Thoughts from the Dean
William Cooper, one of our founders and the first dean, described the Heinz School as a place that “prepares men and women for intelligent action.” If I were to expand on Bill’s 30-year-old observation, I would add the words “ to change the world” at the end of the sentence. For that’s what we’ve been doing since 1970 - increasing the understanding of a myriad of social issues that impact societies here and around the world and helping to stimulate real and lasting change.
How do we do it?
First, we invite intelligent people who are committed to being involved in and managing change to attend the Heinz School. If organizations have unique characteristics, I think this school’s stems from an intense desire on the part of students and faculty to engage the world, to use their knowledge and skills to find solutions to problems, and to uncover unique opportunities for positive change.
Second, the curricula that arm our students to tackle important challenges are unique. Our programs meld the study of policy, management and technology so that our graduates are well versed in the problems, can use technology tools to help to address them and are, as a whole, uniquely qualified to lead government, not-for-profit and private organizations.
Finally, as a public policy school, we are a center of essential research. Whether the subject is urban ills or health care or information security, our faculty design and conduct programs that provide greater understanding of the issues, the basis for lasting solutions.
No other activity better demonstrates our intent to reach out to the world than a program called Systems Synthesis Projects. Intended to give students real world experiences, this program sends students and faculty out to communities and organizations from West Virginia to South Pacific Islands to Ecuador. Our teams have addressed the vulnerabilities of transporting cargo on passenger airplanes and developed an alternative space for emerging artists. We have helped government ministers in isolated parts of the world utilize information systems and deal with the impact of a Tsunami. In one year, our students delivered almost 17,000 hours of services. We intend to grow these efforts and are engaged in an intensive effort to increase the global focus of our school’s research and programs.
Sound interesting?
If you are a person motivated to engage the world and are looking for a graduate program to help you do that, I encourage you to contact the Heinz School. We have a wide variety of program choices as well as financial aid and scholarship programs to support our students.
We are intent also on reaching out to private companies, government agencies and not-for-profit organizations to create partnerships and offer support through a variety of means, including research opportunities.
For those who participate as students or partners, you will become part of our great mission to generate better understanding of the problems we face as a world society and contribute to positive and lasting change in the world.