NYU Wagner News

Michelle Obama honors Wagner alumnus Jason Yoon and his nonprofit arts organization

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

NYU Wagner graduate Jason Yoon (MPA 2006) and New Urban Arts, the Providence, R.I., nonprofit organization he oversees as executive director, were honored by Michelle Obama at the White House on November 4, 2009. New Urban Arts, an interdisciplinary arts studio and gallery for high school students and emerging artists, was one of 15 youth arts and humanities programs nationwide to garner the prestigious 2009 Coming Up Taller Award from the First Lady.

Coming Up Taller is a project of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. It recognizes and supports outstanding out-of-school and after-school arts and humanities programs for children, especially those with great potential, but limited outlets for creative expression. Coming Up Taller Awards honor programs that offer exceptional learning experiences in the arts and the humanities and that have a tangible effect on the lives of young people as evidenced through improved academic scores, enhanced life skills, and positive relationships with peers and adults.

"This award," commented Yoon, "is a testament to all the amazing people who have contributed to our community over the past 13 years, particularly the incredible artists and young people who are the foundation."

On November 12, Yoon returned to the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University to participate in a panel discussion entitled "Careers in Arts and Culture."

The event was co-sponsored by Wagner's Office of Career Services, and Student Network Exploring Arts & Culture (SNEAC). Joining Yoon was Kenita Lloyd (Wagner MPA, 2009) who is Deputy Director of the Museum for African Art, as well as Mark Rossier, the Director of Development and Marketing for the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Michaella Holden, Assistant Director of Alumni Services and Special Events at Wagner, moderated the helpful and engaging discussion -- an opportunity for Wagner students to hear practitioners discussing their career paths and experiences.

Half the world is 'unbanked,' says new Financial Access Initiative paper

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

The Financial Access Initiative (FAI), a research consortium based at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, has identified that 2.5 billion adults worldwide do not have a savings or credit account with either a traditional (regulated bank) or alternative financial institution (such as a microfinance institution). Nearly 90% of the financially un-served live in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. FAI published the findings in a November, 2009, paper, "Half the World is Unbanked" (click below to access it).

"Until now, the margin of error when considering the world's unbanked was about plus or minus a billion-unacceptable in any other field," said Jonathan Morduch, professor of economics and policy at NYU Wagner, managing director of the Financial Access Initiative, and author of Portfolios of the Poor, a new book examining the surprisingly sophisticated financial lives of the world's poor. "These findings are a real step ahead, and they show how better data can help policymakers truly target and serve poor populations with appropriate financial services."

The analysis also revealed new insights; for example, that India, a country with low per capita income and a large rural population, demonstrates much greater use of financial services than many relatively richer and more urban countries. The global data indicate that countries can improve levels of financial inclusion by creating effective policy and regulatory environments and enabling the actions of individual financial service providers. More than 800 million of those using financial services live on less than $5 per day, so it is possible to provide these services to very low-income communities-but there are still nearly 2 billion to reach.

The Financial Access Initiative (FAI) is a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals, offering the next generation of thinking about microfinance. FAI is housed at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and led by managing director Jonathan Morduch and directors Dean Karlan (Yale University) and Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard University). FAI focuses on basic research and measurement tools that reveal the most effective means of implementing microfinance initiatives. FAI studies the value of microfinance by identifying the demand for financial services; the impact of financial access on incomes, businesses, and broader aspects of well-being; and mechanisms that can increase impact and scale of microfinance.

At NYU Wagner talk, OMB Director Orszag describes remedies for U.S. deficit [Video]

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Peter Orszag, Director of the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), talked about the enormous U.S. budget deficit, its primary causes, and its potential implications for health care, higher education, and the career prospects of younger people in an address November 3rd at New York University sponsored by the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Orszag was introduced by John Sexton, NYU's President, and Ellen Schall, the Dean of NYU Wagner, who served as the event's moderator and in her opening remarks noted that Orszag was the youngest member of President Barack Obama's cabinet.

Last year, Orszag told the audience of more than 400 people at NYU's Kimmel Center, the federal deficit was $1.4 trillion ,and a comparable budget gap is projected for the present fiscal year. Over the next decade, he said, the federal government is projected to generate additional red ink of $9 trillion. "Deficits of this size are serious and ultimately unsustainable," Orszag said.

The event was broadcast live by Fox Business while generating a significant amount of public interest and media coverage. To read an official text of the speech or view the NYU webcast, click on the links below.

Related Links:
NYU Webcast
OMB Text of Speech
Washington Post

New York Times spotlights NYU Wagner's 'Visual Explorer' application tool

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

When NYU Wagner reviews applications for admission, we try to add up the many components that make up an applicant and ask ourselves: Who is this person' Two years ago, we added an optional Visual Explorer essay to our application. This essay section provides all applicants with an opportunity to offer information about themselves that is not always captured through the standard essay question on the application. They are asked to select a photograph from an archive of two dozen conceptual images and then write about it. The process draws out their creativity, while grounding them in a moment of reflection about their motivation to study and work in public service.

"Too often," notes Wagner's dean, Ellen Schall, "applying to graduate school is transactional. We added Visual Explorer because we wanted to signal that the Wagner experience is transformational. Visual Explorer calls for people to slow down enough to reflect on their own experiences, connect their passion for public service to their professional goals, and offer their own perspectives on how to change the world."

On Nov. 1, 2009, the Education Life supplement of The New York Times spotlighted Wagner's pattern-breaking application tool, the images for which are provided in collaboration with the nonprofit Center for Creative Leadership, or CCL).

View the interactive feature at the New York Times.

At Rudin Center event, Lt. Gov. Ravitch sizes up state deficit and how to fix it

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

"Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch's appearance at an NYU forum yesterday was overbooked almost as soon as it was announced, and the audience wasn't disappointed as Gov. Paterson's No. 2 let loose on a variety of subjects." So began a Crain's Insider dispatch on Ravitch's bracing, widely reported discussion Oct. 28, 2009, at NYU Wagner on New York State's huge budget challenges and the implications for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which he formerly headed, the $2 transit fare, and the controversial idea of introducing East River bridge tolls.

