News

Facing Tennessee’s Grand Challenges In and Out of the Classroom

Knoxville, Tennessee – December 2, 2024. Tennessee faces the three grand challenges of advancing K-12 education, strengthening rural communities, and overcoming addiction. The University of Tennessee System hopes to address these challenges through collaboration and turn them into strengths. For the second time, the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs…
Dunn Appointed to the National Commission on American History and Civic Education

The Institute of American Civics (IAC) Executive Director Josh Dunn has been appointed to the National Commission on American History and Civic Education by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). The appointment gives him the opportunity to contribute to a coordinated effort to strengthen the civic health of our nation. The commission will…
Baker School and Brookings Institution Discuss Foreign Affairs with Bob Corker

Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs (Baker School) Professor Krista Wiegand opened the school’s final installment of a lecture series examining key issues at stake during the 2024 presidential election with a simple question. “Why should Americans care about foreign affairs? The question was posed to Bob Corker, a former…
NSFA’s U.S.-Japan Diplomacy Academy Fulfills State Department’s Grant Request

Imagine it is 2026. China and Russia have engaged Japan and the United States in combat over Taiwan and the situation is on the verge of escalating to an all-out war. You have been tasked with finding diplomatic and military solutions to prevent war while limiting the conflict’s effect on your country’s economy and national…
The Conversation: Political bickering and policy uncertainty take a toll on business investment, research shows

Partisan squabbling isn’t just annoying – it’s also bad for business. That’s what my colleagues and I found in a recent study on how uncertainty in environmental policy affects business investment. First, we analyzed more than 300 million newspaper articles, looking for keywords related to environmental policy uncertainty. We found that this uncertainty spikes around election…
Prominent Tennesseans Endow Baker School Scholarships at UT

Six esteemed Tennesseans have pledged $500,000 each to endow four-year undergraduate scholarships at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs. Demonstrating a commitment to investing in UT students and strengthening civic health, the Baker Scholars program aims to attract and educate a new generation of leaders who…
Baker School to Serve as Early Voting Location October 28 – 31

If you are registered to vote in Knox County, you can vote early at the Baker School from Monday, October 28 to Thursday, October 31. See below for each day’s times. 10|28 9am-6pm 10|29 9am-6pm 10|30 8am-8pm 10|31 9am-6pm Please note that on election day, November 5, you must vote in person at your assigned…
Transportation Policy Drives Baker School’s Research in Energy and Environment

For over a decade, the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy conducted energy and environmental policy research, informing policy on issues that were passions for Senator Baker. When the Center became the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs (Baker School) in 2023, the former Energy and Environment Program…
The Baker School and Haslam Put Economics in Focus for the 2024 Presidential Election

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE – The Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs (Baker School) and the Haslam College of Business (Haslam) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, welcomed a pair of national pundits – Michael Strain and Matthew Yglesias — to discuss economics and the 2024 Presidential Election on September 25. The…
How has Polarization Changed Governing? – with Anthony Foxx and Margaret Spellings

While political polarization is most visible in Congress, it affects the branches of the federal government in different ways. In this wide-ranging episode, our hosts, former Tennessee Governors Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam speak with Anthony Foxx, former Secretary of Transportation under President Obama, and Margaret Spellings, former Secretary of Education under President Bush, about…