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Doctoral Programs (On-Campus)

Our PhD programs position students in the national center of influence and relevancy. Here in our nation’s capital, they dive into research that addresses today’s most pressing challenges and produce scholarship with real-world connection and immediate impact.

Our doctoral programs are full-time, cohort-based degrees that draw from the breadth and depth of resources across American University. This rigorous training is rooted in contemporary theory, principles, practices, and research methods in public administration and policy; government and politics; and justice, law, and criminology. Students come to American University for the chance to study firsthand with experts and work closely with prominent scholars whose cutting-edge research activities and professional roles play key roles in national and global issues.

We pride ourselves on growing the next generation of leading scholars. Indeed, we encourage students throughout the course of their graduate careers to present papers at major academic conferences, co-author papers with faculty members, publish in top journals, and seek prestigious awards. By the time our students complete the program, they have already produced methodologically sound, socially relevant research advancing knowledge and theory. They are prepared for university teaching and research or a career as an authority and leader within their respective fields.

Our graduates are competent in areas critical to success as academics and researchers. They are able to:

• Identify, explain, and connect key theories and controversies to policy implications;
• Critique extant scholarship independently, and point out, where relevant, weaknesses in theoretical frameworks, study designs, data analyses, and conclusions;
• Synthesize scholarly literature to support an original argument;
• Formulate sound research questions or hypotheses that address limitations of existing scholarship;
• Design sound empirical studies to test specific research questions or hypotheses;
• Analyze data and draw conclusions to answer research questions or hypotheses; and
• Communicate in a clear and organized manner.  

More Information: On-Campus Doctoral Programs

PhD Justice, Law & Criminology

Prepare for university teaching and research, and a career as an authority and leader in these fields.

PhD Political Science

Dive deeply into the policy and politics of official Washington and produce meaningful research with profound impact.

PhD Public Administration & Policy

Produce methodologically sound, socially relevant research that makes important contributions to knowledge and theory.

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Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management

Advance your research career with an evans ph.d..

Are you interested in using sophisticated research methods and an interdisciplinary perspective to study society’s most significan t challenges ? Do you want to use data and evidence to improve policy decisions and the management of public organizations to improve the life of individuals and communities ?

The Evans School Ph.D. program is a rigorous and supportive educational experience for those interested in pursuing applied research careers in academic, government, and nonprofit organizations. We train sophisticated analysts and scholars with a deep understanding of the institutional, historical, normative, and economic factors shaping policy design, implementation, and evaluation.

Policy and management research examines:

• the effects of laws and regulations on people, communities, and organizations;
• processes for creating equitable and inclusive democratic governance;
• management of multi-sectoral (government, nonprofit, and private) partnerships, and;
• equitable provision of public goods and services.

The Evans Ph.D. Advantage

The Evans Ph.D. program is in a top-ranked school of public affairs within a preeminent university. The Evans School— top 10 among public affairs schools in the U.S.— promotes values of equity, service and courage by educating leaders, generating knowledge, and hosting communities. We have a diverse body of students from around the world who bring interdisciplinary backgrounds. The University of Washington— #7 among global universities —is a vibrant, diverse public university committed to education and scientific knowledge.   

The Evans Ph.D. trains students to be leaders in public policy and management research. The core curriculum provides a foundation in microeconomics, statistics, institutional and public administration theories, policy making processes, and more. Students then work closely with faculty advisors to select electives that provide depth in policy fields, methods, and theories of their choosing.   

The Evans Ph.D. offers all students secure funding. We admit a small cohort of 4-5 new students each year. Each admitted student is offered a five-year financial support package—including tuition, stipend, and health insurance—through part-time employment as a research or teaching assistant. We also offer travel support for professional conferences.   

The Evans Ph.D. provides team mentoring from world renown scholars of policy and management. Students are assigned a primary advisor but encouraged to develop advising and mentoring relationships with multiple faculty members at the Evans School and across the University of Washington. The Evans School faculty includes highly-regarded scholars of social, environmental, and criminal justice policy, budgeting and contracting, leadership and equity, and international development.  

