A master’s degree in public policy is geared toward analysts who want to delve fully into the details of economics, public finance and research. A master’s in public administration is for those who are focused on the management of staff in government agencies, nonprofits and other organizations. Students usually choose one or the other.
But Johns Hopkins University’s Master of Arts in Public Management combines the two.
“You can’t separate public administration and public policy. Good public administration is integral to good public policy,” said Paul Weinstein, Jr., the program’s director and cofounder, noting that he bases that understanding at least in part on his years serving as special assistant to President Bill Clinton and chief of staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and then senior adviser for policy planning to Vice President Al Gore. “The skills you need in public administration — which are basically management, financial, accounting — you also need in policy. Just as in management, you need to understand cost-benefit analysis and policy evaluation — you’d better be familiar with the different disciplines in public policy, whether it’s health care or security policy.”
Unlike many graduate programs, students in the M.A. in Public Management have only four course requirements; Public Policy Evaluation and the Policy Process, Financial Management and Analysis in the Public Sector, Economics for Public Decision Making, and then, either Proseminar: Essentials of Public and Private Management, Quantitative Methods, or Principles of Nonprofit Management. They choose seven electives and complete a capstone project of their own design. The goal of the capstone is to provide a detailed solution to an identified problem. For example, one student worked on the issue of Net Neutrality while another proposed the creation of a nonprofit organization in response to a determined need.
Joelle Cannon, who earned the degree while working on the Hill (see sidebar), chose to focus her capstone, “The Tax Treatment of Nonprofit Organizations,” on an area she’d targeted at work.
“It was a little tangential, but there was some overlap with things I’d done for work on the tax code, so it was very interesting,” she said.
In just under four years, the program has grown from 0 to 100 students, most of whom attend part time while working. They come in large part from nonprofits, think tanks, advocacy organizations, the executive branch and Capitol Hill. A number arrive from China, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia; they make up the bulk of the 15 percent of students who attend full time, and most return to jobs in their home countries.
On the flip side, an annual study abroad option through JHU’s Center for Advanced Governmental Studies has allowed students to visit Israel, India, Mexico, Western Europe and China to learn about local policy issues, energy security, civil-military relations and culture.
In May the program will be available online, though Weinstein says that option is really intended to meet specific concerns. For working students with scheduling conflicts, or those who are in the military, the availability of classes and material online may mean the difference between completing the degree and coming up short.
Courses are taught by a mix of dedicated tenured faculty and adjuncts, who, like their students, hail from government, think tanks and private firms — there’s even an elected official, Maryland state senator, Brian Feldman teaching a class in local politics.
“We have the philosophy that you bring the most to the table if you have both academic and practical experience,” Weinstein said.
Although it’s not essential to have a graduate degree while working on the Hill, as both Cannon and Weinstein note, in the nonprofit world it’s not only desirable, but expected.
“People want much more tangible skills,” Weinstein said, pointing to the long-term change from public policy as a theoretical and comparative subject to today’s programmatic focus on qualitative skills, the ability to evaluate programs and processes for evaluation, as well as financial management and accounting, even if those aren’t part of students’ future job plans.
Joelle Cannon had been working on the Hill for ten years and was thinking about moving into the private sector, but she knew she needed to earn a graduate degree first. After ruling out an MBA, Cannon, a congressional policy adviser, enrolled in Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Public Management; she completed the program in December 2014 and says the degree will put her in a more competitive category when she does decide to move on.
“I was able to learn things in the classroom that are outside what I’m learning at work every day,” says Cannon. Initially, her goal was to get all As in her courses, until her boss asked point-blank whether she was there for the grades or to actually learn something. That motivated her to sign up for stats, communications, economics and other classes that were outside her area of expertise. As a result, she’s now anticipating that when she does move into the private sector, it will be for a position in communications or public relations related to public policy.
Cannon says the biggest payoff was the least expected: networking with her classmates, all of whom were balancing coursework with day jobs.
“I met people from the other side of the aisle that also work on the Hill, and people on the House side,” says Cannon. “I also met people working for nonprofits or other agencies. That was really interesting because most people in a grad program are thinking of changing direction. Talking to other students who had worked in different fields was really beneficial.”
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