La Follette Notes
Fall 2013 / www.lafollette.wisc.edu
News for Alumni & Friends of The Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
La Follette in D.C.
School brings students to visit work sites, alumni in D.C.
T
hrough a trip to Washington, D.C.,
to visit workplaces and alumni, La
Follette School students are gaining insight
into the array of career paths that a public
affairs master’s degree makes possible.
The pilot “La Follette in D.C.” program
builds on the success of group visits the La
Follette School Student Association started
organizing in 2010 to bring students into
Madison workplaces to learn about career
opportunities.
At press time, students were to go to
D.C. November 7-8 to connect with alumni, employers and friends of the school
through visits to work sites, informational
interviews, a career development panel
lunch, and the school’s reception for all
alumni and friends.
“We wanted to do something like this
because many of the students want to work
in D.C.,” says Susan Yackee, director of the
La Follette School.
Site visits include the Millennium
Challenge Corporation, Congressional
Budget Office, Government Accountability
Office, Urban Institute and World Bank.
Outreach and student services staff
members handled the logistics of the program. Outreach director Terry Shelton,
outreach specialist Bridget Pirsch and student services coordinator Mary Treleven
were to go to D.C. to meet with employers
and staff the alumni reception at the Capitol View Business & Conference Center.
“We appreciate the support and warm
See D.C. on page 7
Donor profile
2009 alum Lindsay
Read won a prestigious
fellowship from the
Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation that has
taken her to Berlin.
Here she is in front
of the Bundestag ,
home to Germany’s
parliament.
Link between education,
work inspires Read to give
L
indsay Read’s career has been just the right blend
of domestic and international, letting her explore
how U.S. public policies affect people from other countries and how other nations approach their domestic
programs.
Now, after nearly four years with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the 2009 master of public
affairs alum won a prestigious fellowship with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation that has taken her to
Berlin, Germany.
With the German Chancellor Fellowship for Prospective Leaders, Read is examining consumer behavior
and food marketing in the context of public nutrition
Alumni, help the
La Follette School tell
its story to prospective
students. Send your file
bio to alumni@lafollette.
wisc.edu
See Germany on page 4
2nd student team wins national prize; school welcomes professors
W
From the Director
Susan Yackee
e are thrilled to report that
a second team of La Follette
School students—now alumni—
won a national competition this year.
A workshop report by students in
the international public affairs program won the MaryKathryn Kubat
Award given by the American Association for Budget and Program
Analysis in July.
Ingrid Aune, Yanyan Chen,
Christina Miller and Joshua Williams presented their research with
a poster at the association’s spring
symposium in Washington, D.C.
Projects in the competition analyzed
the current social, economic and
political landscape, and offered alternatives for change.
The four produced The MCC Incentive Effect: Quantifying Incentives
for Policy Change in an Ex-Post
Rewards System for professor Melanie
Manion’s Workshop in International
Public Affairs.
The students prepared the report for the Millennium Challenge
Corporation, an independent U.S.
agency that uses a rewards system to
determine potential eligibility for international aid funding. International
observers note that the “MCC incenSee Director on page 5
2 / La Follette Notes
Alum shares
evaluation expertise
2005 alum Hilary Shager
is bringing her practical
experience as a research
analyst with the Wisconsin
Department of Families and
Children into the La Follette
School classroom as the
instructor of the program
evaluation course, which she
is teaching for the second
time this fall.
Shager joined DCF in 2010
while completing her Ph.D. in
public policy at the University
of Madison–Wisconsin. As a
staff member of the Bureau
of Performance Management, she provides research
support for all of DCF’s
programs: early childhood
care and education, Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families, child support and
child welfare.
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Fall 2013
1987 alum Sheila Chaffee remembered
M
emorial services were held June 14 for 1987
alum Sheila Chaffee, who died May 30 in
Madison at age 76.
Chaffee served on the Madison Common Council, and she worked as a health-care finance policy
analyst for the state of Wisconsin, an assistant to
state Representative Midge Miller and a lobbyist for
the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.
