The Pardee RAND Graduate School is unique in American higher education. It is the largest public policy Ph.D. program in the nation. It is also the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation. Faculty are largely drawn from the RAND Corporation and offer exceptional training and access to some of the world's leading policy practitioners. PRGS graduates leave with a Ph.D. in policy analysis and essentially two years of full-time work experience via their assistance on RAND research projects.
Students come to the Pardee RAND Graduate School because they want to make a difference in the world by helping to shape and lead public policy. Our graduates go on to jobs in government, in the private sector, at universities and other research organizations, and in the non-profit sector. One hundred percent of the 2009-2011 graduates found a job in the field of their choice.
Alumnus Named First COO of California Health Benefit Exchange — Jan. 25, 2012
PRGS alumnus David Maxwell-Jolly (cohort '77) was recently appointed first chief operating officer of California's Health Benefit Exchange, where he will have considerable influence over the state's implementation of U.S. health care reform. Another example of PRGS alumni working to "Be the Answer."
Help Spread the Word about PRGS on Facebook — Jan. 24, 2012
PRGS is working hard to make our Facebook page an interactive online community for PRGS students, faculty, and alumni. Show your PRGS pride – if you're not already a fan, "like" our Facebook page so you can keep up with what we're doing, and encourage your classmates and colleagues to do so, too.
Exploring the Causes of Childhood Obesity — Jan. 18, 2012
Exposure to fast-food restaurants and convenience stores is thought to encourage overconsumption and obesity, but empirical evidence remains limited. PRGS student Ruopeng An (cohort '08) and advisor Roland Sturm examine the relationship between school and residential food environment and diet among California youth, in an article published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Wounds Heal, Trauma Lingers, says PRGS Alum — Jan. 9, 2012
Trauma "affects people in all communities of all ages exposed to all kinds of traumatic events, from man-made scenarios like a terrorist attack, to natural disasters," according to PRGS Alum Bradley Stein, a psychologist at RAND specializing in trauma, quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on the anniversary of the 2011 Tuscon shooting.
PRGS Professor Laura Hamilton discusses what has been learned in the ten years since the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law in January 2002, including recommendations for addressing key limitations as Congress considers reauthorization.
Milwaukee County Executive Chooses 2006 Alum as Chief of Staff— Dec. 30, 2011
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele named policy analyst Amber Moreen, a 2006 alumna of PRGS, as his chief of staff.
According to the Miwaukee Business Times, "Abele said the appointment of Moreen stems from his desire to make research and analysis the cornerstone for decision-making in county government."
To assure the health security of the United States, we must be capable of stopping anything a terrorist or Mother Nature might throw at us. Wholesale cuts to public health are taking us farther from that goal, writes PRGS professor Art Kellermann and a colleague in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution commentary.
Brooks on Brooks: Through Little Effort, Great Reward — Dec. 2, 2011
In a recent New York Times op-ed examining the role of bailouts in the European Union financial crisis, columnist David Brooks referenced PRGS alum and current American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks's Wall Street Journal article critiquing the Occupy Wall Street movement's take on income inequality and what makes a fair economic system.
How the Economy is Affecting Drug and Alcohol Use — Dec. 1, 2011
Rosalie Pacula, codirector of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center and PRGS professor, recently visited London to deliver the second annual public lecture in memory of Alison Chesney and Eddie Killoran, two well-respected drug treatment pioneers who died in 2006. The lecture is jointly organized by Knowledge-Action-Change and the Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Pacula's lecture, "Substance Use and Recessions: Insights from Economic Analyses of Alcohol and How Drug Use Differs," examined how the current economic climate affects substance use and treatment rates.
Save Money — Hire Police — Nov. 22, 2011
The high cost of crime to society suggests that adding police officers may give large cities a sizable return on their investments, write PRGS professors and criminal justice experts Greg Ridgeway and Paul Heaton in a Los Angeles Times commentary.
PRGS Grad is a Keynote Speaker at RAND Foreign Policy Conference — Nov. 21, 2011
On November 29, former PRGS student Eric Larson (cohort '89), now a senior social scientist at RAND, will be addressing the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy at a public event on "Narratives and Strategic Communications in Foreign Policy."
Former PRGS Student's Research on the Relationship Between Natural Disasters and Terrorism is Published — Nov. 14, 2011
RAND economist Claude Berrebi worked with PRGS graduate Jordan Ostwald (cohort '08) to publish his dissertation research as an article in the special December issue of Public Choice, "Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Terrorism: Do Natural Disasters Incite Terror?" Their working paper was also discussed in FierceHomelandSecurity last month.
PRGS Student Works with RAND Europe to Evaluate Social Science Research — Nov. 9, 2011
In the September issue of Research Evaluation, PRGS Ph.D. candidate Lisa Klautzer (cohort '07) was the primary author of a paper reporting the findings of a project conducted by RAND Europe for the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The project examined whether methods typically used to assess the impacts from health research could be employed to determine the effects of social science research, particularly on public policy and the policy environment. RAND Europe director Jennifer Rubin, RAND Europe president Jonathan Grant, and RAND Europe research leader Steven Wooding were coauthors of the report.
PRGS Grad Involved with Public School Reform in Albuquerque — Nov. 4, 2011
PRGS graduate Richard Bowman (cohort '06) is now a fellow with Harvard University's Strategic Data Project, a national initiative to provide data analysis to education leaders in order to boost student achievement. Bowman, a former teacher, is working with the Albuquerque Public Schools on how to measure student performance. In two articles in the October 11 Albuquerque Journal, Bowman comments on a pilot program to provide merit pay for teachers as well as on the implementation of a new state mandate to assign letter grades A-F to New Mexico schools.
New RAND Report Derived from PRGS Student's Research on New Orleans Flood Damage — Oct. 31, 2011
PRGS graduate Jordan Fischbach (cohort '04), recently authored a research brief addressing one of New Orleans' most critical challenges: how to make the city more resilient and less vulnerable to future flood damages. Six years after Hurricane Katrina, Fischbach asserts that while nonstructural measures—like incentives for improved construction and land use policies—can cost-effectively make New Orleans less vulnerable to storm surge, additional wetlands restoration and ongoing levee upgrades will be needed to reduce likely future damage from the most extreme storms.
PRGS Faculty and Students Author New Report on Health and Wellbeing in Mexico — Oct. 26, 2011
According to a new RAND report, Mexican citizens are living longer and overall have experienced an improvement in the quality of life compared to that of prior generations. However, the demographic transition in Mexico combined with the lack of formal sources of income in retirement place many older persons in a state of financial insecurity. PRGS professor Emma Aguila authored the report along with PRGS students Claudia Diaz, Mary Manqing Fu, Ashley Pierson, and with the research support of Caroline Tassot.
PRGS Welcomes the 2011 Entering Class — Oct. 24, 2011
Each year since 1970, PRGS has enrolled a new cohort of doctoral students with a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences. Meet the 22 new students in the 2011 cohort who are now on campus and have begun the courses and research projects that will occupy them as they work towards their Ph.Ds. in policy analysis. Learn more about the entire PRGS student body and our newest members.
PRGS Online Has a New Look! — Oct. 21, 2011
Welcome to the new and improved PRGS website. Now visitors can create a My RAND profile, which will allow you to save the reports, projects, multimedia, and staff profiles that interest you, so you can find them more easily when you return. We will be continuing to expand the information PRGS has online so stay tuned!
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