I. Vision and Organizational Plan

IPIA’s Mission and Vision

The Institute of Public and International Affairs (IPIA) was established in June 2005 as a new institute in the College of Social and Behavioral Science. Although IPIA is in its early youth, we have a clear vision, know how to achieve it, and many exciting initiatives are underway. Imagine –

- C-Span airs the live proceedings of a series of policy conferences at the U of U that present contrasting views about how population changes will affect the need for transportation, health care, housing and education in the western states for the next 20 years.

- Reading a Wall Street Journal or New York Times story about a joint effort among several nations that could help to reduce root causes of terrorism. The story focuses on a recent meeting of international experts at the University of Utah and quotes several faculty.

- During a debate in the U. S. Senate about a change in tax policy that would impact single parents, a senator cites data from a 2006 book edited by two faculty members at the University of Utah. The book contains papers presented at a forum at the University of Utah, and several were written by U of U faculty.

- The University of Utah becomes one of a small handful of regular sources of information where the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, London Times, The Gulf Times, BBC, NPR, and several U. S. government agencies regularly turn for trustworthy information in selected, important policy areas.

- The Governor asks the University of Utah to assemble a team of educators, geographers, demographers, business leaders, and tax policy experts to assess alternative ways to finance Utah’s public schools during an immanent huge surge in school-age enrollments. He wants to know what has been tried in other states as well as competing proposals that reflect different points of view and values.

- The U of U regularly assembles teams that bring widely divergent perspectives and areas of expertise to policy discussions. They find and generate solid, credible information for policy makers who are trying to make sound decisions. The U of U becomes an actor that cannot be left out of major deliberations, a “heavyweight” on a few important domestic and international public policy issues.

- Because the U of U is widely known as a trusted center of expertise in these areas, scholars from around the world readily accept invitations to spend time work, talk, and debate here. A few decide to come onto our faculty. Undergraduate and graduate students at the U of U take courses from and work on research projects with them. They learn from and directly contribute to creating knowledge that makes a difference – that will affect our quality of life for decades.

Many faculty experts who are recognized world-wide for excellence are already at the U of U. Others at universities and think tanks across the U.S. and around the globe know U of U faculty, are electronically linked with them, and exchange ideas and findings regularly with them. Studies by our faculty are reported in newspapers and on world-wide websites. Events at the Hinckley Institute of Politics, the Siciliano Forum, the Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy, and the Middle East Center attract national and international attention. IPIA is expanded these individual and collective centers of excellence and developing the U of U into a national and international force in public policy, politics, internationalism, and governance.

Many of these excellent faculty who teach and do research in public policy and internationalism, however, are spread around the campus, often are isolated from each other, and in many cases not even aware of related work others are doing. Efforts are fragmented.  IPIA is helping them reach across boundaries and remove barriers. They – and exciting new hires – will serve as magnets that attract others into clusters of excellence. These clusters have some staff support and graduate assistants, so faculty members don’t need to spend time on administrative and less sophisticated research tasks. Students are learning from experts who are on the cutting edge of research and influence in domestic and international policy circles.

Thus, IPIA is becoming an institute with faculty who have national and international reputations in their fields and who are adding to knowledge in selected areas of politics, public policy, internationalism and governance. Students in courses across the University will work shoulder-to-shoulder with these distinguished faculty members in classrooms and on research projects, and they will receive enough financial aid to be able to spend time working with the professors. Because of its many exciting faculty, students, and projects, IPIA is becoming known locally and nationally as an institute that uses expertise to help solve real problems through its research, teaching and outreach to the community. It is a visible manifestation of the University of Utah reaching beyond the campus borders to be involved in issues and problems that make a difference.

IPIA will energize and expand the University’s activities and programs in its areas of excellence. It will continue to expand its role as a catalyst that attracts, links, engages, coordinates and supports existing programs across the University while also seeding and incubating new interdisciplinary centers, institutes and activities. These areas of excellence are connected and thus inform and benefit each other.

In summary, IPIA is rapidly becoming a center of excellence at the University that provides exciting opportunities for students and faculty to participate in innovative inter-disciplinary research, learning, civic engagement, and service, and thereby bring national and global attention and also attract grants and gifts to the University. It is providing administrative and technical support, energy, resources, and focus for faculty research that informs public policy decision-making; building capacity for the faculty to be more competitive for external research funding; involving more undergraduate and graduate students in research, political participation, and civic management opportunities; and thereby enriching educational experiences for students, the research capacity of the faculty, and the reputation of the University.

