Student Directory
PhD in Public Policy
In 2001, the Ford School instituted a new doctoral program that enables students to pursue a joint PhD with Public Policy and either Economics, Political Science, or Sociology.
Program Overview
The program combines the interdisciplinary strength and policy focus of the Ford school with internationally recognized social science departments at the University of Michigan.
In this program, students will:
- develop a theoretical grounding in a social science discipline
combined with multi-disciplinary training in the economic and institutional
frameworks within which policies are developed, implemented, administered,
and evaluated;
-
become trained in a wide range of methods used to analyze policy
outcomes and effects;
- specialize in a substantive policy area, such as health, aging, poverty, international economics, human rights, tax policy, or immigration.
PhD students spend about five years on campus. The first three years are devoted to course work and the last two years are devoted to completing a dissertation, in close consultation with faculty from the Ford School and the department in which the student is enrolled. Upon completion of the program, students go on to positions in academia or research positions in government, nonprofit institutions, or business.
Distinctive Program Features
The joint doctoral program is distinctive in these ways:
Disciplinary Orientation – Our students spend most of their first year in a department, taking the same sequence of theory and methods courses that are typically taken by first-year departmental students. In addition, students have a departmental faculty advisor to help them become integrated into the department and to help ensure that they receive adequate grounding in the theory and methods of the discipline.
Empirical Methods – We expect students in the program to develop sophisticated analytical skills including statistics, economic analysis, benefit-cost analysis, evaluation methods, and qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis.
Research Training Opportunities – Active engagement in research is a key component of the program and our students have an array of research opportunities. All students have the opportunity to spend at least a year as a research assistant to a faculty member. In addition, during their first and second years, all students attend a bi-weekly research seminar and complete a research internship. Faculty provides careful guidance for the independent research paper that is part of the third year. Each student completes his or her dissertation under the direction of at least two faculty members, one from the Ford School and one from the department.
Interdisciplinary Policy Analysis – A key goal of the program is to facilitate multidisciplinary training and research. We’ve organized coursework so that early in their studies our students are given extensive exposure to different perspectives and approaches and have the opportunity to compare them. Similarly, our faculty, many of whom hold joint appointments, are engaged in multidisciplinary research and can assist students in bringing the ideas of different disciplines to bear in addressing policy issues.
Contact Information
For more information about the PhD program, please contact:
Joint Doctoral Program in Public Policy and Social Science
Ford School of Public Policy
Phone: (734) 764-3490
Email: fordschoolphd@umich.edu