Ravitch, a major figure in the development of fiscal practices in the city and state since 1970s, offered his assessments with Wagner's Professor Charles Brecher (moderator) as a guest of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, housed at the school, and the Center's director, Anthony Shorris, who previously headed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "The State of New York," Ravitch said, "has in the remainder of this fiscal year a deficit of $4 billion--$3 or $4; people argue about it," he said, speaking to students and transportation professionals at NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy. "Next year it's between $7 and $8 [billion], assuming revenues level off. The year after that, when the stimulus bill no loner provides any one-shots for the State of New York, the deficit will be between $15 and $18 billion. These are numbers that are unprecedented."

Hear the full discussion in the Wagner Podcast.

Related Links:
Wagner Podcast
Bloomberg News
NY Observer

UPSA Hosts Mayor Bloomberg on NYC's future

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Mayor Michael Bloomberg provided an optimistic forecast of the city's future in a talk he delivered October 26, 2009, at New York University's Kimmel Center as a guest of NYU Wagner's Urban Planning Students Association (UPSA). More than 100 Wagner students attended the event and heard an introduction by UPSA chair Sandra Rothbard. Bloomberg, in his remarks, said he envisions improvements in transit service, affordable housing, education, public safety, and the environment. He said he was pleased to talk with students who attend the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, a school, he noted with a smile, that is named for a "distinguished three-term mayor." Bloomberg ended his remarks with a straight-forward nod to Wagner and its "impressive" alumni working in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.

Related Links:
Washington Square News
New York Times

Obama Gets Gender Right in First 100 Days

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EDT

As the 100^th day approaches, it is time to take stock of what the Obama Presidency has meant so far for women. Dating back to FDR, the first 100 days of a new Administration have been a kind of preview of what is to come over the next four years. In George W. Bush's first 100 days, he blocked funding for international family planning clinics, signed an order stating that women receiving Medicaid benefits could not use funds to pay for the emergency contraceptive, RU-486 and shut down the White House Office on Women's Issues-- a friend to progressive women's issue he was not.

What about Obama' Is he friend or foe to women' If the first 100 days are any indication, Obama is off to a great start and the next four years will bring great strides toward women's equality and progress in the United States.

In the throws of a deepening financial crisis and just six days into his Presidency, Obama lifted the global gag rule, a promise he made to women's groups on the campaign trail. This was as much about delivering on a promise as it was an ideological statement of the importance of overturning harmful and short-sided public policies instituted over the last eight years.

Another sure signal of what is to come for women in the Obama Administration is that the first piece of legislation he signed into to law as President was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. The Act gives women the ability to challenge unequal pay, which will have direct and meaningful impact on working women from coast to coast and across occupations. And in his recent Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, over $100 billion dollars are dedicated to providing support to women and families.

Obama's Cabinet is also chalk full of extremely accomplished stateswomen and issue advocates. With two cabinet positions still open, Obama has appointed or nominated a total of eight women to his cabinet or to high-level positions. They include Janet Napolitano as the Secretary of Homeland Security, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Hilda Solis as the Secretary of Labor, Lisa Jackson as the Head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Melody Barnes as the Director of Domestic Policy.

These appointments are more than just symbolic. They come at a time when the country is facing huge challenges both domestically and globally with regard to the economy, the environment, immigration, and mending our international reputation. Women at the table will have the opportunity to influence the future direction and policies of the country.

What is also significant is about Obama's appointments is that more than half are women of color. This is more than any other President in the history of the country. There is great diversity of opinion and background in the Obama White House.

Less than a month shy of his 100 days, lest he forget something, Obama created the White House Council for Women and Girls, an interagency office designed to ensure that the policies and programs take into account the needs of women and girls.

The first 100 days of Obama's Administration have given women much to celebrate. Although there is still much work to be done in terms of achieving fully equality for women and girls, we are well on our way. And with the possibility of two Supreme Court nominations over the next few years, it is good to know that we have a man like Obama in the White House.

Obama should focus on jobs, foreclosures, and female heads of households

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

Barack Obama's economic recovery plan should focus more money and attention on the people who need it the most. These include the unemployed, low-income workers, female heads of households and families being forced into foreclosure.

Last week we learned the number of unemployed increased by 534,000 in December, bringing the number of unemployed to 11.2 million. In 2008 alone, the ranks of the unemployed grew by 2.6 million _ that's nearly 7,123 jobs lost per day over a one-year period.

Nearly 10 million homeowners are having trouble making their payments, and sub-prime lending has ravaged many racial and ethnic minority communities. Close to 1.5 million homes are in the process of foreclosure. And with poor credit and high debt, the likelihood that families will be able to land on their feet any time in the near future is slim.

Instead of focusing on jobs and foreclosure protection, Obama's proposal gives $300 billion away in tax cuts. Many individuals would see only around $500. That won't do much, especially when they are already in debt and are fearing for their jobs.

On top of that, Obama is talking about providing a $3,000 tax break to businesses for each employee they hire. But that would barely even cover the costs of health insurance, payroll taxes and training _ much less the salary _ for that employee.

When Obama does discuss jobs, he talks of providing money to states for "shovel ready" projects to rebuild roads, highways and bridges. While we need some of these jobs, the number of women who will directly benefit from them will be microscopic. Women make up less than 10 percent of all construction workers, and when you subtract women administrative assistants and surveyors, the percentage falls to less than 2 percent.

In a vulnerable and weak economy, women and single-women heads of households are hit hardest. They tend to earn less and have fewer assets than their male counterparts, and they are more likely to live in poverty.

Obama should provide funds for jobs dominated by women. When he talks about jobs created in education and health, he is talking about repairs to schools and health care technology, not necessarily more money or jobs for teachers and nurses.

His administration should also offer fiscal support to states to increase childcare subsidies to single women heads of households so they will be able to survive this downturn.

On the homeowner front, the stimulus package should include clear and direct relief to those facing bankruptcy. Judges in bankruptcy courts should be authorized to rewrite loans. And Obama should cajole banks into renegotiating mortgages.

Obama has proposed some excellent ideas, like extending unemployment benefits to part-time workers and making Medicaid available to individuals who become unemployed.

These are good starts.

He should build on them _ and not get distracted by the calls for business tax cuts or bank bailouts.

He should keep his focus on the neediest _ and reserve the bulk of the near-trillion dollars for them.

