JANUARY 2012 Remembering Longtime IOP Advisor Milt Gwirtzman New JFK Jr. Forum Microsite Alumni Q & A with Peter Buttigieg ’04 2012 Polling and Research Careers and Internships New Mayors Conference NEW HAMPSHIRE ROAD TRIP! With the 2012 Republican presidential primary race in high gear this fall, students packed buses to nearby New Hampshire to meet presidential candidates as the IOP conducted timely younger voter public opinion research in Iowa and the Granite State. Welcome to the Institute of Politics at Harvard University Trey Grayson, Director The 2012 election cycle is in high gear, and the past six months have been fast- paced at the Institute. As you will note in this newsletter, the IOP has been at the forefront of election and campaign-related programming, with events, conferences and younger voter research unavailable anywhere else. One of my biggest goals since beginning service as the Institute’s Director has been to improve how the IOP utilizes technology – in an effort to maximize efficiency internally and best distribute and share our content externally to audiences inter- ested in politics and public service. Toward this end, we are very pleased this month to unveil the new online home for John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum programming at www.jfkjrforum.org (see feature on next page). The new microsite not only has a state-of-the art design but also can broadcast Forum programming in a format allowing Forum events to be streamed live or viewed later on any computer or device, including iPads and iPhones. We are also hard at work building a new IOP-wide website – scheduled to be completed next fall – which improves our current website layout and better integrates key online content from Institute students and student publications like the Harvard Political Review. Our fall semester focused on the January 2012 New Hampshire Presidential primary and Iowa caucuses, which included Resident Fellow and undergradu- ate trips to the Granite State to meet presidential candidates; polling and focus group research conducted with Saint Anselm College on likely voters in the New Hampshire Primary; and organizing a joint focus group on Iowa Millennials with Simpson College’s Culver Public Policy Center. November was marked by a special ceremony in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum as IOP Senior Advisory Committee Chair Caroline Kennedy presented the eighth annual John F. Kennedy New Frontier Awards to Luke Ravenstahl, mayor of Pittsburgh, PA, and Jennifer Staple- Clark, founder and chief executive officer of Unite for Sight. Finally, in December the Institute released a new national poll on the political views of America’s 18- to 29-year-olds and hosted its biennial program for newly elected mayors, To subscribe to the IOP’s featuring participation by over twenty new city leaders. e-mail list, visit our Please visit our homepage at www.iop.harvard.edu to learn more about our pro- website and find the e-mail gramming and to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter – sent on Fridays during subscription section under the semester – featuring recent photos and information on upcoming IOP events. “Stay Informed.” Working together with staff, students and our University colleagues to promote politics and public service is always exciting – especially as we enter 2012. I hope to see you this spring. Thanks again for your interest in the IOP. Trey Grayson 1 INSTITUTE OF POLITICS Treasure Trove The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum’s expansive event library revitalized on cutting-edge platform with social sharing tools A priority for the Institute this fall was the creation and completion of a new UNLOCKING THE FORUM website housing searchable and downloadable John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum ARCHIVE: The new online event content. The new microsite, available at www.jfkjrforum.org – designed home for the JFK Jr. Forum and developed in collaboration with ISITE Design – is the first product of an boasts improved quality ongoing effort to rethink and revitalize the Institute’s entire online presence. and delivery of video con- The Forum’s new online home will tent, as well as a dynamic allow visitors to fully enjoy over user experience capable three decades of event program- ming, now offered in a format of reaching the widest compatible for live streaming and possible audience across downloadable to any device. Un- desktops, laptops and derstanding the Forum’s remark- mobile devices. ably rich and topical content can help inform ongoing political discussions throughout the blogo- sphere, the new microsite allows users to connect using social media and share commentary on Forum events. Key features of the microsite include: • A rich, responsive user experience capable of reaching the widest possible audience across desktops, laptops and mobile devices • A modern, elegant and dignified