Category Archives: Courses

How time flies …

Posted on by Don

Somehow I went the whole month of September without posting an update.  Two presentations and two papers later (with another paper and presentation next week), it’s already mid-October!  It seems I’m always surprised at how quickly the semester passes.  So … how’s it going?

The Culture and Public Policy course is quite an interesting course.  We’ve had some great discussions so far and I’m looking forward to even more of them.  I’ve learned a lot from the readings we’ve covered in the first half of the semester.  Here are some of the books we’ve read up to this point:

  • American Exceptionalism by Seymour Martin Lipset  This book was written in 1996, but it is still applicable today.  It’s a fairly easy read and helps the reader understand what “American Exceptionalism” really means.  Dr. Lipset was one of the founding faculty members of George Mason’s School of Public Policy.
  • Mad As Hell by Scott Rassmussen and Douglas Schoen  I should have read the back of the book before reading the 300-ish pages of … um … “analysis” that makes up this book.  I struggled with this book because I really expected a pollster (Scott Rasmussen) to use more sound methods.
  • The Post-American World Release 2.0 by Fareed Zakaria  This is an enjoyable read.  If you’ve ever read any of Thomas Friedman’s works, the theme is familiar.  The world is changing and the gap between the United States and the rest of the world is narrowing.  It’s not an authoritative text by any means, but it helps the reader with cultural perspective.

I’m really enjoying the Globalization and IT course.  We’re approaching Information Technology (or Information Communication Technology as the term is used in most of the rest of the world) from a public policy perspective – a “geek course for non-geeks”.  The material has reenergized my interest in IT and policy.  I changed my statement of interest last semester to focus on nuclear arms control policy as that’s the direction I wanted to head with my studies.  I’m torn again – I’m really interested in both areas, but I’m beginning to think that the IT policy area would be more suited to dissertation research and I could then expand my research to include arms control policy after defending my dissertation.  I’ve spoken to my professor in this class about IT policy topics in pursuit of a dissertation topic and will be meeting with him to discuss this in more depth.  He also provided the names of two other faculty members I will be meeting with to discuss potential IT policy dissertation topics.  I’d like to have a general area of study narrowed down and perhaps even a good idea of who will be on my fields committee by the end of this semester.

The Transnational Security Issues course is also interesting.  It reminds me a lot of the coursework from the GMU Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (now the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution).  So far, we’ve covered corruption, safe havens, kleptocracies, money laundering, pirates, cyber crime, and terrorism.

As of this week, we’re officially halfway through the semester.  Before long, the semester will be over and it’ll be time to take the Comprehensive Qualifying Exam.  Stay tuned for updates!

Almost September Already!

Posted on by Don

Today as I looked back on my most recent post, I noticed that I had intended to post periodically during the Summer.  Well, that didn’t happen.  It seems like such a short time ago the Spring semester ended; and then I look at the calendar and realize it’s been 3 months!  Where did the time go?

I’m looking forward to the upcoming semester – my schedule hasn’t changed since my last post.  I’ve reviewed the syllabi, purchased my books, downloaded my supplemental readings, and am looking forward to a very productive semester.  The three courses seem to fit nicely together and I’m excited to get started.  The main themes can be summed up in three words: culture, globalization, and security.  All three areas are of great interest to me and can help guide my studies as I work toward narrowing down a dissertation topic.  I’m still keenly interested in nuclear issues – the question still remains, “which one will I choose?”

Classes start a week from today – look for updates as the semester progresses!

2 Semesters Down … N-2 Yet to Go …

Posted on by Don

The final grade for the Spring semester posted yesterday, so I’ve officially finished my first year as a PhD student.  The first year was packed full of mandatory core courses and prerequisites.  We covered a wide range of topics from microeconomics to advanced statistical methods to national level governance and everything in between.  Seven courses, 22 credits, 3 final exams, 5 final papers, 2 mid-term papers, 8 problem sets, 4 SPP events, and countless hours preparing on evenings and weekends later, it feels good to have reached this unofficial milestone.

I’ve chosen not to take courses this summer, but I will definitely stay busy.  I spent many hours trying to figure out which direction I wanted to take as I moved beyond the first year.  I had narrowed my research focus to two fairly broad areas: information technology policy and nuclear policy.  After much deliberation, I decided that while I’m keenly interested in both, my greater interest lies in nuclear policy.  When I submitted my updated research goals this month, I incorporated this adjustment and am happy with my choice.  I will spend a fair amount of time reading to prepare myself as I move forward.  I’ve put together a reading list and will work my way through what I can over the summer.

