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News May 28, 2026
SPIAccolades — May 2026
Atif Mian and Noreen Goldman have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The organization, founded in 1780, honors exceptional leaders in academia, the arts, industry, policy, research, and science and has included such members as Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr..Mian is the John H. Laporte, Jr. Class of 1967 Professor in Public Policy and Finance, a professor of economics and public affairs, and director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance. His research focuses…
fingers on portable digital screen, Image Credit: Shutterstock
News May 27, 2026
‘The Accelerator’ Initiative at SPIA Develops Tools for Studying the Modern Information Environment
Data is the bread and butter of academic research. But when it comes to the major digital platforms of the day, where many people are spending the bulk of their time, researchers do not have access to robust, independent tools that help them study or understand the conversations taking place.Enter The Accelerator, an initiative at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs to build public-interest infrastructure that allows researchers to better understand the “information environment” – or the places and platforms where information is exchanged.When that environment was largely analog – with ideas exchanged in newspapers or on…
gothic windows
News May 22, 2026
Phi Beta Kappa chapter honors Michael Blaakman and James Vreeland with teaching awards
The Princeton University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa will present its annual awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching to Michael Blaakman, associate professor of history, and James Vreeland, professor of politics and international affairs.The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Monday, May 25.The students outline the criteria for excellence in teaching as skill in instruction, commitment to working with and building relationships with undergraduates, and the ability to spark students’ intellectual interests. Each winner is presented with a plaque.
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News May 21, 2026
Behind the Headline: The Global Future of EVs
At the Detroit Auto Show in January, the American auto industry’s shift away from electric vehicles was on full display. Rather than displaying EVs front and center, as was the case in 2025, automakers emphasized hybrids and updated gas models. A month later, war broke out in Iran and energy prices soared. As the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz continues to reduce access to oil and gas in much of the world, some nations are looking to boost energy infrastructure by turning to green technologies, including EVs, as noted in a recent Foreign Affairs piece by Benjamin Bradlow, assistant professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton…
Julian Zelizer interviews Joseph Kahn. Photo credit: Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy
News May 20, 2026
Spring Dean’s Leadership Series Offers Students a Diversity of Viewpoints
By the time New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn finished answering questions at the final event in the semester’s Dean’s Leadership Series on April 22, Princeton SPIA students had enjoyed numerous opportunities to hear from and engage with an impressive, diverse collection of speakers.Joining Kahn as DLS guests this spring were a sitting U.S. senator, a former ambassador to the United Nations, leaders of international nongovernmental organizations, a U.N. under-secretary-general, a Polish senator, and former Department of Education assistant secretaries, all of whom exposed students to a wide variety of global and political perspectives and…
SPIA graduates at 2025 Hooding ceremony
News May 19, 2026
Gearing Up for 2026 Princeton Reunions and Commencement
Reunions and Commencement – Princeton University’s traditional, year-ending one-two punch – are just around the corner, and, as usual, the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs will play a big role in both.Starting Thursday, May 21, and continuing through Sunday the 24th, Reunions will welcome graduates back to campus for a variety of social and educational activities. The SPIA alumni community will be well represented, partnering with the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni as the University’s largest participating graduate department. In addition to welcoming hundreds of its graduates back to campus for reminiscing and fun, the…
SPIA students running into Fountain of Freedom to celebrate Thesis Day. Photo credit: Andrea Kane
News May 14, 2026
Seniors Go Far and Deep for Research on Thesis Policy Topics
Over the last year, a senior at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs developed an economic model to show that advertising-based digital apps drive addictive behavior. Another traveled to northern Norway to learn about changes in the Arctic from the indigenous Sámi people. One student spent her summer in Los Angeles at an air-conditioning, plumbing, and electrical company to develop an apprenticeship program, while another interviewed more than three dozen healthcare providers across the country about child welfare reforms for substance use in pregnancy.All in the name of the senior thesis.The senior thesis is the culminating…
President Christopher L. Eisgruber (center) stands with (from left to right) Luke Miller, Genevieve Shutt, Aaliska Sapkota, Jaisnav Rajesh, Caroline Kane, Alyssa Lloyd, Tharuka Hikkaduwa Gamage and Jaden Stewart. Photo bySameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy
News May 14, 2026
Eight Students Win Spirit of Princeton Award for Service, Contributions to Campus Life
Eight students have been named winners of the 2026 Allen Macy Dulles ’51 Spirit of Princeton Award, honoring Princeton University undergraduates for positive contributions to campus life. The award recognizes students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to the undergraduate experience through dedicated efforts in student organizations, athletics, community service, religious life, residential life and the arts.The selection committee received over 200 letters of nomination on behalf of outstanding undergraduate students. The Spirit of Princeton Award is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and has been given annually…
Brandon M. Stewart
News May 13, 2026
The Impact of Government-Controlled Media on LLMs
Princeton SPIA’s Research Record series highlights the vast scholarly achievements of our faculty members, whose expertise extends beyond the classroom and into everyday life.If you’d like your work considered for future editions of Research Record, click here and select “research project.”
