At the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, global policy is not just about diplomacy in faraway capitals—it’s about how international challenges shape lives here in Minnesota and across the world.
Whether through student-led fieldwork in Morocco, partnerships with the UN, or policy research that informs Washington and Geneva, the School's programs prepare students to tackle pressing global challenges with a local lens.
“Our students are globally minded. We want to help them broaden their understanding of global issues,” says Associate Dean Yingling Fan. “They want to have experiences and engagement to give them a sense of global connectedness. We strive to prepare our students with a global mindset in all areas of expertise.”
Professor Eric Schwartz, the director of the School’s global policy area, echoes that sentiment.
“Now more than ever, we need graduates and aspiring professionals who deeply understand and appreciate the critical concerns that will impact societies from Africa and Asia to the Near East, Europe, and the Americas.”
Schwartz adds that the Humphrey School has several “defining characteristics” that make its approach to global policy distinctive and unique.
A legacy of internationalism in the Midwest
How can a school in Minnesota offer a world-class global policy education? Schwartz says it’s because leaders in Minnesota have long recognized that local issues are global issues.
That stems in part from the state’s agricultural and mining industries, which are heavily linked to the global economy. In addition, Minnesota is home to 17 Fortune 500 companies, and has a vibrant international nonprofit community.
The School offers a variety of unique learning opportunities for students interested in global policy, including courses in national security and international legal issues, visits from diplomats, a yearly international crisis negotiation exercise led by the Army War College, and a partnership with the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, which offers internships and research opportunities for students.
The Humphrey School is in a unique position to provide students from the Midwest with an international perspective. They come to study global issues, and have opportunities to connect with organizations in Washington, DC, New York City, Geneva, and other global centers through internships at entities such as the Stimson Center and the United Nations, and fellowships at universities in places like Oslo, Norway.
On the other side of the equation, students who are not from the Midwest obtain a rich education that helps their understanding of how global issues affect people who are outside major capital cities. “There’s a place for all types of students here,” says Schwartz.
Indeed, the Humphrey School has a truly global student body, with dozens of students from nearly 40 countries enrolled each year. The School also welcomes a group of international fellows—mid-career professionals in their home countries—each year for a 10-month leadership training program, and a number of visiting international scholars.
A 'human security' emphasis
The Humphrey School provides a broad array of programs for students who want to have traditional foreign policy and international relations careers. But Schwartz says the School also emphasizes “human security” issues in most of its degree programs.
“Traditional international relations is about relations between states,” he says. “The human security approach focuses on the impact of the international environment on individuals. For example, our Master of Development Practice (MDP) and Master of Human Rights (MHR) programs emphasize humanitarianism, even while they do not dismiss the importance of relations between states in the international system.”
The same can be said about the global concentration in the Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree program.
Students in both the MDP and MHR programs have many opportunities to engage with organizations in other countries. For example, every MDP student is required to conduct a 10-week field experience in another country, focused on sustainable development.
Human rights students are frequently placed in internships with the UN and other human rights organizations, globally and locally.
Faculty with global experience
Another defining characteristic of the Humphrey School’s approach to global understanding is the presence of scholars who have experience in the world of practice—even those who aren't in the global policy area. Here are a few examples:
- Professor Ragui Assaad and Associate Professor Caroline Krafft conduct ongoing extensive research into economic conditions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
- Professor Tricia Olsen studies and teaches about the human rights practices of businesses, particularly in developing countries.
- Associate Professor Brigitte Seim focuses on the state of democratization in countries around the world.
- Steve Andreasen, an adjunct faculty member, is an expert on nuclear weapons. He is a national security consultant to the Nuclear Threat Initiative and its Nuclear Security Project in Washington, DC. He teaches courses on National Security Policy and Crisis Management in Foreign Affairs.
- Dave Wilsey, the director of the MDP program, has established or continued the School’s long-standing partnerships with entities in places such as Morocco, Mongolia, Kenya, and the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala.
- Professor Samuel Myers Jr. is one of the main organizers of the World Conferences on Remedies to Racial and Social Inequality. The most recent conference took place in South Africa last September. The next one, in 2026, will be held at the University of Minnesota.
- Schwartz himself has extensive experience in real-world practice: he served as president of Refugees International, held senior positions in the State Department and the UN, and was the dean of the Humphrey School for six years.
Interdisciplinary approach
The School’s faculty routinely work collaboratively across programs and departments at the University, which is another strength of the global policy program.
Yingling Fan is an example of that. An urban planning expert, last year Fan led a group of students on a two-week tour of five cities in China to explore that country’s approach to urban planning.
The lessons they brought back were about more than just how to plan new cities; they were about encouraging the students to have “a different perspective and an open mind to alternative ways of living and policy making,” Fan says.
“Enabling these interactions is no less important than a diplomat working on foreign policy. What’s most important is to recognize our shared humanity. Don’t make assumptions about other countries. There are a lot of similarities rather than differences,” she says.
Schwartz sums up the Humphrey School’s global policy program this way.
“The three legs of our approach are: partnerships with a variety of organizations that offer valuable opportunities for our students; outreach to community organizations; and an engaged faculty who work with students in the classroom and on research activities,” he said. “At the Humphrey School, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We have six separate master's degree programs, but we are one cohesive School.”
