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Research & Training Programs at IGS

IGS Sponsored Seminars

IGS operates one of the most active programs of social science seminars on campus, averaging 64 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.


Anglo-American Dialogues (AAD)

The Anglo-American Dialogues brings together British and American scholars in four key area-- history, political science, economics, and the law-- to foster a better understanding of the origins and evolution of America's major political, economic and cultural institutions. A joint program of UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and Oxford University's Rothermere American Institute, AAD creates a binational community of scholars who engage in original research on contemporary Anglo-American themes. Semimars and exchanges are organized that are cross-cultural, comparative and interdisciplinary. For more information, contact Jerry Lubenow (jlubenow@uclink4.berkeley.edu), (510) 642-5158.

Annual Review of the Presidency

For nearly two decades, every April the Institute of Governmental Studies has conducted an annual review of the presidency. Co-sponsored by UC Berkeley Extension, the California Alumni Association, 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.

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..

Berkeley Executive Seminar

The Berkeley Executive Seminar (BES) on Strategic Management of Public Organizations will be held on August 5-10, 2001. BES, a joint project of IGS and the Goldman School of Public Policy, brings to the Berkeley campus local government executives for a week-long intensive course. It will offer California city managers, county administrators, and regional government directors an extraordinary West Coast professional development opportunity. This program offers California local executives an opportunity for career skill development and exposure to current management research and tools taught by Berkeley faculty and outside consultants. Participants will also receive a UC Berkeley certificate upon completion of the seminar. The seminar costs $2,500 which includes tuition, instructional materials, lunches, and a mid-week special dinner and lecture by a Silicon Valley CEO. For more information, contact Blas Perez-Henriquez, GSPP Executive & International Programs; (510) 643-5170; blasterx@socrates.berkeley.edu. You can also view the brochure (PDF Format).

Underwriting of this program comes from generous grants from Stone & Youngberg LLC and the California City Management Foundation.

California Research Bureau Apprenticeship

The California Research Bureau (CRB), a public agency serving the research needs of state government, offers upper division social science undergraduates the opportunity to work on actual research projects for the California State Legislature, Governor's Office, and state executive agencies. The CRB prepares in-depth research reports on selected topics that are the subject of current or probable future legislation. Under a joint program administered by IGS and the campus Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) students are competitively selected and placed on research teams working in Sacramento investigating research problems of interest of state policy makers. Usually offered during Spring semester only.

Center for Campaign Leadership

The Pew Charitable Trusts, based in Philadelphia, has awarded a grant totaling $1.8 million over the next two years to the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS). This initiative will fund the newly established "Center for Campaign Leadership" (CCL) as part of project that seeks to improve the quality of election campaigns by instituting appropriate standards for candidates and their advisors.

The "Improving Campaigns" Project will first work on developing a set of "Best Practices" based on academic research and case studies to demonstrate how practicing better politics can be a winning campaign strategy. Next, the Center for Campaign Leadership will host one and two-day, non-partisan training institutes across the nation. These institutes will be designed to spread the knowledge and use of "Best Practices" approaches to campaigning within the context of a broader campaign training and instruction program.

For more information, contact the Center's co-director Dan Schnur, (510) 642-8320.

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: Gerald C. Lubenow, 104 Moses Hall, Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley. Phone: (510) 642-5158. Fax: (510) 642-5537. Email: Jlubenow@uclink4.berkeley.edu.

Framing Technical Decision-Making

"Framing Technical Decision-making", part of the Program in the Social Studies of Science and Technology, is a three year grant funded by the National Science Foundation to train graduate students in the social science approaches to the study of highly salient policy problems with a major scientific and technical component. The purpose of this project is to offer advanced graduate students from a wide range of disciplines a better understanding of emergent socio-technical systems in problem areas where potential consequences are high and technical, institutional, and policy choices are all disputed (e.g., disposal of high-level nuclear wastes). The blending of narrative and actor-centered methods of analysis with more familiar institutional, structural, and behavioral methods are used in an effort to understand the performance of socio-technical policy designs. For more information, contact Professors Todd La Porte (tlaporte@socrates.berkeley.edu) or Gene Rochlin (armsis@socrates.berkeley.edu).

John Gardner Fellowship

In brief, the John Gardner Fellowship offers outstanding graduating seniors of both the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University a unique opportunity to pursue a public service career. With the assistance of the program administrators, each spring six Gardner Fellows-three from each university's campus-are selected and placed in the government agency or nonprofit organization of their choosing. Within that organization, each Fellow also selects a mentor, a senior officer who will help build their leadership skills and guide their professional development during their ten-month Fellowship. In return for their dedication to public service, Fellows receive a $20,000 stipend. This joint UC Berkeley-Stanford University program was established in 1985 with initial funding from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, the Carnegie Corporation, the Education Foundation of America, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Millennium Fund.

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: Jerry Lubenow; jlubenow@uclink.berkeley.edu; (510) 642-5158.

Joint Project on Term Limits

The Joint Project on Term Limits is a cooperative effort among the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments, the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, and a group of legislative scholars. The purpose of this project is to assess the effects of term limits on state legislatures and identify successful approaches for dealing with them.

Under the leadership of Professor Bruce E. Cain, IGS is responsible for managing the California arm of this multi-year study. This research project is funded by generous grants from the Public Policy Institute of California and the UCOP California Policy Research Center. For more information, contact Bruce Cain (bruce@cain.berkeley.edu).

