Darrell West has been named director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. Established in 1984, the Center features research and teaching about public policy both at the state and national level. Center faculty publish research seeking to understand public policy, public opinion, the law, and public and private sector organizations as well as research on education, health care, housing, welfare, children, and urban problems.

Among the activities housed at the Center are the Public Opinion Laboratory, the Policy Analysis Laboratory, an internship program, several lecture series, an undergraduate program in public policy, and a program in law and public policy. The Taubman Center hosts one of the most successful undergraduate programs at Brown, with nearly 100 students majoring in the study of public policy.

West plans to start several new programs at the Center including a research project on "e-govt," meaning how state governments are using the Internet to deliver information and services to citizens, research on health care, education, and urban problems, Brown Policy Forums which will bring together panels of experts to discuss major policy problems, and Brown Policy Reports, which will bring faculty research expertise to bear on major problems facing the state and nation.

West is the author of 10 books on politics and policymaking. He has been at the university since 1982 and chairperson of the Dept. of Political Science since 1995. He succeeds Professor Tom Anton, who has directed the Center since 1984. Anton is retiring to devote more time to teaching and writing.