Her numerous career achievements also included
being a women’s dorm counselor, Girl’s State representative, homecoming queen, musician, student
council member and class president, kindergarten
teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, lobbyist, antiVietnam war protestor, budget analyst, television
host of “Access City Hall,” volunteer and board
member for many political candidates, political
debate moderator, member of the Madison Urban Design Commission and Drug Commission,
Girl Scout leader, grant writer, and member of the
League of Women Voters and of the Meriter Community Resident Association.
Chaffee graduated with a
bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Redlands, where she
was president of the Alpha Xi
Omicron sorority. At age 48
she earned her master’s degree
in public policy and adminSheila Chaffee
istration from the La Follette
Institute of Public Affairs at
the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
She is survived by her three children and their
partners, grandchildren, her sister-in-law, many
cousins, and the sisters of her heart (known as the
Ladies Lunch group), all their friends and relations,
friends and people she mentored, and her community at Capital Lakes, her home for the last decade.
Chaffee believed in building community and
family. She became a member of every group she
could find to make the world better, or if she didn’t
find one, she made one. w
School trains
lawmakers
in policy,
leadership
Grant writing and grant
management make up a
large component of Shager’s
responsibilities at DCF. “I do
a lot of evaluation planning,
figuring out how to evaluate different programs,” she
says. “I act as a liaison for
department staff working with
third-party evaluators, and I
advise management on what
they can and cannot do during an evaluation.”
Shager appreciates that she
works every day with many
La Follette School alumni,
including her supervisor, and
a 2013 summer intern. “The
La Follette School serves the
state of Wisconsin very well
by producing highly skilled
alumni who are committed to
public service,” Shager says.
T
Two alumni serve on Madison Plan Commission
Michael Heifetz, 1991, and Melissa Berger, 2011, serve on the City
of Madison Plan Commission, which makes and adopts the city’s
master plan, and makes recommendations to the Common Council
related to physical development. It has final approval authority on land
divisions and conditional use requests. Commissioners are continually
challenged to interpret and apply policy to land-use decisions, and they
assist the city in creating new land-use policy such as the downtown plan
and city zoning code.
he La Follette School’s outreach staff completed its
19th year of leadership training
for Midwestern legislators.
The Bowhay Institute of Legislative Leadership Development
brought 37 legislators from 11
U.S. states and four Canadian
provinces to Madison for a fiveday institute. The sessions help
newer legislators develop skills
to become effective leaders,
informed decision-makers and
astute policy analysts.
“In these days of strident
partisanship, BILLD offers a
chance for lawmakers to talk
across the aisle, across state lines
and across international borders
without regard to party affiliation,” says outreach director
Terry Shelton. “It has proven to
be a special program over the
years.” w
Fall 2013
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
La Follette Notes / 3
News from alumni and friends
1980s
After working more than
25 years for the California
State University headquarters office in Long Beach,
Lori Erdman, 1988, has
changed jobs. She is working on a special project for
the campus president at
California State University
East Bay in Hayward.
Patrick Morrow, 2004, U.S. Army, was promoted
to colonel in April. He graduated from the U.S. Army
War College in June and is assigned as the director
of plans and policy, U.S. Army Central Command,
Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
Lori Erdman
1990s
Ben Paulos, 1997, has moved on after 13 years
with the Energy Foundation in San Francisco, where
he spent $60 million of other people’s money promoting clean energy policy. He is going back to his
Madison roots as a freelance consultant and writer.
He can be found on Twitter at @benpaulos.
2000s
2011 alum Lydia Bi and Emily Brunjes, who
graduates in December, got together for lunch this
summer in Shanghai, where Bi works as an analyst
for a private firm. Brunjes was traveling prior to
attending a summer Chinese language program at
Tsinghua University in Beijing. “I feel quite blessed
for a visit like this,” Bi says, “because I refreshed
my Madison memories and felt my links to the La
Follette School and the UW growing strong.”
Rachel
(Johnson)
Janke, 2012,
celebrated one
year as a fiscal
analyst with the
Legislative
Fiscal Bureau
on July 9, and
she married
Nathan Janke
on August 3.
In March, Catherine Hall, 2009, accepted a position as assistant county administrator for Douglas
County, Nebraska, in Omaha. She served as the
grant administrator for Douglas County’s criminal
justice system for the three years prior.
