Faculty Spotlight
Ken Baerenklau
Associate Provost
Associate Professor of Public Policy
What brought you to the UCR School of Public Policy?
I was actually recruited into UCR’s Department of Environmental Sciences in 2002 (by SPP Associate Dean Kurt Schwabe, among others). Environmental Sciences had been an interdisciplinary department for many years and we eventually had as many as five environmental economists appointed there. I became involved in the initial planning for SPP because the idea of a policy school with a strong emphasis on local engagement struck me as a great addition for UCR – especially one with an emphasis on environmental policy. When the school opened, I was one of the first faculty members to be appointed in the school.
Tell us about your research.
Most of my recent research has focused on urban water management issues. I started working on these issues just prior to the onset of the 2011-17 California drought, not having any idea how bad that drought would become. With SPP colleagues Ariel Dinar and Kurt Schwabe, we first looked at the effects of innovative pricing structures on residential water use and found that these were able to bring about substantial water conservation without significantly increasing costs for households. This work received a lot attention state-wide as the drought developed. I conducted a similar study of rate structures and water use in Chinese urban areas, and I’ve looked at the effectiveness of conservation rebate programs and the impacts of water use restrictions, both in the residential sector in California.
Tell us about your work in the Provost's Office.
For the past five years I’ve held a fulltime appointment as UCR’s Associate Provost. Although this has meant that I spend less time in SPP, I find the work of helping to run the campus to be very rewarding. I get to manage a variety of projects related to the campus academic enterprise, including student success initiatives, academic hiring initiatives, strategic planning, and instructional aspects of capital projects. I’m also involved in various aspects of campus budgeting. Lately I have been devoting most of my time to our response to COVID-19, especially impacts related to research and teaching.