Conflict & Development at Texas A&M

In 1998, Dr. Cranfield also became director of the world-renowned Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project now based at The Maryland Zoo. The program provides much needed health care to the highly endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is one of a few conservation programs in the world to provide health care and treatment to an endangered species in its natural habitat. 

Dr. Cranfield also currently serves on the faculties at Johns Hopkins University, the Maryland Regional Veterinary College and Mississippi State University. He has published more than 100 professional articles and abstracts and contributed to nine books.

A native of Canada , Dr. Cranfield is a graduate of the University of Guelph in Ontario. He received his doctorate from the Ontario Veterinary College, where he also completed a residency in zoological medicine and pathology.

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Info Session on Applying for Clinton Global Initiative University 

October 24, 6pm, Blum Hall, Plaza Level

All UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply to attend CGIU 2014. We highly recommend that students applying to Big Ideas consider seeking CGIU’s resources to support the development of your big ideas. CGIU applications are due on Nov 22nd – after the Nov 5th Big Ideas Pre-Proposal deadline.  At this info session, you will learn about the "commitment to action" structure of CGIU, opportunities for funding, and the agenda for the 2014 CGIU student conference at Arizona State University: March 21st -23rd. Past CGIU attendees and campus representatives of CGIU will present.

Cal event listing: http://alturl.com/jeg9h

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Big Ideas Info Session and Writing Workshop Videos

For those unable to attend our previously held Information Sessions and Writing Workshops, fear not! You can view all of these events on our website: http://bigideas.berkeley.edu/resources/workshop/

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Expanded Big Ideas Drop-In Advising Hours

With a little over two weeks to go in the contest, Big Ideas advisors have expanded their drop-in advising hours (located in office 100B in Blum Hall.) If you can’t make it to the advising hours listed below, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll schedule a time to meet with you.

Jessica Naecker: (Areas of focus: education, social welfare, proposal writing, impact evaluation, project management)

Tuesdays from 3:30pm-5pm

Wednesdays from 4pm-6pm

Fridays from 10am-11am and 2pm-4pm

Adrian Fradd: (Areas of focus: international development, social enterprise, water and sanitation)

Monday from 2pm-4pm

Tuesdays from 2pm-4pm

Thursdays from 3pm-5pm

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NEW: Remote (Skype/Google) Advising Sessions (Sign-Ups)

Are you an eligible student from another (non-Berkeley) campus with questions about the Big Ideas application process or who would like to have a Big Ideas Advisor look over a draft of your Pre-Proposal?    Big Ideas applicants can now schedule a remote advising session with one of our Big Ideas Advisors.

Check out the remote advising times and sign up here: http://slottr.com/sheets/2899

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Big Ideas Editing Blitzes:  Get Critical Feedback On Your Draft Pre-Proposal!

Big Ideas is holding two Editing Blitzes prior to the Pre-Proposal deadline onNovember 5th.  Stop by with a draft of your Pre-Proposal and Big Ideas Advisors and Past Winners will be on-hand to give you last minute advice and help you fine-tune your writing! 

Tuesday, October 29th, 6-8pm, 330 Blum Hall (Plaza Level)

Monday, November 4th, 5-8pm, B100 Blum Hall (Plaza Level)

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Intellectual Property Consultations

With Mehran Arjomand, Partner & Dr. Jean Nguyen, Patent Agent, Morrison & Foerster October 30th, 4-5pm Are you a past or prospective Big Ideas applicant with questions about safeguarding your Big Idea or about the process for filing a patent application? Big Ideas is holding a “Practitioners in Residence” session on October 30th, 4-5pm (PST) with Mehran Arjomand (Partner) and Dr. Jean Nguyen (Patent Agent) of Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office. Students can apply now for a 20 minute consultation. To indicate your interest, please fill out the following form ASAP and you will be contacted on 10/28 regarding your appointment status: http://bit.ly/1bmp2hj ____________________________

What Category are you Applying to???

Are you seriously considering applying to Big Ideas?  Help us out by letting us know which category you’re thinking about applying to: 

RSVP to this event by click here»

Abstract: Civic engagement underpins a healthy democracy when it provides channels outside of elections for citizens to express preferences and demands to politicians. This mechanism of democratic accountability is undermined when groups of citizens face differential access or barriers to participation. I argue that, particularly in developing country settings, women face discrimination in the public sphere, impeding their participation in civic life. Given the complexity and sensitivity of the subject of gender norms, this study employs both quantitative and qualitative methods. First, I examine the impacts of a field experiment in the West African country of Mali that randomly assigned a civics course to some localities and not others. This exogenous increase in civic and political information caused no net effect on treated communities, but had striking effects conditional on gender: men participated significantly more in civic activity while women participated less. Focus groups and interviews suggest that in a place where women are traditionally unwelcome actors in the public sphere, the intervention heightened the salience of civic participation, thus increasing costs to participation for women. Following the course, women who wished to engage in civic activity reported both implicit and explicit threats of sanctions from male relatives and village elders. The intervention did, however, improve women's knowledge and ability to evaluate poor performance, and increased male civic participants and the airing of grievances. Together, these findings suggest that citizens do face an information constraint to civic participation, but that information alone cannot overcome inegalitarian social norms – and may even exacerbate them. About the Presenter: Jessica Gottlieb joined the Bush School in the fall of 2013 after earning her PhD in political science at Stanford University.  She also holds a Master’s degree in economics from Stanford University.  Her research and teaching interests include democratic accountability in developing countries, political and economic development in Africa, as well as formal and informal institutions.  Much of her research has been in sub-Saharan Africa, where she has conducted field experiments, behavioral games and surveys.  Her dissertation was a study in Mali of why free and fair elections failed to generate government accountability in a new democracy.  Her work has also taken her Senegal, Liberia, France and the West Bank.  Prior to her doctoral studies, Gottlieb worked at the Center for Global Development on a project encouraging bilateral donors, country governments and multilateral organizations to better learn what works in development through improved impact evaluation.  She previously studied at Yale University, receiving a dual BA degree cum laude in political science and international studies in 2004.  While at Stanford, Gottlieb received the Stanford Interdisciplinary Fellowship and was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Center for Democracy Development and the Rule of Law.