After graduating in 2006
with a master of public
affairs, Katie Maguire
Jack went on to complete her Ph.D. in social
welfare at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison in May.
She started as an assistant
professor at The Ohio State
Katie
University College of Social
Maguire Jack
Work this fall. “My research
focuses on child maltreatment prevention,” she says. “I will be teaching social
work courses related to program evaluation, policy
analysis, macro social work practice and the use of
evidence in social work practice.”
Share your news
Jamie Aulik, 2006, who
is serving his third term as
Manitowoc County clerk,
was elected the Wisconsin
County Clerks Association
legislative committee chair
and website and publicity
committee chair. The legislative committee advises
state legislators on election
Jamie Aulik
administration policies and
other issues that affect
county clerk duties. Aulik also was promoted to
sergeant first class in the U.S. Army Reserve where
his specialty is chemical, biological, radiological and
nuclear weapons defense. He serves as battalion
CBRN staff noncommissioned officer at the 432nd
Civil Affairs Battalion in Green Bay.
Jennie Mauer, 2008, married Raj Annamalai in
September with many Bobs in attendance. Corey
Palmer-Rehorst was in the wedding party, and
Andria Hayes-Birchler was an usher. Others in
attendance included Joe Fontaine, Nick Bubb
and Alissa Quade, Sean Moran, Carrie
(Traud) Ray, Carissa DeCramer, Alexis
MacDonald, Adam Lee, and Katie Miskell.
LARGE and
small
Email alumni@lafollette.wisc.edu or call 608-263-7657
Future Bob
2009 alum Gail Kiles Krumenauer and Matt Krumenauer
welcomed the arrival of their daughter, Marin Mae Krumenauer,
on August 5. Gail works as the senior economic analyst for the
Research Division of the Oregon Employment Department and
can be reached at gailkikr@gmail.com.
4 / La Follette Notes
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Fall 2013
Wisconsin state bar journal highlights prosecutor pay report
A
new law should help slow the turnover
of Wisconsin’s prosecutors highlighted
in a 2011 La Follette School report, as well
as improve the delivery of justice.
As noted in a September column in the
State Bar of Wisconsin’s magazine, Wisconsin’s governor signed into law a merit-based
pay progression plan for assistant district
attorneys, assistant attorneys general and
assistant state public defenders.
Led by professor emeritus Dennis Dresang, the study of prosecutor staffing across
the state found that the compensation system
prompted assistant district attorneys to leave
their jobs within the first five years of service.
Germany continued from page 1
programs. She is working with the School
of Business and Economics at the Freie University to examine how marketing tools that
have been successful in private sector food
campaigns might help magnify the positive
effect of German public health campaigns.
“My hope is that this project will contribute
to our knowledge of the role of the public
sector in encouraging healthier diets and
the public value of health and wellness,” she
says.
The experience in Germany builds on
work for the GAO, where she reported to
Congress on issues that included social and
agricultural programs.
Read notes that the quantitative methods she explored at La Follette have been
crucial. “I regularly used the analytical skills
I learned at La Follette in my work at the
GAO, and I find they are equally valuable
during my fellowship,” she says.
Those skills are one reason Read makes
financial donations to the La Follette
School. “Giving back to La Follette is important to me in part because I credit La
Follette for giving me the tools to make
a big change in my professional life after
graduate school,” she says. “Getting a job at
GAO was a boost for me professionally, and
I was qualified for the position thanks to the
education I received from La Follette. The
clear connection between my work and my
education makes it easy to remember to give
back so La Follette can continue to support
students as they build their careers.”
Read came to La Follette after working
with immigrants and refugees with two organizations in Minnesota.
Of 330 ADAs, 75 percent left their positions
between 2001 and 2007.
The Wisconsin Lawyer column by John S.
Skilton, a partner in the
Madison office of Perkins Coie and former
State Bar president, noted the importance of the
Dennis Dresang
La Follette study, Public Safety and Assistant
District Attorney Staffing in Wisconsin, which
Dresang co-authored with now-alumni Jerrett
Jones, Alex Marach and Hilary J. Waukau.
