Dean Anil Deolalikar
2020 has been a year unlike any other. All of us at UCR have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial injustices our country is reckoning with, and an economic crisis. It is at times like this that we realize how interconnected the world is and how similar the societal challenges facing different societies are! If anything, the Covid pandemic gives even more credence to our School’s motto – “Solutions for the Region, Solutions for the World.”
Some of you may have heard rumors about the significant downsizing or even elimination of SPP as an option that the campus was considering to deal with budget cuts. As it turns out, this was a case of poor messaging. I can assure you that at no point was the School ever under the threat of closure or significant downsizing. Of course, there will have to be significant belt-tightening across the entire campus in the year or two ahead as a result of the Covid-induced reductions to state revenue, but we will continue on our march forward. Indeed, I see a period of strong growth for SPP in the years ahead. This fall, we already have the largest incoming MPP student cohort in five years (31 students as compared to 21 students a year ago), and the number of undergraduate majors is also at an all-time high (265 students and growing).
Like most of our sister UC campuses, UCR will also offer all instruction, save for a few lab-based classes, remotely this fall. But as our faculty, teaching assistants, and graduate and undergraduate advisers gain familiarity and experience with remote education, the quality of remote instruction and advising will continue to improve. Our students can continue to expect the first-rate instruction and personal attention they are used to and that they deserve.
Meanwhile, our outreach and events activity has actually accelerated during the lockdown! We have a Policy Dialogues website that is devoted to providing the latest policy insights from experts on pressing timely issues such as COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, and the upcoming election.
In the past few months, we have had policymakers and practitioners, such as Assemblymember Jose Medina, Councilmember Ronaldo Fierro, Councilmember Andy Melendrez, and Mayor Geoff Kors and City Manager David Ready, offer SPP webinars. We will be moving full steam ahead with a busy schedule of fall-quarter webinars and virtual talks.
We are also devoted to bringing Black leaders’ voices to our students and community. Kim Carter (Founder of Time for Change Foundation) and Paulette Brown-Hinds (Founder of Voice Media Ventures) spoke with our students this summer, and we look forward to bringing more public seminars devoted to “Black Lives Matter” issues in the year ahead.
And finally we will also resume with our Water Seminar Series co-sponsored by the SPP and UCR Library later this month with guest speaker Zachary Frankel.
I hope you will take a moment to share your news with us and stay engaged with the School during the coming year. Remember that almost all our seminars and webinars are open to our alumni and community members, although many of them require advance registration. You can learn more at spp.ucr.edu/events.