Dean's Corner
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

Five years ago, in the spring of 1996, the Georgia State University Senate voted to create the School of Policy Studies. The new school was officially launched July 1, 1996, just three weeks before the Centennial Olympic games opened in Atlanta. Five years later, and as I prepare to step down as associate dean, it's good to take stock of where we are.

Foremost among our accomplishments is the naming of the school for former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young. The naming of schools is fairly commonplace these days - but this naming is anything but commonplace. Ambassador Young not only gives us his name, but he also provides us with a vision of why policy is so important. To paraphrase the ambassador, policy isn't about being a good Samaritan. Instead, it's about straightening out the road to Jericho so people don't get beaten up by robbers on the way.

We've hired more than 20 new faculty in our short five years - an impressive number given that we are a school of but 50 tenure-track faculty. And what an impressive faculty they are, publishing in and refereeing for top journals and, along with their colleagues in our five research centers, consistently bringing in more than 25 percent of external research dollars in the university, while comprising less than 5 percent of the university faculty. Their accomplishments are well documented in this year's annual report on the Web (www.gsu.edu/~wwwsps/annualreport2000/index.htm).

Our credit hours have grown tremendously, despite a conversion to the semester system that left our sister colleges with large credit-hour deficits. We've attracted a significant number of international students who are supported by special initiatives, such as Fulbright, Mandela and Muskie programs. This fall, we will host 30 full-time master's students in economic policy from Indonesia - all 30 of whom are supported by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. We've started or integrated two new Ph.D. programs, including a joint policy program with Georgia Tech. The latest U.S. News rankings place us in the top 10 nationally in the fields of public finance and budgeting and city management/urban policy.

Just how far we've come in the past five years was underscored when we hosted a foreign policy symposium March 9 with former President Bill Clinton and Ambassador Young at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. At the close of the event, which had 1,900 participants, Ambassador Young put the five years in perfect perspective when he looked at me and said, with his incredible enthusiasm, "We've launched a School of Policy Studies today." Indeed we did, but it was five years
in the making.

Paula Stephan
Associate Dean