A decade after enticing its first group of 27 graduate students with full tuition support, the UC Riverside School of Public Policy (SPP) has grown into a major force shaping public policy across California and beyond.
With the theme “Creating a Thriving, Prosperous, and Abundant World,” the school is now celebrating its 10th anniversary as a robust institution with about 300 students, 21 faculty members, and a staff of 25. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and accelerated degree programs designed to prepare students for careers that address the world’s complex political, social, and environmental challenges.
“We are pragmatic, optimistic problem solvers,” said Mark Long, the school’s dean.
Since 2015, SPP faculty have built an international reputation for scholarship and research, with their work cited approximately 15,000 times in recent years—underscoring the school’s growing influence in both academic and policy circles.
Their research has spanned many impactful areas, such as developing a new school curriculum that destigmatizes mental illness, examining the effects of wind power development on housing markets, probing how over-pumping groundwater contributes to costly land subsidence in California’s Central Valley, investigating the relationship between poverty and death, and developing strategies to combat harmful misinformation about life-saving vaccinations.
The school is also home to three research centers that identify pressing local and state policy challenges and propose actionable solutions. For example, the Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies has identified strategies that improve employment outcomes for formerly incarcerated individuals. The Center for Geospatial Sciences has examined obstacles to broadband Internet access and offered policy solutions aimed at expanding digital connectivity to all California residents and businesses.
Meanwhile, the Center for Community Solutions has worked with Riverside and San Bernardino counties to identify and redevelop vacant, tax-delinquent, and foreclosed properties for housing, among other initiatives to help local government. Until recent years, it was directed by Ron Loveridge, a political science professor who served 18 years as Riverside’s mayor, who serves as an advisor.
UCR’s effort to establish a public policy school stretches back to the early 2000s. That’s when economics professor Anil Deolalikar joined forces with David Warren, then UCR’s executive vice chancellor and provost, to lead an exploratory task force to gauge the need for such a school. Their group spent months consulting with hundreds of people — UCR faculty members, graduate students, community leaders, and local and state officials — to understand how a policy school could serve both the university and the region.
The UC Board of Regents approved the proposal in 2008, but the economic shock of the Great Recession stalled progress. The vision didn’t fade. Deolalikar was appointed the school’s founding dean in 2013, and two years later, the first cohort — 27 students in the school’s flagship master’s program — arrived on campus.
For a decade now, SPP students gain experiences that extend far beyond lecture halls and libraries. Those interested in international affairs can engage directly with diplomats through the Robert Heath Global Policy Scholars Program, which includes time spent in Washington, D.C. Many students also participate in internships with Inland Empire government agencies and nonprofits through the Randall Lewis Policy Fellowship, which places them in paid roles with public sector and nonprofit partners.
“Through internships and other experiential activities, our students contribute to improving public policy and gain valuable experience that leads to successful and impactful post-graduate careers,” said Long, who became the school’s second dean shortly after Deolalikar stepped down in 2022. “It is my goal that students will learn from these experts and be able to apply their knowledge in their future careers.”
Alumni have gone on to assume leadership roles in city government, transportation, labor law, health care, and education. Among them are Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Naomi Soto (MPP 2017); Sofia Perez (BA 2015), now a senior government relations representative at the Orange County Transportation Authority; and Jonathan Scott (MD/MPP 2019), who is currently a faculty member at Loma Linda University’s School of Medicine.
Looking to the future, the school plans to expand academic offerings that blend public policy with geospatial analysis—an increasingly vital intersection in decisions ranging from school site selection to where to place industries, Long said. It also plans to grow its Science to Policy program, which helps scientists connect directly with policymakers to address urgent societal challenges.
To mark its 10th anniversary, the SPP has adopted the theme “Creating a Thriving, Prosperous, and Abundant World.” The school’s celebrations include a series of panel discussions, including two scheduled this academic year—on December 5 and February 20—that will explore the role of government in promoting shared prosperity.
Learn more about the anniversary.
