Weitzman launches program connecting former public officials with Penn students

Penn’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design launched a program aimed at connecting former public officials with University students and resources last month.

The Impact Scholars Program, introduced on Aug. 19, is the newest addition to the school’s Public Service and Policy Initiative — an effort originally established by 1979 Wharton graduate and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and former Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum will serve as the first Impact Scholars in the semester-long position.

PSPI — hosted in partnership with the Penn Institute for Urban Research — aims to tackle poverty in Philadelphia through research and community engagement efforts. The Impact Scholars Program is a subsection of the initiative that gives experienced civic leaders a platform to advance unfinished policy work and connect with students interested in public service. 

In an interview, Nutter described the program as a “two-way exchange.”

He explained that students will have the opportunity to learn from former public officials, while Reed and Bynum — the inaugural Impact Scholars — can gain perspective from “young people who may have different opinions, views, and life experiences.”

“We’re basically trying to address the bookend of someone’s public service life,” Nutter said. “This is either on the front end before they go into public service — as students — or on the back end after they’ve left public service. I did not see a whole lot for people in either category to be able to engage in public policy work and help other people, which is really what public service is all about.”

According to Nutter, Reed and Bynum will host seminars, learning labs, and office hours to connect with students. He added that the two were specifically selected for their achievements in office.

“Mayor Reed is a very well-known Democrat, and Mayor Bynum is a very well-known Republican,” Nutter said. “We’re in an environment where we have to hear different voices and viewpoints. But for mayors, we often don’t know what political party a mayor might identify with, because we all end up having to deal with the same issues.”

The pair will also collaborate with Penn researchers to analyze data and translate their findings into strategies for local government. Reed and Bynum’s work will supplement research conducted by the Philadelphia Economic Equality Project, another PSPI subsidiary.

The Impact Scholars Program is also designed to give fellows a platform to advance unfinished policy work from their time in politics. Nutter explained that even when an elected official leaves office, they are not necessarily done addressing the causes they previously worked to advance.

“When you’re the mayor, you don’t get to do all the things that you want to do,” Nutter said. “There are ups and downs, and there are successes, and there are non-successes. I think that it’s as important as policy work to share those insights.”

Nutter — who is also a member of the senior advisory committee for the Institute of Politics at the Harvard University Kennedy School and a professor at the Institute of Global Politics at the Columbia School of International Public Affairs — cited the two institutions as inspirations for PSPI.

“Our politics are more polarized than they’ve ever been, and so I think we need to encourage young people to go into public service to better understand what it is about,” he said. “Like any other pipeline — we prepare young people to go into law, we prepare young people to go into medicine, we prepare young people to go into engineering, humanities, arts and culture, and I think we need the same kind of training and insight and connection and relationship in public service.”

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