The #2020APPAM Fall Research Conference will take place online, but it will also have some fantastic sponsors from across the policy research spectrum. Today we're shining a spotlight on the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
What are the main areas of work on which you focus?
NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service prepares public service leaders to translate ideas into actions that have an effective and lasting impact on the public good. Our faculty’s research changes the way people frame, understand, and act on important public issues. We provide our students with critical skills, access to all that New York City has to offer, and a deep understanding of context surrounding public service challenges—which they use to improve cities and communities across the globe.
Since 1938, NYU Wagner has been educating the world’s future public service leaders. We offer a Master of Public Administration in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy, Master of Public Administration in Health Policy & Management, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Health Administration, Master of Science in Public Policy, Executive Master of Public Administration, and PhD in Public Administration.
What would you say are your school's greatest accomplishments in the last 5-10 years?
We infuse an urban perspective into all of our programs and programming.
Our world is drastically changing: by 2050, almost two-thirds of the population will live in cities. This urban shift is exciting—and also challenging. Urban areas are dense, diverse, and dynamic places where critical social challenges are complex and unavoidable. Take almost any public service issue—affordable healthcare, education disparities, transportation infrastructure, or poverty—and you’ll find cities grappling with it. If you want to drive positive change in your community, you need to have a deep understanding of this urban context.
And there’s no better place to dive into and experiment with real- world solutions than right here at New York University, located in one of the world’s most vibrant urban laboratories. NYU has been, from its origins, a consciously urban university. With a major presence in cities on every continent, NYU is urban.
Why should potential students choose your school or program?
Because we educate our students on the interconnectedness of public service issues.
Our cities and communities face complicated and messy challenges that don’t have simple solutions— they’re intertwined. A child’s ability to succeed in school is impacted by his access to affordable healthcare, which is affected by his transportation options, housing quality, and economic opportunity. You can’t address one issue without understanding the others. We don’t avoid this complexity; we embrace it. As a multidisciplinary school, we offer specialized skill sets in management, policy, finance, healthcare, and urban planning, while also breaking down the barriers between these fields. We connect the dots because we know it’s critical to finding innovative and thoughtful solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges.