Interviews Professor Rebecca Wolfe March 02, 2025 With President Trump severely cutting programs at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the agency now falls under the purview of the US Department of State, The Center Square reports. In this conversation, Professor Rebecca Wolfe takes center stage, leveraging her experience in international development to argue for the preservation of USAID. Arguing for the organization's independence, she says, "They [other departments] don’t have the experience to run these very complicated programs. How do you actually run a huge operation of delivering food, or cash, or medicine to places in insecure areas?...There’s all this operational experience that will get lost." Wolfe continues, "I’m not saying there weren’t programs that weren’t effective – we make mistakes, everyone does – but I’ve been with programs that have failed, and I’ve been with some really good programs. Things are caught as well. And so the amount of fraud that these people are talking about is significantly less than what is being portrayed.” Read the full article here Faculty Spotlight Rebecca Wolfe Senior Lecturer and Executive Director of International Policy & Development Dr. Rebecca J. Wolfe is a leading expert on political violence, conflict and development. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago, where she also is the Executive Director of the International Policy and Development area and the Academic Lead... Upcoming Events More events Policy Research and Innovation Bootcamp (PRIB) Policy Hackathon Challenge Deep Dive Tue., February 10, 2026 | 12:00 PM Preparing for Harris: Teaching Assistantships Wed., February 11, 2026 | 8:30 AM Coffee Chat in Western Massachusetts Wed., February 11, 2026 | 9:00 AM Tunnel City Coffee 100 Spring St #102 Williamstown, MA 01267 United States