About the Program

The Faculty Leaders Program is part of Pardee RAND's vision to bring a greater degree of diversity of experience and perspective to the study and practice of public policy analysis. Participants are able to do a lot in a brief period:

• Gain the tools to incorporate public policy analysis into their curriculum, research, and mentoring of students, via a “short course” in the methods of policy analysis modeled after the curriculum of our graduate programs
• Learn to apply these methods to effect change within their communities, by applying these tools to a policy issue of their choice
• Work one-on-one with a RAND research mentor, collaborate with other RAND researchers, and often continue these relationships upon returning to their home institutions
• Network with each other and with past program participants — and often recommend Pardee RAND graduate students and public policy leaders from among the students they teach and mentor

Recent participants have worked with their assigned mentors on policy products of their choosing, such as:

• Op-Ed/Commentary
• Grant proposal/research aims
• Developing new course or modifying existing course to bring in policy elements (learning objectives, readings, classroom discussions & activities)
• Manuscript (e.g., journal article, book chapter)
• Research plan (e.g., methodology, policy framework)
• Community engagement effort (e.g., community presentation; community based participatory research methodology, stakeholder engagement plan)

Networking and Mentoring

As part of the Faculty Leaders Program, attendees engage with other faculty scholars from around the country who, like them, share a passion and enthusiasm for effecting change in their classrooms, universities, and communities. Participants engage with one another through class discussions, continuous feedback, and research brainstorming. Through these interactions, participants develop joint ideas and projects for consideration after the workshop is over—from sharing future opportunities for learning, to writing grants, to providing feedback on paper submissions.

We also invite program alumni to return each year so Faculty Leaders can meet members of other cohorts and make further connections. Our online network of participants from all years of the program helps to continue engagement and collaboration after each summer's program has concluded.

Faculty Leaders work one-on-one with a RAND research mentor, as well as with other members of the RAND community.