Community Notes

Welcome

• To Mario Polizzi, Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives.

Awards & Honors

• Associate Professor C. Cybele Raver appointed to the Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessment for Young Children for the National Research Council.
• Assistant Professor Wes Yin and coauthors received the TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Certificate of Excellence for a paper on savings among the underprivileged. Read more about this project in this issue.
• Irving Harris Professor in Public Policy Jeffrey Grogger won the American Statistical Association’s Outstanding Statistical Application Award for a paper on racial profiling.

Programs & Initiatives

• Mikati Foundation Fellowship Program in Public Policy Studies, funding students from the Middle East or Asia.
• Cooperative Program with Tel Aviv University, enabling students to get two master’s degrees.
• Distance Education Feasibility Study funded by Dean’s International Council Chairman James Harpel and conducted by four MPP students.
• Mini-course on “Passions and Policies of the Contemporary Arab World” taught by Daily Star editor-at-large Rami Khouri.

Events

• Over 100 newly admitted students attended On the MaPP, the Admissions Office’s annual open house.
• The Dean’s International Council met in May in Chicago. Panel discussions and keynote speakers addressed such topics as the morality of globalization, Lebanon, the US intelligence system, and the global economy, among others.
• For the third consecutive year, the Office of Alumni Relations hosted an evening of wine tasting and networking with 150 students and alumni.
• The Center for Policy Practice sponsored events with leading policymakers and practioners on global warming, with the Office of Alumni Relations and the student group CEPA; challenges state governments face in reforming public education systems; various international issues and Chicago as a global city, with the student group CIAPP; the role of community development banks in shaping public policy; the intersection of environmental sustainability and economic development.
• Student group events have included: the Eighth Annual Harris School Public Service Auction Gala which raised over $18,000 to fund five summer internships for students (PPSA); lectures on policy issues in Latin America, including on economic challenges and achievements in Chile and on “Challenges to the Left in Latin America” (LAM); the Harris School Follies which raised over $1,700 to subsidize registration and travel fees for students to attend public policy conferences and seminars that address policy effects on women as well as diverse issues relating to women (WIPP); and Illuminating Women Leaders in Public Policy, an annual public policy panel on the unique challenges women face in policy and political positions (WIPP).