Why study policy in Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh is known worldwide for the strength of the public-private partnership that rebuilt the city after World War II from a grimy industrial city to a major educational, financial, medical, environmental, cultural and research center. Such dramatic changes brought enormous needs for planning and political innovation.
Pittsburghers responded, building a new downtown, replacing vacant factories with research facilities, rebuilding traditional neighborhoods, retraining displaced workers for new jobs, and creating innovative organizations to accomplish the above.
Policy Center students have worked in many of those organizations as Community Development Fellows or interns. Many have found permanent employment in those organizations when they completed their studies.
These organizations run the gamut from public and nonprofit economic and workforce development to community development to social service organizations. Many of Pittsburgh’s governmental and nonprofit organizations are known worldwide for their innovative approaches to making a difference in social and political conditions. Pop City, a weekly e-magazine highlights news of Pittsburgh’s progressive public and nonprofit sectors.
Why study policy at Duquesne?
Duquesne is located on a beautiful, safe, self-contained campus on the very edge of downtown Pittsburgh. You have the advantages of a true campus while enjoying easy access to the governmental and nonprofit organizations immediately next door.
Duquesne's commitment to ethics and social justice is reflected in our faculty, their research and activist interests. This means that policy studies at Duquesne reflect the University’s call to:
“Seek truth and to disseminate knowledge within a moral and spiritual framework in order to prepare leaders distinguished not only by their academic and professional expertise but also by their ethical standards, and guided by consciences sensitive to human needs.”
Our Commitment:
At the Policy Center, we are committed to truths that serve a higher purpose, beyond probability ratios and cost/benefit analyses. We are committed to:
- evaluating the ethical implications of policy
- research and education that helps communities change for the better, both here in the local Pittsburgh area and in the remotest parts of the globe
- education and training for a change.
Our faculty include:
- a brigadier general in the U.S. Army (Dr. Lewis Irwin) and a captain in the U.S. Navy (Dr. Moni McIntyre)
- a recognized expert on global energy markets (Dr. Kent Moors)
- a former ethics consultant to the Navy Surgeon General (Dr. Moni McIntyre)
- one of the pioneers of visual sociology (Dr. Douglas Harper)
- the former director of Pittsburgh's Economic Development Department (Dr. Evan Stoddard)
- a certified practitioner of the Inside-Out Program (Dr. Norman Conti)
If you study public policy, you will learn how the world works.
If you practice public policy, you can change how the world works.
Learn more about being a graduate student at Duquesne University, including information on housing, parking, and student services, from our Graduate Admissions Web site.
Our Mission
The Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy educates civic-minded leaders to design, implement and evaluate policies to solve and mediate social and political problems. The Center also undertakes research on relevant policies and programs. In doing so, it collaborates with other organizations to improve social and political conditions.
Our History
1986
Dr. Michael Weber, Graduate Dean, proposed bringing together the Departments of Political Science and Sociology to create a Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy to replace their existing M.A. programs.
1988
The Policy Center matriculated its first ten students.
1989
The Policy Center set up its first computer lab, with a grant from Westinghouse Electric.
1995
The Policy Center implemented a new curriculum, including Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies as a new concentration and certificate.
Duquesne University awarded scholarships to bring students from war-torn African countries to study in the Policy Center.
1995-2003
A number of Policy Center faculty members and students undertook projects and research as part of Duquesne University's pioneering Community Outreach Partnership Center in the Hill District and East Liberty.
1997
The Policy Center welcomed its first Peace Corps Fellows.
1999
The Policy Center welcomed its first IREX/Muskie Fellows from the former Soviet Union.
1999 & 2000
The Policy Center hosted USAID-funded summer workshops on peace-building in Cyprus for Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot students.
2001
The first faculty member to be assigned directly to the Policy Center began work.
2004
The Policy Center sponsored its first annual Conference on Public Policy and Conflict Resolution.
2005
The faculty made the Enhanced Research Paper an alternative to writing a thesis.
Dr. Joseph Yenerall became the Policy Center's director.
2006
The Policy Center established an Energy Policy Research Group.
2008
The Policy Center co-sponsored "The Politics and Ethics of Welfare Reform" with the Center for the Study of Catholic Social Thought.
Francis Fox Piven gave the keynote address at the Policy Center's fifth annual conference, "Poverty Policy."
The Policy Center began an evaluation of "Project Search" for UPMC and Goodwill Industries of Pittsburgh, with funding from Mitsubishi Corporation.
2009
The Policy Center's sixth annual conference focused on "Energy and Environmental Policy Issues."
2012
Dr. Charles Hanna became the Policy Center's director.
