Does Policy Analysis Matter? Exploring Its Effectiveness in Theory and Practice, edited by Lee S. Friedman, was released by University of California Press in February 2017. In addition to Professor Friedman, chapter contributors include John A. Hird (MPP '86/PhD '88), Eric M. Patashnik (MPP '89) and Justin Peck, and M. Suzanne Donovan (MPP '81/PhD '87 ). All proceeds from the sale of the book will support the Wildavsky Forum, sponsored annually by the Goldman School in memory of Aaron Wildavsky, GSPP's founding…

Starting in kindergarten, the students in the Union Public Schools district in Tulsa, Okla., get a state-of-the-art education in science, technology, engineering and math. (Credit: Andrea Morales for The New York Times) TULSA, Okla. — The class assignment: Design an iPad video game. For the player to win, a cow must cross a two-lane highway, dodging constant traffic. If she makes it, the sound of clapping is heard; if she’s hit by a car, the game…

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s (R-Wis.) decision to pull legislation to reconfigure the nation’s health-care system is a major setback to President Trump and the GOP. For seven years, Republicans promised to repeal and replace Obamacare. Their failure to deliver on this promise exposes intraparty divisions that will not be easily healed. [With AHCA defeat, some Democrats see chance to push for universal coverage] But there is more to the story…

The Goldman School of Public Policy seeks applications from researchers in food policy, with an emphasis on the social movements of food production, food service, and labor practices and policies in these sectors. We anticipate that these scholars will study the political, legal, and social aspects of food policy, including: organizing social movements around food policy (e.g., the Local Food movement, Farm-to-Table, the Fight for $15 movement); the use of social media in political organization around food policy; food policy…

Coal-fired power plant, Minnesota. Credit: Tony Webster Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Over the past two years, two thoughtful, innovative, and dramatically different plans to address global warming have been presented to the American public by the Democratic and the Republican Parties. Both plans would move the nation significantly toward a sustainable future. The first, the Clean Power Plan (CPP), introduced by President Obama, calls on states to reduce carbon pollution from the power sector by 32 percent…

As soon as I walked into Celia Rojas’s prekindergarten class in Union City, N.J., I was sucked in by the hum of activity. Art plastered the walls, plants were hanging from the ceiling, and in every nook there was something to seize a child’s imagination. Some kids were doing cutouts of paper clothing and others were at an easel, painting. A bunch of children were solving puzzles on a computer, while another group was building…

Misty Loetterle is a career coach with the Goldman School's recently launched Master of Public Affairs degree program. Below, she discusses what ignited her interest in career coaching and what are great questions for mid-career folks to be asking. What got you interested in career coaching in the first place? What opportunity did you see for this type of role? My entire career has been focused on recruitment and talent development, but it wasn't until I was a…

On Friday, Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans the arrival of Syrian refugees, suspends refugee resettlement for 120 days and reduces the number of refugees who will enter the country from 110,000 to 50,000. The order also bans travel from Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Sudan and Libya for 90 days. Early Saturday we learned that this ban also included legal permanent residents and visa holders, an interpretation which led to the inhumane and illegal detention of families, students, and…

President Janet Napolitano and the Chancellors of the University of California issued the following statement on Sunday, January 29, 2017: We are deeply concerned by the recent executive order that restricts the ability of our students, faculty, staff, and other members of the UC community from certain countries from being able to enter or return to the United States. While maintaining the security of the nation's visa system is critical, this executive order is contrary to the values we hold dear…

Despite a long history of supporting foster youth’s academic success, California failed to comply with a federal deadline requiring all states to submit plans on how to pay for those students’ transportation to school. In 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act, the first major overhaul of federal education policy in more than a decade. ESSA included a handful of provisions and mandates regarding the educational stability of students in foster care, who fare far worse…