Harris School of Public Policy

The Harris School of Public Policy was predated by the Committee on Public Policy and The University of Chicago Center for Policy Study. The Center on Public Policy, established in 1966, was a research center and so did not offer degrees. The Center hosted fellows and conferences and published research in the field of public policy, primarily urban studies and urban journalism.[6] The Committee on Public Policy was formed to offer master's degrees to students interested in policy studies. The Committee, formed of professors employed by different academic divisions, began offering classes in 1976 to a small group of one-year Master's students who had applied internally from other graduate divisions within the University of Chicago. The Committee's long term viability was called into question for reasons including the small demand for one year master's degrees in public policy and weak administrative support for such a small program.[7] Over the next three years the Committee began offering two year degrees, joint BA/MA degrees and PhDs, but it continued to be threatened by weak administrative support and unstable funding.[8] In 1986 a committee of Deans recommended the Committee should secure a better endowment and become a professional school or be dissolved. At that time Irving Harris pledged $6.9 million in order to create the public policy school, a figure he later raised to $10 million.[9] In 1988 the Harris School of Public Policy opened in the former American Bar Association Building which it has shared with affiliates including NORC at the University of Chicago and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 2019, the Harris School moved to the newly renovated Keller Center.

The Harris Public Policy offers the following full-time professional master's degree programs:

• Master of Public Policy (MPP), a two-year program
• Master of Science (MS) in Computational Analysis and Public Policy, a two-year program offered with the Department of Computer Science
• Master of Science (MS) in Environmental Science and Policy, a two-year program offered with Argonne National Laboratory
• Master of Arts (MA) in Public Policy, a 9-month program
• Master of Arts (MA) in Public Policy with Certificate in Data Analytics, a 12-month program
• Master of Arts (MA) in Public Policy with Certificate in Research Methods, a 15-month program

Further, the school offers a Ph.D. program in public policy.

Harris Public Policy offers certificates in the following concentrations :

Harris Public Policy's previous building

• Global Conflict
• International Development
• Economic Policy
• Health Policy
• Municipal Finance
• Policy Analysis
• Political Campaigns
• Survey Research
• Health Administration
• Global Health
• Computational Social Science

Harris Public Policy partners with other professional schools and divisions within the University of Chicago to offer accelerated joint/dual degrees.

• MPP/MA – Joint Degree with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies
• MPP/MDiv – Joint Degree with the Divinity School
• MPP/MBA – Joint Degree with the Booth School of Business
• MPP/JD – Joint Degree with the Law School
• MPP/MA – Joint Degree with the School of Social Service Administration
• MA/MA – Dual Degree Committee on International Relations (CIR)
• BA/MPP – The Professional Option Program with the College

Harris Public Policy runs cooperative programs partnered with international institutions .

• Fundação Getúlio Vargas (Getúlio Vargas Foundation), Instituto de Desenvolvimento Educacional (Educational Development Institute)
• Hanqing Advanced Institute of Economics and Finance, Renmin University of China
• Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick
• Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (National Council for Science and Technology of the United Mexican States)
• Yonsei University
• The Center for Strategic Research (SAM), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey)

The following professors served as Dean of the Harris School of Public Policy:

• Robert T. Michael (founding Dean) (1989–1994, 1998–2002)
• Don L. Coursey (1996–1998)
• Susan E. Mayer (2002–2009)
• Colm O'Muircheartaigh (2009–2014)
• Daniel Diermeier (2014–2016)
• Kerwin Charles (interim) (2016–2017)
• Katherine Baicker (2017–2023)
• Ethan Bueno de Mesquita (interim) (2023–Present)

• James J. Heckman – Nobel Prize winning economist, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor, and director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development
• Roger Myerson – Nobel Prize winning economist and game theorist, David L. Pearson Distinguished Service Professor of Global Conflict Studies
• Michael Kremer – Nobel Prize winning developmental economist, University Professor and director of Development Innovation Lab.
• William G. Howell – Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics; Director, Center for Effective Government; Chair, Department of Political Science
• David O. Meltzer – Director of the Center for Health and the Social Sciences and Chair of the Committee on Clinical and Translational Science
• Tomas J. Philipson – Daniel Levin Professor of Public Policy Studies, Harris School of Public Policy; Associate Faculty Member, Department of Economics
• Robert Rosner – William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics Department of Physics, and the Enrico Fermi Institute
• Chris Blattman – Ramalee E. Pearson Professor and member of The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts
• James A. Robinson – British economist and political scientist; University Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy
• Jens Ludwig – McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service Administration, Law, and Public Policy
• Dan A. Black – Deputy dean and professor, senior fellow at the National Opinion Research Center
• Stephen Raudenbush – Lewis-Sebring Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Sociology and the College; Chair, Committee on Education
• Konstantin Sonin – John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor
• Steven Durlauf – Economist and Professor of Public Policy and Education
• Susan Mayer – Sociologist and Former Harris School Dean who has written books on poverty and education
• Ariel Kalil - Behavioral Economist and author who co-directs the Behavioral Insights in Parenting Lab
• Damon Jones - Behavioural Economist and expert in racial inequality

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• Harris School of Public Policy's Website