For students interested in development issues, we are excited to launch the International Policy and Development (IPD) Summer Series! Join these virtual sessions to learn more about faculty research in this policy area and get to know your future classmates.

As people and economies around the world reel from the impact of COVID-19, one thing is clear: facts are at a premium. The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI), working with economists from across campus, has supported and disseminated rigorous research on COVID-19 and the Pandemic Recession that has informed some of the most important policy discussions in 2020.

In Spring 2020, we posted Faculty Reading Recommendations. The post proved so popular that we decided to revisit and expand the topic. This time we asked Harris professors what inspires them—books, blogs, podcasts, you name it!  This is the second blog in a two-part series. Read the first round of recommendations here.

In Spring 2020, we posted Faculty Reading Recommendations. The post proved so popular that we decided to revisit and expand the topic. This time we asked Harris professors what inspires them—books, blogs, podcasts, you name it! The response was overwhelming, so we’ll release this in two parts. Enjoy part I.

The Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) team looks forward to getting to know you better this fall! In this guest blog, Dean of Students Kate Shannon Biddle, explains the role of an essential point of contact at Harris: your academic advisor.

We hope you are getting excited to meet your future classmates here at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. We’d like to share a little about your incoming class. While we’ll share more detailed information once classes begin, below are a few pieces of information we think you’ll find interesting:

Meet David McMillon, PhD Candidate and Math Camp Instructor whose work exploring solutions to the School-to-Prison-Pipeline issue recently won the highly competitive 2020 National Academy of Education (NAEd) Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.

We reached out to Maddie Soskin, MPP Class of 2021, who works as a consultant with the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund to tell us more about this opportunity and how it is connected with her studies at Harris.

We wanted to share a recent message from UChicago President Robert J. Zimmer and Provost Ka Yee C. Lee announcing the extension and highlighting the impact of the COVID-19 Community Support Initiative launched in March.

If you are an incoming admitted student, you will have the opportunity to hear from key leadership at the June 24 Harris Incoming Student Assembly. Below are short bios of each speaker:

We are excited to meet admitted students online at our Virtual Admitted Student Week (Virtual ASW) from March 30–April 3. All sessions will be hosted in the online meeting platform Zoom. In preparation for Virtual ASW, we have a few helpful tips for Zoom:

As a continuation of our "Day in the (Virtual) Life" series, Alejandro D. González López, MAIDP'20, writes and reflects on what a typical day looked like for him during the spring quarter.

We reached out to Leah Castleberry, MPP Class of 2020, to ask about her work as a Research Associate at the Beyond Schools Lab, directed by Dr. Eve L. Ewing. The Beyond Schools Lab is a small research group focused on understanding the how seemingly non-educational structures of social inequality—issues such as affordable housing, transit access, gender inequality, immigration policies, and policing—shape the everyday lives of young people and their experiences with school.

If you are an admitted student, you may already be thinking about how you can best prepare for the fall. We asked Hanna Seferos, an Academic Advising Specialist in Academic and Student Affairs, to share some key resources that will help you get ready to hit the ground running at Harris.

Many students, regardless of their academic background, choose to enroll in Math Camp as a way to connect with their peers and begin focusing on graduate school. Math Camp also prepares you for the math exam, required of all incoming master’s students.

Nora McConnell Johnson, MPP Class of 2021, and Chair of the Harris Student Government Social Committee, writes about what she is doing to maintain her social life at Harris as we transition to virtual.

As a continuation of our Day in the Life series, Sabrina de la Vega, MPP Class of ’21, writes about what a typical day looks like for her in the virtual format.

Thanks to Esha Banerjee (MA'18), for this post! 

You’ve filled out your name, academic information, and work experience, uploaded your transcripts and test scores, and requested letters of recommendation. Now you face the Herculean task of writing the motivation statement and questions race through your mind: What to write? How to start? How do I fit everything in so few words, or for some, how do I write so much about myself? Should I start with a quote or is it too cliché?

Alec Macmillen, Master of Science in Computational Analysis and Public Policy (MSCAPP) Class of 2020, writes about his experience transitioning to virtual learning at Harris just before graduation.

We are excited you are interested in participating in the Data and Policy Summer Scholar (DPSS) program! The 2020 program will offer rigorous academics and robust co-curriculars in a virtual format. There are unique benefits and challenges of virtual learning, and we are designing the 2020 DPSS program so that you will have the same immersive level of academic training and community engagement to fully explore the fields of data science and public policy.