We have more and more demanding statistics courses, and again, others have joined us in thinking that is what the profession ought to have. We now have to do an increasingly aggressive job in teaching public management and policy implementation, so that students not only know the theory underlying how to assess a policy, but also how to organize the policy, to interact with others on a team, and to put regulations into play. We are training men and women to implement policy, not to be academics. We've added a capstone course for every master's student, where you take the theory, you take the principles and tools, and you practice putting together policy implementation plans. We also have a mentor program, a summer intern program, and community programs, so students can get hands-on experience.
Students come to policy school because they want to make a difference.
They want concepts and theories that will improve their ability to make a wise judgment and to influence others with the salience and the power of their arguments. If you have wise men and women doing good analyses of the policy, issues, and topics and politicians acting on that advice that's going to enhance the well-being of us all. The problems that our graduates are going to help solve are big, messy, difficult problems. The mix of what you need to do to solve them is most challenging. That's what makes the energy at a policy school so rewarding.