Since its first graduate in 1971, the doctoral program in planning
and public policy has educated innovative scholars who wish to apply
analytical skills to pressing concerns, seek new ways of thinking to anticipate an as-yet-unknown future, and hope to create a future that will improve on, rather than simply replicate, the past. The program prepares students for careers in university teaching and research, advanced policy
research in the public and nonprofit sectors, and basic and applied research in the private sector.
Diverse disciplines--reflected in the backgrounds of incoming students, the academic and professional pursuits of the faculty, and the positions filled by program graduates--exemplify the breadth and flexibility of the doctoral program in urban planning and public policy at Rutgers. This intentional diversity reflects and supports the mission of the Ph.D. program: to pursue a variety of approaches in exploring the critical questions of planning and public policy and in preparing innovative and workable responses to those central questions.
Faculty members in the program hold doctorates in a wide range of fields including planning, political science, geography, economics, and public health, to name a few. In addition, some courses are taught by adjunct faculty
who are practicing professionals and by research faculty within the school. Doctoral
students find myriad opportunities for involvement in research through the many
centers and institutes at the Bloustein School.
Now in its fifth decade, the program has and will continue to graduate leading academics, researchers, practitioners, and administrators in planning and public policy.
