Urban Studies Alumni Brunch Dialogue: The Theory and Practice of Politics

We are pleased to host our annual brunch, this year featuring an Urban Studies Alumni Dialogue with Stephanie Mudge, UC Davis Sociology (URBS '95) and Tara McGuinness, The Whitehouse (URBS '00).

Embracing the Urban Studies Program’s commitment to connecting theory and practice, this event brings together two Urban Studies alums as interlocutors from their different vantage points on the theory / practice continuum -- an academic who studies contemporary politics and government and a political communications practitioner. Relive the Penn Urban Studies experience through this dialogue designed to generate new insights about our system of politics and the role and obligations of government as the new presidential election season begins. Over brunch!

An assistant professor at UC Davis, Stephanie Mudge (URBS ’95) is a political and economic sociologist whose research centers on the historical study of culture, democratic politics, economic policy, and the constitution of political authority. She is especially interested in the relationship between parties, states, and knowledge production in the late postwar period, as well as the consequences of that relationship for democratic politics and policy-making. 

Tara McGuinness (URBS '00) is currently a senior White House communications advisor. Her career began working for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington, D.C. on democratic development and women’s candidate training programs in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. Working for NDI in Kathmandu, Tara led NDI’s women’s candidate training program that trained over 3,700 women running for local government. Before joining the White House, Tara was Senior Vice President for Communications at the Center for American Progress. Previously, she was deputy director of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and is a veteran of house, senate, and issue campaigns. She also served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) and as a press secretary on John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

This event is made possible by funds available from the Glickman-Pivnick-Witte Endowment to Urban Studies to encourage alumni participation.