I am delighted to announce our First Annual Trachtenberg Day on September 9! We are celebrating 20 years of our valuable Career Services Program started by Paul Binkley and taken to new heights by Denise Fowler. During these two decades, the types of support provided to our students and alumni — including employer outreach and access to an extensive alumni network — have truly evolved into a gold standard of amazing services. Denise and our other fabulous career coach, Melissa Feuer, have worked diligently for our students to keep our 94% average career outcome rate steady over the last five years.

Thanks to our alumni leaders on our Advisory Council who have designed our new annual Trachtenberg Day. We are looking forward to bringing in new support for our students in many ways!

Please RSVP here if you want to join virtually or in person to celebrate with us for our kickoff at 4:30 p.m. EST on September 9 — and hear from GW President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg as well as Paul and Denise.  

Also, thanks to our fabulous alumni, our new Executive Innovation Series of free leadership development webinars has gotten off to a wonderful start. Our two webinars this past summer were very well received, and we have two more this fall on October 8 and December 3 (both at noon EST) — register and download the recordings from our previous webinars on our website here.

In addition, we are kicking off our Trachtenberg Symposia on 'Government Oversight & Accountability' this fall. These monthly sessions are free, open to the public and address critical issues about independent oversight. Please see more here.

And this fall we welcome back leaders of our well-established student organizations — including the oldest student-run journal in the country, Policy Perspectives in its 34th year, our Trachtenberg Student Organization (TSO) Board, Women’s Leadership Fellows Program and our re-instituted International City/Council Management Association (ICMA) Student Chapter. (See our new leaders below.) Our many strong student organizations are essential to keeping our Trachtenberg community inclusive and resilient!

As noted in the director’s message, Trachtenberg Day is the Trachtenberg School’s new annual day of giving. Celebrating 20 years of Career Services, Trachtenberg invites our alumni to help carry that legacy forward — because the support that helped shape your own career deserves to be there for the students coming up behind you. The impact of our alumni across all 50 states is immense as 94% of graduates are employed, not seeking a job or in school within six months of graduation over the last five year average.

Join us as we mark the day with an annual kickoff Homecoming! We invite our alumni, current students, faculty and friends of the school to come together during a hybrid event to reconnect and mark the milestone. The celebration features special guests GW President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, TSPPPA Director Kathryn Newcomer, Career Development Manager Paul Binkley and Career Services Director Denise Fowler.

A special thank you to our Advisory Council who designed the day to support our students!

Our hybrid inaugural Trachtenberg Day event will take place on September 9 at 4:30 p.m. EST. If you are joining us in person, the event will take place at the Media and Public Affairs Building in Suite 601Z.

RSVP to attend here.

This summer, the Trachtenberg School partnered with the GW Regulatory Studies Center to launch our new Executive Innovation Series! Webinars shine a spotlight on issues such as data governance, energy, program evaluation, policy engagement, professional development and more.

The series kicked off with ‘Emerging Trends in Regulation (and Deregulation)’ featuring the GW Regulatory Studies Center (RSC) Director William Yeatman and the GW RSC Founder Susan Dudley, two leading voices in administrative law and regulatory policy, alongside TSPPPA Director Kathryn Newcomer.

Joining Director Newcomer during the ‘Public Sector Leadership in the Age of AI’ discussion were panelists Cynthia Pierre, retired Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Frank DiGiammarino, CEO of NOW Matters, LLC; and Garrett Kephart, CEO of Earth Finance, Inc. They explored how public sector leaders can responsibly embrace AI — balancing innovation with the data, trust and governance needed to ensure it improves public value safely and at scale.

Make sure to save the date for our upcoming webinars on October 8 and December 3. Check out the past two webinars from the series here.

Earlier this year, Mairead Crotty joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a research associate for their Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) AI Program through the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) at GW. ITL’s mission is to strengthen trust in AI, accelerate AI adoption and expand U.S. AI preeminence.

Mairead’s work at ITL focuses on stakeholder engagement to ensure that the development of AI guidance and resources remain collaborative with industry, academia, nonprofits and other government agencies.

“The program evaluation classes I took for my concentration while at Trachtenberg taught me skills I use every day — from stakeholder mapping to working with communities of practice. I even keep my textbooks on my desk! Having a strong foundation of knowledge from the Trachtenberg School allows me to focus on the constantly changing field of AI and help support ITL’s mission.”
— Mairead Crotty, M.P.P. ’25

Faya Hayati has worked for the World Bank for almost two decades and is currently the senior economist based in Cambodia where he leads the engagement on macroeconomic and fiscal policy. Previously, he was the country economist for Myanmar, Iran and Syria and covered issues relating to macro forecasting, debt dynamics and public expenditure analysis. Prior to joining the World Bank, he lived in Australia, where he worked in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of Treasury as a macroeconomic forecaster. Faya holds a Bachelor of Economics and Law degree as well as master's degrees in economic development and in diplomacy from the Australian National University. In 2025, Faya completed his Ph.D. in Public Policy Economics from the Trachtenberg School.

