University of Maryland School of Public Policy

Maryland School of Public Policy
Established	1981
Type	Public
Dean	Donald F. Kettl
Location	College Park, Maryland, USA
Campus	Suburban
Nickname	MSPP
Website	http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/

The Maryland School of Public Policy is one of 14 schools at the University of Maryland, College Park and the only policy school in the Washington, D.C.-area affiliated with a major research university.

The school is located inside the Capital Beltway. The School ranks 9th nationally for schools of public policy, according to U.S. News & World Report (2008).

History

Van Munching Hall Atrium is most often used as a study area or place to meet other students. It is also used to host school-sponsored events.

On October 26, 1978, University of Maryland President John S. Toll appointed the Committee on a School of Public Affairs to pursue the question of whether the College Park campus should establish a new School. With the support of the Sloan foundation and key individuals such as U.S. Senator Joseph Tydings and publisher Philip Merrill, the Maryland School of Public Affairs was established on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park in 1981. By April 1981, Albert Bowker was appointed the first dean of the School and a group of faculty was recruited. The first seven faculty included Allen Schick, Robert Pastor, Catherine Kelleher, Frank Levy, Peyton Young, George Eads and Mark Winer. The School's doors opened in 1982 and degrees were conferred on a dozen students during the School's first graduation exercises in 1984.

The School of Public Affairs changed its name to the School of Public Policy in 2004 in order to better communicate its mission to contribute to the nation and the world through the preparation of current and future leaders committed to public service.

Programs

The School enrolls nearly 200 graduate students and offers full-time and part-time Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.) and Master of Public Management (M.P.M.) degrees, as well as a Ph.D. in Policy Studies. The School has also established joint degree programs with the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering, the College of Life Sciences Conservation Biology program, the Robert H. Smith School of Business, and the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore.

The School offers the following areas of specialization:

• Environmental policy
• Federal acquisition
• International development
• International security and economic policy
• Management & leadership
• Nonprofit management and leadership
• Public sector financial management
• Social policy

Research centers

• Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)

CIRCLE studies young people's development into active and responsible participants in American democracy.

• Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER)

CIER is dedicated to creating a comprehensive understanding of the complex environmental challenges facing society and developing valuable tools to inform policy and investment decision making.

• Center for Intelligence Research and Education (CIRE)
• Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM)

CISSM seeks to enliven the campus debate on international issues among faculty, students, and visiting scholars from a wide range of disciplines. The Center also works through research, conferences, and publications to reach beyond the university to the policy world.

• Center for Public Policy & Private Enterprise (CPPPE)

CPPPE strengthens connections among government, business, academic, and nonprofit sectors in order to address complex public policy problems and speed improvements in the management and delivery of public services. The Center focuses on areas impacted by public-private linkages, including: government sourcing, supply chain management, national security, and economic competitiveness.

• Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy (IPPP)

The Institute's scholars explore philosophical (moral or conceptual) issues relevant to public policy.

• James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership

The Academy fosters leadership through scholarship, education, and training, with special attention to advancing the leadership of groups historically underrepresented in public life.

• National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education

The Center is a non-partisan center for research and leadership training on Smart Growth and related national and international land-use issues.

• Welfare Reform Academy

The Academy helps state and local officials, private social service providers, and other interested parties take full advantage of the 1996 welfare reform law. While the law puts pressure on public officials and service providers to make their programs more efficient and better targeted, it also presents an unprecedented opportunity for states to reshape their programs.

• Program on the Economics of Crime and Justice Policy

The Program is an effort by the University of Maryland to bring economists interested in crime together with criminologists. It aims to do that through developing research collaborations and through teaching and training, involving the Criminology and Economics Departments and the School of Public Policy, as well as the Maryland Population Research Center.

• Sloan Biotechnology Industry Center (SBIC)

SBIC is an independent, academic research center that examines issues related to competitive advantage of firms in the U.S. biotechnology industry. The center conducts research using interdisciplinary teams that work directly with industry to investigate critical areas that can affect current and future performance of U.S. biotechnology companies.

Student organizations

• Ecological Economics Student Group (EESG)

The Ecological Economics Student Group (EESG) is multi-disciplinary student organization dedicated to advancing the case for ecological economics and exploring the intersection of environmental, social and economic issues. They hold a weekly seminar, the Environmental Policy Roundtable, intended to provide interested people with a forum for learning about and discussing current topics in Ecological Economics and associated disciplines (environmental, social and economic policy, engineering, development, conservation, etc.). EESG seeks to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue to hear perspectives that add to the understanding of a wide-array of issues. ^[1]

• Graduate Women in Public Policy (GWIPP)

Graduate Women in Public Policy (GWIPP) seeks to develop a community built on relationships among students and alumni of the Maryland School of Public Policy and to provide personal and professional development for its members. GWIPP is further established to develop leadership skills and to encourage students to participate in public policy. ^[2]

• Policy Student Government Association (PSGA)

The Policy Student Government Association (PSGA) of the Maryland School of Public Policy is an independent student organization whose mission is to represent the needs and interest of MPP, MPM, and Policy Studies PhD students to the School and the University of Maryland. The group also works to build community among students, faculty, staff, and administration. We host social events and student meetings, and are in regular contact with the administration on issues of special concern. ^[3]

Selected Faculty

• Apfel, Kenneth S., former commissioner of the U.S. Social Security Administration
• Besharov, Douglas, senior conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and expert on welfare reform
• Daly, Herman, pioneer in the field of ecological economics, senior economist in the Environment Department of the World Bank
• Destler, I. M. (Mac), fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and authority on U.S. trade policy
• Duke, Betty, former Career Federal Senior Executive in charge of programs to improve the business processes and human resources of the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ^[4]
• Fetter, Steve, former dean of the school and assistant director (at-large) in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Foreman, Christopher, non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and expert on environmental justice and the national politics of health and safety regulation
• Gallagher, Nancy, executive director of the Clinton administration's Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization Task Force ^[5]
• Galston, William, former domestic policy advisor to Bill Clinton and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
• Gansler, Jacques, former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
• Graham, Carol, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and specialist in international development
• Grimm, Jr., Robert, first professor and director of a philanthropy and nonprofit management program, former director of research and policy development at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) ^[6]
• Hultman, Nathan, nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution specializing in the global economy and development, and associate director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ^[7]
• Reuter, Peter, founder and former director of the Drug Policy Research Center at the RAND Corporation^[8]
• Schelling, Thomas, pioneer in game theory and winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics
• Schick, Allen, fellow at the Brookings Institution and widely-recognized authority on the federal budget
• Schwab, Susan, former U.S. Trade Representative, former president and CEO of the University System of Maryland Foundation, and former dean of the Maryland School of Public Policy
• Steinbruner, John, widely-recognized authority on arms control, nuclear weapons, and Russian foreign policy
• Swagel, Phillip L., former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, chief of staff and a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and economist at the IMF and the Federal Reserve Board^[9]
• Turner, Stansfield, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency

References

1. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/current/student-organizations
2. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/current/student-organizations
3. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/psga
4. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/directory/duke
5. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/directory/gallagher
6. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/directory/rgrimm
7. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/faculty/hultman
8. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/directory/reuter
9. ^ http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/directory/swagel

External links

• School of Public Policy