I’ve also enrolled for Fall 2011 classes since I last posted.  The class list is a little different than what I had originally planned, but not radically so.  I will be taking PUBP 800 – Culture and Policy, as it is my last core course.  This is significant in two ways: it marks a milestone in my progress (completing all core courses), and it means I’ll be taking the comprehensive exam in January.  I also decided to take two PUBP 710 courses: Transnational Security Issues and Globalization of Information Technology.  The Transnational Security Issues course should dovetail nicely into my nuclear policy interests.  I chose the second PUBP 710 course, Globalization of Information Technology, partly because of my continuing interest in Information Technology policy, but also because I’m hoping it will spark ideas related to my nuclear policy interests.  Perhaps I’ll be able to weave the two together as I continue toward a dissertation topic.

Well, that’s it for the Spring Semester … I plan to update this blog periodically over the summer, but first I’ll take a week or two to relax, recover, and regroup.  Before you know it, August will be upon us … and the Fall Semester will begin in earnest.

Goals / Research Statement

Posted on by Don

In my most recent post, I mentioned  the need to update my goals/research statement.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about what direction I’d like my research to take.  When I wrote my Statement of Purpose (SOP) during the admissions process, I was convinced I knew what my research would be.  Quoting from my SOP:

I believe that the GMU PhD program in Public Policy (with a concentration in Organizational and Information Technology) would be of great value in my efforts to achieve the understanding necessary to increase organizational effectiveness.  It would provide me the ability to focus my analytical and management skills in analyzing government’s Information Technology challenges and would possibly open new areas for research.  Upon completing the PhD program, I would like to apply my newly acquired skills to discover new and innovative ways to affect organizational structure and policy within the government.

I think this is still a rich area for research – and it *is* something that interests me.  But I’ve also come to realize that there are other topics that interest me.  I’ve rediscovered the nuclear world – a place I spent 5 years.  My time as an international arms control inspector gave me a real appreciation for reducing the nuclear stockpiles that exist around the world.  In addition, there’s the discussion of finding a permanent solution to the issue of spent nuclear fuel, perhaps closing the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States, and nonproliferation.  It’s an area of public policy that truly fascinates me.

Through discussions in classes over the past year, I’ve discovered and rediscovered interest in numerous other areas of public policy.  At times, I feel like a kid in a candy store; at other times, I feel overwhelmed with the variety of choices available to me.  Although the dissertation looms in the distance and is not of immediate concern yet, it’s important to narrow down my topic sooner rather than later.

We’ve been told on more than one occasion that the best dissertation is a done dissertation.  We’ve been cautioned not to “hover” – that is, not to succumb to analysis paralysis when choosing a topic for our dissertation.  Those who hover take much longer to write and complete.  The first time I heard that advice, I thought it was pretty cynical; now I agree with it.  It makes sense.  Our goal as PhD students isn’t to discover something Earth-shattering; it is to contribute to the world of human knowledge in some way and write a dissertation about it.  A classmate relayed some advice he received recently: take all those disparate interests you have and put them in a box.  Focus on one topic, write your dissertation, and when you’ve earned your PhD, then go back to the box and explore your various interests.

I still have some thinking to do before I submit my revision to my goals/research statement.  I plan to meet with my advisor soon and get his advice.  Part of our conversation will be guided by what courses are available next semester and in what combination.  I’m considering courses that are broad enough that they can be applied to many of my interests, but narrow enough that they begin to solidify my direction as I continue on this journey.  A sneak preview of what courses I’m considering:

  • PUBP 800 – Culture and Policy (mandatory core course)
  • PUBP 840 – US Policy Making Institutions
  • PUBP 710 – Transnational Security Issues

This list is subject to change … stay tuned!

Superlatives

Posted on by Don

Another week down and the first  impressions I wrote about last week are holding.  It’s a good mix of courses and the two that stand out the most are PUBP 804 and PUBP 805.  So this week’s focus is on the “superlatives” … most interesting and most challenging.

