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School of Public Policy

Liberal Arts student prepares for foreign service through politics, leadership

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University’s PSU Votes receives ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting in the 2024 election

Penn State recognized for efforts to increase nonpartisan student voter engagement

“I’m leveraging the master of public policy degree because it gives me core skills that set me ahead of the trend,” Larkin said.

Liberal Arts student prepares for foreign service through politics, leadership
Students in front of the PA capitol buildling

Students heard from a series of panelists, including a bipartisan group of Penn State alumni members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, during the annual trip to Harrisburg for a public policy career exploration and networking day.

Penn State public policy students travel to Harrisburg for career exploration day

Author Dr. Nicole Kreisberg, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Sociology at Penn State presents her book: “1 in 100: Latino Immigrants’ Unlikely Climb to the Top of the Labor Market” to a panel of critics.

Assistant Professor Dr. Nicole Kreisberg presents to critic panel

Nine undergraduate students from our Next Gen Leadership Academy embarked on an enlightening journey to Washington, D.C., where they spent the day immersed in insightful discussions, making valuable connections, and exploring the nation’s capital.

Next Gen spends the day in DC for Career Exploration Day

During SPP Career Day in Washington, D.C., current Master of Public Policy students had the chance to meet and network with Penn State alumni working in the Public Policy space.

MPP Students Visit Washington, D.C. for Career Day

On November 15, 2023, over 30 MPP and Next Gen Leadership Academy students visited Harrisburg for the School of Public Policy Career Day.

MPP and Next Gen Students Visit Harrisburg for Career Day-November 2023
NASPAA_PSU_Group Image

Penn State School of Public Policy MPP students Kenny Gatten, Jeremy Hoffman, ShiAnne Mack, Christian Manalac, and Qian Zhang recently participated in the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration’s (NASPAA) annual student simulation exercise. The all-day event took place on Saturday, March 4, at the Ohio State University.

School of Public Policy MPP Students Participate in NASPAA Simulation Event at Ohio State
Master of public policy student Pete Kurtz-Glovas in front of beige wall

MPP student Pete Kurtz-Glovas’ on-the-ground reporting from the recent Penn State event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes has been quoted in several mainstream media outlets.

MPP student’s on-the-ground reporting featured in multiple media outlets

Penn State will host the 8th Annual Environmental Politics and Governance (EPG) Conference on June 28 – July 1, 2022, building on the success of previous conferences in Seattle, Zurich, Bloomington, Stockholm, Santa Barbara, and Oslo. The conference’s primary goals are to showcase the best empirical research on environmental politics and governance from relevant disciplines and provide a venue for scholars to strengthen their networks and shape future research directions.

8th Annual Conference on Environmental Politics and Governance (EPG)

Rep. Bryan Cutler will discuss his commitment to public service and career on Zoom, hosted by the School of Public Policy

Pennsylvania Speaker of the House to discuss path to public office March 16

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Alina Salganicoff, senior vice president and director of women’s health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), will discuss her career path during a talk at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, on Zoom.

Policy Profiles: Alina Salganicoff to discuss career and focus on women’s health policy

Professor of public policy’s latest book details how the wealthy influence policy and politics

An analysis of 500 million words explains who controls the policy agenda

In a new book and project, Anthony Bertelli, Sherwin-Whitmore Professor of Liberal Arts and professor of public policy and political science at Penn State, explains public administrators’ critical role in effective administration and how democratic values shape their decision-making process.

How do the democratic values of unelected officials shape democracy?

Emily Pakhtigian discusses a new research project that is investigating how the transition away from coal-fired power plants is impacting the environment and health of communities in Pennsylvania.

Growing Impact podcast explores transition away from coal-fired power plants

Janiyah Davis is one of a dozen undergraduates teaching a course through Students Teaching Students this semester.

Nine liberal arts courses offered through Students Teaching Students this fall

Vipul Kapoor, Alex Lutz and Rebecca LaBelle found success thanks to their liberal arts backgrounds and passion for helping others.

Public policy students secure job offers through summer internships

A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant will provide funding to a team of Penn State faculty as they evaluate the effect of an innovative housing program on neighborhood racial and economic equity in Pittsburgh.

