McCormack Graduate School Senior Fellow Carol Hardy-Fanta earned the Distinguished Career Book Award from the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics section of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in recognition of her book, Contested Transformation: Race, Gender, and Political Leadership in 21st Century America.Published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press, the book is a pioneering study of racial and ethnic minorities in U.S. politics because women of color are at the center of its analysis.
According to the APSA selection committee, “The book makes an outstanding contribution to knowledge in political science on the intersectional dynamics of power and political representation in the United States. It is a path-breaking work that will benefit scholars and policymakers for many years to come.”
Harvard University scholar Jennifer Hochschild also praised the book. “The study of minority groups’ constricted yet expanding political leadership would be valuable at any time, but at present, it commands our attention as few other topics can do.”
Hardy-Fanta accepted the award at the annual meeting of the APSA in San Francisco earlier this month.
“At the McCormack Graduate School,” said Dean David W. Cash, “we strive to strengthen communities and catalyze change in governance. Carol’s comprehensive research will go a long way to promote a more equitable representation of minority men and women in American politics for generations to come.”
Carol Hardy-Fanta is a nationally recognized scholar on Latina/o politics and has published widely on the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity in politics and public policy. She is the former director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, a position she held for more than a decade. Currently a senior fellow, she continues to pursue her own scholarship on gender and multicultural leadership.