News from 2013
Special Recognition for Jennifer Bussell’s Book, “Corruption and Reform in India”
The Levine Book Prize committee of the Governance Journal awarded special recognition to Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in the Digital Age (Cambridge University Press, 2012), by Jennifer Bussell, who recently joined the Goldman School faculty. “This book masterfully draws on both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the implementation of state-level, IT-based service centers in India," writes the selection committee. "The book convincingly shows how the nature of corruption in each Indian state interacts with political…
Janet Napolitano Named Next UC President
US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has been nominated by a special committee of the UC Regents to be the next president of the University of California. “This is a very intriguing appointment for the University of California,” says Dean Henry E. Brady. “Someone of this stature could change the game in California. Janet Napolitano has a law degree from an eminent public university. She is a distinguished public servant, and her extraordinary political…
Does Obama’s Early Education Proposal Have a Chance?
Children's advocates high-fived when President Obama called for "high quality preschool" for "every child in America" in his State of the Union Address. The details of the plan are considerably more complicated -- for one thing, federal money would be used mainly for poor and working-class kids, though states would be encouraged to include middle-class youngsters as well; and for another, the proposal encompasses initiatives for infants and toddlers, like Early Head Start, as well as pre-k -- but…
Can Driverless Cars Save the Postal Service?
Ding! That sound could soon be the USPS app alerting you to an imminent delivery, after which a driverless Postal Service vehicle arrives at your door and a robotic arm delivers your package. While this may sound like science fiction, driverless vehicles will be coming to streets near you sooner than you may think. Sixteen states already have introduced driverless vehicle legislation and California, Nevada, Florida, and the District of Columbia have enacted laws allowing driverless vehicles on their roads.…
President Obama Highlights the Urgency and Benefits of Climate Action
Hurricane Sandy. Record-breaking wildfires in Colorado. Ninety degree weather in Alaska. A deadly tornado in Oklahoma. No wonder President Obama is getting impatient with the slow progress on climate action. These events are the new realities of a changing climate, and they are the reason I am compelled to join the President’s call for climate action. The President’s Climate Action Plan, announced today, outlines five key targets to address climate change: Reducing carbon pollution through new…
Fresno State’s Next President
Last month, the California State University, Fresno named Joseph Castro (MPP '90) its next president. Joe is currently a vice chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco. He begins his post at the end of July. Have you always had an interest in higher education? I was the first in my family to attend a university when I enrolled at Berkeley in 1984. This opportunity completely transformed my life. I realized this almost immediately and decided during my junior year…
Don’t Ask…Just Play
Like many Americans, I took my kids to see the new Jackie Robinson bio-pic “42." They were appropriately shocked and appalled by the vile way he was treated by the bigots he faced in the streets and on the field. On the way home, I warned them to “brace yourselves – sometime very soon we’re going to see a major sports figure coming out of the closet and announcing he’s…
PB Vallejo
Assistant Adjunct Professor of Public Policy Larry Rosenthal serves on the research board the City of Vallejo's participatory budget project. PB Vallejo brings the budgeting process directly to residents, allowing them to debate, discuss and vote on city projects, from street lights to senior centers. Orville Thomas (MPP '13) recently completed his Advanced Policy Analysis (APA) project with Vallejo Councilwoman Marti Brown on questions of representativeness, process design, the role of administrative structures and sustainability across annual budget…
Rebundling Higher Education
As a result of the internet and financial challenges, higher education might become unbundled in the next decade as its functions are separated into different pieces and markets. The decline of newspapers in the past 20 years provides an object lesson about what can happen, but higher education has strengths that newspapers lacked. Since the late-19th century and through much of the 20th century, newspapers profitably bundled often lurid, and sometimes thoughtful, news coverage with advertising and classifieds printed on…
Beyond Fossil Fuels
Ever heard of California’s “Low Carbon Fuel Standard”? UC Berkeley prof Dan Kammen co-wrote it. What about the terms “cap and trade” and “carbon offsets”? Kammen helped popularize these concepts for the American public and transform the way we view energy consumption. As director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab at the University of California, Berkeley — where he also holds appointments in the Environmental Resources Group and the Department of…