Political Economy Major: Request for Student Input

MEMORANDUM

From: J. Bradford DeLong, Chair, Political Economy Major; Alan Karras, Associate Director, International and Area Studies


To: Past and Present Political Economy Majors


Subject: University Review of the Political Economy Major

Up to now the interdisciplinary majors here at the University of California at Berkeley have been omitted from the normal program review process--which means that we have never had a formal chance to make the administration aware of what we are doing well and what we are doing poorly, of whether our resources are in balance with our needs, and of what structural changes need to be made in the major for it to do its job.

Thanks to the initiative of Dean Tyler Stovall, this academic year will see a campus review of the Political Economy major": A written report by the major, an evaluation committee including members from outside the University, and discussions with staff, students, faculty and alumni.

We need you current students in the major to do two things. First, we need you to come to the IAS office, at your leisure, to read the written report. Second, we need you to communicate your views of the major, and of its problems and successes. Therefore we need you to write down your take on the major and to give to us, and we hope you will be willing to meet with the outside committee when it digests all the information and decides who it wants to talk to.

The issues on which we most seek your views are the questions of (i) advising, (ii) admission of Political Economy students to impacted courses run by social science departments, and (iii) the intellectual focus of the major.

Please feel free to ask any questions to either of us at delong@econ.berkeley.edu or karras@berkeley.edu