PROGRAMS

Junior Summer Institutes

UC Berkeley | Michigan | Carnegie Mellon | Maryland | Princeton

PPIA Junior Summer Institute at Michigan
June 4 - July 23, 2011 • Ann Arbor, Michigan

Program Overview

PPIA is an intensive seven-week summer program that focuses on preparing students for graduate programs in public policy and international affairs. Courses focus on improving students' communication and quantitative reasoning skills, which are vital to their success in graduate programs. Ford School faculty teach most courses. Current MPP students and recent graduates serve as teaching assistants, leading discussion seminars and providing tutorial resources. PPIA fellows take three courses: quantitative methods for public policy analysis, intermediate economics, and policy modules. PPIA Fellows attend classes in the morning and spend their afternoons working on problem sets, participating in discussion sessions, and seeking individual assistance in their courses.

Courses/Curriculum

• Quantitative Methods for Public Policy Analysis
  The purpose of this course is to provide quantitative and analytic skills for building and manipulating mathematical models. The majority of the course time will be spent on exercises and applications in calculus. This course is taught at the level of rigor comparable to that of the first semester graduate-level calculus course. The course will begin with a review and overview of the basic techniques of differentiation, locating and characterizing extrema and curve sketching. This will be followed by an overview of basic applications, including those particular to economics and policy analysis, such as marginal analysis. The class will then proceed through in-depth discussion of mathematical models. This includes techniques for identifying, developing and analyzing functional mathematical models from word problems, including linear and non-linear models. Exponential and logarithmic functions are covered in detail.
• Intermediate Economics
  This course will give students the tools needed to understand economic models of behavior, and it will teach them to apply these models to policy situations. Students will learn how economic arguments can inform different aspects of policy creation and analysis, as well as the limitations of economics in addressing some policy. The course will concentrate on microeconomics, with special emphasis on governmental involvement in economic activity. Major topics include theories of production, costs, prices, resource allocation, and the operation of various kinds of market systems.
• Policy Modules
  The purpose of the course is to improve communication skills -particularly writing composition - and to introduce students to policy analysis. The students will participate in two, three week policy modules. One focused on international policy and the other focused on domestic policy. The material and case studies used in the policy modules will parallel the mathematics and economics courses in the techniques used in the analysis of specific policy issues. Students will write a series of policy memos analyzing each case. Oral presentations will also be part of the course.
• Writing Instruction
  Students will work with the Writing Instructor for the duration of the program. The Writing Instructor conducts seminars on graduate school writing, with an emphasis on writing for a school of public policy and international affairs. He also meets with students in individual writing conferences to give feedback, suggestions and critiques.

Enrichment

• Students will participate in lunch meetings with guest speakers and attend professional development workshops focused on preparing for graduate school, the graduate school admissions process, writing a statement of purpose and creating a professional resume.
• During past programs, students have visited the cities of Detroit, Flint and Lansing to meet with government officials, community organizers and policy makers. They have also taken advantage of Ann Arbor's robust cultural and social atmosphere by participating in summer festivals like Top of the Park and the Ann Arbor Art Fair.

Calendar

Additional

• PPIA Fellows who successfully complete any PPIA Junior Summer Institute and who are admitted to the Master in Public Policy (MPP) program at the Ford School will be eligible to compete for a Rackham Masters Award, consisting of four semesters of tuition and fees, a stipend (currently $10,000.00 per year) and health care.
  
  
• For more information about the Ford School 's PPIA Junior Summer Institute:
  
  Megan Piersma
  Program Coordinator, Student & Academic Services
  PPIA Junior Summer Institute at University of Michigan
  Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
  735 S. State Street, #2244
  Ann Arbor, MI 48109-3091
  Phone: 734-764-0453
  
  Learn more about the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy