Experiences Teaching a Multi-Disciplinary Course

Cornell University offers a two-year professional masters degree program in public administration. This program attracts participants who have had work experience and interests in furthering their careers in consulting and in government and nongovernmental organizations, mostly dealing with economic development, public finance, and environmental protection. They are an incredibly bright and interesting group of individuals (for example one recent student had 17 years of experience managing the Indian railroad!) but typically they have not had much training in quantitative methods, and specifically model building and use. In fact many will almost do anything to avoid such work. We who plan courses for these individuals have decided that their academic program should include at least three courses in quantitative analyses, including the use of statistics and systems analysis methods. I offer one of these courses that focuses on the art and science of building and solving models to aid in the identification and evaluation of alternative plans or policies for addressing public policy issues and problems.