Students Reform Chicago Policy Review Journal
January 18, 2011Harris School's student-edited publication returns to its roots
When Kathy Im, MPP ’97, and fellow classmate Lakshmi Ramakrishna, MPP ’97, co-founded the Chicago Policy Review in 1996, they envisioned a publication that would influence discourse among top policymakers—featuring the work of Harris School students alongside articles by respected academics and policy practitioners from around the world.
“We wanted to have something to offer to the wider policy community and to build and expand the Harris School reputation nationally,” says Im, who now works as director of media, culture, and special initiatives at the MacArthur Foundation.
The journal has since attracted submissions from top-level policy leaders, such as Hillary Rodham Clinton (1999), Joe Biden (1999), John Kerry (2001), and John McCain (2006), among others. But in 2007, the journal’s editors turned its focus toward almost exclusively publishing the work of Harris School students and alumni.
That business model is no longer working, says Chicago Policy Review’s current Editor-in-Chief Josh Hurd and Executive Editor Liz Mackey, both second-year MPP students. Together they're working to resuscitate the journal's identity as a student-run publication with premiere practitioner-focused content.
“We still want it to be a platform where students can be published, but we also want to elevate that name brand to what it used to be,” Mackey says.
To accomplish that goal, she and Hurd are focusing their time and energy on engaging with the broader policy community. “We’re expanding outward again,” Hurd says, explaining their new efforts to solicit articles from a wide range of sources. “We’re reaching out to policy schools and practitioners around the country.”
But producing a nationally respected publication like the Chicago Policy Review it takes a substantial internal effort from Harris School students, as well. This year, for example, there are 30 policy students on the journal’s staff (up from 15 two years ago) filling roles from circulation directors to senior article editors. This group of students sift through dozens of article submissions until they land on the five to ten articles they feel are most qualified to be published in the annual journal, which usually goes on sale in early June.
Read about last year’s edition >>
Past issues have focused on one specific policy issue—international development (1999), technology and government (2001), and civil liberties (2004)—but today, articles are selected based on timeliness. “Our articles promote a dialogue between leaders, practitioners, and academia that hopefully lead to better and more effective policy outcomes” Hurd explains.
As another way to increase timeliness, Hurd created a Chicago Policy Review blog last year, fully staffed with five editors whose sole responsibility is to populate the Web with regular policy analysis by students, professionals, and faculty. “The blog contributes to the discourse we’re trying to promote because it allows for people to actually respond in real time to important issues,” Mackey adds.
The next issue of the Chicago Policy Review will be published this spring. Submissions are currently being accepted.
Read more about submission guidelines >>
- Andrew Means
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