The Wagner School also takes advantage of the pool of experts available in the New York City area as adjunct faculty who teach courses, serve as advisors and collaborate on research projects. In addition, the school hosts clinical faculty whose primary responsibility is research. Many are active mentors to doctoral students and teach courses. The Wagner student body is diverse in terms of places of origin, prior graduate work, research interests, as well as previous and current teaching and work experience. Current students come from across the U.S. and from other parts of the world including Argentina, China, El Salvador, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mauritius and Venezuela.
Students enter the program with a variety of master's degrees.
For example, current students have degrees in business administration, economics, public health, public policy and public administration. A few enter the program with a bachelor's and earn a Master of Philosophy on their way to the Ph.D. Affiliated Research Centers and Institutes Research opportunities are available to students through centers affiliated with the Wagner School and NYU and through partnerships in institutions within the New York City metropolitan area. Alumni Placed in academic and research institutions devoted to the study of public problems in the government, nonprofit and private sectors, alumni form vast network and are a resource to current students.