PRIOR Engagement
Fall 2007
New Director Named
Richard Keevey, a former senior official in both the government and private sector, has been named Director of PRIOR. He also will serve as a lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson School.
Rich’s federal government experience includes an appointment by the President of the United States as the Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and positions in the U.S. Department of Defense, including Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Financial Management, where he received both the DOD medal for Distinguished Service and the DOD medal for Outstanding Service. In New Jersey state government, he was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he was State Budget Director and State Comptroller.
In the private sector, Rich worked for Arthur Andersen, LLP as the Director of their Budget and Finance Practice, as Director of Core Administration Programs for Unisys Corporation and as the Director of Performance Management at the National Academy of Public Administration.
Rich is active in his community. He was President of his local school board, a member of the Board of Directors of the local community hospital and a member of several college advisory boards. Rich also served as an artillery officer in the U.S. Army.
Rich received his undergraduate degree from La Salle College and a graduate degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Rich and his wife, Elizabeth, have three children and five grandchildren.
Upcoming Conference on Eminent Domain
On November 9, PRIOR and the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Urban Research the will co-host the conference Land and Power: The Impact of Eminent Domain in Urban Communities at Robertson Hall on Princeton Univeristy’s campus. New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen will serve as keynote speaker for the program, which will focus on the far-reaching influences of the Kelo v. City of New London decision across New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The event will feature research presentations and panel discussions on how eminent domain has shaped and been shaped by advocacy strategies, government policy and the media. Those interested in attending should register at http://www.princeton.edu/prior/events/conferences/land_and_power.
Future Events: Governors on Abbott v. Burke & 25th Anniversary of Mount Laurel
On December 14, PRIOR will sponsor a forum in which former New Jersey Governors will discuss the effects of the Abbott v. Burke decision and the attendant impact on the matter of school funding. Each Governor will have the opportunity to lend insight into the subject during a panel conversation, after which the audience will have the chance to submit questions and comments.
On February 8, 2008, PRIOR will host Mount Laurel II at 25: The Unfinished Agenda of Fair Share Housing, a conference that will reflect on the progress and unmet potential of the landmark housing decision. Scholars from Princeton University, Rutgers University, the MacArthur Foundation and the National Housing Institute will present their views on Mount Laurel’s sweeping impact on class, race, smart growth and housing needs within the region.
New Publication Released
PRIOR recently released The Economic Geography of Megaregions, the latest addition to a growing list of publications. The work, an outgrowth of a conference held in February 2007, examines the economic, social and political questions that arise from the intermingling of exchanges, networks and patterns among proximate metropolitan locations. The content includes a comparative analysis of ten megaregions by Edward Glaeser, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University, as well as a critique of framing policy decisions within the context of megaregions by Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. The publication also contains summaries of commentary provided by Princeton University’s Paul Krugman and Kip Bergstrom, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council.
To read the publication, The Economic Geography of Megaregions, go to www.princeton.edu/prior/events/conferences/archives/february_09_2007/index.xmlPRIOR Director Named to Advisory Council on New Jersey College Promise Project
PRIOR Director Richard Keevey has been asked to serve as a member of a special Advisory Council on the New Jersey College Promise Project. Endorsed by the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Promise Project was formed to strengthen college access and completion, to improve affordability and to enhance productivity and public accountability at New Jersey's nine state colleges and universities. The Advisory Council members will advise the Council on the attainment of these goals.
Innovative Practice Lunch Seminar Series Returns
With the start of the new semester, PRIOR has continued the Innovative Practice Lunch Series, held every Thursday afternoon throughout the semester. These intimate roundtables provide Woodrow Wilson School students with the opportunity to hear from and engage some of the region’s leading policymakers. Scheduled speakers include the President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, a Senior Economist from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Director of Aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
To view what's coming up in our Lunch Seminars, go to www.princeton.edu/prior/events/lunch_series/