Master Advanced Skills

At the Evans School, doctoral students acquire a broad and deep set of skills essential to understanding policy and management, including:  

• advanced data, methods, and data science techniques through classes at the Evans School, the   Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology , the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences , and the Paul G Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering,  
• depth in an area of specialization chosen by the student from offerings anywhere on campus, including top-ranked programs in education, computer science, public health, social work, and sociology,   
• teaching experience as teaching assistants or instructors of record, and  
• professional and career development skills, including networking, publishing, grant writing, and conference presentations.  

Evans Ph.D. students also have the option to pursue a credentialed degree option in Data Science or Advanced Data Science through the eScience Institute or a UW graduate certificates in over 50 topics. Students also benefit from additional training through UW research initiatives including the eScience Institute , Ocean Nexus , the Population Health Initiative , Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation , and the Program on Climate Change .  

Conduct High Impact Research

Starting in the first year of the program, Evans Ph.D. students work closely with internationally recognized faculty to research pressing policy and management topics, including:   

• economic benefits of empowering women in agriculture  
• managing risk from simultaneous wildfires
• economic impacts of the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance
• perceptions of earthquake risks and disaster prevention
• decision-making in US philanthropies
• collaborative governance of natural resources

Before graduating, Evans Ph.D. students publish in academic and popular media outlets, such as: Housing Policy Debate (Fowle), Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (Scott, Tyler), Journal of Environmental Management (Hsueh), The Conversation (Finchum-Mason, Freitag), and The Washington Post (Sederbaum).  

Pursue Your Research Career

Our graduates hold positions as:  

• academic faculty, teaching and conducting research in departments of public policy, public administration, political science, environmental science and policy, and business administration at Arizona State University, KDI School of Public Policy, Pennsylvania State University , University of California, Davis , and University of Michigan;
• government analysts at the US Government Accounting Office , the Oregon Department of Revenue , and the San Francisco Unified School District;
• researchers at contract research and advocacy organizations, including MDRC, Oxfam , and The Nature Conservancy.

If you have questions after reading through all of the online materials, please contact us via email at [email protected] or by calling 206-543-4900.

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Ph.D. Deadline

December 15, 2024, ph.d. admissions, ph.d. admissions events.

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Offered by the Department of Public Administration and Policy   , School of Public Affairs   , the mission of the PhD program is to educate scholars who produce original research that is methodologically sound, socially relevant, and makes important contributions to knowledge and theory.

Admission to the Program

Applicants are considered and admitted for the fall semester only. January 8 is the deadline for application for admission. All applicants must submit scores for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The normal minimum for consideration is a grade point average of 3.20 (on a 4.00 scale) in all previous academic work. Applicants are admitted for full-time study only.

Degree Requirements

• 36 credit hours of approved graduate coursework, exclusive of PUAD-898 Doctoral Continuing Enrollment (1-9)   / PUAD-899 Doctoral Dissertation (9)    
• Minimum 3.20 GPA in all coursework required to remain in good standing and to earn the degree
• Major Fields: Public Administration; Public Policy
• Advancement to the second year of study is contingent upon successful completion of a two-part oral qualifying examination at the end of the second semester of study
• Advancement to candidacy is accomplished by successfully passing a written comprehensive examination in student’s primary field of study
• The PhD is fundamentally a research degree. Understanding scientific inquiry and correctly using research techniques require extensive preparation. All students in the program take required courses designed to help doctoral students comprehend the nature of science and master tools of research (see Course Requirements, below)
• Each student prepares a research proposal for the dissertation project. It is the responsibility of the student to secure the agreement of a School of Public Affairs full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member to serve as the chair of the dissertation committee. One of the two other members of the committee may be from outside the School of Public Affairs. Each student must publicly defend the research proposal before the dissertation committee and other interested faculty
• The committee and the SPA director of doctoral programs (acting for the dean) must approve the defense and the research proposal. The topic covered by the proposal must be related to ongoing research or publications of the supervising faculty
• As work on the dissertation project progresses, students register for directed study. Substantive coursework may be used as part of this requirement where it contributes directly to the research specialization and is specifically recommended by the dissertation chair
• Upon completion of the research and the written dissertation, the candidate submits the manuscript to the dissertation committee for review. If the committee members approve the manuscript, the candidate must complete an oral defense of the dissertation and the general field in which it lies before the committee and other interested faculty. The committee determines conclusively at this point whether the dissertation and examination are acceptable
• The dissertation must consist of high quality original research directly relevant to the student’s doctoral program. A dissertation proposal may be rejected if the topic does not address a major research issue in political science or public administration, the research design is inadequate, the methodology is inappropriate, or because no full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the School of Public Affairs is academically competent or available to supervise the project. If the candidate fails to maintain satisfactory progress toward completion of the dissertation, candidacy may be terminated

