School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Bloomington
Dean
Astrid E. Merget
Departmental E-mail
speainfo@indiana.edu
Note: Be sure to specify the program in which you are interested when sending mail.
Departmental URL
www.indiana.edu/~speaweb/index.html
Graduate Faculty
Degree Offered
Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Public Affairs
(An asterisk [*] denotes associate membership in University Graduate School faculty.)
University President Emeritus
John W. Ryan
University Professor Emeritus
York Y. Willbern
Arthur F. Bentley Professors
Lynton K. Caldwell (Emeritus), Elinor S. Ostrom
Chancellors' Professor
James L. Perry
Distinguished Professor
Ronald A. Hites
Professors
Robert Agranoff (Emeritus), David B. Audretsch, Randall Baker, Wolfgang Bielefeld (Indianapolis), Lisa Bingham, William Black, Stephen P. Bogdewic (Indianapolis), Charles Bonser (Emeritus), Jeremy Dunning, Kirsten Grønbjerg, Hendrick M. Haitjema, Roger Hamburg (South Bend) (Emeritus, Political Science), William Hojnacki* (South Bend), Jack W. Hopkins (Emeritus), Robert Lehnen (Indianapolis), Leslie Lenkowsky (Indianapolis), Greg Lindsey* (Indianapolis), Eugene McGregor, Astrid E. Merget, John Mikesell, Theodore Miller, Samuel Nunn* (Indianapolis), Patrick O'Meara, Clinton Oster, John Ottensman (Indianapolis) (Geography), David Parkhurst, Roger B. Parks, Joseph Pellicciotti* (Northwest), Maureen Pirog, J. C. Randolph, Edwardo Rhodes, Barry Rubin, Richard Rubin, Roy Shin (Emeritus), Tim A. Tilton, Jeffrey White, Daniel Willard (Emeritus), Charles Wise, Lois Wise, Terrell Zollinger (Indianapolis), Kurt Zorn
Associate Professors
Allen Anderson (Kokomo), Debera Backhus, Terry L. Baumer (Indianapolis), Christopher Craft*, Karen Evans* (Northwest), David Good, Jane Grant* (Fort Wayne), Karen Harlow* (Indianapolis), Diane Henshel, Ann Holmes (Indianapolis), Roger Jarjoura* (Indianapolis), Craig Johnson*, Robert Kravchuk, Kerry Krutilla, William Ludwin (Fort Wayne), Joyce Man, David McSwane* (Indianapolis), Vicky Meretsky*, Deborah Mesch (Indianapolis), C. James Owen* (Emeritus, Fort Wayne), D. Jeanne Patterson (Emerita), Flynn W. Picardal, Sara Pryor, Kenna Quinet* (Indianapolis), David Reingold*, Ingrid Ritchie* (Indianapolis), Frank Vilardo*, Stephen L. Walston*
Assistant Professors
Matthew Auer*, Rafael Reuveny*, Philip Stevens*, Susan Zinner-Kemp* (Northwest)
An I after a faculty member's name indicates that the person teaches at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; FW, at Fort Wayne; K, at Kokomo; NW, at Gary; and SB, at South Bend.
Academic Advisor
Professor Roger B. Parks, SPEA 441, (812) 855-2457
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Doctor of Philosophy
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The Doctoral Program in Public Affairs takes advantage of the unique strengths of SPEA's interdisciplinary faculty and research programs, both of which have earned wide recognition from peer institutions, national and international agencies, and professional groups. The curriculum equips students with the necessary skills for independent research and analysis of problems, issues, and solutions in government and the nonprofit sector in the following three major fields:
- Public finance: the theory and practice of fiscal administration, including public budgeting, revenue administration, and financial management;
- Public management: the design and operation of governmental institutions, including strategic/operations management and interrelationships between public and private organizations; and
- Public policy analysis: research methods and quantitative techniques for policy analysis, including the content, design and evaluation of public programs.
Instead of being grounded in a traditional academic discipline, each of the fields has developed from several theoretical literatures applied to real-world public affairs problems. Although research is grounded in the social sciences, the context of inquiry reverses the normal research process: instead of beginning with questions originating with discipline-based scholarship, the research process originates with public problems and issues. The research challenge, then, is to match available tools of inquiry to the research opportunities presented by problems.
Admission
Students apply to the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Those accepted are recommended to the University Graduate School for formal admission into the Ph.D. program. Applicants to this program must have completed at least a bachelor's degree. Prospective students are required to submit (1) a statement of purpose, which should be as specific as possible and, preferably, should refer to potential research mentors by name; (2) official results of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE); (3) official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work completed; and (4) three letters of recommendation. Applicants whose native language is not English must also submit results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
Advisory Committee
Early in the student's program, but in no case later than the third semester in the program, the student must form an advisory committee. The committee consists of four to five members and includes at least one faculty member from each of the student's two chosen major fields of study and also a representative of his or her minor field. The committee members act as mentors and help monitor the selection and fulfillment of program requirements. The chairperson of the committee serves as the student's principal advisor.
Qualifying Examination
To enter into formal degree candidacy, students must successfully complete written and oral qualifying examinations covering content from their two major fields of study.
Dissertation
Upon completion of course work and exams, the student writes a dissertation. This allows the student to apply the knowledge acquired during the formal parts of the program and to contribute to the advancement of the student's field of study.
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