Message from the Dean
Summer Reading
Dear Incoming Students,
The spirit of the Dean’s Summer Reading List is to offer a short, curated list of recommended summer reading that is insightful and not academic (these books are not required in our courses), but can jumpstart conversation about ideas, concepts, and philosophies as you prepare to study here at Pardee RAND. We invite you to join us before school begins as we come together for a Policy Reading Circle with a series of virtual events to discuss each of these books.
We’ve chosen three books with a common if sometimes subtle theme of migration — of Black Americans from the South to the North, of climate change refugees, and of local newspaper readers to other media. These books each have much to say about good policy research — what it is and how to do it.
We would like you to read at least two of the three books from our reading list this summer before starting the program. The first, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson, is required for all; you can choose which of the other two titles you wish to read and discuss. Each of the books on the Dean’s Summer Reading List was recommended by our faculty, students and staff; they share personal stories to breathe life into questions of public policy.
We are currently scheduling the Policy Reading Circle as online discussions, moderated by a member of the Pardee RAND community and possible community guests, and we look forward to seeing you there. (I plan to participate in all discussions.) We will be back in touch with details but I am writing now so you can start reading right away.
We look forward to your thoughts on these timely and provocative books as we begin our summer reading together.
Susan L. Marquis
Frank and Marcia Carlucci Dean, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Distinguished Chair of Policy Analysis
Vice President, Innovation, RAND Corporation
dean@prgs.edu |
