New Internship Policy
Over the past year several students have asked Ted Lascher about the
department's policy with respect to internships (and internship waivers),
and I've told people that we're in the process of updating that policy.
Well, that process is now complete and the
new policy has been added to our on-line student handbook. This
policy applies to those students who had not advanced to candidacy by
April 17, 2002. Contact Ted Lascher
if you have any questions.
PPA 296I, Higher Education Policy
This is a new elective and will be taught by our new faculty member
Miguel
Ceja. The information below is a general overview of the course content.
Since Miguel is not arriving until late August, Nancy
Shulock would be happy to talk to any students who may be interested
in taking this new course.
See the Tentative Syllabus for 296I.
Announcement from Nancy Shulock
PPA 500 Group Project -- Fall 2002
I want to announce the topic for the group PPA 500 class for Fall, possibly
continuing into Spring depending on student progress. The client for
the project will be the Institute for Higher Education Leadership &
Policy that I direct here at CSUS. I will teach the seminar and guide
the development of individual theses/projects.
The topic will be graduate-level education in California's colleges and universities and the adequacy of program content and size in relation to the workforce needs of the California economy. Most of the attention in higher education policy in recent years has been devoted to issues of undergraduate education, e.g. access, affordability, equity, capacity, community college transfer. State policy makers are just becoming aware of the dangers of ignoring graduate education. The success of the California economy depends on the ability of its colleges and universities to produce highly educated masters and doctoral level students at least as much as it depends on baccalaureate degree production. But enrollment in graduate programs has been declining as a percentage of total enrollment. In addition, percent enrollment of non-whites has declined significantly at a time when non-whites are a growing majority of the population and a growing segment of the undergraduate student population.
To date there has been no attempt to examine program mix and capacity in view of workforce needs by various fields and industries. Nor have issues of access and equity been subject to analysis at the graduate level. Staff at the Senate Office of Research tells me that this project would be very timely because members of the legislature are not quite ready to engage in this issue but that a report from us by early next year could be just the "agenda-setting" piece they need to get started.
I am very excited about this project because it offers students the opportunity to integrate the full set of skills that we look for students to apply in a thesis/project requirement. A big part of the effort will be defining the problem and issue in a compelling way for policy makers. There will be obvious quantitative elements as we analyze workforce needs of various segments of the economy and supply capacity of graduate programs. There is a rich set of political issues concerning diversity and equity of who gets into graduate programs and how they get in. There are public/private issues in terms of the roles of the various colleges and universities. There are budget issues involved in funding adequate programs. It also should divide up well into discrete pieces for individual students to work on.
Students who are interested should contact me to apply. Acceptance into the group 500 is not guaranteed, but is dependent upon past student performance and progress within the program.
Department Office Hours
Open Monday through Friday
8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Closed July 4th for Independence Day.
The PPA ListProc keeps you informed!! Subscribe now.
CSUS Public Policy Working Paper Series
Those interested in contemporary public policy issues should check the list of working papers available at the MPPA website. For more information contact the department at (916) 278-6557.
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