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WORK TITLE: I Am Not a Tractor!
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 2/14/1960
WEBSITE: susan_marquis@rand.org
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
https://www.rand.org/about/people/m/marquis_susan_l.html; Phone: (310) 393-0411, x7075
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born February 14, 1960, in Brevard County, FL.
EDUCATION:Rutgers University, B.A.; Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, NJ, M.P.A., Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Deputy Director, Assessment Division, Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, 1997-2002; LMI, operational vice president; Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, CA, Dean, 2009–; RAND, vice president for innovation; Woodrow Wilson School Advisory Council, chair; University of Cambridge, visiting fellow; University of Pennsylvania, Fox Leadership Institution, non-resident senior fellow.
MEMBER:Council on Foreign Relations, Pacific Council on International Policy, Economics of National Security Association.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Susan L. Marquis has written I Am Not a Tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won, about immigrant farmworkers implementing change for better working conditions and treatment. Marquis is dean of the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School and is RAND’s vice president for Innovation. She is also chair of the Woodrow Wilson School Advisory Council at Princeton University, and researches organizational culture in government institutions and solutions to public policy problems.
In 2017, Marquis published I Am Not a Tractor! As Americans generally are not knowledgeable about where their food comes from, farmworkers are susceptible to poor treatment and low wages. Marquis tracks the abuse farmworkers have been subjected to, particularly in Florida’s tomato fields, such as beatings and sexual assault, exposure to toxic chemicals, wage theft, and modern-day slavery. To change that treatment, immigrant workers from Mexico, Haiti, and Guatemala formed the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to force big corporations into complying with basic fair wages and humane treatment. Many companies, such as Whole Foods and McDonald’s, have signed on to the Fair Food Program and implemented changes that have improved farmworkers’ lives. For the book, Marquis conducted research and hundreds of hours of conversations with CIW staff and auditors from the Fair Food Standards Council.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers reported an interview of Marquis at the Pardee RAND public policy blog, in which Marquis explained what she hoped to achieve with her book: “I have a longtime interest in what it takes to actually effect change. …You must have a deep understanding of how to implement policy. And I realized that’s what I had to offer: What does it take to solve a persistent and complex policy problem? Why has this worked when most other programs have not? Talking about not just where the ideas came from, but how they are implemented.”
Calling the book a solid work of labor history that offers valuable lessons, a Kirkus Reviews contributor commented: “The author writes accessibly about the workers’ long struggle, though the narrative sometimes slows when dealing with the complex negotiations—understandably, precisely because they are so complex.” Marquis’s work and discussion of the Fair Food Program, has “the potential for worker-driven social responsibility strategies to improve job quality throughout the nation and world,” according to a writer on the Aspen Institute website.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2017, review of I Am Not a Tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won.
ONLINE
Aspen Institute, https://www.aspeninstitute.org/ (February 1, 2018), “I Am Not a Tractor: A Book Talk and Discussion on Worker-Driven Social Responsibility.”
Coalition of Immokalee Workers, https://ciw-online.org/blog/ (January 26, 2018), “NPR’s 1A Brings News of New Book on CIW, Story of Fair Food Movement, to Millions of Listeners!”
Susan L. Marquis
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Susan L. Marquis
Born
February 14, 1960
Brevard County, Florida
Education
BA from Rutgers University
MPA and PhD from Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Occupation
Dean, Professor
Employer
Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School and RAND Corporation
Title
Dean (Pardee RAND); Vice President for Innovation (RAND)
Predecessor
John Graham
Website
https://www.prgs.edu/dean.html
Susan L. Marquis is dean of the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School. She has held this position since January 1, 2009.[1] She is also the vice president for innovation at RAND Corporation.[2] She is chair of the advisory council for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.[3]
Marquis received her Master’s in Public and International Affairs and Ph.D. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. She served as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Resources, Requirements, and Assessment for the U.S. Navy and also worked for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Marquis was later vice president and corporate officer at LMI, a not-for-profit government consulting firm. She was a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge and is a non-resident senior fellow at the Fox Leadership Institution, University of Pennsylvania.[4] She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations[5] and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Marquis is a founding member of the Board of Directors, Economics of National Security Association.[6]
Her current research focus is the Fair Food Program and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.[7][8] She is the author of Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces (1997) and the forthcoming book on the CIW, I Am Not a Tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took On the Fast Food Giants and Won, to be published by Cornell University Press in December 2017.[9]
Susan L. Marquis
Dean, Pardee RAND Graduate School; Vice President, Innovation; Distinguished Chair in Policy Analysis
Santa Monica Office
Education
Ph.D. in public and international affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
Susan Marquis serves two key roles at RAND. As vice president for innovation, she oversees and guides RAND's internal research and intellectual property management efforts. As dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, she leads the largest and oldest public policy Ph.D. program in the United States.
