Student Directory
Master of Public Policy (MPP)
The Ford School’s Master of Public Policy (MPP) is a two-year program of study designed for students seeking a strong foundation of analytical skills in economic, organizational, political, and quantitative fields.
Program Overview
Coursework provides students a framework within which to explore specific policy concerns. As the core course requirements are completed, students deepen their knowledge of particular fields by taking elective courses within the school or selecting courses from the many other graduate and professional schools at the University of Michigan.
Often, those electives will include courses from schools such as Business, Education, Information, Law, Natural Resources and Environment, Public Health, Social Work, or Urban Planning, or one of the nine international area studies centers housed at the University.
Students may also choose to pursue a dual degree program, combining the MPP with simultaneous study in another graduate school program.
• U.S. Social Policy
• Economic Policy
• International Development and Politics
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Methods of Policy Analysis
• Politics of Policymaking
Course of Study
Students are generally in residence at the Ford School for two-years (four semesters) and are also required to complete a 10-week internship in a policy-related position. Most students do this between the first and second years of the program.
The degree requires completion of 48 credit hours (most courses are 3 credit hours), with a total of 36 credits required within the Ford School. We recognize that students will come to the school with different backgrounds. Students with considerable training in a particular core area are waived out of core courses in that area and substitute elective courses instead.
Core Coursework
The core courses which our students complete include:
- Calculus (PubPol 513)
- Statistics (PubPol 529)
- Microeconomics A (PubPol 555) and Microeconomics B (PubPol 558) or Accelerated Microeconomics (PubPol 559)
- Foreign Policy and the Management of International Relations (PubPol 560) or Political Environment of Policymaking (PubPol 585)
- Values, Ethics, and Public Policy (PubPol 580)
- Public Management (PubPol 587)
- Integrated Policy Exercise (PubPol 638)
Please note:
1. Calculus is required for all students who have not completed an undergraduate calculus course (including multivariate calculus) with a grade of B or higher
2. Students who wish to concentrate on issues of international policy take Foreign Policy Analysis and the Management of International Relation (PubPol 560)
3. Students will take the Integrated Policy Exercise (1 credit) for two winter semesters
4. If you are waived from a core course, you must complete an additional elective Ford School course. Waived courses are not counted toward the 48 credits required for the degree.
Focus Areas
MPP students often select groupings of courses to ensure in-depth study of a particular policy area. Such groups are optional and, of course, there is considerable interaction between different policy areas. Even when students focus their course work, they take related courses from other areas as well.
Among the most common course are groupings are:
Course work in this area examines policy issues that address our well-being as individuals and as a society. This includes fields such as education, poverty, housing, criminal justice, and health care.
Tax Policy and Business (PubPol 575)
Social Policy and Business (PubPol 576)
Issues in Education Policy (PubPol 628)
Program Evaluation (PubPol 636)
Community Development (PubPol 652)
Thinking About Crime (PubPol 692)
Education Policy (PubPol 695)
Women and Employment (PubPol 730)
Poverty and Inequality (PubPol 736)
Child and Family Health Policy (PubPol 740)
Social Welfare Policy (PubPol 746)
Key faculty in this field include:
Tony Chen
Mary Corcoran
David Cohen
Sandra Danziger
Sheldon Danziger
Matt Davis
Barry Rabe
David Thacher
Maris Vinovskis
Economic Policy
Students who focus their course work on economic policy explore questions of tax, trade, and labor market policy in both the U.S. and in other countries. Courses address issues such as country-specific economic policy, how one country affects and responds to others, and public finance.
International Trade Policy (PubPol 541)
International Financial Policy (PubPol 542)
Macroeconomics (PubPol 556)
Tax Policy and Business (PubPol 575)
Social Policy and Business (PubPol 576)
Economic and Social Policies of a Selected Developing Country (PubPol 674)
International Labor Markets and PubPol (PubPol 696)
Principles of Finance and Global Financial Markets (PubPol 741)
Economics of the Public Sector (PubPol 744)
Topics in International Economic Policy (PubPol 747)
Key faculty in this field include:
Paul Courant
Alan Deardorff
Kathryn Dominguez
Jim Levinsohn
Marina v.N. Whitman
International Development and Politics
This field examines the relationships between nations and between nations and non-state actors. It explores policy areas such as national security, international human rights, immigration, and economic development.
Economics of Developing Countries (PubPol 534)
International Financial Policy (PubPol 542)
Macroeconomics (PubPol 556)
International Security Affairs (PubPol 673)
Economic and Social Policy of a Selected Developing Country (PubPol 674)
Human Rights and International PubPol (PubPol 675)
International Politics of Poverty and Development (PubPol 676)
Immigration Policy (PubPol 677)
Key faculty in this area include:
Bob Axelrod
Alan Deardorff
Kathryn Dominguez
Robert Stern
Kathy Terrell
Susan Waltz
Dean Yang
Public and Nonprofit Management
Focused course work in this area enables students to explore the role public (government) and non-profit (non-governmental) organizations play in developing, implementing, and evaluating policies. It includes study of how management in these sectors differs from the private sector.
Policy and Management in the Nonprofit Sector (PubPol 671)
Negotiation and Conflict Management (PubPol 687)
Managing Professional Relationships (PubPol 735)
Economics of the Public Sector (PubPol 744)
Governance and Implementation (PubPol 815)
Key faculty in this area include:
John Chamberlin
David Thacher
Janet Weiss
This field focuses on the methods used to analyze and evaluate public policies. Work in this area includes the development of strong quantitative skills and the application of these skills to many policy arenas.
Applied Microeconomics (PubPol 501)
Applied Econometrics (PubPol 571)
Policy Models – Econometrics II (PubPol 572)
Program Evaluation (PubPol 636)
Normative Theories of Taxation (PubPol 726)
Key faculty in this area include:
John DiNardo
Bob Schoeni
Carl Simon
Work in this area examines the role of the political world, particularly its impact on policymaking. It explores the political process from campaigns to policy implementation.
Legislative Policy Process (PubPol 684)
State and Local Policy (PubPol 686)
Management of Election Campaigns (PubPol 693)
Policy Advocacy (PubPol 698)
Political Economy of Government Regulation (PubPol 749)
Government and Implementation (PubPol 815)
Key faculty in this area include:
Liz Gerber
Ann Lin
Rick Hall
Maris Vinovskis
