The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

offers graduate and undergraduate education in the fields of

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...

, public policy, international affairs, urban affairs, and urban & regional planning. It has three campuses throughout Virginia: Arlington; Blacksburg and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

History

The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) was approved by the

Board of Visitors in 1996 as a collaboration of five departments and programs in two colleges to develop interdisciplinary instruction, research and outreach initiatives related to public policy, planning, and administration and globalization and international development. SPIA is one of the schools in the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. SPIA houses three programs: * Government and International Affairs (GIA) * Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) * Public Administration and Policy (CPAP)

Programs

Center for Public Administration and Policy

The

Center for Public Administration and Policy The Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP) is an academic department of Virginia Tech focused on public administration and public policy. It has campuses in Blacksburg, Alexandria, and Richmond. One of the Center's founding faculty me ...

(CPAP) has three locations in Arlington, Blacksburg and

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. CPAP integrates the challenges of governing with the scholarship of

and

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

. CPAP offers doctoral and master's degree programs as well as graduate certificates. The majority of CPAP students take classes on a part-time basis, while working full-time in a wide variety of federal, regional, and local government positions, as well as positions in consulting and the non-profit sector. CPAP offers the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Ph.D. degrees. Certificates are available in three fields:

Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...

; Local Government Management; Public and Nonprofit Financial Management.

Urban Affairs and Planning

The Urban Affairs and Planning program has locations in Arlington and Blacksburg that offers an interdisciplinary, comparative, hands-on approach to instruction and research in two undergraduate degrees (B.A. in Public and Urban Affairs and B.S. in Environmental Policy and Planning), an accredited masters in Urban and Regional Planning (MURP), and a doctoral program in Planning, Governance & Globalization (PGG).

Government and International Affairs

The Government and International Affairs program has locations in Arlington and Blacksburg that offers a Master of Public and International Affairs (MPIA) and a Ph.D. in Governance and Globalization with an international affairs and cultural geo-politics focus. The MPIA is a 36-credit academic-oriented master's degree with a focus on international politics, critical geopolitics, international political economy, and cultural identity politics.

CLAHS Affiliated Departments

Affiliated Departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS): * Political Science * Geography * International Studies * Science and Technology Studies (joined in 2000) * Agricultural and Applied Economics (joined in 2000)

National Capital Region

In 1969 the university launched new locations within the Virginia Tech National Capital Region (NCR). These facilities serves as a hub in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

for its students and alumni. As of 2015, the NCR offers graduate programs in Public Administration, Policy, Government, and International Affairs. In the summer of 2019, SPIA moved its Washington D.C. metro area campus from its Old Town Alexandria site to the Virginia Tech Research Center located in Arlington, Virginia.

Rankings

Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs has received the following rankings: *Public Affairs: No. 39 in the nation for Graduate Public Affairs in the 2020 '' U.S. News & World Report'' *Urban Planning: No. 22 in the nation in Planetizen's Top 25 Schools For Urban Planners *Public Management Administration: No. 15 for Best Graduate Schools in 2015 ''U.S. News & World Report'' *Public Administration: No. 22 in the nation in Top Management Degree's Top 25 Master's of Public Administration Programs

Research

In research and outreach, SPIA members lead a number of interdisciplinary efforts: *International Refugee Research Project *Institute for Policy and Governance

Administration

SPIA is administered by a director who is advised by an SPIA Executive Committee made up of the three program chairs along with one other faculty member from each program.

References

External links

* http://www.spia.vt.edu/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia Tech School Of Public And International Affairs Virginia Tech