Performance Measurement Working Group

A joint project sponsored by IGS, Institute of Urban & Regional Development (IURD), and the California Policy Reform (CPR). The Performance Measurement Working Group is an interdisciplinary group of faculty interested in developing performance measures for a variety of public purposes, ranging from transportation to government services, to community development to regional sustainability. Increasingly it has become clear that the public will not support additional taxes or expenditures without greater accountability. It is less clear how to design and implement performance measurements that are useful and meaningful. This faculty working group meets occasionally to discuss various topics on the political, organizational and technical challenges associated with developing effective performance measurements. For more information, contact Professor Judith Innes (jinnes@uclink.berkeley.edu), IURD Director, (510) 642-6579.

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 two foreign universities have developed informal exchange agreement with IGS:

Program In Psychological Economics (PIPE)

The Program in Psychological Economics (PIPE), located in Room 118 Moses Hall, is a new research initiative under the leadership of Matthew Rabin, Professor of Economics. The new center hosts visiting scholars, offers seminars and workshops, and arranges conferences that bring together game theorists, political economists, behavioralists, and economic theorists. For more information, contact Professor Rabin [rabin@econ.berkeley.edu], (510) 642-7881.

Program on Community Change & Public Policy

The Program on Community Change & Public Policy (PCCPP) is a multi-disciplinary program designed to strengthen the capacity of local public systems and community organizations to effectively implement public policy and educational initiatives for low-income communities in California. Formed in 1997 under the sponsorship of the Institute for the Study of Social Change, the program moved off-campus to work with the Bay Area Partnership, and now has returned to operate under the umbrella of IGS under the leadership of Professors Martin Landau, Troy Duster, and Bruce Cain. The PCCPP is new program of research and technical assistance for low-income communities in California and investigates what happened to ethic civil society in the postcivil rights era. Currently, this program offers a unique "leadership development series" for leaders of low-income communities throughout the greater Bay Area. Community leaders engaged in the program currently include: clergy, directors of community-based centers and services, parent and youth counselors, community organizers and community development advocates. For more information, contact the program at (510) 642-7884.

Project on Immigration & Citizenship

The Project on Immigration & Citizenship (PIC) is an interdisciplinary research program that focuses on the fourth wave of immigration to the United States since 1965 and the political assimilation of these newcomers. The study of immigration has significance for public policy and for the development of social science theories regarding acculturation, group relations, and political conflict and cohesion. The PIC addresses a broad based approach to immigration studies with a special emphasis on California and the political behavior of its new immigrants. The following areas are the substantive foci of the PIC: demography and residential mobility of immigration; structural and cultural assimilation; the comparative study of state policies; the transition to citizenship; and disaspora studies. For more information, contact Professor Jack Citrin (gojack@uclink4.berkeley.edu), (510) 642-4692.

Strategic Management of Public Organizations

INFOTEC, a Mexican federal agency, has partnered with the Goldman School of Public Policy (GSPP) and IGS to offer a certificate program for senior Mexican government officials in the strategic management of public organizations. Funded by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mexican Institute for International Cooperation, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the training program teaches senior public officials modern practices of public management and the application of information technologies to public service. For more information, contact Blas Perez Henriquez (blasterx@socrates.berkeley.edu), (510) 643-5170.

Stone & Youngberg California Local Executive-in-Residence

The Stone & Youngberg program offers local decision-makers the opportunity to focus on problem solving in a first-rate public affairs environment. Supported by a grant from Stone & Youngberg, one of California's leading municipal securities firms, this competitive program brings to the Berkeley campus, for a three week residency each year, one of California's leading local chief administrators to teach, study, learn, write and reflect on improving local governance. Based at IGS, recipients receive accommodations, meals, and travel stipends, in addition to research support services. Eligibility is limited to local executives employed by a California city, county, special district, or regional agency with substantial, sustained, and distinquished careers in local affairs. Selection takes placed during fall and the residency occurs in spring. For more information, contact Marc Levin (mlevin@library.berkeley.edu), IGS Assistant Director; (510) 643-6476.

Transformation of Democratic Institutions in Europe

Russel J. Dalton of the Center for the Study of Democracy at UC Irvine and IGS Director Bruce E. Cain, with support from Berkeley's Institute of European Studies, have assembled a team of scholars from University of California campuses in Berkeley, Irvine and Riverside and other specialists on European politics to examine the tension between the institutions of representative democracy and the new calls for institutional reform. Their research will focus on the European experience and will include comparative evidence from other OECD democreacies. To learn more about this project, refer to the IGS Public Affairs Report, Winter 2000, pg. 17, or contact Professor Russ Dalton at rdalton@uci.edu; (949) 824-6569

Travers Ethics Program

The Travers Program in Ethics & Politics, funded by a generous gift from Col. Charles Travers (class of 1932), is co-sponsored with the campus Political Science Department. The components of this program are an undergraduate course, PS 108 "Politics, Ethics & Leadership", support for promising undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral scholars, and an annual conference on salient policy issues. Under the direction of Professors Bruce Cain and Shannon Stimson, this program links the varied research and teaching efforts in the disparate applied and theoretical ethics groups on campus. The research findings sponsored by this initiative are disseminated the "Travers Working Paper Series in Political Ethics" issued by the IGS Press.

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: Gerald C. Lubenow, 104 Moses Hall, Institute of Governmental Studies, UC, Berkeley. Phone 510 642-5158. Fax 510 642-5537. Email  Jlubenow@uclink4.berkeley.edu.

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.

 

 

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