Marquis is the author of Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces (1997). Her latest book is I am not a tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won, published by Cornell University Press in December 2017. Marquis teaches and researches on organizational culture in government institutions and innovative solutions to persistent and complex public policy problems.
Prior to joining RAND, Marquis served as operational vice president of LMI, a not-for-profit government consulting firm. From 1997 to 2002, she was with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, first as deputy director, Assessment Division, and then as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. Marquis currently serves as chair of the Woodrow Wilson School Advisory Council, Princeton University; was a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge; and is a non-resident senior fellow at the Fox Leadership Institution, University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy and a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Economics of National Security Association.
Susan L. Marquis
@susanlmarquis
on Twitter
Contact Information
Dean, Pardee RAND Graduate School; Vice President, Innovation; Distinguished Chair in Policy Analysis
Santa Monica Office
Education
Ph.D. in public and international affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
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One Page Bio
Media Resources
This researcher is available for interviews.
To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.
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Overview
Commentary
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Multimedia
Susan Marquis serves two key roles at RAND. As vice president for innovation, she oversees and guides RAND's internal research and intellectual property management efforts. As dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, she leads the largest and oldest public policy Ph.D. program in the United States.
Marquis is the author of Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces (1997). Her latest book is I am not a tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won, published by Cornell University Press in December 2017. Marquis teaches and researches on organizational culture in government institutions and innovative solutions to persistent and complex public policy problems.
Prior to joining RAND, Marquis served as operational vice president of LMI, a not-for-profit government consulting firm. From 1997 to 2002, she was with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, first as deputy director, Assessment Division, and then as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. Marquis currently serves as chair of the Woodrow Wilson School Advisory Council, Princeton University; was a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge; and is a non-resident senior fellow at the Fox Leadership Institution, University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy and a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Economics of National Security Association.
Research Focus
National Security Organizations; Public Sector Governance; Special Operations Forces
Pardee RAND Graduate School Courses
Policy Analysis III: Organizational Culture of Government Institutions
Selected Publications
Susan L. Marquis, Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces, Brookings Institution Press, 1997
Susan L. Marquis, I am not a tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won, Cornell University Press, 2017
Recent Media Appearances
Interviews: Salzburg Global Seminar
Commentary: Newsweek; Orlando Sentinel
CV: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/people/m/marquis_susan_l.pdf
ROFILE
Susan L. Marquis: “If you’re going to make policy, then that’s only half the battle”
Dean of Pardee RAND Graduate School highlights educational challenges
Dean Marquis speaking at a panel discussion
Oscar Tollast | 27.09.2013
“The world needs the United States to be effective and for its government to work well. But we can learn from other nations,” says Susan L. Marquis, dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School and the vice-president of Emerging Policy Research and Methods for the RAND Corporation.
Speaking in the McGowan Room at the Schloss Leopoldskron last week, Dean Marquis’ words sit rather ominously following the partial shutdown of the US government in the past few days. Government offices have closed, whilst non-essential staff members have been told to stay at home without pay.
It’s been described as a political stalemate and a crisis of democracy. At the very least, it reaffirms The Volcker Alliance and Salzburg Seminar’s move to host the session on ‘Restoring the Public’s Trust: Delivering on Public Policy Goals’, which Dean Marquis was an attendee.
During the four-day workshop, Dean Marquis spoke on a panel highlighting the role of education and training in improving policy creation and execution. She suggested students were passionate about making the world a better place but didn’t understand the complexities to make that possible.
Dean Marquis says, “[Students] want to have a role in changing the world. As a result, they are often caught up in the policy issues, the big-think pieces, and the sexiness of public policy.
“If you’re going to make policy, then that’s only half the battle. You really have to implement policy as well, and to implement effectively and to make policy that’s actually relevant to the change you’re trying to effect, you have to understand the nitty-gritty.”
But how can the nitty-gritty aspect of public policy be made more attractive? Dean Marquis reveals Pardee RAND Graduate School provides a course on the organizational culture of government institutions, spending a lot of time looking at what motivates and inspires civil servants. “I think we’re trying to think more creatively about the classroom experience.”
Dean Marquis’ mother, a former teacher, advised her to get past being the sage on the stage and to become the guide on the side. Dean Marquis adds, “Well, those of us who are a little older, we were trained with the sage on the stage model. Learning how to be that guide on the side really helped the students work with each other, to learn from each other, and learn from their own experiences. I don’t know if we have that down yet, but we’re working on it.”