Most Interesting – PUBP 805: Public Policy Systems and Theory
There is considerably more reading in this course than the other three.  But the readings so far have been really enjoyable and this has made it much easier to cover them.  The discussions in class have aligned closely to the readings without being a direct reiteration of the assignment.  We started out with tobacco policy in the United States and are now covering the origins of public policy (how do policies get their start?) and the various stakeholders involved.

Most Challenging – PUBP 804: Multivariate Statistical Analysis in Public Policy
Although this course doesn’t require the amount of reading that 805 does, it is currently my most challenging.  I can see myself spending a lot of time wrapping my head around the concepts we will cover.  We just finished the first week of a two-week block on “factor analysis”.  Huh?  Yes, that’s my take on it as well.  I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it; it’ll just take extra effort.

Spring Semester 2011

Posted on by Don

Now that I’m a theoretical two weeks into the Spring Semester, it’s time to provide my first update.  I say “theoretical” because the University was closed Wednesday and Thursday of the first week of classes due to inclement weather.  So I’ve attended my Tuesday class twice, but my Wednesday and Thursday classes only once so far.

Here are this semester’s courses and my initial impressions:

PUBP 720: Managerial Economics and Policy Analysis – This is a fundamental microeconomics course.  It’s a prerequisite course in the PhD program and a mandatory course in the Master’s programs, so it’s very popular.  The room is packed, but I think I’m going to enjoy it.  The professor’s philosophy is to keep the readings short and assign problem sets as students learn more by doing.

PUBP 804: Multivariate Statistical Analysis in Public Policy – I’ve got my work cut out here.  This is the follow-on to the PUBP 704 prerequisite course I took last semester.  There’s definitely a heavy emphasis on the use of STATA and I think this will be my most challenging class.

PUBP 805: Public Policy Systems and Theory – This is another follow-on course and shares similarities with PUBP 730; a prerequisite course I also took last semester.  So far, this has to be my favorite course.  We will be covering the political environment, agenda setting, policy theories, and their application.  There is a lot of reading involved: we will have read eight books by the time the semester is over.

PUBP 850: Professional Development – This is the seminar course for all SPP PhD students.  We take it in our first year of study.  It shares some similarity with last semester’s PUBP 801 course in that there will be numerous guest lecturers, but the course emphasizes scholarly research, professional development, and ethics and professional norms rather than 801’s focus on a research proposal.

All-in-all, it’s a course load of 11 semester hours, so I’m still full-time.  I’m also still working full-time, but keeping my fingers crossed that I get accepted to a program in which I’m able to reduce my working hours to 20/week while attending classes full-time.  Announcements were supposed to have been made in January, but as of yet my status is unknown.

Finally, there is an important bit of news to share about the Arlington facilities.  Until this semester, the School of Public Policy has had different homes around the Fairfax and Arlington campuses, but never a building specifically built for the School.  Until now.  Founder’s Hall is the new home of the School of Public Policy and is definitely state of the art.  Way to go Mason!  For a brief history of the Arlington Campus, click here.

And the first semester is in the books …

Posted on by Don

The first semester of my PhD journey ended Thursday evening with an in-class statistics final.  In all, the week witnessed the submission of three final papers and two final exams (the other was in 801 – Macro Policy).  I ended up taking a week off work to finish my three papers and study for finals.  When I say “a week off work”, I should include the weekends on both ends.  In all, I spent 9 straight days typing on my laptop and scouring through the literature to put everything together.

I have to admit this semester was quite a challenge: more challenging that I had anticipated.  In the end, all the hard work has paid off.  I’ve received two of three grades so far and I’m very happy with them.  I’m sure the third is not far behind and I should know early this week.

Now that the first semester is behind me, I’ve got about 4 weeks before things ramp up again.  Next semester promises to be a lot like this semester in that I’ll be working full-time and attending classes full-time.  But now I’ve got a much better feeling for what to expect … 🙂  That should give me a little more time to maintain this blog and keep things fresh.

See you in January!

Spring Registration

Posted on by Don

About a week and a half ago, we registered for Spring classes and I have to say it was quite an experience! We (the PhD students) had been told that we should register as soon as the window opened in order to get into the classes we wanted; especially since one of the courses most of us needed is also a mandatory course for Masters students.

I arrived on campus in plenty of time to “get comfortable” and log in ahead of the 3:00 PM window opening. I checked a couple of times before the appointed time with no luck. 3:00 definitely means 3:00. At exactly 3:00 PM, I was able to log in to the registration website. Fortunately, I had written down the numeric codes for the four courses I’ll be taking next semester. I typed them in and clicked send. The screen froze.

