“Lobbying is a fundamental part of the American system,” Sommer emphasized, noting how the mechanics of modern advocacy have continuously shifted alongside tightening state and federal regulations and rapid technological disruptions.
Topic
EJB Talks
EJB Talks: From Campaigns to Classrooms: Teaching a New Generation About Advocacy
Dean Stuart Shapiro talks to Bob Sommer GSNB ’84, a Bloustein School alumnus, lecturer, and member of the school’s Advisory Board about his journey from an accounting major to a career in public policy and his transition from working on a congressional campaign to roles in government and lobbying.
EJB Talks: Sea Level Rise, Community Engagement, and New Jersey’s Environmental Future
Janine Barr, a researcher at the Bloustein School’s Environmental Analysis and Communication (EAC) Group, joins Dean Stuart Shapiro this week on EJB Talks to discuss the center’s work on climate change impacts, the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center’s Science and Technology Advisory Panel Report, and her path to environmental policy.
EJB Talks: Small Wins, Big Impact: On the Front Lines of Local Public Health
In this episode of EJB Talks, Peter Tabbot ’91 MPH ‘97, longtime local health officer in Rockaway, NJ and a Bloustein School public health lecturer, shares his path into public health and what it means to lead at the community level. He explains the wide-ranging role of health officers, from managing essential services to working with governments and residents.
EJB Talks: Planning, Policy, Politics, and the Path to Office
This week on EJB talks, Dean Stuart Shapiro talks to Bloustein alumnus Katie Brennan MCRP ’12, now an Assemblywoman in New Jersey’s 32nd District. Katie reflects on how her early exposure to housing instability, volunteer work, and her undergraduate policy studies shaped her belief that “everything is a housing issue.”
EJB Talks: Beyond “Does It Work?”
EJB Talks returns for Season 14 with Dean Stuart Shapiro speaking with new Public Policy professor Laura Peck. Laura discusses her journey from undergraduate activism to policy analysis, a PhD, tenure at Arizona State, and more than a decade at Abt Associates. She shares how that work shaped her focus on careful, policy-relevant research, specifically taking about her evaluation of the federal Health Profession Opportunity Grant (HPOG) program.
EJB Talks: Fighting for Government Accountability in NJ
Stuart Shapiro asks Julia Rubin, why New Jersey has long been considered one of the most politically corrupt states. She explains how a consistent pattern of high-profile cases have contributed to this perception, citing the influence of the state’s longtime political machines and the now-abolished “county line” primary ballot that heavily favored party-backed candidates as primary examples. She also walks us through how years of research, lawsuits, and the more recent Menendez scandal have culminated in a major reform that replaced the county line with fairer office-block ballots, leading to more competitive races, higher voter turnout, and a growing number of reform-minded legislators.
EJB Talks: Alumnus Helps Rethink Jersey City’s Public Spaces
Dean Stuart Shapiro talks to alumnus Barkha Patel, MCRP ’15 this week on EJB Talks. She reflects on how the planning school fundamentals and communication skills she learned still form the basis for her work, and concludes with encouraging emerging planners to adopt an action-oriented mindset by becoming a person who figures things out and gets things done, even when they feel out of their depth.
EJB Talks: Uncovering Inequality Through Design
Assistant Professor Carmelo Ignaccolo explains how, in both his research and teaching, he has focused on how design has had the power to shape inequality over time, showing how decisions such as highway placement or waterfront redevelopment leave long-lasting impacts on communities.
EJB Talks: Lifelong Learning and Leadership in Healthcare
With nearly four decades of healthcare administrative experience, William Tuttle explains how his journey began with his decision to shift from medicine to hospital management. He talks about his 38 years with Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he advanced through multiple roles from managing service departments to leading a rural hospital and later overseeing physician recruitment and large construction projects.