Doctor of Philosophy in Public Affairs

Our Ph.D. program equips you with critical thinking and research capacity on urban and comparative international governance issues. It broadly encompasses public administration, management, policy, and service. It prepares you for research and analytic positions in universities, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations. The Doctor of Philosophy in Public Affairs is designed to prepare students for senior level positions in public, nonprofit and international organizations or positions in an academic or research setting. The degree provides a sound foundation in current administrative practice in public administration and its cognate disciplines within the fields of public policy and management. Doctoral students will be expected to demonstrate significant research capacity in the discipline through the writing of a dissertation.

Applicants should generally have a Master’s degree prior to their enrollment, though outstanding applicants with only a baccalaureate degree may also be considered. Admission is not restricted to students with prior course work in Public Administration. The program encourages applicants with diverse academic backgrounds, with preference given to those with grounding in the policy or administrative sciences. Applicants should ideally demonstrate knowledge of American political institutions and fundamentals of social research methods.

Foreign applicants must demonstrate proficiency in the English language by presenting a minimum score of a 100 on the TOEFL iBT, which is equivalent to 600 on the paper-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL PBT). If applicants take the language proficiency assessment administered by the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), a minimum score of 7.0 is desirable.

The application deadline for Fall 2021 is January 15, 2021.