Dean Marquis explains whilst it’s easy to look at government as a monolith, each government agency has a different set of missions and a different organizational culture. “If you can understand that, it’s easier to develop a policy that actually takes advantage of that, recognizes it, and leverages it fully.
“You have to understand why governments behave the way they do, what they actually do, and what it takes to lead change, and that includes moving the money.
“If you don’t pay attention to those nuts and bolts, all you’ll have is a really nicely written policy memo.”
When asked what brought her to the Salzburg Global Seminar, Dean Marquis replies: “Paul Volcker called.” It’s a common answer among participants. His legacy and prestige as a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve was enough for some to be drawn to Salzburg Global.
But they haven’t come for a vacation or a catch-up. They’ve come to help find focus points for The Volcker Alliance to move forward with on an issue they care about. In light of what’s happened in the past few days, the session's relevance is evident.
Dean Marquis concludes, “The legacy [Paul Volcker’s] already established is extraordinary, but to be able to build on that legacy, to be able to build on his influence and reputation in a way that affects real and positive change in the public’s trust in government and the effectiveness of the US government, that’s why we are here.
“If we can achieve that, then victory is ours."
Susan L. Marquis
https://rand.org/about/people/m/marquis_susan_l.html
Marquis is the author of “Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces.” Her latest book is “I am not a tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won.” Marquis teaches and researches on organizational culture in government institutions and innovative solutions to persistent and complex public policy problems. She is currently Dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, Vice President of Innovation, and Distinguished Chair in Policy Analysis at RAND Corporation.
Marquis, Susan L.: I AM NOT A TRACTOR!
Kirkus Reviews. (Oct. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Marquis, Susan L. I AM NOT A TRACTOR! ILR Press/Cornell Univ. (Adult Nonfiction) $29.95 12, 15 ISBN: 978-1-5017-1308-8
A scholarly study of an effort by Florida farmworkers to improve working conditions by building partnerships along the supply chain.
In the United States, the majority of consumers give little thought to where their food comes from. On that score alone, Marquis (Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operation Forces, 1997), vice president of innovation for the RAND Corporation, does good service with this exploration of labor organization in the tomato fields of Florida. Picking produce is a skilled trade; one of the author's interviewees, former NFL star Edgerrin James, got essential training in the watermelon patches, where workers throw 20-pound fruits like giant footballs. "Thousands of times a day they must pitch melons to another worker up to ten feet away," Marquis notes, all the while judging which ones are ready to harvest and without breaking any--and all for 16 hours per day. The growers relied first on African-American and then Latino immigrant labor, fueled by traffickers in undocumented and homeless workers, all without giving much thought to health and safety. In response, and against the odds, the field workers carefully organized over the last two decades; as they did, they transformed important aspects of the industry. Said one grower at first, "the tractor doesn't tell me how to run my farm," a sentiment that explains the book's title. In time, however, most producers willingly signed on to the Fair Food Program and other accords, and with them large-scale outlets such as Whole Foods and McDonald's. The former has been enthusiastic about the Campaign for Fair Food, while, as Marquis notes, many fast-food purveyors profess interest in so-called social responsibility but in practice have been reluctant "to be held responsible for what was going on several levels below in the supply chain." The author writes accessibly about the workers' long struggle, though the narrative sometimes slows when dealing with the complex negotiations--understandably, precisely because they are so complex.
A solid work of labor history that offers valuable lessons for other activists and organizers.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Marquis, Susan L.: I AM NOT A TRACTOR!" Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509244096/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=242be6ca. Accessed 12 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A509244096
February 2018
I Am Not a Tractor: A Book Talk and Discussion on Worker-Driven Social Responsibility
Rarely do we pause to consider the origins of the produce that occupies our refrigerators, pantries, and plates. Out of sight and out of mind for most of us, at least 1 million farmworkers (estimates vary) in the US harvest tomatoes, strawberries, melons, oranges, and more. These workers endure strenuous working conditions, low pay, long hours, and all-too-frequent abuse, mistreatment, and exposure to chemical and other hazards.
In Florida’s tomato fields, a group of farmworkers came together to improve their working conditions. They formed the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and won industry agreements to the Fair Food Program, a partnership of farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies that ensure humane wages and working conditions at participating farms. In her new book, I Am Not a Tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won, Susan Marquis tells the story of the Coalition and draws implications for other industries. This event featured a discussion of the book, the Fair Food Program, and the potential for worker-driven social responsibility strategies to improve job quality throughout the nation and world.
