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Events
The USP concentration organizes a Mayors Forum, the USP Speaker Series, New York City field trips, student- faculty dinners, an annual student retreat, professional networking socials and other events with distinguished speakers throughout the year.
For a listing of all events at SIPA this semester, please visit the SIPA Events Calendar.
Event Highlights
NYC Global Partners International Summit
Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship: City Strategies Featuring Mayor Michael Bloomberg and GE's Jeffrey Immelt
November 3rd, 8:30 AM - 5 PM
Low Memorial Library
New York City Global Partners, in cooperation with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the World Bank and Columbia University convened an international summit on the role of global cities in promoting business innovation, entrepreneurship, and job growth. The summit showcased best practices from cities that use creative approaches to spur innovation and create new employment opportunities in response to an increasingly competitive global environment. Twenty-one cities participated, including Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Geneva, Ho Chi Minh City, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Karachi, Kiev, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Lyon, Montréal, Munich, Panama City, Stockholm, Tel Aviv and Tokyo. There was also a New York City delegation with representatives from the City's Economic Development Corporation, Department of Small Business Services and the Office of the Mayor.
Global Mayors Forum: Making Hyderabad India's Best Governed City
September 14th from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Kellogg Center, 15th Floor, International Affairs Building
The Global Mayors Forum hosted Dr. Sameer Sharma, IAS Commissioner of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Dr. Sharma addressed the challenges and opportunities in making Hyderabad India’s best-governed city.
Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh, India. Known as the City of Pearls, Hyderabad is the second largest metropolitan area in India and the sixth largest city. Nicknamed ‘Cyberabad’ for its booming information technology sector, Hyderabad has experienced economic growth and rapid industrialization in the past 20 years. The city has gained international recognition for its ability to attract business and investment through liberal industrial policies, special economic zones, and city branding. Its newfound prosperity has triggered an influx of rural migrants, and population growth has put a strain on city resources and infrastructure.
As Municipal Commissioner, Dr. Sharma has focused on adapting municipal public policy to meet the challenges of a growing city. He is a strong advocate for increasing efficiency through technology, reducing corruption through transparency, and expanding financial inclusion. Dr. Sharma received his PhD in urban development at the University of Cincinnati and specializes in globalization, metropolitan development, e-governance, and resource mobilization. In addition, Dr. Sharma is a notable contributor to the Economic Times of India and has published more than 20 articles in the last four years.
SIPA’s Global Mayors Forum showcases the leaders of the world’s most dynamic cities and the School’s conviction that cities are the world’s most important laboratories for creative policymaking.
14th Annual David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum: Crisis in State Budgets
April 11, 2011 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
The Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue
The 14th Dinkins Forum on the topic of the Crisis in State Budgets was held on Monday, April 11. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand delivered the keynote address.
This year’s program focused on the challenges facing the leadership of the nation’s state and local governments, businesses and organized labor in the current fiscal climate, and consisted of opening remarks by Dean John H. Coatsworth and Professor David N. Dinkins, the keynote address, followed by two panel discussions.
Panel One, "The New York State Fiscal Crisis: Balancing City & State Interests," was moderated by Ester Fuchs, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science. Panelists included former NYS Governor David Paterson, former NYS Budget Director Dall Forsythe, former NYC Budget Director Marc Shaw and former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson.
Panel Two, "Distributing the Cost of Economic Recovery: Government, Business, Labor?" was be moderated by Dorian Warren, Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science. Panelists included DC 37 AFSCME Executive Director Lillian Roberts, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, Columbia Earth Institute Director Steve Cohen and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Carl Hum.
For more information on the forum see the forum's website or read an article in the Columbia Spectator.
John Feinblatt: Affecting National Policy from a Local Perspective
April 6, 2011 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 1512
On April 6th, the Urban and Social Policy Speaker Series presented "Affecting National Policy from a Local Perspective" with John Feinblatt, Criminal Justice Coordinator for Mayor Bloomberg.
As criminal justice coordinator, John Feinblatt has a new and unique position within the Bloomberg administration that encompasses more than just criminal justice issues. As manager of the Mayors Against Guns campaign and the Partnership for a New American Economy, Mr. Feinblatt is working on building coalitions to affect national policy from the perspective of local government - specifically on the issues of gun control and immigration reform.
His invaluable experience in public service is an inspiration to the next generation of urban policy practitioners and we are privileged to have him speak to his past experiences and current aspirations.
New York City as a Sustainable City
Thursday, April 7, 2011 from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Low Memorial Library, Faculty Room
Moderator
Steve Cohen, Executive Director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University; Director, M.S. Sustainability Management
Panelists
David Bragdon, Director, Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, New York City Mayor’s Office
Cas Holloway, Commissioner, New York City Department of Environmental Protection
Bill Solecki, Director, CUNY Institute of Sustainable Cities
Ester Fuchs, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Panel participants discussed both signs of progress and deficiencies in the effort to make New York City a sustainable city, touching on government initiatives in this area as well as the role of the private sector. Though issues of sustainability are being recognized on an increasingly global scale, it is local actions that will likely provide many of the solutions to these large-scale problems. Panel speakers, decision-makers and experts in urban sustainability, talked about how New York City can play a large leadership role in this transformation.
New York City is, to the surprise of many, one of the most energy-efficient places in the United States – the energy consumption and carbon dioxide output of New Yorkers is one-quarter of the national average, and the city is on target to meet a number of sustainability goals in the next 20 years, including planting one million new trees (of which more than 300,000 have been planted in the last three years) and converting an entire fleet of over 10,000 taxicabs to fuel-efficient vehicles and hybrids. But with close to 20 million people living in the Tri-State area, the continued sustainability of such an environment is still a constant concern.
Sponsored by the Earth Institute.
Kenneth T. Jackson and Lisa Keller: Discussion and Celebration of the Release of the Second Edition of The Encyclopedia of New York
March 30, 2011 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Faculty House, Room 1
A celebration and discussion with Kenneth T. Jackson and Lisa Keller focusing on the second edition of their best-selling and beloved The Encyclopedia of New York City. Since the book first appeared on shelves 15 years ago, the Big Apple has changed in so many ways. The World Trade Center no longer dominates the skyline, a billionaire businessman named Bloomberg has become the first three-term mayor in 70 years, Chelsea Piers, the High Line, and DUMBO are now familiar terms, and Williamsburg, the South Bronx, and the Lower East Side have been transformed from once-dismal areas into hot spots. To keep up with these vast and intriguing changes, this definitive, one-volume resource has been revised and expanded.
Professor Jackson’s best known publication is Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (Oxford University Press, 1985), which won both the Francis Parkman and the Bancroft Prizes. A New York Times notable books of the year, it has been reprinted five times in hardcover and twenty-nine times in paperback. His other books include The Ku Klux Klan in the City (Oxford, 1967); Atlas of American History (Scribner’s, revised edition, 1978); Cities in American History (with Stanley K. Schultz: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972); and American Vistas (with Leonard Dinnerstein).
Professor Jackson has spent a lifetime making New York City come alive to thousands of students who take his legendary New York City history course and this celebratory event is an opportunity for our students to engage with one of the most important urban historians of our time.
Sponsored by Urban and Social Policy and Columbia University Seminars.