Grant provides funds to study Pittsburgh housing program’s impact

When Jon Ortiz was studying criminology as an undergraduate, he knew two things: he wanted to go to graduate school, and he eventually wanted to work in law enforcement administration. Those aspirations led him to Penn State’s Master of Public Policy (MPP) program.

Master of public policy student looks forward to graduation, launching career

Master of Public Policy (MPP) graduate student Kaj Althaus has great ambitions for reforming juvenile justice policy. As he prepares to become one of the MPP program’s first graduates this May, Althaus is working diligently to refine his capstone project with the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing.

Graduate student laying important groundwork for juvenile justice reform

The Experiment Lab for Public Management Research (EXPMR) of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management invites you to our second international conference, December 3-4, 2020. The virtual conference will focus on the topics of behavioral and experimental research in public policy and administration with Penn State faculty Anthony M. Bertelli, Emily L. Pakhtigian, Christopher Witko, Johabed G. Olvera, Maithreyi Gopalan, and Tima T. Moldogazîev. Registration for this virtual conference is open to the public.

International Conference for Public Management Research

Anthony Bertelli, Sherwin-Whitmore Professor of Liberal Arts and professor of public policy and political science, presented “Democracy Administered: Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Representative Government” for the Midwest Political Science Association’s 2020 Herbert Simon Award lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020.

Anthony Bertelli delivers 2020 Herbert Simon Award Lecture

Chris Witko, associate director of Penn State’s School of Public Policy, discusses economic inequality on latest Democracy Works podcast

Public policy professor examines how ‘tools of democracy’ can address inequality

Resources for the Future (RFF) Awards $300,000 to Researchers to Quantify the Economic and Societal Benefits of Satellites.

Through the call for proposals for Grants for Assessing the Benefits of Satellites (GABS), RFF sought proposals for research that can quantify the benefits of using satellite data in decisions that improve socioeconomic outcomes for people and/or the environment.

Incoming Faculty Member Receives Research Grant from Resources for the Future

Economic inequality is a growing problem that has attracted more public and media attention in recent years. Many look to the national government to provide policy solutions to this problem, but Congress has done little to help and when the usually gridlocked contemporary Congress has managed to make substantial policy changes – such as the tax cuts passed at the end of 2017 and the Bush tax cuts in the early 2000s – the changes have typically made inequality even worse. Authors Chris Witko and William Franko show that over the last few decades a number of states have actively sought to address inequality using a wide variety of policy tools.

How the U.S. States are tackling inequality — and what more can be done

Current accelerated integrated undergraduate/graduate master of public policy degree options include criminology, sociology, and political science.

Integrated public policy program offers advanced degree in compressed timeframe

Jeff and Sharon Hyde recently made a $500,000 estate commitment to create the Hyde McCourtney Endowed Career Development Professorship in the College of the Liberal Arts. The Hydes hope that curriculum developing communication and negotiation skills students need to succeed in public policy negotiation will be an integral component of the new Master of Public Policy program being launched by the Penn State College of the Liberal Arts.

New Public Policy Program Receives Boost from Hyde-McCourtney Professorship

Lilliard Richardson joins faculty as inaugural program director; Christopher Witko also joins as Public Policy faculty.

College of the Liberal Arts Launches Master of Public Policy Program

As income inequality has grown in the U.S., so too have movements to increase taxes on the wealthy, such as the addition of the “Buffet Rule” to President Obama’s tax plan. But what drives support for these so-called “Robin Hood” tax initiatives? Using data taken from Proposition 1098, a citizen initiative to impose an income tax on the wealthy, Christopher Witkoalong with co-authors William Franko and Caroline Tolbert, find that personal gain is only one motive for supporting these policies; an ideological concern with inequality and allegiance to the Democratic Party are also significant predictors of support.

Democrats, those with low income, and those concerned with inequality are likely to support “Robin Hood” tax policies

2018’s midterm election brought an estimated 113 million Americans to the polls, the highest total for a non-presidential election in U.S. history. As we continue to look at the demographics from exit polls, a look back at past voter turnout and a test of the hypothesis that the more the class bias in voter turnout is skewed toward the rich, the more likely we are to see income inequality, and less likely to see egalitarian legislation.

2018 midterms turnout — a look back at which groups have been more likely to vote and what that means