Dean of Pardee RAND Graduate School Susan Marquis’s book, “I am not a tractor!“, attracts national attention to remarkable story — and promising future — of Fair Food movement…
Over the past month, word has spread about an extraordinary new book from the Dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School in California, Susan Marquis. Marquis’s volume, titled “I Am Not a Tractor!: How Florida Farmworkers Took On the Fast Food Giants and Won” emerges from years of dedicated research, including hundreds of hours of conversation with CIW staff and auditors from the Fair Food Standards Council, and offers a history that stretches from the earliest days of CIW’s organizing all the way to the emergence of the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model today.
“I Am Not a Tractor” is a great read for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of social change, a must-read for all Fair Food activists, and a critical favorite. In the words of Janice Fine, Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University:
Those who have been looking for the definitive story of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the origins of the country’s most effective labor monitoring program need look no further. Susan L. Marquis has written a terrific account of the rise of the CIW and the Fair Food Standards Council. She has asked all the right questions about the remarkable transformation they have brought about in Florida’s tomato fields — including how tot expand it beyond Florida and agriculture.”
You can find this exciting new book on Amazon here.
So it is no surprise that the press is giving “I Am Not a Tractor” an enthusiastic reception. Just yesterday, the nationally-syndicated National Public Radio show, 1A, brought author Susan Marquis and the CIW onto the show for a wide-ranging conversation about the history of how the Fair Food Program was born, as well as the obstacles and opportunities the Program faces today. Although we encourage you to take a listen to the whole show, we have pulled a few highlights from the piece.
Prompted by 1A’s host Joshua Johnson, who asked why more corporations don’t jump at the opportunity to join the Fair Food Program and read aloud some familiar talking points from Wendy’s Headquarters, CIW’s Marley Moynahan responded to the fast food giant’s tired — and often dishonest — excuses for rejecting Fair Food:
Johnson then turned to Susan Marquis, asking her to also spell out the stark differences, both in design and impact, between traditional Corporate Social Responsibility models and the CIW’s Worker-driven Social Responsibility model:
It was a very informative story that got strongly positive feedback to CIW headquarters from listeners around the country, so if you didn’t get a chance to hear it the first time, you can listen to the entire story here.
Also, this past December, the Pardee RAND public policy blog sat down for an in-depth interview with Susan, drawing out her reflections on why the story of workers in Immokalee both caught her imagination and earned her respect over the years as she watched conditions in the fields transform. Here’s are just a few highlights:
…The coalition saw that those corporate buyers—mostly grocery and fast food chains—held the real power to improve their conditions. Through public protests and boycotts, they convinced those buyers to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes and to uphold a code of conduct prohibiting physical violence, sexual harassment, and other abuses in the fields. That comprehensive approach, Marquis says, transformed Florida’s tomato fields into some of the best agricultural workplaces in America, without the need for new legislation, regulation, or government participation.
Her book is the product of years of independent research and personal interest. Essential support from RAND enabled her to begin writing during a two-month fellowship at RAND Europe.
I Am Not a Tractor! is not the only recent recognition of the coalition’s success. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has put on display a papier-mâché model that the coalition used in its protests, of the Statue of Liberty holding a bucket of tomatoes. In October, group cofounder Greg Asbed received a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation on behalf of the coalition. […]
[…] Q: Other journalists and authors have covered parts of this story. What were you hoping to add?
A: I have a longtime interest in what it takes to actually effect change. You can do the research, you can make the recommendations, but that’s not enough. You must have a deep understanding of how to implement policy. And I realized that’s what I had to offer: What does it take to solve a persistent and complex policy problem? Why has this worked when most other programs have not? Talking about not just where the ideas came from, but how they are implemented. […]
[…] Q: Is this a model that could work in other industries?
A: It obviously applies to large-scale agriculture. It has expanded, in tomatoes, from Florida all the way up to New Jersey. It’s starting to move into peppers and strawberries. The Fair Food Program model has expanded to the dairy industry in Vermont: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has been advising a group called Migrant Justice, who just signed an agreement with Ben & Jerry’s. But this model can reach much further, to factories and other low-wage workplaces in the global supply chain.
Make sure to check out the full piece on RAND’s website!
One final word on this exciting new book… Besides being a great read and an insightful window into the CIW’s unique model for social change, Professor Marquis‘ standard practice when writing on a subject is to donate a portion of her royalties to the organization studied — so your book purchase will even assist in the expansion of Fair Food Program! Whether it’s for your own bookshelf or a gift for a friend, make sure to get a copy “I am not a tractor!”