Ostrander's current research focuses on civic and political engagement and expanded notions of governance and social citizenship including new immigrants. She has published widely about social justice philanthropy and the contradictory role of philanthropy and foundations in both reinforcing and challenging social inequalities. She has also published about elite women in leadership positions in charitable organizations, and gender dynamics in women's and in mixed-gender community organizations. Ostrander has been recognized on campus and nationally for her teaching and research on civic engagement and higher education, and founded the Tufts University Civic Engagement Research Group in 2003 which she co-led the until 2008. Ostrander has co-chaired the board of the international Women's Funding Network, served as a board member of the Association for Research on Nonprofits and Voluntary Action, member of the Research Committee of Independent Sector, and in an advisory role to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. She is also involved in her local community having served as a board member of the Boston Women's Fund from 1997 to 2001 and again from 2007 to 2011, as a Cambridge Human Rights Commissioner from 1997 to 2011, and presently serving on the board and chairing the Fundraising Committee of a Somerville immigrant advocacy organization called The Welcome Project. Her special pleasures include frequenting local jazz clubs and coffee shops, playing with her amazing grand-daughter Maya, tending in summer her outdoor flower pots, reading the latest novels, and traveling (ideally to warm and sunny climes) as often as possible. Current Project Ostrander has recently completed a book-length qualitative study called Citizenship and Governance in a Changing City: Somerville, Massachusetts. Based on a multi-year qualitative study of Somerville, this book explores the question of what facilitates civic and political engagement in public life. A mid-size city adjacent to Boston, Somerville has twice received the national All-America City Award for its high level of local engagement. This book shows how civic and political engagement plays out in this community whose population is divided by class, race-ethnicity, and immigrant diversity, and whose local government is in the eyes of many an entrenched political structure. The book informs current debates about the place of immigrants in the civic and political life of their new communities; and about the role of voluntary associations in local politics and government. At its root, Ostrander's new book is about the practice of local democracy as the foundation for overall democracy. Especially for those who have not previously been engaged, such as new immigrants, local participation is often the starting point for participation at higher levels.