Course Requirements

Major field (18 credit hours).

Complete one of the following major fields, including additional coursework in the minor field:

Public Administration

Required (12 credit hours).

• PUAD-710 Proseminar in Public Administration (3)
• PUAD-714 Seminar in Organization Theory (3)
• PUAD-718 Seminar in Public Management (3)
• PUAD-732 Seminar in Policy Implementation (3)

Public Policy (6 credit hours)

• PUAD-730 Proseminar in Public Policy (3)
• PUAD-770 Economics for Policy Analysis (3)

Public Policy

• PUAD-771 Public Finance and Human Capital (3)

Public Administration (6 credit hours)

Additional seminar.

Complete 3 credit hours from the following: 

Research Design and Methodology (12 credit hours)

• SPA-612 Conduct of Inquiry I (3)
• SPA-613 Conduct of Inquiry II (3)

Additional Methodology

Complete 6 credit hours from the following, or other research methodology courses approved by program coordinator:

• SPA-614 Conduct of Inquiry III (3)
• SPA-615 Conduct of Inquiry IV (3)

Electives (6 credit hours)

• 6 credit hours chosen in consultation with the department

Dissertation

• PUAD-898 Doctoral Continuing Enrollment (1-9)
• PUAD-899 Doctoral Dissertation (9)

Doctor of Philosophy in the Field of Public Policy and Public Administration

The PhD in public policy and public administration is a 72-credit program offered through GW's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration (TSPPPA), which is situated in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. The curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary, applied research in public policy and public administration and related subfields as it prepares students for traditional faculty or public-policy and public administration research positions. The program is designed to develop a range of competencies needed to undertake sophisticated research in public policy and public administration. Core courses cover multiple academic disciplines, including politics, economics, and quantitative and qualitative methods in policy research.

Built upon the diversity and strengths of academic departments and faculty distributed throughout TSPPPA and the university community, the program offers an exceptional education across these disciplines. Program graduates pursue careers in teaching and research related to public policy and public administration and as policy researchers and analysts in government, the nonprofit sector, and the private sector. Some hold administrative positions in these sectors, and many are closely involved in the development and evaluation of public policies and programs.

Trachtenberg School classes are held on GW's Foggy Bottom Campus. Most classes are in the evenings, allowing full- and part-time students to pursue their degree while working.

Visit the program website for additional information.

Supporting documents not submitted online should be mailed to:

Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Office of Graduate Studies The George Washington University 801 22nd Street NW, Phillips Hall 107 Washington DC 20052

For additional information about the admissions process visit the Columbian College  of Arts and Sciences  Frequently Asked Questions  page.

[email protected] 202-994-6210 (phone)

Hours: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday

 The following requirements must be fulfilled:

The general requirements stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate Programs .

The requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Program .

 *Course is covered by the core comprehensive examination.

**The social policy field has four subfields, each with specific requirements: gender and social policy, poverty and inequality, ethnicity and public policy, and urban policy.

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