Hanna Named Director of Graduate Policy Center

Affiliated with the Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy since its inception in 1986, Dr. Charles Hanna will become Policy Center director on July 1.

Hanna has been involved at the Policy Center as both a faculty member teaching courses and as a mentor supervising theses. An associate professor of sociology with 28 years of experience at Duquesne, Hanna’s research examines the processes of evaluation and correctional policies.

“This is an exciting opportunity. We have a very, very solid curriculum; we have a world-class faculty,” Hanna said. “Our faculty is exceptional in every way. We have two faculty members attached directly to the Policy Center and draw from sociology and political science, with an endowed chair in each—Dr. Cliff Bob and Dr. Doug Harper.”

Harper has won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship. Policy Center faculty includes past winners of the Presidential Excellence in Teaching awards, Hanna and the Rev. John Sawicki, C.S.Sp., assistant professor of political science. Dr. Norman Conti, associate professor of sociology, won the creative teaching award, and many other faculty have been nominated for outstanding teaching.

“When you’re a colleague, you kind of take for granted how good the faculty is, but when you stand back and look at them, you see the interdisciplinary classes, the Inside Out program and others,” Hanna said. “It’s a very creative and interesting, active bunch. We need to make that clear to potential students and our alumni need to be reminded of that.”

Within the Policy Center, conflict resolution and reconciliation studies are emphasized in a special track. Issues examined range from international topics to health care, environment, energy and criminal justice, viewed in terms of possible policy that should be enacted, implementation of policy and evaluation of how policies impact people’s lives.

“We have interesting students and alumni who are doing some really remarkable things with Catholic Relief Services, government positions and with nongovernmental agencies,” Hanna said. “Our students are motivated to do good things in their lives, not necessarily for profit. It’s a labor of love, and I think there are people attracted to taking up this challenge.”

Hanna will lead an assessment of the Policy Center’s structure and interpersonal foundations, and he noted that work is being done to form an alumni group.