That is not only the most moral course. It is also the most sensible economic course.

If you give people a job, they will have money to spend.

If you protect people's homes, they will have confidence to spend.

If you help women provide for their children, that money will go directly into the economy, thus creating more jobs.

We all will benefit from a recovery package that addresses the most vulnerable and least advantaged in our society.

How should we spend the stimulus

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

Today, unemployment's up and going higher. The President elect is proposing a one trillion dollar economic stimulus plan - but how to spend it' President elect Obama's plan calls for public investment in infrastructure repair, green jobs to produce alternative energy and improve energy efficiency of federal buildings, and jobs to computerize medical records and rebuild classrooms. But the plan involves a lot of "tax cuts" too.

To discuss Obama's economic plan and possible alternatives are Jeff Madrick, author of Demos.

Network applauds Sotomayor pick for high court

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Shortly after Obama's win, I heard someone lament that this country is going to hell in a hand basket. Well if this is hell, give me a tall glass of ice water.

This morning, Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat that will be left empty by David Souter. She has more experience than any other current member of the court at the time of their nomination and is said to be most in touch with what's happening in the lives of ordinary citizens. She is also the first Latino and if confirmed would be only the third woman to serve as Justice.

The last woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court was Harriet Meirs, a Bush insider with very little experience and an almost nonexistent opinion record at the state or federal level. At the time of her nomination, many women including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had hoped a woman would win the seat but quickly backed away when Meirs was announced. Meirs was also shunned by many conservatives who believed her nomination compromised an agenda they had worked so hard over the last 30 years to build.

Sotomayor is a different story. She is a Yale-educated lawyer with 18 years of experience as a judge and has written over 150 court opinions. She was nominated by Papa Bush in 1991 and elevated in 1998 by Clinton to the 2nd Court of Appeals in Manhattan. It doesn't get more bi-partisan than that.

In addition to her credentials and experience, we cannot underestimate Sotomayor's background and what it will mean for the high court. She will bring a unique perspective unlike any other justice in the history of the country. Her background as a daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, raised in a Bronx housing tenement by a single mother means that she not only understands what it takes to succeed, but the barriers and challenges faced by immigrants and people of color attempting to realize their own version of the American Dream.

Liberals and progressives will want to know about where she stands on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, immigration, gun control, the separation of church and state, affirmative action, and racial discrimination. Her past opinions do not give us any clear, definitive answers. She seems to be less ideological and more pragmatic, deciding each case on its own merit. This will benefit Sotomayor during her confirmation hearings, but might cast a cloud of suspicion over her nomination with civil rights and women's organizations.

After Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Sotomayor is more than an encore; she is a symbol of the changing times and a forceful move toward building a more inclusive and representative democracy. So far, hell is looking pretty good these days.

C. Nicole Mason is a political scientist and Executive Director of the Women of Color Policy Network at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She is also a senior research fellow at the National Council for Research on Women. Download the Network's latest report on Race, Gender and the Recession at wagner.nyu.edu/wocpn.

Related Links:
Commentary on Huffington Post

All kidding aside, Newark's Mayor Booker relates his policy challenges and success

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

In a public conversation at NYU Wagner before more than 125 students, Newark, N.J., Mayor Corey Booker offered hard-won insight, progress reports and humor in describing how his administration's strategies to reduce recidivism are contributing to broad civic improvement.

Mayor Booker fielded questions October 8, 2009, about his pattern-breaking efforts from Ellen Schall, Dean of Wagner, and the audience on a day when, as it happened, he was attracting national attention for countering quips delivered by TV talk-show host Conan O'Brien at Newark's expense. The mayor told students that New Jersey's largest city is simply "not the butt of jokes," but conceded that matching O'Brien laugh-for-laugh is no easy challenge.

But Booker had the audience chuckling at several points, even as he described serious and substantial efforts since his election in July, 2006, to set a national standard for urban transformation. He noted he has created several public/private partnerships and brought together civic group to rehabilitate and green the city's parks and playgrounds, doubled affordable housing construction, and set up model programs to assist at-risk youth and empower ex-offenders to thrive in meeting their family obligations.

Booker said with evident pride that only 3 percent of the ex-offenders who participated in an innovative fraternity on fatherhood begun by the city two years ago have been re-arrested, showing that carefully tailored programs can end a publicly and personally tragic cycle of recidivism. He said he calls the fatherhood program DADS, or Delta Alpha Delta Sigma, he joked. He hopes that by working to bring proven business analytical measurements and operational management techniques to the city administration, such efforts will be scaled up and replicated elsewhere. "Most cities," he said, "don't have a mature prisoner-reentry system."

The 39-year-old Mayor Booker said he's working to turn the city's well-regarded charter schools -- currently overseen by Wagner alumnus De'Shawn Wright -- "from "islands of excellence to hemispheres of hope." With the help of philanthropic organizations and researchers, transferring the Newark charters' formula for high achievement to the rest of the 45,000-student school system is achievable, he said.

"Hopelessness is probably one of the worst toxins in any city, it's a cancer, and it really undermines what you're trying to do," said the mayor. But in referring to his deepening involvement in public service, he then added, "It hasn't been easy, but it's been so rewarding."

The evening event was sponsored by The NYU Wagner Students for Criminal Justice Reform and The Black Allied Law Students Association.

NYU Wagner students 'Ask An Adjunct' at new Office of Career Services event

Tue, 6 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner's Office of Career Services held its first Ask-an-Adjunct event on September 24. The event provided students with the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with public service practitioners who are leaders in their respective fields.

Wagner's adjunct faculty are outstanding teachers, expert practitioners, and an invaluable resource for Wagner's students both inside and outside of the classroom.

Ask-an-Adjunct was preceded by a Job Search Strategies workshop that gave students tips and tools for finding the jobs they wanted. About 75 students attended the workshop and then headed to Ask-an-Adjunct where they met with adjunct faculty members representing a wide range of fields including health policy, consulting,international development, finance, and nonprofit management.