“Based on this study and prompted by
the tireless advocacy of public sector lawyers, the legislature and the executive branch
began to take notice,” Skilton wrote. “The
foundational question was: ‘What does it
mean if the public, crime victims, and indigent defendants are unable to expect that
an experienced advocate will represent their
interests, particularly as public safety and
liberty are at stake?’”
“Without retention of experienced, sophisticated public advocates—for the state
and for the defense—Wisconsin’s criminal
justice system cannot purport to provide
just results,” Skilton added. w
Support La Follette School
students and programs
Donations can be made online or by mail with a check payable to UW
Foundation-La Follette sent to La Follette School, 1225 Observatory Drive,
Madison WI 53706. For information, go online at www.lafollette.wisc.edu/
giving, call 608-263-7657 or email giving@lafollette.wisc.edu
“Giving back to La Follette is important to me
in part because I credit La Follette for giving
me the tools to make a big change in my
professional life after graduate school.”
Lindsay Read, 2009 alum
A scholarship offer solidified her decision
to attend the La Follette School. “Receiving
the scholarship was honestly one of the biggest single events in my life,” she says. “I remember exactly where I was when I received
the message that I had received a scholarship
to attend La Follette. I was in training for
a summer job. That funding allowed me to
focus on learning and to seek out opportunities that helped me build a career.”
Advice from 2004 alum Marlia (Moore)
Mattke, now deputy Medicaid director for
the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, also played a role. Family friends connected them, Read says. “Marlia helped me
evaluate my graduate school options when
I first visited La Follette as a prospective
student. We continued to stay in contact,
especially through our mutual interest in
health policy.”
During her second year at La Follette,
Read worked with the Wisconsin Legislative Council and the university’s Population
Health Institute and advised legislators on
improving nutrition in public schools.
“That experience working with the Legislature to shape childhood nutrition policy
inspired me to continue building a career in
nutrition policy and programming,” Read
says. Her interest deepened at the GAO,
where she was part of the agency’s Food
Group that evaluated U.S. food safety and
agriculture programs.
In Berlin, Read relishes having the freedom to delve into her own research. “With
the Humboldt fellowship, I have tailored
my project specifically to my interest,” she
says. “I will be working independently, with
the help of a mentor, to evaluate efforts to
increase fruit and vegetable consumption,
particularly through public awareness campaigns and education.”
She looks forward to connecting with
others interested in health and nutrition.
“The Humboldt Foundation has provided
thousands of fellowships to researchers and
practitioners over the past few decades,”
Read says. “There is a well-developed and
supportive network of current fellows and
alumni, and I see this as a valuable way to
connect to and share information with others in similar fields during and after my fellowship year.” w
Fall 2013
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
First Dresang scholarship recipient
La Follette Notes / 5
Student wants to serve public with energy analysis
Green Bay chamber
honors 1990 alum
R
1990 alum Tim Nixon received a volunteer of the year
award from the Green Bay
Area Chamber of Commerce.
ob Stupar turned to public policy for
velop the skills he needs to dedicate his
graduate school because no matter
career to public service. “Public policy
which professional field he considered
presents both the biggest challenge and
as an undergraduate, he felt that there
opportunity to make enduring, meanwas no better way to help solve national
ingful impacts in America,” Stupar says.
problems than through public policy.
“I want to gain the tools to analyze and
“During my undergraduate career I
create policies in innovative ways to seek
was exposed to many different perspectives
out the root causes of problems. By doing
through experiences in the corporate world
this, I will be able to help improve our
“I am grateful to
and academia,” Stupar says. “I also took
nation and world for years to come.”
classes ranging from sociological theory to all the donors to
Stupar is focusing his studies on enerthese funds. These gy policy, and he plans to pursue a certifiorganic chemistry. While I was interested
scholarships are
in many of the topics, I felt limited in my
cate in energy analysis and policy along
helping me pay for with his MPA.
ability to influence society with careers in
tuition this year.”
most of the fields I was considering, such
“Energy is at the core of every aspect
Rob Stupar, of modern society,” he says. “We need
as engineering, chemistry, biology, and
scholarship energy for transportation, agriculture,
sociology. I found that the impact of the
recipient medicine, communication, water puwork done in these fields was heavily dependent on the public policy surrounding
rification, etc. Our society will need to
them. It became clear to me that policy that was the
develop a comprehensive plan for how we will meet
crux of progress. Because of this, I want to dedicate
our energy demands, as current energy sources are
my career to developing effective policy.”
