Our Mission
The Master of Public Policy program prepares students to analyze challenging problems, propose policies to address them and lead efforts to resolve them ethically and for the benefit of society.
Our Values
Integrity in policymaking
Ethical behavior, collective responsibility, transparency, and dedication to public welfare form the foundation for effective and trustworthy policies.
Innovation in public policy
Adaptability, foresight, continuous evaluation, and a commitment to improving services drive innovation for societal benefit.
Inclusion
Celebrating diversity, equitable participation, trust-building, and integrating varied perspectives are essential for creating policies that serve all members of society.
Equity
Critical to the public policy process, equity ensures fairness, accessibility, and the removal of barriers, allowing everyone an equal chance to thrive.
Democracy within Public Services
This fundamental value encompasses both the practical aspects of policy analysis and the foundational principles of collective self-governance decision-making.
Message from the Director
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The Public Policy program was created in 2018 in response to the thematic priorities in the university’s strategic plan by positioning Penn State as a leader in embracing the vital role of the arts and humanities, utilizing them—along with the sciences and other disciplines—as agents of change in addressing complex global issues. Penn State was also one of the few research-intensive universities without a unit focused primarily on public policy. The School of Public Policy contributes to the public-service mission of the university, consistent with its land grant status.
Penn State is well-positioned to be a leader in public policy due to strong social and behavioral sciences, cutting-edge programs in data analytics and a variety of policy-focused activities in research and degree programs from the professional schools to the natural sciences across campus.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
The School of Public Policy in the College of the Liberal Arts at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, is dedicated to creating an environment in which all members of its community are welcomed, feel valued, and have equal educational opportunities.
Penn State aspires to be a beacon of inclusive excellence, a community where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive.
We are committed to creating an environment where all students, faculty, and staff can reach their full potential, free from prejudice and discrimination. We will address equity gaps within our community, enabling everyone to access our campuses’ opportunities and resources. We will foster a culture of open dialogue and respectful discourse, where diverse perspectives are valued and where we learn from one another to build a more just and equitable world.
Commitment
The School of Public Policy is committed to ensuring its faculty, staff, and student body are diverse and foster a culture that recognizes and supports individual differences. We strive to ensure that all have the freedom to express diverse opinions and divergent lived experiences. We believe that providing faculty, staff, and students with an inclusive environment that fosters such participation is essential for them to reach their full potential. The School of Public Policy is further committed to ensuring all students, faculty, and staff are treated equitably regardless of background and provided with sustained support throughout their experience within the School. In meeting this commitment, the School of Public Policy will also help our students to emerge into the world ready to be “ethical agents of change”.
In line with the School of Public Policy’s strategic goals, the School has adopted the following specific goals to help in our commitment to achieving a faculty and a student body that represent broad sectors of society and regions of the world, preparing future policy leaders to address complex policy challenges in a diverse society, and promote merit-based opportunity.
Vision
The School of Public Policy welcomes a broad and pluralistic range of viewpoints and celebrates and respects the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all members of our community. We seek to enhance overall creativity, intellectual pursuit, and the training of citizens in a democratic society. Pluralistic viewpoints and backgrounds help us to think more complexly, to consider varied perspectives, to create new approaches, and to achieve excellence as community members and leaders in an ever-changing world.
Mission Areas
Our plan is divided into the following mission areas:
- Representation: fostering a community of faculty, staff, and students that strives for academic excellence and reflects a wide range of viewpoints and lived experiences.
- Climate: creating an inclusive and safe climate in the workplace, classrooms, and public spaces that provide faculty, staff, and students with an opportunity for all to succeed and thrive.
- Curriculum and Training: training students to be policy professionals who understand a wide range of social issues and are equipped to address them.
- Research: producing and sharing research and knowledge that addresses social issues in an impactful way for the benefit of broader society.
Our Home in the Welch Building
The Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building—the first new liberal arts building at Penn State University Park in more than fifty years and the new home of the School of Public Policy—is an innovative hub of social science teaching, research, and outreach activity.
Namesake and History
The Welch Building is named in honor of Susan Welch, dean of the college from 1991 until 2019, who passed away in March 2022.
Ethnobotany
The site design of the new Welch Building was carefully planned to enhance collaboration, connectivity, and sustainability.
Student Spaces and Resources
Learn more about the common areas and resources available to students.