On counting calories: new research explores NYC menu labeling initiative

Tue, 6 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Do patrons alter their food choices when they see how many calories their selections contain' A study published October 6, 2009, in the journal Health Affairs by Brian Elbel, Rogan Kersh, Victoria L. Brescoll, and L. Beth Dixon examines how likely customers of restaurant chains in low-income New York City neighborhoods are to make healthier choices when the menus include prominent, now-mandatory calorie postings. The researchers collected about 1,100 cashier receipts two weeks before the city's calorie labeling law took effect and four weeks after. They found that eating habits did not change significantly in the wake of the initiative.

The researchers concluded, "In an ideal world, calorie labeling on menus and menu boards would have an immediate and direct impact on everyone's food choices. However, as has been seen in previous attempts to change the behavior of vulnerable populations (for example, [in relation to] cigarette smoking), greater attention to the root causes of behavior, or multifaceted interventions, or both, will be necessary if obesity is to be greatly reduced in the overall U.S. population."

Brian Elbel is an assistant professor at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. Rogan Kersh is an associate professor and associate dean of NYU Wagner. Victoria Brescoll is an assistant professor in the Yale School of Management. Beth Dixon is an associate professor in the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The research for the study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Eating Initiative, the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and the New York University Wagner Dean's Fund.

Related Links:
Health Affairs
New York Times
Freakanomics (NY Times.com)

Professor Rae Zimmerman and NYU Collaborators Receive NSF Grant

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Rae Zimmerman, NYU Wagner Professor of Planning and Public Administration, was awarded along with her fellow researchers at New York University a more-than $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) based on the Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship For Service (SFS) program for research and teaching of security and privacy issues on the Internet and other critical information infrastructure. Zimmerman is the Director of the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems based at Wagner.

The three-year grant was given to Nasir Menon and Ramesh Karri of NYU-Poly, who lead the effort, and several professors from New York University - Anindya Ghose, NYU Stern Assistant Professor of Information, Operations and Management Sciences, Helen Nissenbaum of NYU Steinhardt, and Rae Zimmerman of NYU Wagner - to provide funding for their interdisciplinary program, "ASPIRE: An SFS Program for Interdisciplinary Research and Education." The grant will support faculty research and curriculum innovation. It will also provide scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students participating in the program in order to stimulate the growth of a cadre of scholars with expertise in security and privacy issues.

This NYU-wide collaboration will focus on identifying and providing practical, cost effective solutions to information security and privacy problems from technical, ethical, policy and business perspectives. Zimmerman's focus is on the connection between cyber threats and the public services that infrastructure provides.

Six Wagner grads publish case studies in Prof. Kovner's 'Health Services Management'

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EDT

The critically praised new edition of the casebook Health Services Management: Cases, Readings, and Commentary (9th ed., Health Administration Press: 2009), includes essays by six graduates of NYU Wagner and Anthony R. Kovner, professor of public health and management at Wagner and co-editor of the volume. The revised volume provides a distinctive overview of management and organizational behavior theory. The book's essays are organized into six parts: The Role of the Manager; Control; Organizational Design; and Professional Integration; Adaptation; and Accountability. The Wagner contributors are former students of public administration and health management who have gone on to work as leaders in the healthcare field. For example, Claudia Caine (MPA '84), in an essay co-written with Professor Kovner, drew on her experiences as Chief Operating Officer at Lutheran Medical Center of Brooklyn, N.Y. Their case study reveals how quality control moves significantly reduced patients' average wait time at an inner-city hospital's emergency room, from 90 minutes to between 30 and 35 minutes, door to doctor. And Jacob Victory (MPA '98), director of operational performance management for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, wrote two essays, entitled "Mid-Career Change" and "Integrating Rehabilitation Services into the Visiting Nurse Service of America." Overall, the book's cases take place in a variety of organizations, such as a faculty practice, a neighborhood health center, a small rural hospital, and an HMO. Kovner's co-editors include Duncan Neuhauser, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University, and Ann Scheck McAlearney, associate professor of health services management and policy at The Ohio State University's College of Public Health. Professor Kovner is also co-author of a newly published textbook, Evidence-Based Management in Health Care, the result of work by he and other distinguished management experts to foster more reliable, evidence-based decision making education and practice widely in the healthcare industry.

Related Links:
Health Services Management: Cases, Readings and Commentary

U.S. Health and Human Services Taps Former Wagner Adjunct for Senior Post

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner has a high-caliber group of adjunct professors, including many seasoned practitioners who work on critical public problems in and across a variety of fields and sectors.

Now, David A. Hansell, who was a Wagner adjunct assistant professor from 2000 to 2006, has been named to a senior post at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

His new title, which was effective on June 29, 2009, is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, according to an announcement by New York State.

In his most recent role, Hansell is the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, and has a breadth of knowledge in the development and delivery of social service policy and programs, including TANF, child support, LIHEAP, food stamps, and services for victims of domestic violence, persons with HIV/AIDS, home care clients, and adults in need of protection.

Prior to his appointment as Commissioner of the NYS OTDA, Hansell was Chief of Staff of the New York City Human Resources Administration, where he assisted in the management of all of the city's public assistance programs. Before joining HRA, Hansell served in a number of positions at Gay Men's Health Crisis, including Director of Legal Services and Deputy Director for Government and Public Affairs. From 1997-2001, he was the Associate Commissioner for HIV Services at the New York City Department of Health, and subsequently served as Associate Commissioner for Planning and Program Implementation.

NYU Wagner Adjunct Professor Writes Handbook on 'Leading Change'

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Leading change is a topic of paramount importance. But a missing ingredient for many leaders has been how to translate concepts into actions, continuous improvements and sustainable results.

Now, the Wallace Foundation has just published NYU Wagner Adjunct Professor Jody Spiro's "Leading Change Handbook: Concepts and Tools."

This toolkit by Dr. Spiro, who is the Wallace Senior Education Program Officer, was developed to help leaders address several key areas of the change process: assessing and improving participants' readiness; engaging stakeholders; planning "early wins"; minimizing resistance; using collaborative planning methods; and developing ways to bring initiatives to scale and sustain them over time.

The handbook is available for free downloading and posting -- visit the link listed below.

For more than 24 years, Dr. Spiro, Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at Wagner, has served as a senior organizational change agent in a wide variety of public and nonprofit settings, including her current education reform work in countries undergoing dramatic transition. Dr. Spiro holds a master of public administration from NYU Wagner and an Ed.D. from Columbia University.

