The Future We Want
from Berkeley Public Policy Journal
Goldman students (from left): Emory Wolf, Emily McCaffrey, Daniel Lao-Talens, Henriette Ruhrmann, Joseph Monardo, Joony Moon, Randall Tran, Chenchen Zhang
Now is a fascinating time to study policy. As the US and the global community are searching for policy approaches to the future, we at GSPP are discussing how we can advocate for the future we want as policy professionals. Our thoughts and conversations with current and previous students at GSPP shape our perspective on the world. For us, the Berkeley Public Policy Journal (BPPJ) is an opportunity to capture important ideas and structure nuanced assessments relevant to the policy issues that inspire us most.
This fall, under the guidance of outgoing chief editors Manasa Gummi and Anna Radoff, the BPPJ published its Spring 2018 edition featuring five articles across a spectrum of policy issues. The BPPJ strives to be a valuable reflection of the diversity of voices within the UC Berkeley student body, and this latest edition benefited from a cast of authors composed entirely of women or people of color. With topics including turnaround school strategies, enterprise development models, and the treatment of pregnant women in prisons, the Spring 2018 edition highlighted the quality of work being done within the walls of Goldman. Conversations with William Easterly, an expert on development and economic policy, and GSPP alumna Corey Newhouse, the Founder and Principal of Oakland-based Public Profit, extend the conversation into the real world of policy and complete the Spring edition.
Between the bi-annual publication of our print editions, we highlight incisive analyses of current policy issues in the US and around the world from within our diverse community at GSPP on our BPPJ blog. We are thrilled that the BPPJ blog serves as a platform for members of our community to share insights from their broad range of professional backgrounds or ongoing research to enrich our discussions.
Looking ahead, our editorial team is excited by the quality of writing within the upcoming Fall 2018 edition. Currently in the editing stages, this edition will present perspectives from our GSPP community on domestic social justice and corrective policy measures. With the Fall 2018 edition, we hope to contribute to the important current debate on the role of social justice in our society. In keeping with the GSPP tradition of speaking truth to power, our student contributors have developed nuanced academic writing that identifies pressing policy issues and develops robust solutions. Our staff — composed of first-year MPP students Daniel Lao-Talens, Emily McCaffrey, Joony Moon, Randall Tran, Emory Wolf, and Chenchen Zhang — has been working all semester to ensure that each article reaches its full potential as a valuable contribution to the BPPJ, and to the broader policy conversation we seek to engage in and lead.
As we continue to work hard to do justice to the expertise and intelligence of our student community, we invite you to engage in our mission. We welcome submissions of policy analysis, opinionated viewpoints, and insightful assessments to the BPPJ blog (https://bppj.berkeley.edu). At this critical juncture for policy making, we hope you will feel empowered to engage with our editorial team and add your voice to a publication at the heart of our GSPP community.
By Joseph Monardo and Henriette Ruhrmann,
Co-Editors-in-Chief of the Berkeley Public Policy Journal