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In Memoriam: Irving B. Harris, 1910-2004

A Word from the Dean: State of the School - My Vision for the Future of the Harris School

Trickle Down Effects: Parents’ Unemployment and Their Children’s School Performance

Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Does Fulfilling an American Dream Cause Economic Displacement?

Foundation Support Helps Develop New Urban Leaders

Making a Difference: Diane Gibson, AM‘96, PhD’99

Making a Difference: Irene Basloe Saraf, AM’95

Community Notes

The Levin Faculty Fellowship: Funding Urban Research

Cash & Carry: Banking and the Poor

Policy in Practice: Students Reflect on Group Internships At Home and Abroad

The 2004 Entering Class

Keep in touch!

Foundation Support Helps Develop New Urban Leaders

Thirty-one Harris School students have been singled out for a yearlong program of leadership development that includes workshops, site visits, and discussions with some of Chicago’s movers and shakers.

The McCormick Tribune Leadership Fellows Program (MTLF), directed by Robert T. Michael, the Eliakim Hastings Moore Distinguished Service Professor, began two years ago with a five-year grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation shared by the Harris School and the School of Social Service Administration (SSA).

“I was pleased to receive an invitation and excited about the opportunity,” said Michelle Garcia (MPP’05) about being asked to become a Fellow. Garcia, who was born and raised in a Chicago suburb, admitted, “After having grown up here, there’s still so much about the city that I don’t know.” The history of Chicago’s leaders, initiatives, and ongoing challenges are all a part of what the program seeks to teach its participants.

The MTLF program is one component of the Program for Urban and Community Leadership, a joint initiative between the Harris School and SSA. The grant also allows each school to establish a professorship dedicated to the study of urban issues. Although SSA is still conducting a search, the Harris School recently filled its faculty position. “The assistance from the McCormick Tribune chair has been instrumental in supporting my research and teaching since arriving at Harris,” says Bruce D. Meyer, the McCormick Tribune Professor. Previously on faculty at Northwestern University, Meyer’s expertise includes the policy issues surrounding unemployment compensation in the United States.

Although the two schools work closely together, they have different approaches for preparing Fellows to become urban leaders. Harris’ Fellows have the opportunity to engage in lively discussions of policy issues with civic and community leaders. This year, featured speakers include John Callaway of WTTW, Michelle Obama from the University of Chicago Hospitals’ Community Affairs Office, Arne Duncan of Chicago Public Schools, and Jack Fuller of the Tribune Publishing Company, among others. Fellows make site visits to community-based programs, read from a list of recommended books, and develop leadership skills by volunteering for session-related tasks.

Directed by Dr. Mark Joseph, a Harris School alumnus (AM’94, PhD’02), the SSA program is structured as a bi-weekly workshop focused on community development issues featuring guest speakers, site visits, and informational interviews with alumni and city leaders. This year’s twenty SSA Fellows chose to explore social and political themes in three neighborhoods with the goal of producing a year-end summary analysis.

Harris Fellows meet several times a month but do not receive academic credit for their participation, which worried Nathan Macklin (MPP’05) until he attended the first session. “The program trumped any concerns I had about the time commitment,” he says. Macklin, who is concentrating on international banking, sees the program as a way to gain greater exposure to city leaders and explore Chicago’s role as an international banking center.

J. Janelle George (MPP’05) sees it as a method for targeting her job search, adding that a highlight of the program is that Fellows “have a unique opportunity to hear firsthand from leaders who are living and working in the region about how to engage in policy in the real world.”

Kim Hunt (MPP’04)