, youth work, and non-profit management in a community setting. The diversity of the student body and their experiences leads to stimulating discourse, making UMass the perfect environment for hatching the ideas that will shape the New Boston."

-Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston, Community Planning, 1988

"CPCS at UMass gives every day working people the opportunity to further their education at a great University. I was most inspired by the professors' commitment to bringing the best out of their students by challenging them and encouraging them. The skills I developed at CPCS have made me a more effective advocate and a better legislator."

-Steven Tolman, Massachusetts State Senator, Law and Labor Studies, 2000

"A CPCS education is empowering…gives you the necessary knowledge and skills for self-sufficiency.”

-Cheryl Monahan, Community Planning with a concentration in Adult Training and Development, 2004

Cheryl was one of 63 recipients of the 12th Annual Student Leadership Awards from UMASS Boston based on her work as a peer advisor tutor supporting first semester CPCS students in writing and promoting the Adult Basic Education to College Transition Program. Cheryl first attended the College in 1993 when her daughter was a student at UMass Boston. She came back in 2002 to complete her degree with 10 years of non-profit work as a Director of Community Development.

"CPCS is the best place to be as an adult learner. At the age of 27, I had a great desire to learn but was intimidated by the thought of attending classes with younger students.”

-Kim LaDue, Attorney, Department of Mental Retardation

Kim entered CPCS as a single parent with two children. While enrolled at the college, she assisted clients through the Community Advocates Law Office, was accepted to law school and graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in 1993. She now works for a Massachusetts state agency that provides support for people with mental retardation and their families. She is co-teaching a CPCS class “Legal Issues in Human Services.”

"CPCS is everything a working adult dreams a college to be. The staff and professors at CPCS…are personally engaged with the economic and ethical debates and struggles that characterize our current age.”

-Libardo Rueda, Spanish Teacher, Adjunct Faculty, UMass Boston; Community Planning, 1999

Libardo is from Colombia and came to the USA in 1987 with very limited English and little money as an undocumented immigrant. He worked 2-3 odd jobs at one time as a janitor and newspaper and pizza deliveryman. Then he became a Spanish instructor and one of his Spanish students introduced him to CPCS. In June 2004, he will graduate with a Masters of Arts in Bilingual Education from the Applied Linguistics Department of UMass/Boston. His thesis is: “ Colombia and the Politics of Representation” -- a socio-linguistic analysis of how Colombia is represented in US newspapers. He won the Dean's award for Outstanding Leadership and Academic Achievement.

"What I learned at UMass, I could use at work and what I learned at work, I was using at UMass. How much better does it get than that!"

-Deborah Gray , B.A Human Services 1998 , Masters in Human Services 2003

Deborah is a Senior Program Manager with the Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development and manages Women in Community Development, a program that helps formerly homeless women access a college degree. She earned many of her college credits through an intense, four-year project surveying and interviewing 125 homeless women. Deborah is the parent of 5 and grandparent of 2 children and created a “Parenting Leadership Training” and “Community Leadership Training” that she delivers to shelters and other organizations as a consultant. Her work has reached more than 200 community members to date. Deborah was Project Director with the Boston Housing Authority and is a resident of Dorchester .

"By changing my life, the college has allowed me to change the lives of others. CPCS is clearly the gem among colleges in the state's university system.”

-Ernest Best, Management of Human Services, 2002