Message from the Chair

At the UCLA Department of Policy Studies, we take people who are passionate about making a difference in the world and give them the tools they need to do so. Our Master of Public Policy program combines the best of traditional policy education with a flexibility and responsiveness that enables us to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world. Increasingly, policy making and policy implementation are taking place in the nonprofit and private sectors. A career in public service is no longer limited to working in government. By giving students a diversified tool kit of quantitative and analytical skills and the flexibility to design their own program of study – while drawing on all the resources of one of a top research university – we produce graduates who are equipped to become real leaders in policy making, wherever that process takes place.

Our unique program, which combines a demanding interdisciplinary curriculum with the ability to respond to change has attracted a diverse group of outstanding students from all over the world. They have worked as teachers, political lobbyists, government officials, television producers, graphic designers, newspaper reporters, legislative aides and military helicopter pilots. They are drawn to UCLA by their common desire to change the world and their search for the best preparation to do that.

The strengths of our program also have attracted an impressive roster of distinguished scholars with a wide range of interests in social issues – crime, health, environment, welfare, and international relations, to name just a few. The challenge of building something new, something different from existing models, something designed to respond to today’s challenges at a great university has brought many of us and made it possible to build such an innovative program.

The MPP program at UCLA reflects the rapidly changing face of the Los Angeles metropolitan region, a rich social laboratory for those who want to foresee the future for the rest of the country. To change the world, you need to know how the world is changing. There is no better place to witness those changes – and to prepare to influence future change – than at UCLA.

Arleen Leibowitz

Chair/Professor

Department of Policy Studies