The Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy (MPP)
We provide students with the intellectual tools needed to improve the quality of policymaking in the United States and abroad. We offer a two-year master’s degree program (MPP). This is a full-time, residential program limited to 25 new students per year – a size that allows unmatched access to faculty members and a strong sense of community. Four program areas are offered, with a strong overall emphasis on the applied and analytical skills leading to career placement at the strategic levels of public policy.
In the News
Global Electrification
Will Hausman's just published (April 2008) book is titled Global Electrification: Multinational Enterprise and International Finance in the History of Light and Power, 1878-2007 (with Mira Wilkins and Peter Hertner).
Q&A with Rapoport: The validity of Perot and third parties
Ron Rapoport’s long research career has resulted in a book that details the impact of third parties on U.S. politics, Three’s a Crowd: The Dynamic of Third Parties, Ross Perot, and Republican Resurgence. Rapoport, John Marshall Professor of Government and department chair at the College, wrote the book with Walter J. Stone, a professor at the University of California, Davis. Rapoport studied campaign volunteers for Ross Perot for nearly 15 years and examined the impact that their involvement in Perot’s grass-roots campaigns had on their long-term political engagement as well as the effect of the Perot movement as a whole on the Republican takeover of Congress and the presidency.
Perspectives
School's In
From Georgetown University Press:
In School's In, Paul Manna looks over forty years of national education policymaking and asserts that although Washington's influence over American schools has indeed increased, we should neither overestimate the expansion of federal power nor underestimate the resiliency and continuing influence of the states. States are developing comprehensive—often innovative—education policies, and a wide array of educational issues have appeared on the political agenda at the state and national levels.
Joanna Conder '07: Healthcare and Public Policy
By Dan Piepenbring '08
After obtaining a degree in sociology from Poland’s Warsaw University, international student Joanna Conder knew she wanted to study in America. A friend of hers was living in Virginia, which led Joanna to seek out nearby universities with public policy programs. Her research led to William & Mary. “The program here relates to courses I had taken: statistics, economics, and quantitative topics.”
Internship Experiences at GAO
All students in the Thomas Jefferson Program for Public Policy (TJPPP) complete a compulsory internship between their first and second year in the program. These internships give students real-world policy experience, encourage them to explore potential future employers, jobs, and locations, and also help them to grow as individuals and professionals. Students return in the fall with a deeper understanding of policy and its effect on individuals, communities, businesses, and governments, a useful perspective to have as they complete their Master’s program.
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