PPM Learning Objectives

The mission of the Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management is to train leading scholars in public policy and management with foci on various policy areas like the environment, housing, and education and public management issues including inter-sectoral governance, civic engagement, and nonprofit management. We achieve that mission through Ph.D. education that emphasizes student engagement in research throughout their time in the degree program, faculty mentoring, faculty-student collaboration in research, and a strong multidisciplinary perspective that provides students with the theoretical and methodological depth needed to pursue dissertation research.

The learning objectives of the Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management are listed below.

• Students will perform critical thinking and research skills expected of independent scholars at a level comparable to those who obtain faculty positions at universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation as “research universities / very high research activity.
  
  
• Students will demonstrate competency in modern public management and public policy theories.
  
  
• Students will execute advanced research methods appropriate to their fields and completion of the dissertation, which may include quantitative and deductive methods and/or qualitative and inductive methods.
  
  
• Students will master at least one disciplinary, theoretical framework, usually drawn from economics, political science, sociology, or organizational theory, as applicable to two sub-fields of public policy and management. They will achieve competency in the breadth and depth characteristic of scholarly leadership in those sub-fields and the ability to teach a master’s level course on the sub-field topics. The sub-fields will be chosen by the student under the guidance of and in consultation with their advisor and a qualifying exam committee. The sub-fields typically will also underpin their dissertation research.
  

• Students will master a specific set of methods appropriate to their dissertation, with the depth needed to produce methodologically rigorous research.

  This will include a minimum of 6-8 units of advanced methodology coursework. Specific courses appropriate for the methods requirement should be selected by the student in consultation with their advisor and, as appropriate, other program faculty members.

• Students will master the theories that underpin their dissertation research, usually drawn from the social sciences, with the depth needed to produce advanced, theoretically informed research.

  This will typically include a minimum of 11-12 units of advanced theoretical coursework. Specific courses appropriate for theoretical depth should be selected by the student in consultation with their advisor and, as appropriate, other program faculty members.

• Students will produce a dissertation that constitutes original scholarship worthy of publication on a topic relevant to public policy or public management.