News

Capstone Students Make Impact
August 28, 2021Public Policy students presented recommendations to the Rocky Mount City Council based on their capstone project, encouraging the council to leverage a community land trust to help create accessible and affordable housing and increase homeownership rates locally.

PILOT21 (Policy Innovation Leaders for Tomorrow 2021) project announced
August 27, 2021NCSU’s Institute for Emerging Issues will be working with students from nine North Carolina universities to identify a big issue they want to think about, develop policies for, and seek opportunities to share their ideas with state and local leaders.

UNC Public Policy PhD Graduate to Receive APPAM Award
August 20, 2021Sanya Carley ’10 has been selected to receive the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize for her contributions to the field of public policy analysis and management.

Professor Ashu Handa Publishes on the Future of UNICEF
August 18, 2021As the executive director steps down, Professor Handa and his co-author have insights into how the agency can adapt and remain effective and relevant.

Professor Iheoma Iruka Named to The U.S. Census Bureau National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations (NAC)
August 10, 2021Professor Iruka will advise the Census Bureau when focusing “on the identification of new strategies for improved census operations, survey and data collection methods, including identifying cost-efficient ways to increase census participation” and reduce the undercount.

Public Policy major Lamar Richards selected for Eva Clayton Fellowship program by North Carolina Democratic Party
July 15, 2021The fellowship, named after the first African American woman to represent North Carolina in congress, allows college students to learn the intricacies of policy, organizational leadership, and strategy using North Carolina politics. Lamar plans to learn more about the inner workings of the North Carolina Democratic Party and applicable strategy and policy skills that could be useful in Law School.

Professor Rebecca Kreitzer Receives Gender and Political Psychology Network 2020 Early Career Research Award
June 27, 2021The awarding committee was impressed by Dr. Kreitzer’s outstanding research record and thought that her current and future work aims to make important contributions in the study of gender, political psychology, and public policy. Congratulations, Professor Kreitzer!

UNC Public Policy Major Rachel Jones Awarded 2021 Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship Award
March 24, 2021Rachel is one of only three Tar Heels receiving the award for ACC student-athletes intending to pursue graduate school.

Professor Doug MacKay Weighs in on Universal Basic Income (UBI)
March 20, 2021Durham is proposing a pilot project to provide formerly incarcerated individuals with $500 per month, one example of a basic income policy. Professor MacKay discusses various aspects of UBI along with a colleague from UNC’s philosophy, politics & economics program in The Well.
Professors Cassandra Davis and Joaquin Rubalcaba co-author “Distance Learning and Parental Mental Health During COVID-19”
December 15, 2020Appearing in Educational Researcher, their research shows that parents with children who struggled with distance learning experience elevated levels of mental distress.

Carolina Graduate Certificate in Innovation
November 28, 2020The nine-credit program, co-sponsored by UNC Public Policy, will launch in spring 2021, teaching design thinking skills for solving complex problems across diverse fields of research and practice.

Standard evaluations of teaching suffer from known biases highlighted in Inside Higher Ed.
November 27, 2020Professor Rebecca Kreitzer’s research shows that standard evaluations don’t measure teaching well and can be biased against already marginalized faculty. “This research is some of the work I’m most proud of because it has such direct policy relevance. In this paper, we make 6 policy recommendations on how to improve SETs that are easy to implement and have the potential to make a big impact for a lot of people,” she said.

Professor Ben Meier publishes Foundations of Global Health and Human Rights
November 26, 2020Hanna Huffstetler, Tamira Daniely, Hannah Rice, and Nikky Soni worked with Professor Meier on the piece which examines health and human rights through the lens of the current pandemic. From the publication: “The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an important opportunity to cultivate a practice of human rights advocacy, but these skills will serve us beyond the current moment and remain important for the rest of our lives.”

Graduate student Elc Estrera selected for Equity & Inclusion Fellowship
November 25, 2020The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) awarded the prestigious fellowship to just 20 students this year, with the goal of introducing recipients to the world of public policy and APPAM and foster a lifelong affiliation and engagement with both.

Recent Public Policy graduate Sarah Mackenzie awarded Rhodes Scholarship
November 23, 2020A very warm congratulations to Sarah, who plans to study for a MPhil in Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford