Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth

Students in PBPL 20: Contemporary Issues in American Politics and Public Policy this fall with Senior Lecturer and Policy Fellow Charles Wheelan ’88 will have visits from several notable guest speakers.  Coordinated with our fall public programs, the class will have visits from

• Mark Kleiman, Professor of Public Policy at the University of California Los Angeles, about legalizing drugs;
• Alice Rivlin, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at The Brookings Institution, regarding the "fiscal cliff";
• Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer, related to immigration; and
• Jennifer Taub, Professor of Law at Vermont Law School, about US financial systems.

Formerly a senior lecturer in public policy at the Harris School at the University of Chicago, the Rockefeller Center welcomed Professor Wheelan back to Dartmouth fulltime in June 2012. Since 2006, Wheelan has taught economics and public policy courses during sophomore summer. He has also served as a correspondent for The Economist, and written freelance articles for the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Wheelan’s first book, Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, served as an accessible and entertaining introduction to economics and is now published in 10 languages. The Chicago Tribune described Naked Economics as “clear, concise, informative, and (gasp) witty,” and was selected as one of The 100 Best Business Books of all Time by 800-CEOREAD.

This fall, Wheelan will be teaching PBPL 20, a course that provides students an opportunity to examine issues related to the 2012 presidential election, including fiscal policy, health care, and education. This class will monitor the election cycle and invite guest speakers to gain depth in understanding of these complex policy issues. “It’s too good of an opportunity to pass up,” says Grant Warren ’13, who took the course in summer 2011. The access he and his classmates had to prominent national leaders “is like nothing else” he’s experienced at Dartmouth. PBPL 20 can serve as one of the courses for the public policy minor.

To learn more about these and additional public policy courses offered through the Rockefeller Center, please visit our website.