Students in the workshop met with staff at the East End Medical Center in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Policy Workshops

Policy workshops provide students with an opportunity to use the analytical skills they acquired in the first year of the program to analyze complex and challenging policy issues, usually for real-world clients.

The goal of the workshops is to understand a policy issue in great depth and to make policy recommendations that are both creative and realistic, given the relevant institutional and political constraints. Each workshop consists of eight to 10 students who work in teams to evaluate a policy challenge. Most students engage in field research during the fall break period. Each workshop produces a final report and gives a presentation to the client, typically by the end of the fall semester.

Fall 2022 Policy Workshop Topics and Faculty Instructors

SPI 591a: Housing Allowances and Administrative Burden: A Comparative Analysis- Amy Kenyon

SPI 591b: Free Trade Agreements, Welfare and Well-being- Julio A. Guzman

SPI 591c: Egypt, Ethiopia, and Nile Waters: Conflict and Diplomacy- Dan Kurtzer

SPI 591d: Puerto Rico's Renewable Energy Mandates- Eduardo Bhatia

SPI 591e: Implementing the ACA- Heather Howard and Dan Meuse

SPI 591f: South China Sea- Zack Cooper and Gregory Poling

SPI 591g: Implementing Refugee Policies- Filiz Garip

SPI 591h: Urban Policy in Accra, Ghana- Devanne E. Brookins