Harris School of Public Policy Studies


The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, also referred to as "Harris Public Policy," is the public policy school of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is ranked in the top five policy analysis schools in the United States. It is located on the University's main campus in Hyde Park. In addition to policy studies and policy analysis, the school requires its students to pursue training in economics and statistics through preliminary examinations and course requirements. Further, Harris Public Policy takes part in curricular interactions with the University-at-large, with students cross-enrolling in courses at the Booth School of Business, Law School, School of Social Service Administration, and the Graduate Division of the Social Sciences. The school's namesake is businessman Irving B. Harris, who made a donation that established the Harris School in 1986.
In 2014, Harris Public Policy received two gifts totaling $32.5 million for a physical expansion. A former residence hall designed by architect Edward Durell Stone was renovated and renamed The Keller Center, housing the Harris School of Public Policy as of 2019. The Keller Center's Forum provides a venue for speakers and open work space.

History

The Harris School of Public Policy was predated by the Committee on Public Policy and The University of Chicago Center for Policy Study. The Center on Public Policy, established in 1966, was a research center and so did not offer degrees. The Center hosted fellows and conferences and published research in the field of public policy, primarily urban studies and urban journalism. The Committee on Public Policy was formed to offer master's degrees to students interested in policy studies. The Committee, formed of professors employed by different academic divisions, began offering classes in 1976 to a small group of one-year Master's students who had applied internally from other graduate divisions within the University of Chicago. The Committee's long term viability was called into question for reasons including the small demand for one year master's degrees in public policy and weak administrative support for such a small program. Over the next three years the Committee began offering two year degrees, joint BA/MA degrees and PhDs, but it continued to be threatened by weak administrative support and unstable funding. In 1986 a committee of Deans recommended the Committee should secure a better endowment and become a professional school or be dissolved. At that time Irving Harris pledged $6.9 million in order to create the public policy school, a figure he later raised to $10 million. In 1988 the Harris School of Public Policy opened in the former American Bar Association Building which it has shared with affiliates including NORC at the University of Chicago and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Curriculum

The Harris Public Policy offers the following full-time professional master's degree programs:
Further, the school offers a Ph.D. program in public policy.
Harris Public Policy offers certificates in the following concentrations :
Harris Public Policy partners with other professional schools and divisions within the University of Chicago to offer accelerated joint/dual degrees.
Harris Public Policy runs cooperative programs partnered with international institutions .
The following professors served as Dean of the Harris School of Public Policy: