Dear Members of the Harris School Community:
The Harris School continues to evolve and grow in ways that will better serve our
students, faculty, and alumni. The work of the Harris School and its alumni is ever
more important. Society pays the price when individuals in key policy roles are not
adequately trained or sufficiently dedicated. As we begin this year with considerable
excitement about the new people and programs at the School, it is important to
keep in mind that all that we do is aimed at making a positive difference in the world.
This year, we are joined by two new full-time faculty members: Boris Shor received
his PhD in political science from Columbia University and spent last year at Princeton
University’s Center for the Study of Democratic Politics as a visiting scholar in residence.
His research concentrates on analyzing the policy consequences of American political
institutions. Wesley Yin received his PhD in economics from Princeton University. His
research focuses on health policy, public finance, and economic development. We also welcome
Kerwin Charles as the Emmett Dedmon Visiting Professor. His research examines questions
of labor economics, such as how the racial composition of neighborhoods affects the social
connections people make and how wealth is propagated across generations within a family.
We extend a special welcome to our incoming class of 129 students—122 master’s and 7
doctoral students.
We anticipate a very busy year of events intended to inspire and inform the Harris School
community. Already we have hosted an address by President Elías Antonio Saca González
of El Salvador and the annual mentor dinner keynote speech by Susan Berresford, President
of the Ford Foundation. We have alumni activities planned for Chicago, New York,
Washington, D.C., and Mexico.
We are also adding collaborative programs with partners across the University and around
the world. We will inaugurate a new joint degree program with the University of Chile this
year, and we are developing exchange programs with the Universities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.
In addition, we are working to establish a joint degree program with the Center for Middle
East Studies.
Our Custom Professional Learning program is making its way around the world as well.
This fall, Harris School faculty members provided training to government employees in
Chicago (the Department of Health & Human Services) and to government officials in
Puebla, Mexico (the Ministries of Social Development, Education, and Innovation).
(See article “From Chicago to Puebla.”)
Thanks to the generosity of the School’s donors, we have been able to establish two new
professorships—the Emmett Dedmon Professorship in Public Policy and the Steans Family
Professorship in Education Policy—in addition to the Daniel Levin Professorship in Public
Policy created last spring. (See article “Professorships Funded.”) These professorships are
key to the School’s ability to attract and retain the highest quality faculty members.
The Dean’s International Council, inaugurated this past spring and announced in the last
issue of HarrisView, continues to be a valuable advisory body to the School. Membership is
now at 35, and the group’s second meeting convened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November.
It featured panel discussions led by academic and policy leaders from the United States,
Brazil, and other Latin American nations, including James Heckman, the University’s
Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the 2000 recipient of the
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Work continues on the planning and fundraising efforts for our new building. We completed
a planning and feasibility study last spring and hope to hire the design architect this winter.
As usual, this fall we began soliciting contributions to the Annual Fund. I urge all alumni of
the Harris School to donate to the Annual Fund at whatever level is comfortable. Your support
enables us to continue to build the program and ensure the value of a Harris School degree.
Susan E. Mayer
Dean
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