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In February, CPP partnered with the Consulate General of Israel to the
Midwest to sponsor a lecture entitled “Iraq’s Future in Historical
Perspective” by Amatzia Baram, Professor of Middle Eastern History at the
University of Haifa, Israel, and author of the upcoming book Mosque and
State in Iraq under the Baath and Beyond.
CPP worked with the student group the Community and Economic
Development Organization (CEDO) to host the “Affordable Housing and
Community Development Panel.” Panelists included King Harris, Senior
Executive, Chicago Metropolis 2020 and Harris School Visiting Committee
chair; Scott Goldstein, Vice President of Public Policy, Metropolitan
Planning Council; and Christen Schaefer Wiggens, MPP’03, Director of
Innovation, Evaluation, and Public Policy, Neighborhood Housing Services
of Chicago.
CPP also facilitated the School’s first International Policy Practicum. In a
seminar-style course taught by lecturer Charles Wheelan, PhD’98—
“Economic Liberalization in India”—select second-year students studied
aspects of Indian economic reforms of the past decade, such as the economics
and politics of international trade, India’s history of economic isolation, and
the current political backlash in the US against outsourcing. The seminar
also provided an overview of Indian history, geography, politics, and culture.
At the conclusion of the quarter, Wheelan led the students on a trip to
Bangalore and Delhi, India, where they met with a number of business and
government leaders. To read more or listen to a presentation about this trip,
visit harrisschool.uchicago.edu/cpp/.
CPP Executive Director Eileen McCarthy, MPP’93recently spoke at the national conference of the
American Society for Public Administration. Her
workshop focused on how the CPP has developed
international group internships.
In January, the Office of Professional Development
held “Job Search 101,” a panel of recent graduates
who discussed their job search experiences with
current students.
In February, it hosted “Capital Connections”—
the latest in the Harris School’s annual site visits
to organizations in Washington, D.C.—which
concluded with an alumni networking reception at
the DACOR Bacon House.
In January, Professor Colm A. O’Muircheartaighled a Custom Professional Learning session on
statistics for the US Department of Health and
Human Services, and in March he led a two-day
session on survey methodology for a variety of
government officials in Puebla, Mexico. This was
the second session coordinated with alumnus Julio
Franco, MPP’01, Deputy Secretary of Social
Development in Puebla and founder of the
Institute for Executive Education (IEXE).
Professor Robert J. LaLonde led the first session
in September on program evaluation.
In April, students from the Harris School, Chicago
GSB, and the Kellogg School of Management hosted
the 2nd Annual Chicago Microfinance Conference—
“Microfinance at a Crossroads: Challenges,
Opportunities, and the Path Ahead”—with
keynote address by Richard Weingarten, Secretary
of the United Nations Capital Development Fund
(UNCDF). More information available at
www.chicagomicrofinance.com/.
Dean Susan E. Mayer delivered the University’s Winter
Quarter convocation address at Rockefeller Chapel.
The Development Office is continuing its series of
public policy luncheons for Visiting Committee
and Dean’s International Council members.
Recent topics have included: lecturer Charles
Wheelan, PhD’98 on the International Policy
Practicum; the Harris School’s Emmett Dedmon
Visiting Professor, Kerwin Charles on “Policy,
Behavior, and Marriage;” and Swedish Ambassador
to the US Gunnar Lund on Sweden and globalization.
The School’s ongoing speaker series continued to
bring in major public policy figures in 2006. In
January, Rami Khouri, current editor-at-large for
the Beirut-based Daily Star, past editor of the
Jordan Times, and frequent commentator for the
BBC and NPR, gave a public lecture entitled
“Four Years after 9/11: Reconciling Islam, Iraq,
Democracy, and the New American Imperium.”
(See article in this issue.)
John Edwards, former Senator from North Carolina,
spoke in March to a sold-out crowd at the
University’s Max Palevsky Cinema on “Restoring
the American Dream: Fighting Poverty and
Moving More Americans into the Middle Class.”
(See article in this issue.) And Najib Mikati, former
Prime Minister of Lebanon, gave a talk in April.
In March, the Office of Alumni Relations and the
Public Policy Students Association (PPSA) hosted
the 2nd Annual Networking Reception and Wine
Exploration event. The evening included two wine
education classes with Patrick Fegan, Director of the
Chicago Wine School.
In February, Ameritech Professor of Public Policy
Don L. Coursey gave a talk on “Western Water
Rights and Wrongs” in Phoenix, AZ as part of the
Harper Lecture Series.
In January, Women in Public Policy (WIPP) hosted
the annual Harris School Follies. Money raised
from ticket and DVD sales went to the WIPP
Conference Fund to help Harris School students
attend conferences. WIPP also hosted an alumni
panel on “How Is Your MPP Relevant?”
In March, PPSA held the Seventh Annual Public
Service Auction, this year themed “A Night in
Venice.” Proceeds help support Harris students
who receive unpaid, public service internships in
the summers between their first and second years.
In April, the Admissions Office held its annual
(and always well-attended) open house for admitted
students, On the MaPP.
In February, the Cultural Policy Center hosted the
first of two conferences addressing the policy frameworks
and planning decisions that contributed to
the widespread looting of antiquities in post-war
Iraq. Organized by Faculty Director Lawrence
Rothfield and co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School and the Oriental Institute,
“International Law after the War in Iraq” focused
on the international legal conventions that protect
cultural property during armed conflict and occupation.
Organizers and panelists included experts
and scholars from the Archaeological Institute of
America, the American Academic Research
Institute in Iraq, UNESCO, and the US Marine
Corps. The findings, including proposals for
amendments to the Hague Convention and the
articulation of other national and international
policy options, will be developed further at a second
international symposium in August 2006.
The Cultural Policy Center recently published the
report from the study “Mapping Cultural
Participation in Chicago.” Funded by the Joyce
Foundation and led by Robert J. LaLonde and
Colm A. O’Muircheartaigh, this study uses data from
the US Census and a cross-section of Chicago’s
cultural organizations to develop a series of detailed
maps that show who and how people partake in
available cultural offerings. In part, the findings
begin to assess the importance of socioeconomic
and demographic characteristics in determining
cultural participation, provides the basis for future
research exploring the barriers to participation,
and offers a foundation from which to evaluate
future interventions.
In April, the Center for Human Potential and
Public Policy will host the invited conference
“Developmental, Economic, and Policy Perspectives
on Welfare Reform and Child and Family Well-
Being: A Decade after the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
(PRWORA).” More information is available at
harrisschool.uchicago.edu/centers/chppp/.
During spring break, a select group of Harris School
students and Assistant Professor Ofer Malamudtraveled to Israel for a mini-course on globalization
offered by Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of the
Social Sciences and Department of Public Policy.
The focus was on the interrelationship between an
increasingly integrated world and economic policy,
higher education, and educational pluralism (multiculturalism
and segregation), as well as the adaptation
of the city of Tel Aviv to globalization.
In May, the Harris School will host a symposium to
announce the creation of the Pritzker Consortium
on Early Childhood Development. Under
the direction of James Heckman as Principal
Investigator, leading researchers across the field
of childhood development will collaborate and
create a rich shared dataset to be used for new
and innovative research. The Consortium has the
generous support of The Children’s Initiative, a
project of the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family
Foundation.
Students Sheri Frost, MPP’06 and Alvin Quinones,
MPP’07 organized the 2nd Annual Irving B.
Harris Memorial Book Drive to collect money and
new picture books for young children (ages 0–5). In
May, the books will be presented to approximately
250 children at two of the Ounce of Prevention
early childhood sites: the Educare Center and
Garfield Head Start.
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