Doctoral Programs
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

We pride ourselves in the Andrew Young School on the diverse mix of our student body and our faculty. A fundamental aspect of the academic experience in our school is the opportunity for our students to interact with individuals from a variety of nations and cultures. These cross-cultural exchanges enhance the educational experience and broaden students' perspectives on the pressing international issues within each of their academic disciplines. We have 12 students from the USA. Other countries represented by our new students include: India, Pakistan, Brazil, Jamaica, China, Albania, Bulgaria, Ethiopia and Spain.

Newly Admitted Doctoral Students

Twenty-two new students joined our doctoral programs in 2005; 17 in Economics and five in Public Policy.

In the economics program, 12 of our newly admitted students are male; five are female. Their ages range from 22 to 45 years of age, with a median age of 26. In our public policy program, two are male and three are female, with an age range from 24 to 37. But whether the students have had a strictly academic career to date or whether they come from extensive professional backgrounds as research analysts or directors of local governance, a consistent theme between both programs is the desire of the students to make significant contributions to the world by influencing economic development and policy decisions.

Professions represented in this year's class of doctoral students reflect a broad range of life experiences, including: a fifth grade teacher from the Teach for America Corps, a United Nations Lead Researcher, a program advisor for the Abaqulusi Child Survival Project, an economist from the Ministry of Finance and Planning in Jamaica, and a researcher for the Bank of Albania.

The excerpts below from these doctoral students' "statement of interest" section of their application materials reflect a heartfelt commitment to influence world policy through focused academic research:

…By creating and analyzing policy, I hope to significantly impact the education system in our society.  I want to use my experiences in the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs (an experiential learning, leadership development program), the classroom, nonprofit work, and in grassroots community organizing to create policy that is directly applicable and creates real solutions for those who need it most…I am quite passionate about education because it is considered to be the vehicle to success in this society, and yet it is not distributed equally.

…It is my long-term career goal to contribute with my academic and applied policy research to the analysis of the political economy of public finance, enlarging the knowledge base in this field and assisting policy design and implementation.

…My overarching goal is to contribute to both the theory and the practice of community-based health. … I plan to craft a course of study that addresses two major areas in which I seek further conceptual grounding.  The first…is the systems, structures and processes that yield health options.  The second is the evaluation of policy implementation and the mechanisms for using evaluation results in policy formation.

…I am interested in research of the interrelation of social policy and economics, cost/benefit analysis of different social policies, public finance, policy evaluation, as well as sustainable local and international development, and grassroots participation in public policy.

…During my Ph.D. research and my career then after, I would like to focus on the investigations of the incidences and causes of poverty in Ethiopia, what people feel about their own well being, and how motivated they are to change the existing conditions. I believe that changing the attitudes of people towards a consensus and determination to fight poverty is much more important for the process of development than simply supplying them with more resources.

…I would like to divide my research work in three main segments. The first segment will focus on exploring the dynamics of monetary policy transmission in former centrally planned economies.  I would like to explore the optimization of Central Bank decision making in these countries. The last segment would be the convergence of monetary policy transmission mechanisms of accession countries to the European Union ones.

…I look forward to writing my dissertation on the improvement of accessibility of healthcare to the more rural areas and to working towards this goal.

…I will likely be joining the Peace Corps upon completion of this Ph.D., to add real world experience to my academic training and to serve as a career springboard.

Andrew Young has said, "Our doors are open to hard-working students who want to be the leaders of tomorrow. There is nothing elitist or conventional about us. About one-fifth of our graduate students come from developing countries, 59 percent of our students are women, and nearly half are African Americans. We love overachievers here at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, and we love students who have the improvement of policy as a goal." This year's class of entering doctoral students have entered their academic program with a wide spectrum of experience in the global community and we look forward to empowering them with skills to further impact policy around the world.