Volunteers planted approximately 50 trees with Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS).
News May 12, 2026
Inaugural Service Week Brings Learning Out of the Classroom
What does it look like for a school dedicated to public service to build community around that shared value?The inaugural Community Service Week was the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ answer to that question. Over the course of a week in April, nearly 60 students, staff, and faculty participated in 11 local service projects as a way of giving back to others and working together to make a difference.“I see Community Service Week as an opportunity to put our commitment to service into practice in a very tangible way,” said Anna Fedewa MPA ’27. “There was a real desire among students to get connected to local organizations and to…
Joe Krakora, a lecturer with the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, former New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Princeton SPIA Dean Amaney Jamal, and Anastasia Mann, a lecturer and the founding director of SPIA in NJ, pose with students in November 2025 during then-Governor Murphy's clemency grant announcements.
News May 07, 2026
Student Volunteers Help the Rehabilitated to Earn a Second Chance
Last November, as part of his historic clemency initiative, then-New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy visited Princeton to announce his latest round of clemency grants. In the process, he thanked a team of Princeton student volunteers who had spent the spring of 2025 assisting in the preparation of 32 petitions for executive clemency.Under the direction of Joe Krakora, a Princeton School of Public and International Affairs lecturer affiliated with SPIA in New Jersey, the students interviewed the petitioners, reviewed their court records, and assisted in the preparation of their application materials. By the time Murphy left office in January, he had…
SPIAction Newsletter
News May 06, 2026
SPIAction Newsletter — May 2026
Outside the Classroom, Princeton SPIA Faculty Contribute to a Stronger New Jersey“New Jersey's vibrant and diverse economy, politics, geography, and population afford us at SPIA the opportunity to address most if not all of the major public policy issues of our time, right here in our own backyard,” said Anastasia R. Mann, SPIA in NJ’s founding director.
SPIA students in DC office attending conference
News May 05, 2026
First MPP Day in the Nation’s Capital Shows Students What Comes Next
The Master in Public Policy (MPP) program at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs is designed to prepare mid-career professionals to take the next step in their journeys to help shape domestic and international policy. That mission was on full display for the School’s first-ever MPP Day in Washington, D.C., held on March 20 at the SPIA in DC Center. The full-day program brought together current MPP students with Princeton SPIA alumni and senior leaders working in public service, international affairs, national security, and academia for a day of networking and career advice through a series of small discussion panels and informal…
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News April 29, 2026
SPIAccolades — April 2026
Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, contributed a chapter to Climate Change: What Must Be Done?, which will be published on April 30.The book brings together scholars and experts to examine the urgency of the climate crisis and the range of responses needed to address it.“The book is unusual in drawing on both technocratic and sociocultural perspectives of what a solution to the climate change problem might entail,” Oppenheimer said. “My chapter is about adaptation, specifically a future-looking view on how to limit climate…
Noreen Goldman
News April 28, 2026
The Latino Health Experience: Past and Future
Princeton SPIA’s Research Record series highlights the vast scholarly achievements of our faculty members, whose expertise extends beyond the classroom and into everyday life.If you’d like your work considered for future editions of Research Record, click here and select “research project.”