UC Berkeley | Institute of Governmental Studies

Research & Training Programs at IGS

IGS Sponsored Seminars

IGS operates one of the most active programs of social science seminars on campus, averaging dozens a year. These seminars draw participants from many different departments and schools including public policy, political science, history, statistics, law, sociology, economics, and journalism. All seminars are held in 119 Moses Hall (Harris Room), unless noted otherwise.

Annual Review of the Presidency

For more than two decades, every April the Institute of Governmental Studies has conducted an annual review of the presidency. Co-sponsored by UC Berkeley Extension, and The New York Times, the Presidential Symposium brings together a distinguished panel of presidential scholars, historians, and political journalists to assess the past year of the American presidency. For more information, contact its Moderator: Ethan Rarick (erarick@berkeley.edu), (510) 642-5158.
A webcast of this event is available.

Berkeley Center for Globalization and Information Technology

Established in 2000, the Berkeley Center For Globalization and Information Technology comprises an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students that seeks to promote the study of the social ramifications of the globalization process and information technology. The Center is involved in issues related to global governance; telecommunication systems; and "internet studies", including cyberspace, virtual communities, e-commerce, and e-politics with a special focus on Silicon Valley and the wired world. This research cluster organizes regular brown bag IT meetings, and provides an infrastructure for data collection, analysis, and dissemination. The Center also serves as a training ground for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in the intersection of globalization and information technology. For more information, please contact Michel Laguerre at 510/642-5992 or send an email to: bcgit@uclink.berkeley.edu..

Center for the Study of Representation

The Center for the Study of Representation at the Institute of Governmental Studies brings together faculty and students from a broad range of disciplines to facilitate learning about issues of representation broadly construed. Through our sponsorship of seminar series, conferences, public keynotes speakers, workshops to hone research skills, and research fellowships for both undergraduate and graduate students, we hope to create a community of scholars who share knowledge and collaborate on research projects relating to such issues as citizen participation in the political process, the representative nature of the Congress, presidency and the bureaucracy, and the impact of public policies on our polity. The Center is located in Room 103, Moses Hall. For more information, contact: Dr. Terri Bimes, 510-642-4679 (fax: 510-642-3020). E-mail: bimes@berkeley.edu.

Center on Immigration, Race & Ethnicity

The Center on Immigration, Race and Ethnicity at the Institute of Governmental Studies brings together a community of scholars with research interests in the politics of race, ethnicity, and immigration in the United States and beyond. It aims to foster an environment for critical inquiry into the social, political, economic, and historical factors that shape the processes of identity formation, intergroup relations, and collective mobilization around race, ethnicity, and immigration. The Center sponsors a regular colloquium series (see below), occasional conferences, and other activities to support and coordinate scholarly activities on these topics. The Center is located in Room 122, Moses Hall.

For more information, contact: Taeku Lee, Director, 510-642-3233. E-mail: taekulee@berkeley.edu.

Center on Institutions and Governance

The Center on Institutions and Governance (CIG) promotes research and education on the way that institutions shape politics and policy and on the way that politics and policy shape institutions. The goal of the Center is to advance our understanding of institutions across a wide range of substantively diverse issues and to develop new approaches from political science and economics as applied to this emerging area of research. Comparative institutional analysis is an important research activity at the Center. CIG also oversees the VoteWorld project whose aim is to build a central website which would archive, maintain, and distribute datasets of roll-call voting from legislative bodies throughout the international community. The Center will be under the leadership of Professor Robert Powell and Program Director Heddy Riss. For more information, contact (510) 643-4487; hriss@uclink.berkeley.edu.

Center on Politics & Public Service

The Center on Politics & Public Service, based at UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies, brings together students, faculty, politicians, activists, and policymakers on a nonpartisan basis to stimulate and nurture their interest and participation in politics and public service and to promote better understanding and cooperation between the campus and the world of politics, government, and public affairs. The Center is located in 102 Moses Hall.

For more information, contact: Program Director: Ethan Rarick, 104 Moses Hall, Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley. Phone: (510) 642-5158. Fax: (510) 642-5537. Email: erarick@berkeley.edu.

Election Administration Research Center

The Election Administration Research Center (EARC) seeks to improve the administration of elections through research, education, and public outreach. Established in January 2005 within the Institute of Governmental Studies at the Berkeley campus of the University of California, EARC studies elections at both the state and local levels and disseminates its findings to election officials, academic researchers, and members of the public. EARC develops materials and procedures to assist election administration and hosts a speakers' series on topics of interest to election administrators and scholars. Research and publication topics will include the organization of local election departments, the process of administering elections, the behavior and characteristics of state and local election officials and staff, the role of advocates for voters' rights in election reform, and the implementation of new election policies. The current EARC research program involves a systematic study of poll worker training in California counties with the aim of assessing variation, determining areas for standardization, and making recommendations for improvement of poll worker training methods and practices.

