The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University in New York offers graduate degrees in public policy, public administration and international affairs. The Maxwell School is distinctive among major universities in housing Syracuse University's scholarly programs in the social sciences alongside its professional degree programs. This unconventional organization allows for unprecedented breadth and depth in the school's cross-discipline approach and provides students, professionals and professors a rich environment in which to examine the intersection of theory, policy and practice.
Syracuse University founded its graduate program in public administration in 1924, the first of its kind in the United States. U.S. News and World Report has awarded the Maxwell School its top ranking for Ph.D. public affairs programs since 1995, when it added the category to its surveys.
Maxwell is also the only school to rank in the top for each of its subfields: public management/administration; public financing and budgeting; public policy analysis; social policy; city management; nonprofit management; environmental policy and management; health policy and management; and information and technology management. Maxwell graduates are highly regarded and can be found in numerous influential institutions, universities and places of government.
Maxwell School of Syracuse University
Department of Public Administration
215 Eggers Hall
Syracuse, NY 13244
315-442-4000
maxwell.syr.edu
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (also known as the Harvard Kennedy School, or HKS), located in Massachusetts, offers a top public policy and public administration program that emphasizes public service and the development of global leaders committed to advancing the public interest.
HKS offers Ph.D. programs in several specialties: public policy, political economy and government, health policy and social policy. The doctoral program involves core courses in environmental policy, economic regulatory policy, decision science, international security relations, risk assessment, judgment and decision making, science and technology policy, international development and others.
Successful candidates of top public policy Ph.D. programs are ready to think deeply, broadly and innovatively about public service and the implications of policies on the people, markets, organizations and institutions of world affairs.
Harvard University
John F. Kennedy School of Government
79 John F. Kennedy St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-1155
hks.harvard.edu/
The Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) is one of the largest schools for public policy and environmental studies in the nation. In 1972, SPEA was the first school to bring together professional and academic studies in public policy and management with the environmental sciences. It continues to be a top public policy Ph.D. program in environmental issues.
The faculty focuses on issues of environmental science and policy, health policy, public affairs, public administration, civil society and law, nonprofit management, and public finance and economics. The doctoral program at SPEA offers several specialized Ph.D. programs: a joint Ph.D. in Public Policy with political science theory; Public Affairs with a focus on environmental policy, public management, public finance and policy analysis; and Environmental Science with interdisciplinary training in applied sciences and environmental policy.
SPEA doctoral graduates often go on to academic and professional careers with placements at top universities and other research-oriented institutions as well as with governmental agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and professional organizations.
Indiana University Bloomington
School of Public and Environmental Affairs
1315 E. 10th St.
Bloomington, IN 47405
812-855-2840
indiana.edu/~spea/