CORNELL INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS
GENERAL INFORMATION
WWW home page: http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/cipa/
The Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA) is a university-wide institute that offers a two-year graduate professional program leading to a Master of Public Administration. Its mission is to develop professionals who can be effective, ethical, and creative leaders in government and in the private sector's interface with government.
CIPA emphasizes the interactions between public and private interests for the benefit of all sectors of society. At CIPA, we use Cornell's cutting-edge strengths as a major research university to understand rapidly evolving national interests, technological opportunities, ecological constraints, individual aspirations, and political possibilities. Cornell's extraordinary depth of sectoral resources including but not confined to science and technology; health, education, and social services administration; agricultural policy; nutrition; international development; environmental studies; peace studies; labor relations; city and regional planning; and ethics in public life provide a diverse base for the CIPA Fellows (our students) to pursue the study of public affairs. Thus, CIPA Fellows take courses and work with faculty from all of Cornell's Colleges as well as the Cornell Law School and the Johnson Graduate School of Management.
The CIPA program has been developed to offer both a sound foundation in the principles, tools, and techniques for a career and leadership in public policy either in the public or private sector. CIPA also offers the flexibility to accommodate and encourage the special interests of its students as they enter this new policy and career environment.
The curriculum is structured into three parts: four required core courses taken by all CIPA Fellows; area requirements focused on developing the wide variety of skills necessary for the public policy professional; and sectoral specialties, focused on the particular interest of the Fellow and leading to a thesis.
The Core Courses
These courses have been developed especially for CIPA Fellows to provide a common, hands-on experience in employing the latest analytical techniques to guide the formulation of programs, their supporting institutions, and their effective administration. They will also provide strategies for implementing change in complex heterogeneous societies.
CIPA I: Quantitative Techniques for Policy Analysis and Program Management (CRP 720) This course is designed to give students the basic management tools essential for the contemporary career in public affairs. It includes hands-on practice with formal management techniques, including investment analysis and linear and dynamic programming.
CIPA II: Public Political Economy (ECON 539) Techniques of economic analysis are used to understand the need for various public programs, to estimate the value of new programs and policies, to forge desirable institutional structures for service delivery, and to anticipate and evaluate outcomes.
CIPA III: Administration, Politics, and Public Affairs (GOVT 621) This course is focused on the processes and institutional context of public affairs and analyzes the political and administrative structure and dynamics of policy development and implementation.
CIPA IV: Social Policy (SOC 526) This course incorporates the study of analytic methods, especially the use of statistics and simulation models, in order to study the structure of public programs and to assess their consequences.
The Area Requirements
In addition to the four core courses, Fellows must also complete satisfactorily a series of foundation subject or area requirements that are essential to the training of public policy professionals. These areas are: methodologies, politics and policy, economics, math and statistics, finance, regulation, ethics, and public law.
The Sectoral Specialty
At least three courses taken by individual Fellows will be in their sectoral specialty or "concentrations." These are widely divergent and depend on the unique interests and background of the individual student.
The CIPA Thesis
Each Fellow must complete a thesis, which applies the conceptual tools, theories, and analytical techniques to a problem in the Fellow's area of sectoral expertise.
Additional Requirements
All M.P.A. candidates must spend four semesters in residence to complete the degree.
Financial Support. As a professional program, the financial aid resources of CIPA are extremely limited. Students of unusual merit and documented need will be considered for support, but CIPA is unable to provide any one student full support. Therefore, applicants are encouraged to explore and exploit all available sources of external funding. Students requesting aid must submit applications by February 15 for consideration.
Application. Applicants are required to submit GRE general test scores. CIPA has a policy of rolling admissions. For an application or more information, contact Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, 473 Hollister Hall (phone: 607-255-8018; fax: 607-255-5240; e-mail: sb27@cornell.edu).