becoming increasingly scarce, expensive, and hard
Stupar graduated in 2013 from the University of
on the environment. It will be challenging to deWisconsin–Madison with a bachelor’s degree in com- velop policy that can navigate political, cultural, and
munity and environmental sociology. As a student
technical obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting
starting the La Follette School’s master of public afenergy plan. That is why I find energy policy interfairs program, he received scholarships from the La
esting.”
Follette School’s Dennis Dresang, Clara Penniman
“Public service is important to me because it proand Alumni-Friends funds. He is the first recipient
vides me with the ability to impact the lives of the
of an award from the Dresang fund. “I am grateful
greatest amount of people,” Stupar adds. “I want to
to all the donors to these funds,” Stupar says. “These help as many people as I can with what I do in my
scholarships are helping me pay for tuition this year.” professional career, and public service’s wide-reachStupar enrolled in the La Follette School to deing nature grants me the opportunity to do so.” w
Director continued from page 1
tive effect” takes place when countries change policies
specifically to meet MCC eligibility requirements.
After studying the effect, the authors conclude no
strong quantitative evidence supports an argument
that the MCC incentive effect exists. They also offer
suggestions for how the effect should be studied.
Their award is the second national honor our
students garnered. A team from David Weimer’s
cost-benefit analysis course won the Policy Solutions
Challenge U.S.A. in March with strategies for addressing childhood obesity.
In other news, we are very pleased to welcome
Jason Fletcher to our faculty. He is a highly regarded specialist in health economics, the economics of education, and child and adolescent health
policy. Jason focuses his research on examining
social network effects on adolescent education and
health outcomes, combining genetics and social sci-
ence research, estimating long-term consequences of
childhood mental illness, and child and adolescent
mental health policy.
Jason won a prestigious career development
award in 2012 from the William T. Grant Foundation. That award is funding a study of the interplay
between genetics and social settings in youth development. Prior to joining the La Follette School, Jason was an associate professor in the Department of
Health Policy and Management at the Yale School
of Public Health.
We also welcome to our faculty J. Michael Collins, who now has a 25 percent appointment at La
Follette and will teach one course for us a year in
addition to directing the university’s Center for Financial Security, which hosted a national hearing
field hearing of the U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission on campus in September. w
Nixon is a shareholder and
partner with Godfrey & Kahn,
S.C. Law Offices. In addition
to a master’s degree in public
policy and administration, he
earned a law degree.
Nixon
served
on the
chamber’s
board of
directors
2004 to
2012,
including
Tim Nixon
terms
as chair elect and chair.
He chaired the chamber’s
strategic planning committee, and served on the
finance, executive and CEO
search committees. He was
instrumental in the creation
and development of the
chamber’s diversity efforts.
He played a key role in the
revitalization of the Advance
Business & Manufacturing
Center incubator.
Nixon also serves on the
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Preliminary Review Committee; board member for the
Eastern District of the Wisconsin Bar Association; Ethics
in Business Awards selection
committee for the American
Foundation of Counseling
Services; and Brown County
Library board trustee. His
honors and awards include
the University of Wisconsin–
Green Bay’s Distinguished
Alumni Award and Green Bay
Area YWCA’s Community
Family of Distinction.
6 / La Follette Notes
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Fall 2013
University honors Manion for academic advising excellence
P
rofessor Melanie Manion received the
College of Letters and Science Academic
Advising Award in recognition of her dedication to graduate students at the La Follette School and the Department of Political
Science.
Manion models best practices in graduate advising, then-L&S dean Gary Sandefur
said in remarks prepared for the May award
ceremony.
A highly accomplished scholar of Chinese politics and the
political economy of
good governance, Manion balances a demanding research program
that engages materials
in English and Chinese, Melanie Manion
service on college committees, and compassionate and dedicated
advising for numerous graduate students.
Manion is known across the University
of Wisconsin–Madison campus for the quality of her advising and the lengths to which
she routinely goes on behalf of her graduate
students, who nominated her for the award.
