Around Campus
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Gatune (2nd from right) and IDSS organizers |
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Vilamovska (left) speaks with students after her talk |
Alumni Welcomed Back to Campus
It's been a busy winter for Career Services, with four alumni returning to talk with students. (We have to admit, Santa Monica is a nice place to come back and visit, especially when it's cold where you live.)
Yılmaz Argüden (cohort '80) participated in a Pardee RAND lunch talk on December 15 with founding dean Charles Wolf. Students enjoyed hearing about Argüden's post–Pardee RAND career trajectory, which has spanned the public and private sectors in his native country of Turkey.
Julius Gatune (cohort '01) visited on January 14 as part of the student-organized International Development Speaker Series. He spoke about his research on food security in Africa as well as his career path.
Gustav Lindstrom (cohort '97) visited the School to speak with students on February 24. Lindstrom is head of the Emerging Security Challenges Programme for the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).
Anna-Marie Vilamovska (cohort '05) returned on February 13 to to discuss her experience as Secretary for Healthcare, Education and Science in the Administration of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and how her education at Pardee RAND has helped her career.
We're also looking forward to having
Mike Dardia (cohort '89) visit on March 25 for an afternoon talk.
Ambassador Alex Wolff Serves as Visiting Moorsteen Lecturer
The former U.S. Ambassador to Chile with a 33-year career as a foreign service officer, Ambassador Alejandro "Alex" Wolff spent three days as a visiting scholar at Pardee RAND in early March as part of the Moorsteen Lecture Series, speaking to students, researchers and Board members.
A native of Los Angeles who studied international relations at UCLA in the 1970s with some of the giants in the field who were also at RAND at the time, Ambassador Wolff brought a perspective on the craft of diplomacy and statecraft that was both grounded in theory and steeped in practical experience. His talks were filled with insightful "how to" anecdotes including how to deliver a policy speech on a topic you don’t agree with "read directly from the script with no eye contact" to how to undermine a policy idea you don't think is wise "call it courageous."
In addition to speaking on policy implementation to the Organizational Culture of Government Institutions class and at a breakfast meeting with Board members, he led a discussion about how communications technology has made foreign policy, diplomacy, and international relations more open and democratic. Dean Susan Marquis commented, "Each talk by Ambassador Wolff was thoughtful, informative and highly interesting. Those who were part of the audience were highly engaged and did not want to end the conversation."
The Moorsteen Lectures commemorate RAND economist Richard Moorsteen who died suddenly at the age of 48 in 1975. A fund was established in his name to finance a lecture seminar series focusing on important and timely issues relating to U.S. policy in the international sphere. The 2014 Moorsteen Lecturer was Eric Schlosser, author of the best-seller Fast Food Nation and the Pulitzer Prize–nominated Command and Control.
Donald B. & Susan F. Rice Support 'Be the Answer' Campaign with $1 Million Gift
Longtime Pardee RAND supporters Donald B. and Susan F. Rice have established their third endowed scholarship at the School. Their most recent gift of $1 million was generously donated as part of Pardee RAND's Be the Answer campaign, which Don chairs and which has thus far raised in excess of $19 million. Rice Scholars for 2014–2015 are doctoral candidates Gulrez Azhar, Lisa Jonsson, and Xiaoyu Nie (all cohort '14).
"We are deeply appreciative of the Rices and their long-standing support of the graduate school," noted Dean Susan Marquis. "Don and Susan have provided not only financial support to our students but also encouragement, experience, and ideas to the school and RAND. Their wisdom and friendship have been invaluable."
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Dean Marquis Moderates Panel Discussion of Food Chains
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Dean Marquis and students at the event |
Pardee RAND hosted a screening of the new documentary Food Chains, a new documentary that chronicles the efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) as they campaign to change how tomato pickers are treated and compensated in Florida. The screening was held at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles and attended by students, alumni, and members of the RAND Policy Circle.
After the screening, Dean Marquis moderated a panel discussion that included executive producer Eric Schlosser. The panelists talked about what has changed for the industry and for tomato pickers in Florida in the two decades during which CIW lobbied for reform, as well as what lies ahead.
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Goodbye and Thank You to Ira
Ira Krinsky, our longtime career advisor, left Pardee RAND at the end of February. Ira helped create the Career Services program at Pardee RAND in May 2009.
Under Ira’s leadership, Career Services provided individualized career planning and advocacy, as well as activities to build awareness of the many career options available to students through the student-led Career Services Advisory Committee Council (CSAC). In addition, Ira and Kristina Wallace created a set of career development resources to help students.
Ira, along with Kristina and CSAC, established productive relationships with a wide variety of organizations to help facilitate the hiring of our graduates. These organizations include the California Legislative Analyst's Office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Northrop Grumman, the European Commission, Corporate Executive Board, Boston Consulting Group, Harvard Center for Educational Policy, and many other important career destinations. We greatly appreciate Ira's efforts and will miss him. Kathryn Dunst will be Pardee RAND's new career advisor.
Student Research: Prolific Student Publishing
Pardee RAND students have been busy collaborating on RAND reports and journal articles, as well as many blog posts. Below is a sampling of recent releases; a full list of student-authored research is available online.
All student blog posts and commentaries are available online.
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