U.S. Labor Department Names Wagner Professor Sewin Chan to Advisory Panel on Pensions

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Sewin Chan, Associate Professor of Public Policy at NYU Wagner, has been sworn in as a member of the U.S. Departmetn of Labor's Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Plans. The panel was established under the ERISA Act, and Professor Chan will be one of 15 members on a three-year term. Her specific role is to represent the general public in advising Secretary Hilda Solis on issues relating to pension and health plans. Others on the council represent various industry groups and unions.

Professor Chan teaches courses in microeconomics, public finance, and health economics. Her research is concerned with the well-being of individuals and households and how it is shaped by the interaction of economic behavior, market institutions and government policies. Professor Chan's current focus is on the economics of aging and retirement. Her recent projects include the impact of job loss on older workers, individual responsiveness to financial retirement incentives, and the well-being of caregiving grandparents. Professor Chan has also worked on the economics of the residential housing market, examining the inherent risks of homeownership and designing innovative financial instruments for controlling those risks. Professor Chan has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, and the Center for Retirement Research. Her research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics, the Journal of Public Economics and the Journal of Urban Economics. She holds an M.A. from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

NYU Wagner congratulates the Class of 2009, and celebrates Convocation at BAM

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:00:00 EDT

In a Convocation speech to Wagner's Class of 2009, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan said he attended the 1977 World Series game when sports commentator Howard Cosell, observing a column of rising smoke in the vicinity of Yankee Stadium, told a national television audience, "Ladies and gentleman, the Bronx is burning." The wave of arson, crime, and abandonment afflicting much of New York City less than two years after the city government had narrowly avoided municipal bankruptcy captured Donovan's attention even then, as an 11 year old baseball enthusiast. And it's probably no accident that as someone who came of age in the 1970s and '80s in New York, he went on to devote his education and distinguished public career to understanding and innovating policy steps that helped rescue and transform New York and many other American cities in the wake of that "urban catastrophe."

Donovan quoted former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton in addressing the proud and excited graduates and their families gathered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 15: "Public service is not just a way of life, it is a way to live life fully."

According to Donovan, the rise of New York and the restoration of its once-strained civic bonds show that public-sector work - his own path-has enormous potential value, even though the challenges were amply demonstrated by the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Citing President Obama's call to service, as well as his recently signed national service bill, Donovan said the mission of public employees and others embarked on public service work of all kinds is to give us "a reason to believe in public service again" in our neighborhoods and across the nation and world.

"Wagner Class of 2009," Donovan said, "we need you to make it possible to believe again!...Together, we can put our shoulder up against the wheel and change the course of history."

Dean Ellen Schall enumerated the impressive accomplishments of the graduating students and faculty members, including Professors of the Year Shanna Rose and Anthony Kovner. She contended that the work of public service requires more than technical and analytical capabilities, as critical as those are, but also "artistry," saying, "Public service is as much about art as about science." Artistry is what is required to find bold new answers to problems that resist technical solutions, whether those are ending poverty, overcoming racism, ensuring equal health outcomes for all, creating public school systems that work, or building cities that are sustainable.

The dean told the graduates that she wrote an essay for the Convocation as if she were applying for admission to the school. She based her thoughts on a photograph she selected from a catalogue of visual images, just as many Wagner applicants are asked to do. The image she selected was that of a person bringing a pot to life on a pottery wheel, as it reminded her of an introduction to pottery class she took last fall.

"I showed up every Monday night from 6-9, much the way you showed up for a class," she told the graduates. "And it was very hard. It was the worst in the class, a fact clear to me and to everyone else. Yet I stayed and kept on trying. I knew there was learning in the trying, in sticking with what didn't come easily. I never actually cracked the code or became a potter. Yet at the end, I have these small little pieces of ‘pottery' in my house and the odd thing is, I display them...and they make me smile when I walk in. They remind me to take myself seriously, but not too seriously, to stretch even in the face of initial resistance, mine or others, to find pleasure in small wins."

She referred to the image on a large screen on the BAM stage.

"This captures a simple visual image that I wish for each of you as you go forth. That you embrace the boldness of seeing yourself as artists, as creators and change makers, as people who bring passion and the fullness of yourselves to the critically important challenges of public service. And that you have the discipline and energy and commitment to keep on going, even if you don't get it right the first time around, that you learn from what works as well as what doesn't, and that you find joy in small things as well as big moves."

Michael C. Alfano, executive vice president of New York University, offered spirited welcoming remarks, while class speaker Tracey Gardner, who earned an MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy, introduced Donovan, noting, "He's not beaten down, not jaded, and ever on the lookout for policy changes to improve how things are done and make our lives better."

Related Links:
Shaun Donovan
Ellen Schall

Wagner Student Delivers NYU Commencement Speech at Yankee Stadium

Tue, 12 May 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Kate Otto, NYU Wagner student and Reynolds scholar, was the NYU Commencement Speaker at the newly opened Yankee Stadium on May 13. In past years, the University has selected two student commencement speakers, one to represent undergrads and the other for graduates. There was one student speaker this year, which made Otto the perfect choice: she's graduating from Wagner's dual degree BA/MPA program.

The spirited day under sunny skies was highlighted by a Commencement speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She was introduced by Wagner Dean Ellen Schall, who described her as "the chief architect of American foreign policy...[and] a luminous star in the crucial constellation of human rights defenders."

Otto, who hails from Rhode Island, worked during high school at a hospice for people with HIV/AIDS. She went on to attend NYU's College of Arts and Science and work on public health education programs in West Africa. She enrolled in Wagner classes during her senior year. This year, she completed the requirements for an MPA in Health Policy and Management from Wagner.

In addition, she has been working for Keep A Child Alive, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based organization where she began as an intern. The group supports the care and treatment of children worldwide afflicted with HIV/AIDS. There, Otto sparked the creation of a network that now includes 315 campus chapters. She is now looking to expand this network into middle and high schools, houses of worship, athletic teams, and more.

Otto has been awarded a Luce Scholarship, and will spend the next academic year in Indonesia working with an HIV/AIDS organization.

"Communities," she says, noting the global economic downturn, "are the most important thing we all can be building right now."

