Technology continues to impact society across all industry sectors and aspects of daily life. Sanford’s focus on technology policy prepares students to address issues of government support for innovation and actions to mitigate the negative impacts that technology can make on individuals’ lives.
The Technology Policy Concentration prepares students to assume positions in public service, the private sector and nonprofits dealing with public policy issues associated with technology innovation. These positions include roles as legislative staff, executive agency analysts, national security and law enforcement jobs, company government affairs managers, lobbying consultants and civil society advocates.
This concentration equips students to understand the different roles that organizations play in the development of technology public policy, including legislatures, regulatory agencies, international organizations, standards setting bodies, civil society organizations, private sector technology companies, telecommunications companies and lobbying consultants. The concentration focuses on the technology policy implications in national security, healthcare, media and gender violence prevention. The overlapping issues of ethics, privacy, cybersecurity, free expression and the impact on historically disenfranchised populations cut across all aspects of the curriculum.
Students can benefit from
Students enjoy inter-disciplinary ties to other Duke schools and academic programs (e.g., the Dewitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, the Democracy Lab, the Duke Center for International Development, The Kenan Institute of Ethics, Science and Society, the Margolis Center for Health Policy, Duke Law Center for Innovation Policy, the Triangle Privacy Research Hub, American Grand Strategy, Duke Forge, the Center for Computational Thinking, the Duke Center for Law and Technology, the Pratt School Masters in Cybersecurity Engineering Program, the undergraduate Cyberclub, and the Duke Office of Information Technology.
Faculty members have an outstanding combination of academic and practical credentials in the world of technology policy, including professors of the practice with years of relevant government, non-profit and private sector experience.
Each semester is packed with campus visits and speeches by current technology policy leaders.
Knowledge and skills students can acquire
- A global view of technology policy with an understanding of the impact of each country’s history, culture and economic environment.
- Understanding of the roles different organizations play in technology policy;
- Knowledge of the impact public policy has in fostering innovation;
- A perspective on the privacy and cybersecurity risks created by new technologies;
- The ability to participate in practical research on technology’s role in national security, healthcare and media;
- Knowledge of the implementation of artificial intelligence across many domains;
- Connections to internships and capstone projects with technology policy leaders; and
- Practical skills in writing, presentations and teamwork.
Policy Concentration Advisor
Kenneth S. Rogerson
Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy
Kenneth S. Rogerson is Professor of the Practice at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, and former Research Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University. He is currently the Director of Graduate Studies for the Sanford Master's of Public Policy Program and the Director of Duke's Policy Journalism and Media Studies Certificate Program. He has served as chair of the American Political Science Association’s Information Technology and Politics Section and the International Studies Association's International Communication Section.
Rogerson earned a PhD in Political Science at the University of South Carolina, where his research focused on international relations, international communications and media policy issues. In his dissertation, he examined the evolution of U.S. foreign information policy. He has a Masters of Arts degree in International Relations and a BA in Journalism and European Studies from Brigham Young University.
During his studies at the University of South Carolina Rogerson won the Excellence in Teaching Award, and the journal which he edited, Global Governance, was named the Best New Journal in the United States in Business, Social Sciences and the Humanities by the Association of American Publishers.
"My time in the tech industry as a risk analyst for Meta Inc. (fka Facebook) made me fall in love with tech policy. That’s where Sanford came in; I wanted to attend a school that had a tech policy concentration and brilliant leaders to learn from. I am also honored to be a Thomas Pickering Fellow with the State Department and will be entering the foreign service as a diplomat after Sanford! I am glad to be taking both tech and foreign policy courses to prepare me for this exciting career."
- Mona Zahir MPP ’23
"I am lucky to have found passionate tech policy mentors like Professor David Hoffman. I also love the “Big Duke” aspect of Sanford: I can explore classes and make connections with people in other Duke schools. I have enjoyed the conversations with tech-focused professors at Duke Law and the Science and Society Department at Duke. I chose Sanford because it promised and delivered on a tight-knit community."
- Anirudh Manchiraju MPP ’23