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Rob Reich
Associate Professor of Political Science, of Ethics in Society and, by courtesy, of Education and Philosophy

Biography

Rob Reich's main interests are in contemporary liberal political theory, and he is working on two main projects: the first on the ideals of equality and adequacy as applied to education policy and reform and the second about topics in ethics, public policy, and philanthropy.

 Reich is an associate professor of Political Science, of Ethics in Society, and, by courtesy, of Education. He is the author of Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in American Education (2002) and co-author of Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation and What We Can Do About It (2005). He has received fellowships from the Spencer Foundation and the Stanford Humanities Center. In 2004-05, he was a Laurance Rockefeller Visiting Fellow at the Center for Human Values at Princeton University.  Reich is also the recipient of several teaching awards, including the Walter J. Gores Award, Stanford’s highest award for teaching. He is the co-founder of the Stanford University Hope House Scholars Program, a liberal arts course taught by Stanford faculty at Hope House, a residential substance abuse facility for women in Redwood City, CA. Before attending graduate school, Rob was a sixth grade teacher at Rusk Elementary School in Houston, Texas.

Key Works

• Toward a Humanist Justice: The Political Philosophy of Susan Moller Okin. Oxford University Press, 2008 (forthcoming).
• Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do About It.  Co-Author.  Brookings Institution Press, 2005.
• Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in Education.  University of Chicago Press, 2002.
• “Testing the Boundaries of Parental Authority Over Education: The Case of Home schooling” in Political and Moral Education, NOMOS XLIII.  New York University Press, 2002.
• "A Failure of Philanthropy: American charity shortchanges the poor, and public policy is partly to blame"

Prof. Reich in the News

• The Growth of Home-schooling: Kitchen-classroom Conservatives
  The Economist, August 6, 2009
• The Power of Food: more consumers consider ethics when choosing what to eat
  Palo Alto Weekly, October 24, 2008
• Paying It Forward -- and Back
  Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 4, 2008
• Our Town: Long-ago story of hope
  San Francisco Chronicle, June 4, 2008
• Big gifts, tax breaks, and a debate on charity
  The New York Times, September 6, 2007
• Teaching matters to Rob Reich, political scientist and philosopher of education
  Stanford Report, October 31, 2007
• The business of giving
  The Economist, February 23, 2006
• The Socratic Method: What it is and how to use it in the classroom
  Center for Teaching and Learning at Stanford, May 22, 2003
• Interviews with Debra Satz, Rob Reich, and the staff and women at Hope House

Audio and Video

• Strategic Philanthropy: Its Potential and Pitfalls
  Americas Society, April 27, 2009
• The Morality of Giving and Keeping
  Philosophy Talk with Stanford Profs. John Perry and Ken Taylor, July 27, 2008
• Home Schooling
  The Diane Rehm Show (WAMU), March 24, 2008
• Is Philanthropy Failing?
  The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC), December 12, 2005
• Home Schooling
  The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC), September 12, 2005