Recent News

Minutes before, the upscale restaurant had been brimming with life. “I was waiting for my food when they walked inside—young, barely a year or two older than me, wearing jeans and t-shirts. They looked like the other customers. Within minutes they pointed their weapons at us, killed the foreigners and took us hostage,” says Tahmid, a 17-year-old who survived the terrorist attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At a nearby table, Nadia Benedetti, an…

In the summer of 2014, thousands of Central Americans—mainly unaccompanied children and parents traveling with children from the Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala—crossed Mexico into the US. The arrivals made headlines as a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations designated these migrants as refugees fleeing an armed crisis, while the arrivals overwhelmed the US’s infrastructure and created a years-long backlog in the country’s immigration courts. By the end of…

About 9 million Americans receive benefits from the federal disability insurance program known as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). The program is designed to provide financial support for those no longer able to work, due to a disability. One important question is whether people are reluctant to return to work because they do not want to lose their SSDI benefits. In early June, the White House invited Professor Alex Gelber to share his research on disability insurance at the Council of…

Members of the GSPP community, including alumni, faculty and staff, are invited to submit nominations for the GSPP Alumnus of the Year Award!     GSPP places great value in the many contributions our alumni make every day to making the world a better place.  This is GSPP's opportunity to recognize our alumni for the accomplishments they have made to the field of public policy.   Below are details on the Alumnus of the Year Award,…

Research at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory led by Goldman School Professor Dan Kammen and Dr. Deborah Sunton of the US Department of Energy highlights that while cities currently contribute to global climate change by emitting the majority of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, they could become the building blocks of sustainability. In this week’s inaugural special issue of Science Magazine on Sustainability Studies, Professor Daniel Kammen and Dr. Deborah Sunter explore the potential of using renewable…

Press release: BERKELEY, CA, May 16, 2016  - The Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) is delighted to announce that Professor Michael Nacht  has been appointed as Interim Director, effective May 16th.  He will replace Carol Christ, former CSHE Director, who was named the University’s Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost on May 1st. Michael Nacht holds the Thomas and Alison Schneider Chair in Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy.  …

Watch Charlotte discuss her work with Represent.Us with Dean Henry E. Brady as a part of UCTV's "Millennial Voices" webcast. When people learn I've taken a year-long sabbatical from graduate school to pursue anti-corruption reform, they frequently assume I’ve joined a presidential candidate’s campaign. It is an understandable assumption. Bernie, Trump, Hillary, Cruz—virtually every presidential candidate left in the running has lambasted America’s culture of legalized corruption, in which…

The work of GSPP's Center on Civility & Democratic Engagement (CCDE), founded by Cal’s centennial Class of ’68, has never been more important. The 2016 election season has made our precious democracy’s vulnerabilities plain for all to see. Basic political tenets—like campaigning for votes on the merits of one’s positions and leadership—rather than insults and media-blitz feints—no longer hold the steady attention of the American public. For many,…

David Plouffe served as the campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and was appointed a senior advisor to the President in 2011. He is now a strategic advisor for the ride service, Uber. David Plouffe visited the Goldman School during “Stop the Clock” week, which provides students and faculty with a chance to interact with leading decision-makers who have worked in public policy and government. The following is an excerpt from a conversation between him…

Like millions of mothers across America, my two little girls are taking me out to eat for Mothers’ Day. I enjoy being with my children as much as everyone else, but this Mothers’ Day will be bittersweet. As the co-founder and Co-Director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United, a national restaurant workers’ organization, I know that my server, more than likely to be a woman, is also more than likely a mom like me—quite…