Awards & Recognition
In May, Minorities in Public Policy Studies (MIPPS) held their annual alumni dinner and presented the Alumni Award to MIPPS co-founder and first president Erica Burroughs (MPP’01), who is currently Recruiting Director with Teach for America.

Harris School Assistant Professor Sean Gailmard was recently part of an advisory panel of experts and scholars consulted by Cook County Commissioner and Harris School alumnus Mike Quigley (AM ‘85) on ways to restructure Cook County’s government to make it more efficient and cost effective.

Faculty & Staff
Welcome to new staff members Fay Booker (HSIT), Thomas Froyland (international programs), Larisa Gheciu (administration), Nancy Goldstucker (alumni relations), Tiffany Hayes (C. Cybele Raver’s Chicago School Readiness Project), Kathi Marshall (Dean of Students and Admission offices) Brian Roush (Cultural Policy Center), and Irena Rusenas (Incarcerated Mothers Research Project).

Career Services welcomes Edonna Brazzle as Career Services Specialist.

Welcome to new faculty member Diane Whitmore. A labor economist with research interests in the economics of education and poverty, Whitmore has recently studied food stamp benefits, class size in the early grades, and obesity and school lunch programs. During the Spring Quarter, she is teaching “Economics of Education Policy.”

Events
Members of the Harris School faculty have been part of the University’s Harper Lecture Series this winter. David Meltzer presented “Hospitalists: Challenge or Opportunity for American Medicine” to Chicago alumni in February and Don L. Coursey was in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington in March presenting “Economic Value, the Value of Economists, and the Meaning of Life.” Dean Susan E. Mayer attended and visited with area alumni.

Career Services hosted its annual Washington Week in March. As always, it was well received by both students and alumni. Events included a kick-off reception, presentations by DC-area public, nonprofit, and private sector organizations, as well as an alumni-sponsored game night.

Well over one hundred newly admitted students experienced a slice of life at the Harris School during the Admission Office’s annual April visit day, On the MaPP. In addition to lectures by faculty and discussions with current students, there was an alumni panel on public policy careers and life after Harris.

Students
Congratulations to Jason Daniels (MPP’05) and Jacob Plummer (MPP’05) selected to be Public Policy Fellows for the Office of the Mayor at City Hall.

The Community & Economic Development Organization (CEDO), a collaborative SSA-Harris student organization, held its annual Chicago Dinners event in February with keynote speaker Phillip Jackson, founder and CEO of the Blackstar Project and former CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority. The presentation and discussion focused on the ties between education, community development, and race.

Students interested in environmental policy have formed a new organization. The Chicago Environmental Policy Association (CEPA) hopes to further the connection between the analysis and practical application of environmental policy by hosting current political and policy-related environmental discussions and speakers.

Women in Public Policy (WIPP), a resource and student voice for women that seeks the betterment of women and girls, invites Harris alumni to join its professional network. If interested, please contact Melissa Baker at bakerms@uchicago.edu.

In January, WIPP presented “The Harris School Follies,” with performances by students, faculty, and staff. Proceeds went to the newly established WIPP Conference Fund, towhich all Harris students can apply for assistance to attend policy-relevant conferences. Preference is given to those that discuss policy effects on women. For more information, contact Caryn Kuebler at caryn@uchicago.edu.

The Public Policy Student Association (PPSA) hosted its fifth annual auction in April in downtown Chicago. Proceeds went to the Amy Marie Bosman Memorial Fund, which provides summer fellowships to support students with unpaid internships.

Alumni
Congratulations to Meejung Chin (AM’01) who was recently appointed Assistant Professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Child Development and Family Studies in Seoul, South Korea.