A 2025 Fall Welcome from IPCE Director Joseph Hoereth
Our Director Dr. Joe Hoereth welcomes back friends of IPCE to the fall 2025 semester at UIC.
Friends of IPCE,
I hope everyone had a great and smooth start to the fall semester. I am happy to share that the Institute for Civic and Policy Engagement celebrated a full summer of research and community impact with our partners. Heading into this academic year, we have an incredible lineup of programming, collaborations, and research to build on this momentum.
We will be hosting multiple Civic Engagement Lunch Talks this upcoming academic year. These presentations will feature research from Dr. Kate Albrecht from the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, Jenna Prochaska from UIC Law, Dr. Barbara Sostaita from the College of Liberal Arts, and Dr. Tanja Aitamurto from the College of Liberal Arts. We will be announcing specifics on these events in the coming weeks!
We are also proud to welcome 23 undergraduate students in the Urban Public Policy Fellowship Program (UPPF) for the 2025-2026 academic year. This cohort represents a large array of policy and research interests, and I am excited to see their progression as leaders as they navigate their internships and research projects. You can learn more about the cohort here. We would also like to welcome three of our newest UPPF Graduate Mentors, Alexander Diaz, Larissa Mukundwa, and Carla Duran. You can learn more about our amazing graduate mentors here.
We had a busy summer with our continued research work with our various partners including Independent Monitoring Team, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention.
We will be relaunching our video interview series Civic Coffee Chats this upcoming fall semester. This series highlights IPCE staff, researchers, and civic friends’ latest thoughts on policy passions, social trends in civic engagement and public policy, learned lessons, best practices, and hobbies. And, of course, how they take their coffee. We will have additional video content and blog posts throughout the semester as well.
Please keep in touch with us either through our website and social media to make sure you’re always in the know when we announce events, awards, or newly published research. I hope to see you at one of our events this semester, and wish you all an invigorating season ahead.
Joseph K. Hoereth, PhD