For more information, contact: Karin Mac Donald, Director: kmd@earc.berkeley.edu

John Gardner Public Service Fellowship

The John Gardner Public Service Fellowship selects six Fellows during the spring semester from among the graduating classes at UC Berkeley and Stanford University and provides to each a $27,500 stipend and health coverage to pursue the public service career of their choice. During the summer months following selection, Fellows travel to a handful of self-selected organizations to identify the one that offers the closest fit with their public service interests and ambitions. Equally important in this process is the selection of a mentor, a senior figure from within the organization who agrees to nurture the Fellow's professional growth and development over the course of their ten-month Fellowship. A mentoring relationship generally means that a Fellow enters an organization at a relatively high level, enjoys access to senior-level meetings and conferences, and travels alongside their mentor when appropriate. Perhaps most importantly, mentoring provides the Fellow with a crash course in experiential learning from a leading figure in the field.

For more information, please contact the Program Administrator, Mark Oleszek, at oleszek@berkeley.edu or (510) 643-8533.

John Jacobs Fellowship

Named in honor of the late John Jacobs, the late political editor and columnist of the McClatchy Newspapers, this fellowship is a joint program of the Institute of Governmental Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism. It seeks to provide support for journalists who take time off to write a scholarly book about politics or public affairs. The fellowship provides a modest stipend, an office, telephone, fax, and copying privileges, as well as access to the University libraries and the research support of the talented IGS library staff. For more information contact: Ethan Rarick, erarick@berkeley.edu; (510) 642-5158.

Oral History of the California Supreme Court

In partnership with the Institute for Legal Research (ILR) and Boalt Hall School of Law, the California Supreme Court Oral History Project carries out research interviews with retired justices to create an archival complement to the written record of California's highest court and, by extension, the lower California courts. Recent work with the Supreme Court appointees of Governors Ronald Reagan and George Deukmejian centers on the court's work from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, exploring specific events (such as the changes wrought by the 1986 statewide election, when California voters declined to retain three sitting justices) and also such themes as capital punishment, victims' rights, legal challenges to key ballot measures, sentencing guidelines, alternative dispute resolution, and state constitutionalism. With generous partial support from the California Supreme Court Historical Society, the project operates under the leadership of Harry N. Scheiber, Director of ILR and Riesenfeld Professor of Law and History at Boalt (scheiber@law.berkeley.edu) and Project Director Laura McCreery at IGS (mccreery@berkeley.edu).

Program for Overseas Americanists

The Program for Overseas Americanists (POA) based at IGS brings to Berkeley foreign scholars and practitioners with a common interest in advancing the study and understanding of American politics, government and public policy. Participants are granted Visiting Scholar status and return to their home countries with a better grasp of the ties that bind American democratic principles, institutions and values, and its free market economy. Visitors have included well-known scholars and youthful postdocs, journalists, government officials, and foreign service officers from Great Britain, Sweden, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, France, China, and Brazil.

As part of this initiative, the following foreign universities have developed informal exchange agreements with IGS:

Keio University Center for Civil Society with Comparative Perspective

Located in Tokyo, Keio University's Center for Civil Society with Comparative Perspective conducts research and maintains programs designed to study the underinvestigated area of the dynamics of civil society in a multicultural world. Some of the components of the Center's research include the comparative analysis of civil society, media content analysis, transnational political society, and civil society in Japan.

UC Berkeley/Sacramento Program

As part of the University of California's public service mission, the UC, Berkeley/Sacramento Program seeks to forge stronger links between the campus and state government. Working with a diverse consortium of campus units and coordinating with the campus Director of Government Affairs, the program conducts briefings in Sacramento, brings legislators to campus, and sponsors a variety of programs to provide an increased level of service to state government and augment Berkeley's presence in the capital. Program Director: Ethan Rarick, 104 Moses Hall, Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley. Phone 510-642-5158. Fax 510-642-5537. Email erarick@berkeley.edu

Victor Jones Memorial Lecture Series

The Victor Jones Memorial Lecture Series on Metropolitan Governance brings a distinguished speaker to the campus to lecture on topics such as regional affairs, urban studies, federalism, comparative government, metropolitan and local administration, and intergovernmental relations. This occasional lecture series is administered by the Institute and serves as a lasting tribute to Victor Jones, Professor Emeritus of Political Science.

Visiting Scholars' Program

IGS has a very active program of bringing foreign and domestic visiting scholars for short and long term residence to the Berkeley campus. IGS provides visiting scholars with office space, access to university libraries, seminars, and lectures; the use of facilities such as gyms, faculty clubs, and art galleries; assistance in locating suitable living accommodations; and modest research support such as use of a photocopier, telephones, word processing, email, computers, and fax facilities. Visiting scholars generally do not receive stipends or travel expenses from IGS. Visiting scholars usually hold a Ph.D. degree or have achieved a comparable level of professional accomplishment in some field of interest to IGS. Frequently, visiting scholars hold academic appointments or emeritus status with another university.