Program Overview
Adler University’s Master of Public Policy (MPP) program allows students to channel their passion for public policy and social advocacy, and prepares them to become leaders in the field. Students learn how to effectively use policy to bring about positive social change in the community, with a focus on developing, implementing, and evaluating policy initiatives that promote not only health, but also political, social, and economic justice.
Students also select from three specialized concentrations – Community Health; Human Rights Advocacy; and Sustainable Communities – for professional development in the program that fits their passion and career goals.
Graduates can pursue a wide range of career opportunities in public policy, within national, state, and local governments; research centers; consulting firms; community action groups; and NGOs and direct service providers in the United States and around the world.
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Concentrations
As part of the MPP, students will select from three specialized concentrations – Community Health; Human Rights Advocacy; and Sustainable Communities – for professional development in the program that fits their passion and career goals.
Community Health
The Community Health concentration prepares graduates to lead government policy and advocacy efforts that advance positive social change in communities. With cities around the world facing unprecedented population growth, this concentration trains students to work toward creating urban environments that promote mental health and well-being. Students focus on the role of participatory governance and community collaboration to counter urban environmental risk factors and improve overall well-being.
Human Rights Advocacy
In the Human Rights Advocacy concentration, students learn how to lead policy and advocacy efforts that foster human rights and social justice domestically and internationally. This concentration trains policy professionals to work in governmental, nonprofit, or private sectors applying established human rights standards, laws, and treaties. Students focus on broader social, economic, political, and environmental issues in a theoretical and historical context within our practice-based curriculum.
Sustainable Communities
Sustainable Communities is for those who aspire to administration, leadership, and advocacy across a broad range of career opportunities in both the non-profit and public service sectors. Using Adlerian principles, you’ll learn the skills necessary to create sustainable economic development, environmental development and healthier communities at the local, state, national and international level.
Student Outcomes
With Adler University, students go beyond the skill-based necessities and technicalities of creating policy, and delve into the spirit of how policy can make a difference at the local, state and national level. Adler University is also a recognized pioneer in graduate education, preparing socially responsible practitioners to be change agents at the community level.
Careers in Public Policy
The range of opportunities in public policy continues to grow, within national, state, and local governments; research centers; consulting firms; community action groups; and NGOs and direct service providers in the United States and around the world. Our program is designed to prepare you with the skills, knowledge, and experience for roles specializing in healthy communities, such as:
- Project manager
- Program administrator
- Community organizer
- Policy analyst or researcher
- Municipal planner/developer
- Advocacy and policy council strategist
- Community development specialist
- Community leadership or advocacy
- Nonprofit or for-profit community service provider
- Government representative or legislator
Working with the University’s network of hundreds of community partners, students get hands-on policy experience and cultivate the skills to become agents of positive social change. As part of the Master of Public Policy, students will participate in two experiences designed to apply classroom learnings to real-world settings.
Students complete an experiential Capstone project in their specific area of professional interest working with a governmental, community, advocacy, or nonprofit organization. During the Capstone, they will work individually or as part of a team to improve a public policy or service by using Adlerian principles to align with and advocate for social justice.
Graduate Spotlight
Victoria Stewart, graduate
Master of Public Policy
In 2019, Adler University graduate Victoria Stewart delivered a remarkable speech in which she called on her fellow classmates to “create a more diverse and inclusive reality.” Today, she is doing just that.
Curriculum
The Master of Public Policy program is 36 credit hours. Successful completion of this program includes the courses listed below.
Find course descriptions and more information in the Adler University Course Catalog.
Core Public Policy Courses
This course introduces students to the historical and theoretical foundations of public policy process and administrative services considering key participants and the environmental context. Students learn how policy is created and reformed, how government services come into existence, how political agendas shape policy and services, the government decision-making process, societal influence on policy development and reform, ethical influences in the policy process and public sector organization, and the four main values in public policy and administration: equity, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.
In this course, students learn the basic economic tools and microeconomic models relevant to current policy and public sector choices, including the role of government in a market-oriented economy, with an emphasis on market failures. Students learn about public goods, externalities, competition versus monopoly, opportunity cost, economic efficiency, and equity.
This course is designed to provide students with a solid foundation for the ethical practice of leadership and management in the public and nonprofit sectors.
This course explores the theories and practices in collaborative policy making and civic engagement. Students learn different dialogue modalities, including intergroup dialogue, the use of social media, co-intelligence or the mixing of personal intelligences and how these skills are essential tools used in the democratic process of finding solutions to complex problems and creating new policy.
This course examines the areas of policy that together affect the health of communities – healthcare and prevention, education, employment, crime, housing, urban land-use and planning, environmental preservation, sustainable and economic development.
This course reviews basic methods and theories of quantitative analysis in the social sciences. Students learn descriptive and inferential statistics as well as studying topics such as sampling, probability, correlations, variance, and statistical analysis.
In this course, students learn how to get detailed and significant information through research methods that use open-ended and in-depth interviewing, with a focus on the key components of qualitative research designs, methods, and analysis.