Programs

IPIA’s programs and activities will advance the University’s core missions of:

- teaching,
- research, and
- service to its communities

in IPIA’s areas of excellence, in the U.S. and internationally:

- public policy, including policy analysis processes and substantive areas of public policy, such as domestic and international health policy, housing policy, domestic/family policy, security policy, and environmental policy;
- applied politics, including campaign management, polling, and lobbying;
- internationalism, for example, domestic and global trade, security, terrorism, population migration, businesses and markets, flows of capital;
- governance, how peoples govern themselves and their institutions including, for example, domestic and international relations among organizations in the government, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors.

IPIA will use the knowledge, experience, and reputations of faculty, centers, institutes, and programs that already exist across the University, and will add new expertise, capacity, resources, and energy. Table 1-1 provides examples of IPIA programs and activities for each mission in each area of excellence.

Table 1-1
Examples of IPIA Programs

In Table 1-1:

- Bold face indicates relatively new IPIA achievements or on-going programs.  
- Programs in italics are in various stages of development.

Organizational Structure

The IPIA Director reports to the Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science. It is an “umbrella” over a variety of programs, centers, and institutes, many of which already exist at the University. Existing units or components that are in IPIA include:
- Hinckley Institute of Politics;
- Center for Public Policy and Administration;
- Siciliano Forum;
- Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy;
- Administration of the Master of Public Administration degree program (MPA);
- Administration of the Master of Public Policy degree program (MPP);
- Administration of the Masters of Science degree program in International Affairs and Global Enterprise; and
- Graduate Certificate program in Demography.

Each program, center, and institute in IPIA has a director who is accountable to the Director of IPIA. New programs, centers, and institutes will be created in IPIA as new initiatives and funding opportunities emerge. Examples of possible future components in IPIA include a center on international security and human dignity, a center on family demography and population health, a center on behavioral health across the lifespan, a master’s degree program in campaign management, and a center for nonprofit organizations.

The Dean of CSBS and the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs will appoint a Policy Board to advise IPIA. This Policy Board will ensure that IPIA develops and sustains a strong set of useful programs and maintains an inclusive university-wide focus. Although no academic departments will be housed in IPIA, it will maintain strong collaborative relationships with academic departments across the University.

Selected faculty members will have full-time or part-time fixed-length appointments in IPIA. Faculty with appointments in IPIA will remain tenured in the academic departments, not in IPIA, and will have priority access to IPIA resources. No academic departments or faculty members will be relocated in IPIA involuntarily.

IPIA’s small staff provides professional, technical, and administrative support services for faculty with appointments in IPIA and provides some outreach services to community agencies and programs.

Our vision for IPIA can be described as a set of interacting areas of interest (Figure 1-1). Likewise, the organization is better described as “circles within a circle” (Figure 1-2) not by a traditional organization chart, but all program, center, and institute directors are directly accountable to the IPIA Director who is directly accountable to the Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science.

Management and Leadership of IPIA

Short biographical write-ups for individuals in IPIA leadership positions are in Attachment A.

Steven Ott, Director, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science, and Professor of Political Science.

Kirk Jowers, Associate Director for Applied Politics and Director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics. 

Cathleen Zick, Associate Director for Academic Public Policy, Director of the MPP program, and Professor of Family and Consumer Studies.

David Patton, Associate Director for Public Policy Outreach, Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA), and Research Professor of Political Science. 

Stephen Reynolds, Associate Director for Internationalism, Associate Dean of CSBS, and Professor of Economics.

Directors of other existing centers and programs in IPIA include:

MPA program: Richard Green, Director, Associate Professor of Political Science

Behavioral Science and Health Program: Norman Waitzman, Associate Professor of Economics, and Pauline Wiessner, Professor of Anthropology, Co-Directors
 
Environmental Studies Program: Dan McCool, Professor of Political Science

Examples of other centers and programs that are in – or may move into – IPIA include:

Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy: Ted Wilson, Director

MPA program: Richard Green, Director, and Associate Professor of Political Science

Behavioral Science and Health Program: Norman Waitzman, Professor of Economics, and Pauline Wiessner, Professor of Anthropology, Co-Directors

Environmental Studies Program: Dan McCool, Director, and Professor of Political Science

Financial, Procedural, and Legal Accountability

IPIA is an institute in the College of Social and Behavioral Science and thus is subject to all University of Utah policies, procedures, and practices including, for example, hiring procedures, accounting reporting requirements, financial audits, and program reviews.