BLOOMINGTON, In. – The fast-growing Indiana University Manufacturing Policy Initiative is seeking a director with the experience and energy to expand the Initiative’s impact on US policy.
The Initiative was launched in 2015 at IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) and is the first of its kind at a US university. Governed by an advisory board of experts in the manufacturing and public policy community, the Initiative has already held two well-received conferences on manufacturing and public policy. The conferences, including the most recent in Washington, D.C. in September, helped shape the debate during the presidential campaign. President-elect Trump’s transition team is reviewing the policy proposals developed by the experts assembled by the Initiative.
The Initiative’s goal is to explain what can be done to strengthen US manufacturing. Government and political leaders at the local, state and federal level have talked about reviving manufacturing but there has not been enough careful academic review and analysis of the reasons for the decline, according to SPEA Dean John D. Graham. The director will shepherd the development of those policy prescriptions and serve as external spokesperson for the Initiative.
The director will be based at either of SPEA’s campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Candidates with both industry and government experience are especially encouraged to apply. The advisory board hopes to have the director appointed and on the job within the next six months.