This concentration introduces students to social welfare policy programs and interventions aimed at improving social and economic well-being within the United States. This coverage includes a range of programs, policies, and reforms primarily targeted towards families with children. The concentration broadly exposes students to education, health, food assistance, housing, and income support programs designed to promote upward economic mobility and economic security. Several courses within the concentration address current issues in social policy and poverty studies, while providing important historical context. 

This concentration offers an understanding of the historical, political, economic, and policy context of the U.S. healthcare and public health systems and those around the world. Courses are designed to provide a framework for and sharpen the analytical skills necessary for developing and evaluating health-related policies and interventions.

This concentration allows students to gain an appreciation for the issues faced by policymakers and analysts working on education and related issues in the U.S. and abroad. Students in this concentration will learn to critically evaluate research on education policy while being introduced to a variety of education policy topics, such as inequalities in education, school finance, health and education, charters and vouchers, teachers and accountability, access to higher education, and early childhood programs.

The concentration in science, technology and environmental policy examines how public officials bring to bear the full presence of science onto critical issues confronting society. While emphasizing global climate change and environmental protection, the concentration also addresses policy issues arising from pandemics, changes in computer technology, robotics, genetics, energy production, national security, and space exploration. Faculty working in the specialization give special attention to ethical concerns, the interplay of culture and technology and the use of science to promote innovation, counter anti-science feelings and devise new forms of governance.

This concentration is designed for students wishing to understand the manner in which efforts to finance public sector activities affects public policy. Public finance provides a framework for understanding policy choices and the implications of program structural features within the context of economic responses of service populations, the general public, and policymakers. Faculty advising on this concentration is provided by Professors Carla Flink, Marquise McGraw, and David Schwegman.

Students who wish to work on policy as it relates to global issues, particularly those affecting the developing world, will benefit from this concentration. Topics include the unique challenges of administering public programs in developing countries and the methods by which development projects are carried out, the role of foreign aid on good governance, the interplay of various actors involved in development (such as NGOs and INGOs), and intergovernmental finance. Students can choose from traditional course offerings in development within the School of Public Affairs and the School of International Service, as well as courses with a development lens in the Economics Department of the College of Arts and Sciences.

This concentration addresses the strategic organizational challenges that policymakers and analysts confront when using nonprofit organizations to implement public policy. Faculty advising on this concentration is provided by Professors Khaldoun AbouAssi and Lewis Faulk.

Students who wish to combine their study of public policy with a deeper understanding of public administration have the opportunity to take a selection of management courses from the MPA degree. Such courses amplify lessons contained in the required MPP course on Organizational Analysis by examining issues that affect the implementation of public policies. Professors Jocelyn Johnston, Anna Amirkhanyan, and Ken Meier advise students on this concentration.

This concentration provides students the cutting-edge tools of program evaluation necessary to estimate causal impacts of existing and proposed policies in both experimental and non-experimental settings, and to assess the internal and external validity of estimates. These courses can be combined with a related course in cost-benefit analysis. In addition, the methods-based courses can be combined with topical courses in specific policy areas, such as education, social, environmental, and health policy.

This concentration helps students analyze the ways in which different countries address common domestic policies such as health, education, and social services, as well as how countries interact on issues of an international scope, such as global security policy. Some questions that students will explore include: Why does the same policy work in Germany, but not in South Korea? What if a country has a parliament instead of a president? How can we explain different approaches and policies towards Covid-19 in different countries? This concentration is rooted in the university’s traditional course offerings in comparative politics and area studies in the School of Public Affairs and the School of International Service, coupled with courses dealing with global issues in the College of Arts and Sciences.

This concentration provides students with an understanding of the legal issues that policymakers and analysts encounter within the area of criminal justice. An emphasis is placed on constitutional criminal procedure under the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution as well as on impermissible conditions of confinement and remedial law under the Eighth Amendment. Basic aspects of constitutional tort law and administrative law are also covered as they impact the administration of criminal justice. 

This concentration enables students to examine the role of race and ethnicity in public policy and administration. Topics of study include: racial disparities in policy making, implementation, public management, and outcomes for citizens at the local, state, and federal levels; diversity and inclusion strategies in policymaking and public administration; and the role of race in key policy areas (including urban, housing, justice, health, and education policy). Several courses also explore race as a social construct and the political, historical, and economic roots of racialization. Professors Reginald Wells and Derek Hyra provide faculty advising on this concentration.

This concentration prepares students to understand, analyze, and manage the dynamics of the cyber policies that are critical to effective governance across public agencies, levels of government, and in nonprofit organizations and contracting agencies. The concentration courses will include the history, development, and management of U.S. cyber policy, and a range of frameworks that can be used to facilitate and protect the flow of information and communication through sound cyber policies designed to enhance the success of organizations and public services. Professor Sasha O’Connell provides faculty advising on this concentration.

MPP students may also develop a customized concentration with the approval of an academic advisor.  In addition, by including courses taken through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, students may be able to develop a concentration in an area not offered at AU.  For additional information, consult your academic advisor.

Our Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree emphasizes evidence-based ideas and approaches and the use of data and research methodologies to find solutions to policy challenges. Our Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree delves more into leadership in public and nonprofit organizations, the organizational environment, and the analysis of public management issues. As an example, the Social Policy concentration in the MPP program and the Social Policy focus area the MPA program may cover similar topics and may even offer some of the same courses and faculty, but the courses will have different emphases depending on the program you’re pursuing.