This course examines the relationship between business and government, the influence one has over the other; how governmental policies influence the decisions of corporations, businesses and industries and vice-versa, and the economic and development issues arising in an increasingly integrated global economy.
The Capstone/Fieldwork experience offers students the opportunity to work in an organizational setting such as a governmental agency, community group, or nonprofit organization, within the policy area of their choice that is part of students’ areas of concentration.
The Social Justice Practicum (SJP) is a first-year, nonclinical and non-discipline-specific experiential practicum that begins in the fall term. Students gain the knowledge, skills, and perspectives to utilize collective power and social justice strategies to build a more equitable society. The SJP is designed to help students learn how to work alongside different communities as agents of social change and serves as the catalyst for students to realize and understand their own strengths and responsibility to contribute to social equity.
The Social Justice Practicum (SJP) is a first-year, nonclinical and non-discipline-specific experiential practicum that continues through the spring term. Students gain the knowledge, skills, and perspectives to utilize collective power and social justice strategies to build a more equitable society. The SJP is designed to help students learn how to work alongside different communities as agents of social change and serves as the catalyst for students to realize and understand their own strengths and responsibility to contribute to social equity.
Community Health Concentration Courses
This course explores the history of mental health in cities and determinants that shape health outcomes, social distribution of health and disease, and health disparities. The determinants studied include, but are not limited to, social, economic, political, and environmental factors.
This course exams health policy and management through public health methods including diagnostic identification of mental illness, the links between mental and physical health, and using tools and strategies from the public health field to understand current mental health policies, practices, and services.
This course examines topics directly affecting the health of a community and its members. It provides students with an overview of the important public policy issues facing urban centers in the 21st century.
Human Rights Advocacy Concentration Courses
This course introduces students to the field of human rights. Students develop a critical understanding of the main issues that characterize the conceptualization of human rights in today’s world.
The human right to health is protected in multiple human rights treaties. Several countries around the world, most notably South Africa, have used the human right to health to adjudicate the quality of life needs for all citizens.
This course examines themes directly impacting human rights of a community and its members. It provides students with an overview of the importance of human rights issues as they relate to public policy or the administration of public services.
Sustainable Communities Concentration Courses
This course focuses on formation and preservation of sustainable, healthy communities; the importance of leaders who understand the relationships between natural, built, and social environments; and the need to maintain these connections in holistic and integrative ways.
This course introduces students to skills needed for effective community leadership including tools, strategies, and skills needed when overseeing the creation and maintenance of sustainable communities.
In an increasingly complex world, leaders and managers in public and nonprofit organization plan strategies to fulfill the organizational mission and enhance stakeholder satisfaction. This course examines the roles and practices of strategic planning, including partnerships, cooperation, and coordination.
Social Justice Practicum
200-hour internship to give students real world experience
A unique and proven program designed to give students real world experience throughout their time at Adler University, the Social Justice Practicum is a required 200-hour internship that spans four courses (or terms for online programs). Every student is given a number of civic-minded categories to choose from. They submit their desired areas of interest. After which, they are assigned a specific and aligned community outreach site where they will work 8 to 10 hours per week.
Faculty Spotlight
Valerie Werner, Ph.D., LMFT
Program Director, Public Policy & Administration
I use a variety of pedagogical practices to help students effectively comprehend the theories and practice of the public policy process and administration. Classroom learning is a combination of lectures to teach the fundamental theories and concepts, while class room discussions and student presentations are used to help students think critically about the topics. Related documentaries, movies/TV segments, and current events are also shown and discussed to introduce students to the connection between theory and real-world realities. Engaged learning experiences also provide students with the opportunity to learn by doing, associating and observing.
Admissions Requirements
Admissions requirements:
- A baccalaureate degree earned from a regionally accredited college or university or an equivalent degree from an international college or university.
- A recommended GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for undergraduate and graduate coursework. Exceptions may be made for applicants who demonstrate outstanding academic performance or academic ability in other ways.
- Approved applicants will be invited for an interview with faculty.
Applicants are required to submit the following items to be considered for admission:
- Application and application fee
- Statement of Intent (2-3 pages, double-spaced) answering the following questions:
- Why are you interested in your chosen field and program?
- Why is Adler University’s program a good fit for you?
- What are your career goals and interests?
- Resume or Curriculum Vitae
- Official transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate schools attended (U.S and Canada)
- Please have official transcripts sent directly to the Office of Admissions
- Unofficial transcripts may be accepted for any schools in which a degree was not
received - International transcripts must be evaluated by a transcript evaluation service
- Two letters of recommendation
- These should be from someone who can specifically speak to your academic and professional abilities
Approved applicants will be invited to complete an interview with faculty.
Please submit all application materials including official transcripts to the Office of Admissions prior to the application deadline.
Adler University – Office of Admissions
17 N. Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60602
Official electronic transcripts should be sent to [email protected].
Tuition & Fees
Tuition for Adler University’s programs is charged each term according to the number of registered academic credits. The number of credits a student will register for varies by academic program and by term. To estimate the amount of tuition and fees that would be charged in a given term, please use our Tuition Estimator tool below, or read about tuition and fees for all Chicago programs.