Join us on November 8 and see the value of diversity and inclusion at Harris Public Policy.

• Apply to attend Diversity Day
• Recommend someone to attend

Diversity Day Events

Diversity Day provides the opportunity for talented underrepresented individuals to get to know the Harris School of Public Policy and its community in an intimate setting. At Diversity Day, you'll have the opportunity to:

• Sit in on a class
• Connect with current students, Harris alumni, and 2018 Diversity Day participants (scroll down or jump down to see this year's panelists)
• Engage with faculty (scroll down to see a list of faculty)
• Learn about the support offered at Harris for underrepresented students and first generation college students
• Hear from faculty who have worked with underserved communities
• See how we create a safe space to share different perspectives and experiences while celebrating those differences

Faculty at Diversity Day

Fiona Burlig, Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor Fiona Burlig's recent research examines the impacts of rural electrification in India, uses machine learning methods to quantify the effectiveness of energy efficiency upgrades, and proposes tools for designing randomized controlled trials.

Anthony Fowler, Associate Professor

Associate Professor Anthony Fowler's research applies econometric methods for causal inference to questions in political science, with particular emphasis on elections and political representation. Specific interests include the causes and consequences of unequal voter turnout, explanations for incumbent success, the politics of policymaking in legislatures, and the credibility of empirical research.

Damon Jones, Associate Professor

Associate Professor Damon Jones conducts research at the intersection of three fields within economics: public finance, household finance, and behavioral economics.

Guillaume Pouliot, Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor Guillaume Pouliot's research focuses on developing statistical methods for nonstandard problems in public policy and economics, the extension of machine learning methods for applications in public policy, and problems at the interface of econometrics and optimization. 

Austin Wright, Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor Austin Wright's research leverages microlevel data to study the political economy of conflict and crime in Afghanistan, Colombia, Indonesia, and Iraq.

Diversity Day Alumni Panelists

Beatriz Rendón, MPP'96

Beatriz Rendón’s MPP from UChicago propelled her career in education, which spans over two decades. She is now VP of Strategic Initiatives for the Office of Educational Outreach and Student Services at Arizona State University (ASU) Preparatory Academy, where she has developed school programs which serve diverse communities through full-immersion, blended and online modalities. Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Beatriz also is a first-generation college student.

Melissa Navas, MPP'19

Melissa Navas, MPP'19, is the Director of Career Development at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. While at Harris Melissa was, among many other roles, Graduate Student Chair on the IOP’s Student Advisory Board. Melissa's prior professional roles include. experience as a reporter, press secretary to two governors, and communications executive in county government.

We encourage you to hear Melissa's introduction of President Obama during a live-taping of the Axe Files podcast. 

Committed to Diversity & Inclusion 

“Sometimes the quantitative numbers don’t tell the full story—the qualitative piece matters, too. How might this decision negatively impact certain populations? These are our future policymakers, so we want people with diverse perspectives to have a seat at the table.”

Sparkle Dalphinis, Associate Director of Student Recruitment

“There’s a diversity student council that did not exist when I was there, and that’s another mark of the school’s commitment. And just looking at visible diversity, there is far more than when I was studying at Harris.”

Craig Warren, MPP'95, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at the Minnesota Children’s Museum, and Keynote Speaker at Diversity Day in 2018

Read the full recap of last year's Diversity Day.