I had no idea what to do. Thoughts ran through my mind that the hype was only that – hype. But then the Masters student who was sitting at the table next to mine trying to register using his laptop sprung up and bolted toward the computer room in a panic. Maybe the hype was real …

I waited for 30 seconds and my screen was still not responding. I checked other sites in another window – they worked. Clearly this was a traffic issue on the registration site. In a moment of frustration, I closed the window I was using for registration and tried to log in again. After what seemed like forever (in reality, a matter of 2-3 minutes) I was back in. I reentered the codes and clicked send. This time, I got past the initial screen, but received a notice saying that my registration had already been updated.

When I checked my schedule, it turns out that my registration had made it in on my first attempt; I just didn’t receive confirmation. At 3:10 PM, out of morbid curiosity, I checked availability of the dual-tracked course. There were three sections available. Sure enough, two of the three were already full and the third had only a couple of seats available. Wow! I’ve never experienced anything like that!

So what courses am I taking next term?

PUBP 720 – Managerial Economics
PUBP 804 – Multivariate Statistical Analysis
PUBP 805 – Public Policy Systems and Theory
PUBP 850 – Seminar in Public Policy

More to come as this term winds to a close …

Kickoff Week Recap

Posted on by Don

Well, the first week of the program is officially in the record books!  It was both challenging and motivating at the same time.  The academic week started Tuesday afternoon with a library orientation.  It was a good review for me, and I’m sure that it was beneficial for the rest of the cohort.  In addition to discussing online and physical resources, the librarian also gave a brief overview of Zotero.  I can say from personal experience that Zotero is a very valuable asset for any student at any level when noting references.

I had two classes on Tuesday immediately following the library orientation.  The first class was PUBP 801.  The 801 class is an introduction to research as it relates to public policy.  It seems fairly straightforward, but I have recognized early that there will be a lot of work involved to “do things right”.  We must quickly identify a research question and this research question will serve as the foundation to a lot what we do through the course of the semester.

The second class of the evening was PUBP 730.  Unlike 801, 730 is a combined masters- and PhD-level course, so the mix is about 50/50 between masters and PhD students.  The professor is a political scientist, which is important given that this course explores policy systems and theory in the United States.

The third, and final, class of the week is a Thursday afternoon introductory statistics course – PUBP 704.  I haven’t had a statistics class since 1989, so having this class is going to be very helpful in preparing me for PUBP 804 – next semester’s statistics course.

Looking back on the week, yes, there’s a lot of work to be done to keep in step with the curricula.  But I’m already seeing interrelationships between the courses which will help with the learning process.  For instance, in 801, we will identify a research problem.  We will then be working throughout the semester to develop a research proposal from that original problem.  In 704, we will write a research paper that includes statistical analysis.  These are two building blocks that can be used in the future as we develop our dissertation proposals and then research and write our dissertations.

Looking back, it’s great to be back in class and to feel like an integral part of an academic community again.  I’ve taken courses and pursued programs of study on a part-time basis in the past, but with only one exception, I’ve felt somewhat disconnected from the academic community to which I belonged.  Because I’m a full-time student, there’s a much greater connection with the community.  I’m looking forward to advancing through the upcoming semester!

Math Camp …

Posted on by Don

Ahhh “Math Camp”!  George Mason University’s School of Public Policy offers (well, more like “requires”) that all SPP students who take PUBP 720:  Managerial Economics and Policy Analysis (which is a required PhD course) attend Math Camp (PUBP 555).  It’s a 7-hour intensive review of mathematical principles that all PhD students must either attend or test out of prior to taking PUBP 720.

After my last foray into showing how much math I retained from my studies as an undergrad many moons ago, I was a bit wary and didn’t hold out much hope that I’d be able to bypass Math Camp.  So I decided to go for it and get math camp out of the way this upcoming semester so that I could register for PUBP 720 in the spring semester.

The online test consisted of two parts: 1) Exponents and Basic Geometry; and 2) Conceptual Foundations of Calculus, Basic Optimization.  I had to get at least an 80% on each part in order to bypass math camp completely.

They were both very short tests, as the previous test had been for statistics.  How’d I do?  85% on Part 1 and 100% on Part 2!  Woohoo!!  Things are definitely looking up!