November 22, 2006

November 22 CUPPA Briefing

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Marilyn Miller Receives Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois (DFI) Fellowship
Marilyn Miller, Assistant to the Director for Operations in the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP), has been awarded a Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois (DFI) Fellowship. The goal of the DFI program is to increase the number of under-represented minority full-time tenure track faculty and staff at Illinois colleges and universities. Upon graduation, Fellowship recipients are asked to seek and accept full-time employment in the state. Marilyn is currently working 50% time in order to devote more attention to her graduate studies in Curriculum and Instruction, while she maintains her role in coordinating IRRPP's American Indian Initiatives and assists with core administrative duties.

Study completed for the Illinois Department of Revenue
Professors Rachel Weber of UPP and Rebecca Hendrick of PA and MUPP Jeremy Thompson recently completed a study for the state of Illinois entitled, "The Effect of Tax Increment Financing on School District Revenues." The study, commissioned by the Illinois Department of Revenue, analyzes whether TIF is contributing to fiscal stress in the state's public schools and whether it shifting the burden of education to other taxpayers.

Transaction Costs and Cooperation in Economic Development Ventures
November 28, 1pm, Great Cities Institute conference room, 4th floor CUPPA Hall
Visiting Scholar in Public Administration Annette Steinacker will be giving a talk titled: "Transaction Costs and Cooperation in Economic Development Ventures." Using a national sample of cities, she uses the transaction costs framework to assess the likelihood of cities entering into joint ventures in
economic development. Expected benefits from development are assessed against the transaction costs from similarity of interests across cities, extent of previous interactions with other cities, lower information costs, the number of opportunities to cooperate, similarity of preferences within cities, and political ease of leadership in economic development.


A discussion with Thomas Homer-Dixon
November 29, 3pm, Great Cities Institute conference room, 4th floor CUPPA Hall
The Great Cities Institute together with the Departments of Political Science and Psychology are pleased to present a discussion by Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Upside of Down. The Upside of Down sets out a theory of the growth, crisis, and renewal of societies. Today's converging energy, environmental, and political-economic stresses could cause a breakdown of national and global order. Yet there are things we can do now to keep such a breakdown from being catastrophic. And some kinds of breakdown could even open up extraordinary opportunities for creative, bold reform of our societies. Thomas Homer-Dixon is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto.

PUBLICATIONS and PRESENTATIONS:

Dr. John J. Betancur completed a paper on ethnic entrepreneurship in the USA for Sustainable Development in a Diverse World (SUS.DIV). Although he had no funding to complete the paper, he beat all his European colleagues who receive funding from the European Commission to draft such papers on their countries. In September, he attended the annual meeting of SUS.DIV in Leuven, Belgium. Dr. Betancur is both a member of the Ethnic Entrepreneurship and the Scientific Committees of SUS.DIV.

Dr. Angela Ebreo published a chapter on Asian-American health in the 2nd edition of the Handbook of Asian American Psychology, published by Sage. The Handbook is used as textbook in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on Asian-American psychology and also serves as a resource for researchers, students, practitioners interested in Asian American psychology. Dr. Ebreo also served as one of the co-editors of the volume.

The Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) held its annual conference in Madison, Wisconsin, Nov 2-4. Public Administration faculty, doctoral students and post-doctoral research associate combined forces to present the nine papers listed below, making for a very successful conference experience.

Haller, M. and Welch, E. "Social and Human Capital Determinants of Grant Effort and Success in Science and Engineering: An Exploratory Analysis of Academic Entrepreneurship"

Jacob, B. and Ponomariov, B. "Strategy, Structure or Happenstance? Exploring Graduate Student Research Collaborations"

Mastracci, S. and Popielarz, P. "Birds of a Feather and Working Together: Women's Participation in Professional Associations and its Implications on Career Outcomes"

Melkers, J. and Johns, K. "Emerging and Developed Social Networks: Interdisciplinary Collaboration within University-Based Science Centers"

Melkers, J. and Khovanova, K. "Building Female Scientists and Engineers: The Role of Formal and Informal Mentorship in Career Outcomes"

Ponomariov, B. and Bozeman, B. "Who are the Public/Private 'Sector Switchers'? Characteristics and Determinants of Cross-Sector Mobility of Public Managers"

Ponomariov, B. and Kingsley, G. "Contractual Networks and Adaptation to Outsourcing: The Case of a State Transportation Agency." Welch, E. and Melkers J. "Effects of Network Size and Gender on PI Grant Awards to Scientists and Engineers: An Analysis from a National Survey of Five Fields."

Wu, Yonghong. "Do State R&D Tax Credits Matter to Innovative and Economic Performance?"


Further CUPPA publications:

Kawamura, K. and Y.D. Lu. Effectiveness and Feasibility of Innovative Freight Strategies for the U.S. Urban Areas. In Recent Advances in City Logistics, Elsevier [2006]

K. Kawamura, R. vom Hofe and Sheng Chen. Economic Impact of Truck Lanes - A CGE Analysis. Presented in the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning annual meeting. Fort Worth. [November 11, 2006]

Mizusawa, D. and S. McNeil. Synthesizing Experiences of Implementing Asset Management in the World: Lessons Learned from Pavement Management Case Studies. In Transport Policy Studies Review, Volume 9, No. 34: 21-30, October 2006

Tang, L. and P. Thakuriah. Relationship of Attitudes towards Road and Transit Capital Investments and Propensity to Ride Transit Given Traveler Information. Accepted for presentation in TRB 2007.

Tang, L. and P. Thakuriah. An Analysis of Behavioral Responses to Real-Time Transit Information Systems. Presented in the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning annual meeting. Fort Worth. [November 11, 2006] Thakuriah, P. Design of a Prototype Travel Time Information System for Dynamic Content Dissemination and Management. Presentation to NAVTEQ. Oct 25, 2006.

Wilson and K. Kawamura. The Returning Trolley - Reintroduction of Streetcars in American Communities. Presented in the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning annual meeting. Fort Worth. [November 10, 2006]

Yavuz, N., E. Welch and P.S. Sriraj. Individual and Neighborhood Determinants of Perceptions of Bus and Train Safety in Chicago: An Application of Hiearchical Linear Modeling. Accepted for presentation at the conference to be held in January 2007.

The Publications and Presentations list is compiled from unit updates submitted prior to each CUPPA Cabinet meeting to angelas@uic.edu.

SAVE THE DATE:

November 23-24: Thanksgiving Holiday - Campus Closed
December 6: CUPPA Alumni Holiday Party, Jaks Tap, 901 W Jackson, 5-9pm
December 11-15: Fall Semester Final Exam Week
December 13: CUPPA Holiday Party, 1st floor CUPPA Hall, time to be determined
December 25-29: CUPPA administrative offices and CUPPATech services closed

WORTH REPEATING:

Podcasts on CUPPA Website
Check out the CUPPA website Podcast link at http://www.uic.edu/cuppa. You can download various recorded college events in .mp3 format.

If your unit has an important talk you want podcast so more can hear it, please make plans in advance! Instructions can be found at http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/admin/howto/podcasting.htm.

CUPPABriefing is an electronic publication by the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs for faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Published and distributed via email monthly following the meeting of the CUPPA Cabinet, CUPPABriefing will contain announcements, updates, and facts that are important to those working and/or studying in CUPPA. Assistant Dean for Communications, Jodi White Jones, will be on leave until January 2, 2006. In her absence, questions, comments, or announcements may be sent to Angela Seeley, the Assistant to the Associate Dean, at angelas@uic.edu or 312-413-5445.