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MPP Concentrations (9 credits in one of the following areas)
You select a focus from one of the areas described below. All concentrations require at least nine semester credits. You can take concentration and elective courses at the Humphrey School and from other University departments.
The concentration in advanced policy analysis methods builds on the core courses in policy analysis and quantitative methods. Students in this concentration can download the concentration sheet for information on specific courses that fulfill concentration requirements.
Policy analysts work in all levels of government and in the private and nonprofit sectors. Graduates with policy analysis skills currently work in organizations ranging from the federal Office of Management and Budget, the Government Accountability Office, and the Congressional Budget Office to policy analysis and planning departments within state and local agencies.
Policy analysis is systematic, structured thinking about policy problems to help inform the policy making process. Building on core courses in policy analysis and quantitative methods, the concentration in advanced policy analysis methods helps students to focus on mastery of additional policy analysis tools or methods or on the application of a specific analytic method to a subject of interest, such as health, labor, education, the environment, racial and ethnic disparities, agriculture, among others.
Below is just a small sampling of the dozens of courses related to public and nonprofit leadership. You can find additional ideas on the concentration sheet.
Students interested in policy analysis may be interested in the work of the following Humphrey School research centers:
The economic and community development concentration covers a broad range of topics, including local community development, regional economic development, and development of national economies, especially for developing countries. Students in this concentration can download the concentration sheet for information on specific courses that fulfill concentration requirements.
Successful economic development helps to support vibrant communities. Many socio-cultural, institutional, political, and economic processes can promote—or retard—progress toward self-sufficiency and vitality. The issues at the heart of the economic and community development concentration are such factors as per capita income and access to water, land, health, education, and other material and non-material resources. The challenge for planners, policy analysts, managers, advocates, and others interested in community development is to discover and implement policies and programs that directly or indirectly raise or more equitably distribute income and resources.
Students interested in economic and community development have substantial flexibility in how they meet the concentration requirements. In addition to the core courses in economics, students can examine housing policy, international economic policy, or natural resources in international development, among many other possibilities.
Below is just a small sampling of the dozens of courses related to economic and community development. You can find additional ideas on the concentration sheet.
Students interested in economic and community development may be interested in the work of the following Humphrey School research centers and policy areas:
The global public policy concentration equips students to understand how and why various actors think and act globally as they attempt to address domestic, transnational, and international concerns. Students in this concentration can download the concentration sheet concentration sheet for information on specific courses that fulfill concentration requirements.
Global policy describes the broad range of public and private actors in the policymaking process and the myriad connections among groups across national borders that shape our world. Because many of the central problems and challenges of our day span national boundaries, so, too, must the solutions. Fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, managing climate change and other environmental problems, advancing democracy and human rights, reducing the spread of disease, and confronting traditional and nontraditional security threats requires coordinated action at the global level.
The global public policy concentration highlights two critical themes. One is the global rules that regulate the activities of various actors on the world stage–international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, corporations and private citizens. The second is the relationship between international and domestic policy, as transnational issues increasingly require coordination between global institutions and domestic and local actors.
Below is just a small sampling of of the dozens of courses related to global public policy . You can find additional ideas on the concentration sheet.
Students interested in global public policy may be interested in the work of the following Humphrey School research area:
The leadership and management concentration prepares students to meet the challenges of leading and managing in and beyond public and nonprofit organizations. Students in this concentration can download the concentration sheet for information on specific courses that fulfill concentration requirements.
Leaders and managers of public and nonprofit organizations face unique challenges and mandates. In addition to supervising the daily operations of organizations large and small, they must cope with funding constraints; work closely with government, private, and public sector constituents, and often answer to volunteer boards of directors. The public and nonprofit leadership and management concentration trains students to navigate these issues through collaborative engagement with public and private partners.
Courses in the public and nonprofit leadership concentration explore a broad range of issues, such as strategy formulation and implementation, governance, performance measurement, financial management, state and local finance, budgeting, human resources, organizational design and change, policy design and change, and inter-organizational relations. Several themes can tie coursework together into a coherent primary concentration. Three examples are: general management, nonprofit management, and public budgeting and financial management.
