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Applied Policy Seminar

Put the skills of Ford School student consulting teams to work solving your organization's public policy challenges through the Applied Policy Seminar.

The Ford School offers a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree designed to prepare students for careers in policy analysis and public management. As part of a rigorous curriculum, students in the MPP program gain hands on experience through Applied Policy Seminars (APS) and other practicum courses.

The Ford School’s Applied Policy Seminar is a semester-long Master’s level course (PP578) that engages students in a supervised consulting project with a real-world client. Teams of 3-6 students work with a faculty coordinator and client representative to develop a project work plan, collect relevant materials and information, conduct research and analysis, prepare a written report, and present findings and recommendations to the client.

Students are expected to produce professional-quality work at minimal cost to the client. In return, clients are asked to provide students with a valuable, engaging educational and professional experience.

Browse these pages to learn more about our APS clients, the impact our students have had on those clients, and how your policy organization can partner with the Ford School to put our well-trained graduate students to work for you.

For more information, please contact Tom Phillips, Associate Director of Graduate Career Services, at tdphill@umich.edu

Applied Policy Seminar in the news:

• Elisabeth R. Gerber, MPP students cited in articles about proposed Macomb County task force (2/16/2011)
• Elisabeth Gerber, Applied Policy Seminar, and One Lenawee partnership highlighted in article (12/10/2010)

Out of the Blue television segment about Applied Policy Seminar work in Lenawee County, Michigan: