Harris School of Public Policy

Harris School of Public Policy
Name	Harris School of Public Policy
Established	1988
Type	Professional school
Parent	University of Chicago
Location	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Dean	Michael Hankinson (interim)

Harris School of Public Policy is a professional school of the University of Chicago offering graduate education in public policy, public affairs, and public administration. Founded in 1988 and renamed after a major gift from businessman and philanthropist Ken Griffin in 2019, the school traces institutional roots to earlier programs connected with the Hyde Park campus and interdisciplinary connections to Booth School of Business, Pritzker School of Medicine, and the university's social science departments. Harris emphasizes empirical policy analysis, quantitative methods, and engagement with municipal and federal institutions such as the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, and agencies in Washington, D.C..

History

The school's origins lie in the postwar expansion of professional training at the University of Chicago and faculty initiatives influenced by scholars from the Kennedy School of Government, the London School of Economics, and the Brookings Institution. Early leadership included faculty with prior appointments linked to Columbia University, Yale University, and the University of Michigan, and the curriculum built on methods from the National Bureau of Economic Research and collaborations with the Argonne National Laboratory. The institution evolved through programmatic shifts during administrations contemporaneous with presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, forging ties to policy networks in Oak Ridge National Laboratory and private foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation. Major philanthropic investments from donors like Gordon and Betty Moore and later from Ken Griffin led to expansion of endowments, facilities, and faculty appointments, linking the school to global policy discussions at venues including the United Nations and the World Bank.

Academics and Programs

Harris offers a Master of Public Policy (MPP), Master of Science (MS) degrees, a PhD in public policy, and joint degrees with Booth School of Business, the Pritzker School of Medicine, the Law School, University of Chicago and programs cross-listed with departments such as Economics, Sociology, and Political Science. The curriculum emphasizes methods drawn from the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review-style econometrics, and randomized controlled trials influenced by work at J-PAL and IFPRI. Courses engage case studies referencing policy episodes like the Great Recession, the Affordable Care Act, and reforms modeled after the New Deal and programs evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office. Harris maintains professional tracks in applied policy analysis, international public policy, domestic policy, health policy, and environmental policy with seminars that examine historical events such as the Chicago Heat Wave and policy responses by agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research and Centers

Research strengths are aggregated through centers and labs that collaborate with external partners such as the World Health Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the International Monetary Fund. Notable affiliated units have included centers modeled after the Urban Institute and partnerships with research entities like the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and think tanks including the Heritage Foundation and Center for American Progress. Faculty produce scholarship published in outlets such as Nature, the Journal of Public Economics, and Science and undertake policy evaluations with methodologies from the RAND Corporation and the Census Bureau. The school's centers convene practitioners from institutions like the United States Department of Labor, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Environmental Protection Agency for policy workshops and symposia.

Admissions and Rankings

Admissions are competitive, drawing applicants from organizations including McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, Teach For America, World Bank Group, and national civil services such as the United States Foreign Service and the Civil Service of India. Prospective students often hold prior degrees from institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and international universities including University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. Harris appears in rankings alongside peers such as the Harvard Kennedy School, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Yale Jackson School, and the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, with metrics assessed by outlets like U.S. News & World Report and Times Higher Education.

Campus and Facilities

Located on the University of Chicago campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood, the school occupies facilities near landmarks such as the Smart Museum of Art and the Harper Memorial Library. Classrooms and labs are equipped for data analysis with software used across institutions like StataCorp, R Project for Statistical Computing, and collaboration platforms common to the Council on Foreign Relations. The campus environment connects to Chicago institutions such as the Chicago Public Schools, the Cook County offices, and civic organizations including the MacArthur Foundation for internships and policy practica.

Notable People

Faculty and alumni include scholars and practitioners who have worked in administrations of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump; served at international organizations such as the International Labour Organization and the World Bank Group; or held roles at universities including University of California, Berkeley, London School of Economics, Yale University, and Princeton University. Alumni have gone on to positions at firms like Goldman Sachs, firms in consulting such as Boston Consulting Group, and NGOs including Oxfam and Amnesty International, and elected offices at municipal, state, and national levels.

Community Engagement and Impact

The school engages in community partnerships with the City of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, neighborhood organizations linked to Bronzeville and Jackson Park, and public health initiatives coordinated with the Cook County Department of Public Health and the Chicago Department of Public Health. Collaborative projects involve policy pilots, evaluations for agencies like the Illinois Department of Human Services, and capacity building with nonprofits such as Greater Chicago Food Depository and civic groups active in urban planning, transportation, and housing policy shaped by legislation like the Fair Housing Act.

Category:University of Chicago