Panel Paper:
The ASU School of Public Affairs/Maxwell School Sloan Foundation Project: New Developments in Integrating Engineering into Masters of Public Policy and Masters of Public Administration Programs
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
The paper will report on an important initiative in Schools of Public Policy and Public Administration that is being funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (the organization that provided the initial funding for the establishment of APPAM). The field of public policy/public administration is experiencing unprecedented challenges from technological innovation, as we enter the era of “the Internet of Things.” Public policy professionals and government administrators need to be prepared to manage organizations where traditional work and workers are displaced, transportation, energy, and security models are reconsidered, and everyday tasks are automated.
Deans and Directors of Schools of Public Administration/Public Policy should partner with engineering schools to provide the curriculum and scholarship required to prepare graduates for the future of work in the public and nonprofit sectors. This ASU-Syracuse (Maxwell) partnership is dedicated to fostering stronger partnerships between engineering schools and policy schools, in order to achieve this integration. We believe that these partnerships will improve the educational value of the MPA/MPP degree and enhance the effectiveness of public managers. We report on our progress in documenting the incidence of these partnerships and provide some preliminary recommendations to foster and evaluate the effectiveness of such collaborative efforts.
Donald Siegel is Foundation Professor of Public Policy and Management and Director of the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University.
Laura J. Steinberg is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Engineering and Computer Science and Special Assistant for Strategy to the Vice Chancellor at Syracuse University. She is also Executive Director of the university-wide Infrastructure Institute at SU and holds an affliated faculty appointment in the Maxwell School in Public Administration and International Affairs. She is past Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University.
