The Doctor of Philosophy in Public Affairs is an interdisciplinary, cohort program.  Between 15 and 20 students are selected to start in a Fall semester cohort each year.  Students take all of the required coursework – 6 hours each Fall, Spring, and Summer semester – with their cohort peers over a two-year period.

The guiding principle of the degree is that Public Affairs involves more than functional administration, policy implementation, or quantitative policy analysis.  Rather, it requires an interface between the traditions of public management, decision science, and policy analysis and processes, and the practical appreciation of the challenges of building and maintaining institutions of governance in a complex, democratic society.  Accordingly, the degree combines traditional and innovative methods of educational delivery and it emphasizes the integration and application of theory to practice.  The degree also is nontraditional in that all students must conduct applied, field-based research as the foundation for their dissertations.

The Ph.D. in Public Affairs prepares graduates to assume positions in academe, research-producing organizations, administration in public (government, public school district), quasi-public (healthcare, insurance), and non-profit (foundation, provider) organizations.