12/04/2025
By Karen Mullins

The School of Criminology and Justice Studies is proud to announce a Dissertation Proposal Defense by Catherine Stevens entitled, "Implementing Refuge Policy under Constraint: A Massachusetts Case Study (2017-2026."

Date: Monday, Dec. 15, 2025
Time: 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. EST
Location:  Via Zoom

Committee:

  • Chair: Jason Rydberg, Ph.D, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Thomas Pineros Shields, Associate Professor, Salem State University
  • Amber Ruf, Ph.D, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Neil Shortland, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Abstract:

This study investigates how Massachusetts refugee resettlement organizations (RROs) and their staff have navigated, adapted to, and implemented resettlement policies from 2017 to 2026, a timeframe characterized by unprecedented policy instability and cyclical disruptions. The research addresses key gaps by examining how organizations and frontline workers sustain humanitarian efforts during ongoing instability. It also investigates which adaptive strategies are sustainable over the long term and how these adaptations affect implementation quality, worker well-being, and organizational capacity.

Guided by an integrated theoretical framework, this qualitative case study combines street-level bureaucracy theory, implementation outcome frameworks, and organizational adaptation theory. It will employ semi-structured interviews with resettlement workers and organizational leaders, complemented by document analysis, to investigate four research questions:

  1. How do Massachusetts RROs respond to and implement policy during acute disruption?
  2. How do workers make sense of and implement policy during instability?
  3. How do workers perceive and enact appropriateness, feasibility, and fidelity in their practices?
  4. What barriers and facilitators affect the capacity to sustain services during policy disruptions?

By capturing real-time experiences during this critical period, the research offers novel insights into organizational resilience, the boundaries of adaptation, and the humanitarian costs of policy instability. Its implications go beyond refugee resettlement and apply to any context where public service workers must implement policies amid persistent constraints and uncertainty.