NYU Wagner Forum with Leading Public Officials Explores President Obama's First 100 Days

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EDT

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter, and White House senior economic adviser Jason Furman were among leading public service officials, business leaders, journalists, and professors who took part in an original, lively, and thought-provoking NYU Wagner forum April 24 entitled "President Obama's First 100 Days: Implications for Urban America."

NYU Wagner Dean Ellen Schall welcomed 100 public service and business leaders and others to the Fifth Avenue Ballroom, where the daylong conference also featured the author/historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Wagner Professor Paul C. Light, and Robert M. Shrum, the noted political strategist and a Wagner senior fellow.

Contributing to the event's four panel conversations were New York Times chief national political correspondent Adam Nagourney, NBC News Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker, Politico editor-in-chief John Harris, and New York 1 political reporter Dominic Carter.

The conversations and audience questions focused on the President's unparalleled attempts -- except for, perhaps, the first 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency in the grip of the Great Depression -- to stabilize a reeling national economy, his evolving leadership, the enormous public support his actions have elicited, and the immediate and long-range challenges facing cash-pressed cities and states.

"The most important thing that he has done," said Governor Corzine, referring to President Obama, "is he has restored repect and confidence in the office of the presidency."

Philadelphia's Mayor Nutter, in response to a question from Mark Whitaker, gave the new commander-in-chief a "B-plus/A-minus" -- ticking off a list of the President's accomplishments and the many initiatives in healthcare and alternative-energy investment that may come -- and he added that the President and his administration have been strikingly accessible and sensitive to the concerns of big-city mayors such as himself.

"They know where cities are," Nutter said.

Mayor Bloomberg Announces Help for Nonprofits at NYU Wagner Event

Tue, 7 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Speaking before about 300 public service leaders at New York University's Kimmel Center, Mayor Michael Bloomberg on April 6, 2009, announced a series of new initiatives to help more than 40,000 nonprofit cultural, health and social service organizations in New York City weather the economic downturn. The event was sponsored by the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, with welcoming words offered by NYU President John Sexton, and with the Mayor introduced and the economic challenges confronting the nonprofit sector framed in opening remarks delivered by NYU Wagner Dean Ellen Schall.

"Almost half a million New Yorkers who make up our nonprofit workforce contribute profoundly to the heartbeat of our city by helping residents across the five boroughs -- particularly during these trying times," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Whether by training people for jobs, providing access to arts and culture, or building affordable housing, the nonprofit sector is a vital part of the City and our economy. As nonprofits face increasing challenges due to the economic downturn, it's critical that the City take concrete steps to strengthen the sector and help it thrive."

The mayor's initiatives are aimed at helping nonprofit organizations reduce fixed costs through group-purchasing of goods, energy savings, and other strategies, improving the city's contracting procedures, increasing bridge loans, and providing dedicated assistance through nyc.gov - where the initiatives are spelled out in detail -- and the 311 city information hotline.

Dean Schall said, "Mayor Bloomberg has shown unprecedented acknowledgement and support of the vital role that the nonprofit sector plays in New York City. As the dean of the NYU Graduate School of Public Service, I applaud the Mayor for focusing needed attention on the critical needs of nonprofits, which have been particularly hard hit by current economic conditions. Streamlining the process for nonprofits to contract with the city strengthens the bottom line. Just as important is the Mayor's call for increased collaboration and partnership. NYU Wagner, through its faculty, students , and alumni, is proud to partner with the city in its efforts to maximize the positive impact of the city's nonprofit sector."

NYU Wagner and UCLA School of Public Affairs Develop Workshop on 'Navigating Across Boundaries of Difference'

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Differences such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, and many other aspects of personal identity shape the way each of us sees the world, the way resources are distributed, the way policies are made, the way boundaries are drawn, and the way institutions are managed. While many courses at Wagner and other schools of public service address systemic bias and disparate impact, the conversations are not always easy ones - in or outside of the classroom.

To address this issue, NYU Wagner and UCLA's School of Public Affairs joined in developing a day-long workshop designed bring together faculty, students, and administrators at both schools to increase our capacities to discuss complex issues of identity and to experiment with creating frames that will help us to navigate across boundaries of difference at the micro (individual) and macro (institutional, society) levels. Workshops were held on separate days at UCLA and NYU Wagner in March, 2009, with students, faculty and staff from both schools participating in lively, thought-provoking discussions at each event.

NYU Wagner Dean Ellen Schall and her counterpart at UCLA, Frank Gilliam, plan to present the model to members of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), the accrediting association for schools like Wagner, at its fall conference, with the hopes that the model will help the 263 NASPAA member schools introduce these conversations within their communities.

Furman Center Receives MacArthur Foundation Support for Three-Year Housing Study

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EDT

The MacArthur Foundation has awarded the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy funding for a Preservation Data Project-a new initiative that will track affordable housing in danger of converting to market rate rentals. The project will have three components: a database of affordable housing throughout New York City, including detailed information on the dates when restrictions on the housing's rents expire; an early warning/opportunity system for subsidized housing at risk of opting out or failing to meet the requirements of subsidy programs; and analytic tools for assessing the potential to preserve a subsidized property as affordable housing.

This three year project, funded under the MacArthur Foundation's Window of Opportunity: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing initiative, is a part of a wider effort by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development to preserve affordable housing. The grant will allow the center -- a joint research center of New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and School of Law -- to create a new interactive database, available online, to allow government agencies, non-profits and community groups to track the tens of thousands of affordable rental units at risk of expiring out of the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), HUD, Mitchell-Lama and HPD-financed programs.

In addition, it will allow us to develop systems and tools the entire affordable housing community can use to target properties that present the greatest risks and the highest potential for preservation.

The Furman Center is led by Ingrid Ellen, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Planning at NYU Wagner, is the Co-Director of the Center.

NYU Wagner Dean Ellen Schall Interviews Gordon Brown

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner Dean Ellen Schall served as moderator as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and former Chair of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker gathered at New York University on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 for a fascinating discussion with students and faculty on "A New Multilateralism in the 21st Century." The event included such pressing and complex issues as global economic structures and policies, the challenges of climate change, and the need for cooperative approaches to security.

