Work with a student consultant
Your organization can benefit from the expertise our graduate students are gaining during their two-year Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree program — at no cost to you.
We average 65-75 incoming students each year, most with 2-4 years of prior work experience, including Peace Corps, Americorps, and Teach for America. Students complete:
- Core coursework in economics, quantitative methods, political and policy analysis
- Professional skill development including teamwork, written and oral communication, leadership, budgeting, and project management
- Optional concentrations in Development Policy, Environment and Energy Policy, Health Policy, Global Policy, National Security, Population Studies, and Social Policy.
There are three structured ways to work with Sanford MPP students.
SPRING CONSULTING PROJECTS
Frst-year MPP students work in teams on real policy problems faced by actual organizations and agencies. Clients can be public or private, nonprofit or for-profit, with no geographic limitations.
Small student teams of 4-5 students conduct interviews, complete data analyses, make site visits, research best practices and review scholarly literature, with each student devoting about 100 hours to the project. Experienced Sanford faculty members manage the project teams, review strategies, evaluate written reports, coach oral presentations, and assign grades.
Proposals are accepted throughout the fall semester and selected by the students in early January. Students present results to clients in late March and submit a final written report in late April. Successful proposals will include a mix of research, analysis and decision-making.
MASTER’S PROJECTS
Master’s Projects are year-long individual capstone projects completed by second year MPP students. Students spend the fall semester identifying a client and a policy question and completing background research. In the spring, they produce extensive high-quality reports overseen and graded by a faculty committee. Students use their master’s projects to demonstrate skills and knowledge to prospective employers.
PRACTICUM CONSULTING TEAMS
We seek a small number of challenging projects for our second-year MPP students who are honing advanced skills in quantitative and qualitative analysis, financial impact assessment, program evaluation and policy writing. With student teams of 8-15, the project scope can be broader and more sophisticated than the spring consulting projects. Sanford faculty can help you design your project to meet your needs and help our students build experience.
Propose a project
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.
Kerry Condon, MPP'18
"Our team worked closely with nonpartisan researchers at the Friday Institute to evaluate the North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program. We designed, tested, and implemented a survey to over 8,000 parents. We also prepared an analysis and report to inform state policymaking. The experience challenged us to work remotely in a short time frame and drew on our qualitative and quantitative analysis skills training. The findings challenged our understanding of education policy and built our skills in collaborating in a dynamic team environment."