Master of Public Policy Accreditation Information
Housed within the College of the Liberal Arts and the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School at Penn State, the School of Public Policy offers an in-person Master of Public Policy Program.
The program is 4.5 semester, 2 year track comprised of 14 3-credit classes and a 1-credit internship experience. Working professionals enrolled in the program may be exempt from the internship requirement.
MPP by the Numbers
32
students participating in the Master of Public Policy program in the 2024-25 academic year
91%
Master of Public Policy graduation and completion rate for the 2024-25 academic year
86
Degrees awarded since 2018
92%
2019 cohort completion rate in 2 years
Internship and Career Placements
2021-2025
Internship Placements
View Data Table
Sector | Internships |
|---|---|
Federal Gov | 6 |
State Gov | 16 |
Local Gov | 8 |
Private Sector | 21 |
Think Tanks/Non-Profits | 9 |
International Gov | 1 |
University Based | 16 |
2024-2025
Internship Placements
View Data Table
Sector | Internships |
|---|---|
Federal Gov | 0 |
State Gov | 1 |
Local Gov | 2 |
Private Sector | 2 |
Think Tanks/Non-Profits | 1 |
International Gov | 0 |
University Based | 4 |
Top Placements
Top 5 internship placements:
- US Senate Committee on Environmental & Public Works
- Pennsylvania House Fellowship Program
- Centre Region Council of Governments
- Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
- FamilyAid Boston
Top 5 career placements:
- General Services Administration (GSA)
- New Mexico Public Education Department
- Allegheny County Family Division
- Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis (MIPA)
- The Urban Institute
Specializations
Students may select an existing policy specialization or work with faculty to design a specialization to meet their career goals. MPP students have designed personalized specializations such as extremism and conflict, international policy and data science, and bureaucracy and governance.
Criminal Justice Policy
- CRIM 501: Criminal Justice Organizations and Institutions
- CRIM 433: Sentencing
- CRIM 430: American Correctional System
- CRIM 435: Policing in America
- CRIM 432: The American Courts System
- CRIM 441: The Juvenile Justice System
- CRIM 451: Race, Crime, and Justice
- CRIM 453: Women and the Criminal Justice System
- CRIM 467: Law and Society
Data Science/Analytics
- PLSC 504: Topics in Political Methodology
- PLSC 505: Time Series Analysis
- PLSC 551: Big Data Approaches to the Study of Political Representation
- SOC 572: Foundations of Causal Analysis in the Social Sciences
- SOC 575: Statistical Methods for Nonexperimental Research
- SOC 577: Techniques of Event History Modeling
- SOC 578: Multilevel Regression Models
- SOC 579: Spatial Demography
Education Policy
- EDTHP 420: Education and Public Policy
- EDTHP 426: Economic Foundations of Education Policy
- EDTHP 427: Intelligence and Education Policy
- EDTHP 430: History of Education in the United States
- EDTHP 435: Child Labor and Education in the Global Economy
- EDTHP 497: Globalization and Education
- EDTHP 516: Education and Demographic Change
- EDTHP 518: Analysis of US Educational Policy
- EDTHP 520: Perspectives on Contemporary School Reform
- EDTHP/HIED 522: Economics of Education
- EDTHP 533: Social History and Educational Policy
- EDTHP/EDLDR 542: Civil Rights & Education
- EDTHP 550: Comparative Education Policy
- EDTHP/EDLDR 587: Educational Policy & Politics
- EDTHP 597: Interdisciplinary Perspectives to Understand Educational Disparities
- EDLDR 476: The Teacher and the Law
- EDLDR 520: Sociology of Rural Schools and Communities
- EDLDR 536: Federal Education Policy
- EDLDR 573: Public School Finance
- EDLDR 576: Law and Education
- HIED/EDTHP 521: Data Analysis for Education Research
- HIED 597: Higher Education & Public Policy
Environmental Policy
- ERM 411: Legal Aspects of Resource Management
- ERM 412: Resource Systems Analysis
- ERM 430: Air Pollution Impacts to Terrestrial Ecosystems
- ENVST 428: Environmental Economics and Policy
- ANTH 432: Environmental Archaeology
- ECON 415: Economics of Climate Change
- PHIL 403: Environmental Ethics
- PHIL 407: Philosophy of Technology
