The School of Public Affairs at American University has a storied legacy that informs our values and approach.
In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began implementing New Deal programs that sought to increase “practical contacts between the collegiate and educational world, and the operations of government.” He believed that the collaboration of academia and public service would result in better decision-making, not only for Depression-era American, but also for future generations to come. From FDR’s vision, American University’s School of Public Affairs was born.
Over the last 80+ years, SPA has cultivated a culture of excellence. Our personalized teaching and experiential education transform the student experience. We empower those who seek knowledge to conduct and produce research. And we promote engagement to build a bridge between academic thought and policy planning - inspiring change in the world.
Today, with 1,800 current students and 23,000+ alumni, SPA continues to tackle complex issues with thoughtful research that educates, informs, and promotes change across a multitude of fields.
Classmates in grades 3, 4 and 5 are more likely to come from diverse economic backgrounds than their schoolmates in grades 6, 7 and 8.
Paul Bersebach, MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
Kari Dalane, American University School of Public Affairs
In middle school classes, students from lower-income families tended to be concentrated in just a few classrooms, new research from North Carolina has found.
The votes are there. Ketanji Brown Jackson will become the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
President Joe Biden’s nominee for the US Supreme Court withstood four days of hearings and was confirmed to become the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.
Red sky at night, federal workers take fright?
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Congress is working on a spending bill to avert another government shutdown. Scholars explain what’s in store if they fail.
Sen. Dean Heller, right, and President Donald Trump, who endorsed him, at a rally on Sept. 20, 2018, in Las Vegas. Heller lost the reelection.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
A rare unauthorized public gathering in Havana on July 11, 2021. Some demonstrators on the streets that day chanted ‘Down with the dictatorship.’
Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images
The dire conditions that brought waves of Cubans to the US in the 1980s and 1990s are again escalating on the communist island, provoked by Trump-era sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Is Sen. Marco Rubio, espousing a polished populism, the future of the GOP?
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Donald Trump’s ticket to the White House was a coarse version of populism. Will his successors in the GOP be different – or simply present a more polished version of his antagonistic rhetoric?
A kindergarten student practices social distancing in the playground of her private school.
Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A set of efforts that registered 800,000 new voters since 2018 may have been the key to Georgia turning blue in a presidential election for the first time since 1992.
La sénatrice de Californie Kamala Harris est la colistière du candidat démocrate Joe Biden, en lice pour la présidentielle américaine de 2020.
SAUL LOEB / AFP
Les résultats d’une enquête récente montrent que la participation électorale des Noirs américains de moins de 30 ans aura un rôle déterminant dans la présidentielle américaine.
Will young, Black Americans turn out to vote in November?
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
By picking Kamala Harris, a Black running mate, Biden may have brought younger Black Americans, who now comprise a critical set of swing voters, over to his side.
These people are protesting because they are tired, because they are worn out, because they are exhausted by violence against themselves and their communities.
Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images
It’s a myth that Black voters represent monolithic support for Democrats. A recent survey shows that young Black Americans in swing states have big reservations about Joe Biden, Democrats and voting.
Logging into school on the couch can make homelife more topsy-turvy.
Cavan Images/Getty Images
Taryn Morrissey, American University School of Public Affairs
For US parents, the health, economic and social crisis the COVID-19 pandemic brought about is compounded by the difficult if not impossible task of working, caring for and educating kids.
Life Care Center in Washington state was at the center of the U.S. outbreak back in early March.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
While nursing homes have accounted for more than half of COVID-19 deaths in some states, they’ve barely been a factor in others. Three experts explain why.
Top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor, left, and Foreign Service officer George Kent are sworn in before the House Intelligence Committee during the first public impeachment hearing.
AP/Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Photo
Jane E. Palmer, American University School of Public Affairs
Part of a law that goes into effect in New York state on Aug. 14 allows victims more time sue in civil court. Epstein’s victims can still go after his estate.
Can a country move ahead when its citizens hold dueling facts?
Shutterstock
How can a community decide the direction it should go, if its members cannot even agree on where they are? Two political scientists say the growing phenomenon of dueling facts threatens democracy.