The John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at UMass Boston was founded in 2003 and grew out of the John W. McCormack Institute for Public Affairs which opened in 1983. In 2010, the school expanded its mission and name. The McCormack Graduate School also provides editorial management of the New England Journal of Public Policy and two peer-reviewed academic journals, the Journal of Aging and Social Policy and Research on Aging.
The school is named in honor of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John W. McCormack.