- PLSC 497: Special Topics: Global Environmental Governance
- PSYCH 419: Psychology for a Sustainable World
Gender Equity and Policy
- WMNST 423: Sexual and Domestic Violence
- WMNST 452: Women’s Health Issues
- WMNST 453: Women and the Criminal Justice System
- PSYCH 479: The Psychology of Gender
- HHD 401: Women’s Leadership Initiative: Leadership Concepts and Competencies 1
- WMNST 420W: Gender and International Development
- WMNST 428: Gender and Politics
- WMNST 458: Critical Feminist Issues in Reproduction
- WMNST 502: Global Perspectives on Feminism
Health Policy
- SOC 451: Health, Disease, and Society
- SOC/HPA 526: Health Disparities
- HPA 510: Health Services Financing and Policy
- HPA 528: Health Data Analysis for Research
- HPA 527: Managing Health Care Operations
- HPA 541: Poverty, Race, Ethnicity, and Child Health
- HPA 545: Intro to Health Economics
- SOC 532: Global Health and Mortality
- HDFS/HPA 506: Design and Evaluation of Prevention and Health Promotion Programs Across the Lifespan
Information Technology
- SRA 421: The Intelligence Environment
- SRA 450: Cyber-Crime and Cyber-Warfare
- SRA 471: Informatics, Risk, and the Post-Modern World
- SRA 472: Integration of Privacy and Security
- SRA 480: Crisis Informatics
- IST 431: The Information Environment
- IST 432: Legal and Regulatory Environment of Information Science and Technology
- IST 445: Globalization Trends and World Issues
- IST 452: Legal and Regulatory Environment of Privacy and Security
- IST 453: Legal, Regulatory, Policy Environment of Cyber Forensics
- IST 564: Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management
- IST 815: Foundations of Information Security and Assurance
International Public Policy
- INTAF 504: Political Economy of Development and Growth
- INTAF 505: Strategy, Conflict, and Peace
- INTAF 508: Domestic Influences on Foreign Policy
- INTAF 510: Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution
- INTAF 801: Actors, Institutions, and Legal Frameworks in International Affairs
- INTAF 803: Multi-Sector and Quantitative Analysis
- INTAF 810: Energy, International Security, and the Global Economy
- INTAF 814: U.S. Policy in the Middle East
- INTAF 815: Dynamics of International Economic Order: Law, Politics, and Power
- INTAF 890: Colloquium on Current Policy Challenges
Labor and Employment Relations
- LER 435: Labor Relations in the Public Sector
- LER 444: Workplace Safety and Health: Principles and Practices
- LER 475H: Labor in the Global Economy: U.S. and South African Perspectives
- LER 497: Immigration
- HRER 501: Labor and Employment Law
- HRER 504: Seminar in Employment Relations
- HRER 523 (WMNST 523): Seminar in Work-Life Dilemmas, Practices, and Policies
- HRER 536: Labor and Diversity in the Workplace
Racial Justice and Equity
- AFAM 409: Racial and Ethnic Inequality in America
- AFAM 422: Contemporary African American Communication
- AFAM 460/PHIL 460: African American Philosophy
- AFAM 465: The Post-World War II Civil Rights Movement
- AFAM 497: Special Topics (Race & Medicine in US History, Black Representation in Media) this would depend on the special topic as these will rotate
- AFAM 502: Blacks and African Diaspora
- AFAM 503: Sexual and Gender Politics in the African Diaspora
- CAS 422: Contemporary African American Communication
- CRIM 451: Race, Crime and Justice
- HIED 502: Diversity & Equity in Higher Education
- PSYCH 432: Multicultural Psychology in America
- SOC 409: Racial and Ethnic Inequality in America
- SOC 425: Social Conflict
- WMNST 518: Global Black Feminist Thought
Social Policy
- CRIM 441: The Juvenile Justice System
- LER 472: Work-Life Practices and Policies
- PSYCH 474: Psychological Intervention in Childhood
- SOC 431: Family Disorganization: Stress Points in the Contemporary Family
- SOC/HDFS 440: Family Policy
- SOC 531: Family Disorganization: Stress Points in the Contemporary Family
- AYFCE 550: Program Development & Evaluation in Youth, Families, and Communities
- HDFS 415: Program Development in Family Relationships
- HDFS 455: Development and Administration of Human Services Programs
- HDFS 521: Child Maltreatment: Theory, Research, and Impact
- HDFS 577: Poverty, Policies, and Child Development