“At the Trachtenberg School, I gained the essential discipline needed to execute complex, structured quantitative research from the ground up. The doctoral training went beyond simple application, focusing heavily on the theoretical foundations of public administration and the mandate and pitfalls of government intervention. As we actively re-examine traditional economic models in international development, that deep understanding of fiscal policy origins allows me to build robust, modern analytical frameworks for my work at the World Bank.”
— Faya Hayati, Ph.D. ’25

Kim Siegal is a senior researcher at Mathematica with nearly two decades of experience designing, conducting and overseeing evaluations and measurement, evaluation and learning efforts, primarily in agriculture, nutrition and livelihoods. She has led large-scale evaluations and MEL engagements across Africa and South Asia for clients including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and AGRA, with a focus on agricultural systems, smallholder resilience, irrigation, digital advisory services, agricultural market development, behavior change and nutrition.  

Her recent work includes leading a mixed-methods evaluation of Gates Foundation agricultural development investments in Bihar, India; serving as principal investigator for an evaluation of MCC’s Irrigation and Market Access Project in Niger; directing a multi-year MEL learning partnership with AGRA across 11 African countries; and overseeing Mathematica’s evaluation of AGRA’s village-based advisor program across five countries. She also advises the Livelihood Impact Fund on evidence and social return on investment for livelihood-focused investments, including small-scale irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Before joining Mathematica, Kim spent eight years as the global director of monitoring, evaluation and learning and a general partner at One Acre Fund, where she led a research and evaluation portfolio spanning nine countries and oversaw annual impact evaluations, randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies and large-scale crop-cutting efforts. Her work has appeared in journals including Agricultural Systems, Maternal & Child Nutrition, The Journal of Nutrition, Journal of Development Economics, American Journal of Evaluation, Stanford Social Innovation Review and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. She holds a Ph.D. in public policy from the Trachtenberg School, an M.P.P. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in psychology and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated magna cum laude. 

Congratulations to Trachtenberg School Professors Sanjay K. Pandey and Michael Worth on the release of their new book, written alongside Trachtenberg School alum Holly Wahl, Ph.D. ’26.

“Public School Education Foundations: Advancing Opportunity, Excellence and Innovation” is a collection of brief case studies on foundations that raise funds and provide support to public school systems to enhance their programs and impact. This book takes readers inside 10 enterprising public school education foundations (PSEFs), offering a clear blueprint for how they advance opportunity, excellence and innovation in public education.

Steve Balla was quoted in The Chronicle of Philanthropy article "Trump's Proposed Grant Rules Spark Outcry, 100K Comments" by Alex Daniels.

Leah Brooks was quoted in The Banner article "Most cities have an underground web of electric wires. Baltimore's is unlike any other." and made a guest appearance on WGBH's "The Big Dig."

Chris Carrigan prepared a research report for the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), and the resulting recommendation was approved at ACUS's 85th Plenary Session. More on the "Interagency Communication in Rulemaking" project.

Susan Dudley authored The Regulatory Review article "Independent Agencies Get a Second Opinion" and led a webinar for Women in Government Relations at the Regulatory Affairs Meeting.

Rachel Emas and Eiko Strader co-authored the Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration article “Wall of Whiteness: Bricks in the Ivory Tower.”

The Regulatory Studies Center's call for papers was highlighted in Reason Magazine's article "Call for Papers on Policymaker Responses to the ‘Revolution’ in Administrative Law" by Jonathan Adler.

Gregory Squires co-authored The Philadelphia Inquirer article "A $400 million price tag for a ballroom? What if we invested in families instead?"

Mary Sullivan was quoted in The Regulatory Review article “Week In Review” by Tziona Chernoff, Jamie Granata, and Annelise Peterson.

Robert Weiner was quoted in The Hill article "Iran ceasefire's end drives up oil prices and uncertainty" by Rachel Frazin.

Kate Yang authored a paper in the Public Administration Review Selection Method “Partisanship and Performance of Government Oversight Functions.” and led a webinar hosted by the Association of School Business Officials International "The Rainy Day Reality: What the National Evidence Says About General Fund Balance and Fiscal Stability."

Will Yeatman gave commentary to several media outlets. He was quoted in Bloomberg Tax's article “Trump Push to Slash Regulatory Red Tape Opens a Crucial Chapter” by Stephen Lee and Mica Soellner; was quoted in The Christian Science Monitor'sarticle “Project 2025: As midterms near, Trump's window for action might be closing” by Victoria Hoffmann; and spoke to Federal News Network's "The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton" in the segment “The Trump administration continues to champion deregulation.”