interface befitting the JFK Jr. Forum • Improved quality and delivery of both archived video content and live streamed video • Enriched interactivity for online Forum attendees • Integrated social media, extending the conversation to the online space • Construction on the popular Drupal Web content management platform and the flexible and user-friendly Kaltura higher education video delivery system The new microsite’s successful utilization of social networking allows visitors to share, bookmark and comment on Forum videos in a variety of ways – including the opportunity to embed on blogs and social networks – integrating Forum con- versations with today’s ever-changing political discourse and extending the Forum’s reach far beyond the venue’s stage. The Institute is confident the new website for the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum will enhance online political and public service discussion and ensure the Forum’s expansive content library is fully accessible for today’s generation and beyond. INSTITUTE OF POLITICS 2 Public Service Fast Track Former IOP Student Advisory Committee member Peter Buttigieg ’04 elected mayor of South Bend HARVARD CONNECTION: During the Nov. 30 kickoff Peter Buttigieg ’04, a past president of the IOP’s Student Advisory Committee, ran successfully for mayor of South Bend, IN, last fall. He was interviewed during his of the Institute of Politics’ December participation in the IOP’s biennial Seminar on Transition and Leader- newly elected mayors ship for Newly Elected Mayors, a three-day seminar on leadership and the issues seminar, new South Bend, new city leaders will face. IN, mayor Peter Buttigieg How did your experiences as a member of the IOP’s Student Advisory Commit- (above right), Harvard tee inspire you to consider a public service career? College ’04, talked to Being at the IOP was incredibly inspiring, being exposed to so many leaders of another new city leader the present day and also historically. One memory I have is watching the movie with Harvard ties, Michael “Thirteen Days” with Ted Sorenson and Robert McNamara in the room and hav- Brennan (Portland, ME), a ing a chance to hear firsthand about some of the most consequential crisis manage- participant in the Harvard ment decisions ever made. There’s no way you wouldn’t be inspired, I think, to be involved in public service and want to have an impact. I don’t think my trajectory Kennedy School Senior would have been the same if it weren’t for the IOP. Executives in State and Local Government program You’re elected mayor seven years after graduating. How can young people in 2004. emulate your fast-track to elected office? It’s amazing to think that I’m here as a newly elected mayor, when fewer than eight years ago I was a student volunteer at this very conference. The best advice I can give is to think about what results you want to achieve, before you think about what kind of job title you’d like to have. Being a mayor, or holding this or that elected office, is much less meaningful than what you can accomplish in your ca- reer. Opportunities to run for office come about as a mix of timing, effort, support, and chance; they are hard to predict. What you can predict is your commitment to certain issues. In my case, I really wanted my hometown to prosper, and being mayor is my shot at helping South Bend to prosper. Looking back later, I’ll care much more about whether I succeeded in that purpose than about the fact of hav- ing held the job title of mayor. I think if talented and motivated students at the IOP focus first on what contributions they want to make…then getting the right job title will sort itself out. What are your goals for the city in your first term? I ran because we need to have a new economic direction. Mine is one of those midwestern cities struggling to think about what we are going to be now that the auto industry isn’t part of our fabric as it used to be. That doesn’t mean we are done with manufacturing; we can succeed with manufacturing as part of the answer, but we have to be smarter about it and use our assets like the river and our universities. I also want us to be a safer city and have the best possible education, and a more connected city – one that reaches out to other cities in the region and the rest of the world. Lastly, I think we have to have cost-effective, efficient and transparent city services – that’s so important for citizens’ ability to feel like their government is looking out for them. Being here at Harvard is a great chance to pick up techniques, tactics and ideas on how to meet that goal. 3 INSTITUTE OF POLITICS Caucus, Primary Priority Research and events focus on First-in-The-Nation caucuses and primary in IA, NH Producing events and research focused on the 2012 Republican presidential pri- maries and caucuses – particularly around the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses – was a key Institute priority this fall.