Below is just a small sampling of the dozens of courses related to public and nonprofit leadership. You can find additional ideas on the concentration sheet.
Students in interested in public and nonprofit leadership and management may be interested in the work of the following Humphrey School research centers:
The science, technology, and environmental policy concentration provides students with the analytical framework for making decisions about public investments in science and technology. Students in this concentration can download the concentration sheet for information on specific courses that fulfill concentration requirements.
Increasingly scientists are needed in the policy arena to not only examine the effects of technology on policy, but also to explain the intersection between science and policy development and implementation. Those who understand of the role of science and technology in society can help to share the future of energy, environmental, nanotechnology, and other policy fields.
Students in this concentration explore three focuses within the science, technology, and environmental policy field to ensure that they receive a broad exposure to the intersection of science and policy. These three focus areas include conceptual framework, science and technology, and environment and energy.
Below is just a small sampling of the dozens of courses related to science, technology, and environmental policy. You can find additional ideas on the concentration sheet.
If you are interested in science, technology, and environmental policy, you may be interested in the following Humphrey School research center:
At the Humphrey School, we invite you to examine and challenge your basic assumptions about how we understand social problems and what we should do to make progress. The social policy concentration provides sophisticated social science and management tools to determine how best to tackle important social issues. Students in this concentration can download the concentration sheet for information on specific courses that fulfill concentration requirements.
At its heart, social policy strives to end inequality and oppression. Social policy often entails the most divisive public policy issues of our time, such as health, education, immigration, sexuality, child and family well-being, among others. Precisely because social policy issues are so contentious, they must be analyzed with the rigorous conceptual and concrete tools that move us beyond preconceptions.
The social policy concentration combines economic and policy analysis with in-depth, specialized analyses of specific substantive areas of social policy. Our approach differs from that of traditional academic and other analysis by putting issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, age, employment, and immigrant status at the center of inquiry. This intersectional approach to social policy leads us beyond a conventional analysis of economic inequalities.
Below is just a small sampling of the dozens of courses related to social policy. You can additional ides on the concentration sheet.
Students interested in social policy may be interested in the following Humphrey School research centers:
The women in public policy concentration focuses on how gender politics affect public policy. Students in this concentration can download the concentration sheet for information on specific courses that fulfill concentration requirements.
Public policy is gendered. This means that men and women are affected differently by public policies, that they participate differently in the public policy making process, and that public policies are an arena where gender is resisted and renegotiated.
Students choose this concentration so that they can study the effects of gendered public policy, both generally and as it relates to specific issues. You are encouraged to perform gender analysis of public affairs issues of greatest interest. This could include employment, global policy, health care, and many others. You also can examine the intersection of oppressions based not only on gender but also race, class, and sexual orientation.
Below are just a small sampling of the dozens of courses related to women and public policy. You can find additional ideas on the concentration sheet.
If you are interested in women and public policy, you may be interested in the following Humphrey School research centers:
The self-designed concentration allows students to deepen their professional interests by creating an interdisciplinary concentration that can combine courses from two or more existing concentrations as well as courses from various departments across the University. Students pursuing this concentration should consult with their advisors and review the self-designed concentration form to understand the rationale and approval that is required for this concentration. The form also includes tips for choosing courses in a self-designed concentration.
The self-designed concentration allows students to create a unique set of courses to study important issues they wish to address as current and future professionals in a variety of sectors, including, but not limited to, such areas as education policy, healthcare policy, program evaluation, human rights, international development, disability policy, politics and governance, public finance, food security, population policy, sustainable agriculture and public engagement. Students provide a cohesive rationale for the themes that tie coursework together into a coherent concentration.
Courses are chosen in consultation with advisors and other experts in the fields of interest students are pursuing. Depending on the particular themes that are identified, courses in a self-designed concentration come from Public Affairs and any number of the 150+ graduate programs at the University of Minnesota. The concentration form provides tips to explore various themes within the defined interest areas. Some past self-designed concentrations have included:
Research centers abound at the University of Minnesota, and when looking throughout the entire University, students will find one or more research centers to match a variety of professional interests. Research centers in the Humphrey School include:
Other research centers closely affiliated with the Humphrey School include:
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