Many of her students are non-native English
speakers, so she advises on language as well
as substance.
“Professor Manion’s course on contemporary political and social issues in China
as well as her personal encouragement were
instrumental in my decision to attend La
Follette,” says Emily Brunjes, who will
complete her master of international public
affairs degree in December. “As my advisor,
Graduate fellowship takes ’09 MIPA to China
2009 alum Allison
Quatrini is in China
this year, thanks to a
David Boren Fellowship for language
study and dissertation
research.
Quatrini is a doctoral
Allison Quatrini
candidate in political
science at George Washington University.
She is participating in the Inter-University
Program for Chinese Language Studies at
Tsinghua University in Beijing. In the spring,
she will begin her dissertation research on
everyday politics in Chinese urban contexts.
Quatrini’s time as an international public
affairs student at La Follette assisted her in
focusing her studies on China. Her classes
she simultaneously commends my strengths
and challenges me to improve the quality
of my work. I really appreciate the specific
feedback she offers as well as the obvious enthusiasm she brings both to political science
research and its application to real world
policy problems.”
Several of Manion’s political science students noted that Manion’s support and feedback — at all hours of the day and night
— have been crucial to their success in graduate school. Manion is known for helping
students overcome various challenges and
with Professor Melanie Manion were an
invaluable resource, Quatrini says. “Professor Manion’s courses convinced me that I
wanted to pursue Chinese politics on the
graduate level.”
In addition, Quatrini says Manion was most
helpful in showing her how to make academic contacts in the Chinese context. “This
is a skill that is key to a researcher’s success
in China, and I will certainly make use of it in
the coming year,” Quatrini said.
The Boren is Quatrini’s second fellowship
that funded study in China. In 2008, a Fulbright took her to Beijing, where she studied
the link between the election and selection of
local government officials and the practice of
Confucianism in a Leninist context.
for her thorough critiques of student work.
“The key factor that makes her a great
educator and advisor is her constant commitment to us, her students and advisees,”
Brunjes adds. “She was always willing to
make time for me individually to discuss my
current course work and my future plans.
She takes a genuine interest in my progress
and prospects. I have also witnessed in her
a level of excellence in crafting a syllabus,
leading classroom discussion and lecturing
that is rivaled by few.” w
Campus honors Wolfe with named professorship, research support
P
rofessor Barbara (Bobbi) Wolfe has won
one of eight Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation named professorships.
The economist is now the Richard A. Easterlin Professor of Health Economics.
Wolfe studies the role of income and
income inequality on health — including
public policy’s effects and the role of economic status in childhood development.
The award, which includes $75,000 in
research support from WARF, is given by
the Graduate School at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison.
UW professors who win WARF professorships can honor someone by naming the
award for her or him.
Richard Easterlin is an eminent economist, economic historian and demographer
at the University of Southern California.
He is a member of the National Academy
of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and a distinguished fellow of the
American Economic Association.
Easterlin is known for beginning research with an empirical problem and for
his respect for evidence, whether based on
economics, demography, public health or
history.
He is widely recognized for his contributions to the study of happiness; swings
in population and
economic growth, the
relative income hypothesis and more generally
economic demography.
His fundamental contribution to the field of
happiness research has
been called the EastBarbara Wolfe
erlin Paradox, which
notes that at a national
level, economic growth brings increases in
income and wealth, but not increases in
happiness. w
Fall 2013
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
La Follette Notes / 7
Herd to use $6.7 million federal grant for genetic research
S
ociologist Pamela
Herd has received
a $6.7 million grant
from the National
Institute on Aging to
generate genetic research on participants
in the Wisconsin LonPamela Herd
gitudinal Study.
WLS has followed
the life course of 10,317 Wisconsin high
school graduates of 1957 and randomly
selected siblings through repeated surveys,
high school records and yearbooks, and disability, Social Security, Medicare and death
records.
“The WLS thus has created a detailed
record of the educational, social, psychological, economic, and mental and physical health characteristics that will allow for
path-breaking analyses of the role of genetics in determining a range of health and behavioral outcomes,” Herd says. “The grant
funds will also allow for the exploration of
how genes interact with the environment to
shape these outcomes.”
WLS began collecting DNA samples in
2007-08 by mail and, more recently, during
the course of home interviews. “We will be
able to match genetic markers against the
other data we have collected,” Herd says.
“Ultimately, we will better understand the
genetics of aging, including behavior, cognition, affect, personality, health, disease, and
mortality.” w
Yackee wins $500,000 award to study FDA policy decision-making
F
we eat and drugs we take,”
Yackee says. “It is exciting that the fund values
the social science underlying the FDA’s decisionmaking and wants to know
more about the interplay
between science and public
engagement during policymaking.” w
rom drug recalls to the amount of arsenic allowed in foods, the rules issued
by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
have a widespread effect on health and the
economy.
How public participation helps shape
those rules will be better understood, thanks
to a $500,000 grant awarded to political
scientist and La Follette School director
Susan Webb Yackee.
Yackee will use the Innovation in Regu-
latory Science Award from the Burroughs
Wellcome Fund, a foundation that typically sponsors “hard science" research, to
study whether public participation during
the FDA’s policy decision-making matters to
policy outcomes. “The Burroughs Wellcome
Fund award will help us all better understand how public input — including that
by private-sector researchers who will seek
FDA approval for their products — shapes
the rules and regulations governing the food
D.C. continued from page 1
Moynihan recognized for leadership, research
welcome from all the alumni and employers who agreed to host site visits, conduct
information interviews and attend the reception,” Yackee says. “These partnerships
demonstrate the strength of our degree
programs and the exceptional training and
value of a La Follette School education.”
Yackee gives a special thanks to 1982
alum Michael Youngman and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance for helping to
host the reception in the conference center’s
ninth-floor rotunda with its spectacular view
of the Capitol.
Each participating student received a
$300 award from the school to help defray
expenses. Participants were selected by lottery after submitting applications. They
were evenly divided between the master of
public affairs and master of international
public affairs programs.
Yackee says students and employers will
evaluate the program afterward to determine
if it is a good use of school resources. w
P
rofessor Donald
Moynihan has been
elected vice president
of the Public Management Research Association.
His term began in
June, at the end of the
Public Management
Donald
Research Conference
Moynihan
that the La Follette
School hosted in Madison. He automatically will become president
in 2015 for a two-year term.
“I am delighted to have been elected to
the leadership of the PMRA,” Moynihan says.
“The association has played a central role in
improving public management research, and
I look forward to helping it grow.”
Moynihan’s scholarship won recognition
with his sixth national award in three years.
He received the Haldane prize for one of the
best articles published in 2012 by the journal Public Administration: “A Theory of Culture Switching: Leadership and Red Tape
during Hurricane Katrina.”
Susan Yackee
The article provided innovation in theory, methods and findings, the journal noted.
The jury liked Moynihan’s piece for its highlighting the relevance of culture for public
administration, its excellent case study and
the nuanced way in which the author draws
together a range of concepts central in the
study of public administration.
Moynihan also earned media attention
with an article appearing in the American
Review of Public Administration that shows
that altruists in the workplace are more
likely to help fellow employees, be more
committed to their work and be less likely
to quit. These workplace altruists also are
happier than their fellow employees.
“More and more research illustrates the
power of altruism,” Moynihan says, “but
people debate whether we behave altruistically because of hidden self-interest, such
as the desire to improve how others see us.
Our findings make a simple but profound
point about altruism: helping others makes
us happier. Altruism is not a form of martyrdom, but operates for many as part of a
healthy psychological reward system.” w
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8 / La Follette Notes
Save the date
If you will be in Madison,
please join us
Thursday, February 6, 2014, for
the annual reception at Inn on
the Park, 4:30-7 p.m.
La Follette Notes (vol. 17, no. 1) is printed twice a
year for La Follette School alumni and friends. Online
news is published continuously.
Information:
alumni@lafollette.wisc.edu / 608-263-7657
© 2013 Board of Regents of the University of
Wisconsin System. The University of WisconsinMadison is an equal opportunity and affirmativeaction educator and employer. We promote
excellence through diversity in all programs.
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Fall 2013
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