RCLA Releases Guide on How to Spur Candid Dialogues among NY Officials & Other Experts

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

When senior officials gather to discuss how to manage large-scale change projects in the highly political, volatile and visible world of New York City and State government, RCLA faculty member Dennis Smith sets the stage for people "to learn from doers."

The conversations start with an inner circle of experts, then other participants join with questions and their own hard-earned lessons.

A new RCLA Practice Note shows how to use this "Fishbowl" technique to facilitate collegial exchanges as an alternative to panel presentations of prepared remarks.

Related Links:
Download the Practice Note

Top Students from the United Arab Emirates Call for Collective Leadership to Meet Global Challenges

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

At an RCLA leadership session, top college students selected for the inaugural class of NYU's Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Scholars program said that today's interconnected world requires moving beyond strictly individual or "heroic" leadership to a collective approach.

"Our discussion with these emerging leaders was an exciting reminder that a collective model of leadership resonates globally," said RCLA Executive Director Bethany Godsoe. "We look forward to building on this work with students at the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute and around the world as they take up leadership on global issues."

RCLA Welcomes Shifra Bronznick as a New Senior Fellow

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

RCLA is proud to welcome Shifra Bronznick as a new senior fellow. Shifra is a consultant who specializes in creating new initiatives and helping not-for-profit organizations navigate change.

Shifra is the Founding President of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, an initiative selected as one of the fifty most innovative and effective Jewish organizations by "Slingshot." Co-author of the book, Leveling the Playing Field, she created the National Women's Leadership Initiative and convened Impact & Influence, a summit for women volunteer leaders.

She has consulted to a broad range of organizations, including the Public Education Network, The Fresh Air Fund, Hebrew Union College-JIR, American Jewish World Service, the Medicare Rights Center, Ma'yan, the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the United Jewish Communities.

Shifra was co-organizer of Conference for Change, a convening sponsored by the Schusterman and Berrie Foundations, aimed at accelerating progress on inclusiveness and diversity. The leadership strategist to the White House Project virtually since its inception, Shifra designed the program for their National Women's Leadership Summits, which brought together the most influential women in business, government, not-for-profit and academia. Her newest initiative for the White House Project, "Women Rule," is a groundbreaking leadership program for women that has been launched in partnership with O, the Oprah Magazine.

Previously, Shifra served as Executive Vice-President of Swig, Weiler & Arnow Mgt. Co., Inc., one of the premier commercial real estate firms in New York.

RCLA Announces 2009 Trainings to Advance Nonprofit Leaders' Work for Social Change

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

RCLA Social Change Leadership Network learning sessions equip nonprofit leaders with critical leadership, skills and knowledge to accelerate their work in communities and help them build networks of support.

The quarterly learning sessions provide collaborative environments that give social change leaders opportunities to connect with other dynamic activists and advocates at organizations confronting similar challenges. Rather than theoretical discussions, the learning sessions focus on action learning so leaders can directly apply knowledge and new ideas from peers to their work.

Learning session topics for 2009 include:

Fostering intergenerational leadership that values the contributions of long-time leaders, recognizes younger leaders' talents, and enables groups to work across generational divides;
Designing useful and memorable trainings that give staff and volunteers essential knowledge and skills to be effective;
Defining and understanding the basics of community organizing and how different types of organizations and individuals can best participate in organizing for justice; and
Forming effective collaborations that allow organizations to accomplish together what they can't do alone.

New York Academy of Medicine and RCLA Map a Plan for an Alumni Network

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

The New York Academy of Medicine and RCLA are partnering on an action planning process to create a robust alumni network for the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program. The aim of the program is to build the nation's capacity for research, leadership and policy change to address the broad range of factors that affect health. The alumni network will support and sustain the field's leaders and create a community of practice among alumni and current scholars.

Related Links:
Learn more about the Health and Society Scholars Program

RCLA Gathers Leading Scholars to Discuss How Social Change Leadership Deepens Democracy

Sun, 1 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST

The relationship between leadership, social change and democratic governance is particularly salient at a time in US history when a dormant American democracy is awakening in the midst of an economic crisis of unprecedented nature.

As part of research and documentation for the Leadership for a Changing World program, RCLA has partnered closely with social change organizations over seven years to document, interpret and disseminate insights from their experience. These partnerships have deepened RCLA's understanding of the collective and community dimensions of leadership, broadened the field of leadership studies, and nurtured the work of social change leaders.

The research has also illuminated a type of leadership that transcends organizational boundaries, places organizational processes at the service of a vision of systemic change, transforms ordinary citizens into active agents of change, and in doing so opens up new public spaces for deliberation, contestation and engagement.

To advance this research, RCLA Faculty Director Sonia Ospina and the research team gathered eminent national and international scholars and practitioners with overlapping yet distinct interests - leadership, social change, the common good and democratic governance - to explore the role social change leadership plays in deepening democracy.

Related Links:
Learn more about the Symposium and Scholars

Global warming is focus of report by a number of leading experts including NYU Wagner's Rae Zimmerman

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

A report released Feb. 17, 2009, by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg found that the city's average annual temperatures could increase by 4 to 7.5 degrees, yearly rainfall will increase by 5 to 10 inches, and seas could rise by up to 23 inches, or even 55 inches if the rate of ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica persists in speeding up.

NYU Wagner Professor Rae Zimmerman is a member of the expert panel convened by the city government and financed by a $350,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Professor Zimmerman is Director of the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems (ICIS), housed at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.

The panel also predicted more frequent and intense "extreme events," like heat waves, short periods of intense rain, droughts, and coastal flooding.

The report is entitled "Climate Risk Information" and can be seen by clicking on the link below.

Related Links:
Climate Risk Information (report)
nytimes.com
New York Times

Toward a Whole-of-Government Approach to Countering Extremism

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

NYU Wagner Visiting Professor Michael Doran testified at a congressional hearing on Feb. 12, 2009 on strategies for countering violent extremist ideologies. The "biggest challenge to crafting a whole-of-government approach," he told the HASC Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, "is the fact that we have no clear leader for this effort. No office has been established has been given the necessary power to pull together all of the relevant parts of the government."

Doran has studied the question as an academic; a Middle East expert who has published extensively on al-Qaeda's ideology; Senior Director for the Near East and North Africa in the White House; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy at the Pentagon; and Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department.

To read his full testimony, click below.

