Although it comes as a surprise to some policy makers and business people, the basic scholarly and educational missions of a university do not lend themselves easily to solving the pressing problems of communities. A public affairs institute does not displace the basic educational and scholarly missions of the university but rather provides the institutional incentives and organizational infrastructure for connecting the missions to the needs of policy makers and citizens.
Individual faculty possess considerable knowledge and expertise on a wide range of policy subjects.
However, they do not typically have the time nor do they receive rewards for providing technical assistance, conducting applied research, planning conferences, or producing publications targeted to policy makers. IGPA changes these time constraints and rewards in a variety of ways. The institute somewhat alters the mix of teaching loads for faculty from conventional courses in university classrooms to non-traditional workshops, seminars, and public affairs sessions for policy makers, professional practitioners, and the general public. The institute also is concerned with translating and communicating policy ideas and expertise to those in positions of authority to affect change. The institute contracts with professionals to work with faculty to translate their expertise and research findings into audio tapes or short policy briefing papers.