Hello everyone,

My name is YuYing, I’m currently a senior at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB) and a Professional Apprenticeship Career Experience (PACE) apprentice for the office of William Joiner Institute (WJI). With different special and ongoing projects, the team is working on, I decided to do blog posts that further explore the different aspects of social consequences the William Joiner Institute can focus on, but also let you know more about what this institute is working on!

William(Bill) Gilbert Joiner Jr was an African American who served during the Vietnam era, and was also the first director of UMass Boston’s Veteran Affairs office. After coming back home from Vietnam, he noticed many Veterans having difficulties in transitioning back to the civilian sector. William Joiner’s commitment to helping Veterans transition really moved the community. The William Joiner Institute was then created to help further explore the problems our Veterans and communities are having, but also to look into how these factors affect society as a whole. Prior to William Joiner’s death, the William Joiner Institute was established on the 10th floor of the Healey Library in the year 1980 as a non-profit organization with a mission to “offers an inclusive setting to objectively facilitate the sharing of ideas, debating of concepts, and discussions of past, present and future topics related to conflicts, military service, and sacrifice.”

Being the director of Veteran Affairs at UMass Boston, he was able to help many Veterans overcome this difficult time. He worked at UMass Boston until 1981 when he passed away from liver cancer that was associated with Agent Orange- an herbicide chemical that was used clear out leaves and vegetation for the military operation. At the time, he was only 39 years old.

Currently, the office has several ongoing projects, including the Veteran Service Officer research project, Environmental Assessment project, WJI podcast “Speaking With the William Joiner Institute: Where Conversation is the Answer”, and lastly, the WJI blog post.

I am excited to be part of this team and hope to familiarize readers with the William Joiner Institute throughout the school year!