In Review: 'Jonas & Kovner's Health Delivery in the United States'

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

" 'Jonas & Kovner's Health Care Delivery in the United States' is one of the best-known and longest-standing (first edition, 1977) compendiums on the unique problems of US health care policy. And with good reason -- like other grand textbooks such as Harrison's for internal medicine, Guyton's for psychology, or Robbins' for pathology, this text authoritatively demonstrates the breadth and depth of current foundational knowledge of its field."

So begins a complimentary Journal of the American Medical Association online review of the now classic textbook (New York: Springer, 2008, 9th ed.) edited by NYU Wagner Professor Anthony Kovner and Wagner alumnus James R. Knickman. The book has sold has sold more than 300,000 copies since its publication in 1977.

"[D]espite the considerable expertise presented," according to the review written by S. Ryan Greysen, MD, Department of Health Policy, George Washington University, "the text remains approachable for professionals in health care delivery or policy, whether novices or masters in the field."

To read the review, click below.

Professor Dall Forsythe of NYU Wagner named to state arbitration panel in NYC Transit impasse

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has designated a three-person public arbitration panel -- including Professor Dall W. Forsythe of NYU Wagner -- with power to determine terms and conditions of employment for New York City's 36,000 NYC Transit employees.

PERB designated John E. Zuccotti as the public member of the panel after the New York City Transit Authority (TA) and Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU Local 100) jointly appointed him to serve as the panel chairman, in accordance with provisions of the State's Taylor Law.

The panel that Zuccotti will chair is tripartite in nature, and includes, along with the chair, one member selected directly by the TA, and one directly by Local 100. PERB designated Professor orsythe as the public employer panel member and Roger Toussaint as the employee organization's panel member. Forsythe is a former Director of the Budget for New York State. Toussaint is the president of TWU Local 100.

Zuccoti, a New York City resident, served for nearly a decade beginning in 1981 as the Impartial Arbitrator under agreements between the TA and both TWU and the Amalgamated Transit Union. As Deputy Mayor of the City of New York from 1975-77, he was heavily involved with all aspects of the financial bailout of the city, including negotiations on a variety of wage, pension and operational issues, and in 1978 he helped facilitate settlement of the MTA/TWU collective agreement.

The TA and Local 100 are parties to a contract that expired on January 15, 2009. The negotiations for that contract involved a three day strike by Local 100 against the TA, which ended through an agreement secured with the assistance of a three person PERB mediation team that brought the transit workers back to work. Later, an arbitration panel ultimately established the terms of the agreement that is now expired.

The arbitration panel is empowered to hold hearings on all matters related to the dispute, and is charged with making a "just and reasonable" determination in accordance with criteria set forth in the Taylor Law. The panel's determination is final and binding upon the parties, except for any provision which requires an enactment of law for it to be implemented.

Professor Jonathan Morduch Helps Select Winner of New Global Award for Contributions to International Development

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

Jonathan Morduch, Professor of Public Policy and Economics at NYU Wagner, participated in January, 2009, on the jury that awarded a new global prize for contributions to international development. The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, worth 400,000 euros ($526,000), was given to the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The 2009 award from the foundation arm of the major global bank recognizes efforts to promote randomized evaluations of health, education, and finance interventions.

Related Links:
Fundacion BBVA
Inter Press Service America Latina y Caribe

Bill Gates' Letter to the World

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

In January, 2009, Bill Gates shared his first "Annual Letter" relating his expanded role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and priorities for the Foundation during the year ahead. In the letter, Gates discusses: why he remains optimistic in the face of the current economic crisis, and the Foundation's work in their focus areas of global development, global health and U.S. programs. Gates specifically details the progress that has been made in the field of global health, and the importance of moving that work forward, with special focus on HIV/AIDS, polio, malaria, and childhood health; the critical need for agricultural improvements in Africa; the state of U.S. education, and the Foundation's new strategic approach; and the role of foundations, and the importance of partnerships between the sectors.

The Gates Foundation's focus on global development resonates strongly at NYU Wagner, where one-third of students are pursuing an International specialization with their MPA. Wagner is also home to the Financial Access Initiative (FAI), a research consortium launched with support from the Gates Foundation in 2006. FAI is a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals. FAI is led by Managing Director Jonathan Morduch (NYU Wagner), Director Dean Karlan (Yale), and Director Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard).

To receive Bill Gates' annual letter, please visit the "Annual Letter Sign Up" link below.

Walter Stafford Honored by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Award Committee

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

Walter Stafford, the much-beloved NYU Wagner professor of public policy and planning has been honored posthumously by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Award Committee at New York University. Professor Stafford was one of four members of the NYU faculty who was heralded at the recognition reception on Jan. 21, 2009, for their classroom and community work exemplifying the spirit of the civil rights leader. Chilli Devadutt accepted the award on behalf of her late husband.

The award is sponsored by The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Development and The Office of the Assistant Vice President of Student Diversity. Its purpose is to recognize faculty members who exemplify the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. through their positive impact within the classroom and the greater NYU community. NYU students nominate faculty members who are considered and then chosen by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award Committee, which is composed of Tamu Al-Islam, Arlene Davila, Bella Mirabella Pedro Noguera, Jeffrey Sammons, Jack Tchen, and Marc Walters.

In addition to Professor Stafford, the founding director of Wagner's Women of Color Policy Network, the award recipients include Christina Marin, assistant professor of education theatre, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; J. Ward Regan, master teacher, Global Liberal Studies, College of Arts and Science; and Ella Turenne, adjunct instructor, Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

Inauguration Watch Draws 200 at NYU Wagner

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

More than 200 NYU Wagner students, faculty, alumni and staff shared in the groundbreaking inauguration of President Barack Obama, collectively taking it in gathered in the school's Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue. Participants enjoyed brunch while sharing their hopes in a "History of the Future" activity. Many offered ideas on what they would like to see accompllished in the President's first 100 days in office.

Network ED Delivers commencement message at Bennet College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

On Thursday, December 4, 2008 C. Nicole Mason delivered an inspirational uplifting speech on the importance of public service and overcoming odds to reach one's full potential at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded in 1873, Bennett College is one of only two Historically Black Colleges/Universities in the country dedicated to the education of women exclusively; the other is Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.