Welcome all to the beginning of a new academic year of possibility, opportunity, and progress for the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and the community of people who comprise it. Following a productive summer of activity, some of which you’ll read about in this newsletter, we quickly launched into the fall semester with two signature events.
In late September we held the seventh Price Guardian Awards, our premier annual event at which we honor individuals whose experience embodies the Price School mission of improving the quality of life for people everywhere. I invite you to read more about our awardees, nonprofit pioneer Irene Hirano Inouye, documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick, philanthropist-educator Michael Keston, and Yoshi Honkawa, a tireless and dedicated Price Board of Councilors member.
Earlier in September, as part of the Dennis F. and Brooks Holt Distinguished Lecture Series, Price’s Bedrosian Center on Governance and the Public Enterprise welcomed acclaimed statistician-journalist and author Nate Silver. He spoke to a university-wide audience on issues linking data, communications, and public policy, making a compelling case for the same analytically rigorous, evidence-based approach to social inquiry that we champion here at the Price School.
Over the summer, the Price School was especially active and engaged in the community. Notably, several members of the Price community were part of an academic contingent advising L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s transition team on city policy issues. In addition, Price partnered with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning to offer a first-ever pre-doctoral workshop for minority planning students, hosting 26 participants from 13 U.S. states and territories. Numerous Price faculty volunteered their time to promote diversity in academia in an effort to broaden the questions, concerns, and scholarship that will affect the future of urban communities.
Those communities are not only here but abroad. Accordingly, we feature two stories about our students’ summer international lab and internship experiences, a distinguishing hallmark of the Price curriculum that connects the classroom with practice. I encourage you to read about the impressive range of projects that Price students undertook in places like China, Brazil, and Cuba, among other countries.
Our students’ immersion in governance, social policy, and urban development issues abroad reinforces Price’s commitment to deepen and broaden its global engagement. The newsletter’s Global Reach section details a new partnership with Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology, a government agency, establishing a graduate exchange program. We also follow Price senior fellow, Frank Zerunyan, to Bahrain for a UN-forum dedicated to collaborative governance and leadership training for local and global public service.
Price connects the classroom with practice – in other words, puts Knowledge in Action – and we take pride in showcasing examples of it in each newsletter. We profile Ryan Kucinski’s (MPL ’13) work with Price Charities, in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood. In addition, USC’s National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events featured CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series. Bergen spoke about the current state of al Qaeda and domestic counterterrorism efforts.
In this newsletter’s Alumni Spotlight, we bring you the success story of Chris Steins (MPL ’95), CEO of L.A.-based Urban Insight and editor of Planetizen, the most visited urban planning web site in the country.
Finally, take a moment to keep up with our Research News, USC Price Making News, Awards and Notes, featured videos and photo albums, as well as Upcoming Events – including a major national conference on veterans’ issues taking place at the USC campus on Oct. 8.
In its 85th academic year, now more than ever, USC Price and the people in it appreciate the ongoing interest that the school’s friends and alumni continue to express as we move ever-forward as one of the nation’s finest institutions of public affairs education and research.
Sincerely,
Jack H. Knott
C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean and Professor
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy