May 25, 2005     

Wagner Hires New International Faculty

In September 2004, Wagner launched international specializations in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Urban Planning (MUP) degree programs. Nearly 75 students have signed up for the new specializations. Professor Paul Smoke, Director of International Programs says, "With the international specializations in place, we are expanding our faculty, staff and course offerings."

Wagner is pleased to announce the hire of two new assistant professors. Rema Hanna will complete a PhD in Economics from MIT in August 2005. She previously received a BS in Policy Analysis from Cornell. Using applied microeconomic techniques, Hanna studies the impact of public policy on economic development. Recent work includes a study quantifying the foreign direct investment effects of U.S. environmental regulation, and various randomized experiments in India designed to study the impacts of education policy, corruption, and indoor air pollution. She will join Wagner in September 2005 and teach the core statistics course as well as courses in economic development and environmental economics and policy.

Natasha Iskander is finishing a PhD at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. She also holds a BA in Cultural Studies from Stanford and a Master in City Planning from MIT. Her current work explores the collaborative processes of learning by which Morocco and Mexico designed policy tools to link emigration with economic development in the emigrants' regions of origin. Iskander will join Wagner in 2006, but will be moving to NYU in 2005 to take a post-doctoral position at the International Center for Advanced Studies. She will teach the core public policy course and develop courses on the production and transfer of knowledge in international development, labor and migration, and infrastructure policy.