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Institutional Update
March / 2019
Opportunities Abound for Institutional Members to Share Ideas and Research with APPAM This Spring
PLEASE DISREGARD THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS EMAIL THAT WAS SENT EARLIER TODAY. OUR APOLOGIES ABOUT THE MULTIPLE EMAILS!

Fall Conference


Complimentary Memberships

  • Institutional Members are strongly encouraged to share with their staff and students information about obtaining the complimentary staff and student memberships to which each Institutional Member is entitled. For more information about this benefit, contact Ryan Martz at rmartz@appam.org.

Spring Conference and Institutional Member Forums




We encourage Institutional Members to visit our website, Facebook page and Twitter account frequently for the most up-to-date news about opportunities with APPAM.
Institutional Members Data Collection Effort

Currently, we have no data on APPAM member PhD programs or our non-academic employer members. We will be conducting two surveys, one for each group, to assess the differences between PhD programs and to gauge what skills employers are looking for from potential employees. Please see below for more information about each survey. Our goal is to share both sets of survey results, in aggregate, at the Spring Conference, and we would greatly appreciate and value your participation and contributions. We will not identify respondents. Both surveys will close on April 15th.

PhD Program Survey

APPAM-affiliated PhD program directors have consistently asked for information regarding peer programs to assist with curriculum development, professional development, recruitment, and other program goals. There is little comprehensive information available, so APPAM is attempting to collect these data through the institutional reps. We have intentionally designed a short and concise survey focused on critical topics of interest that should not take more than 15-30 minutes to complete. The more responses we receive, the more robust and comprehensive information we will have to share.

Non-Academic Employer Survey

There is a joint interest of APPAM academic and non-academic institutional members for policy and public affairs programs to produce graduates with marketable skills. However, there is little information available about the skills desired of new Masters-level and new Doctorate-level researchers employed by APPAM’s non-academic institutional members. APPAM is launching this data collection as a benefit to both our academic and non-academic members to help graduate programs improve the match between the skills of graduates and those desired by research firms.
Missed Today's Webinar? You Can Still Register and Get a Link to the Recording!

The Future of Drug Pricing and Its Impact on Healthcare Policy

The price of prescription drugs in America has risen significantly over the last decade, outpacing all other aspects of healthcare spending. Healthcare continues to be one of the most important issue for voters. According to Gallup's Midterm Election Benchmark poll, healthcare tops the list of voter issues with 80% of polled voters indicating that healthcare is extremely or very important to their vote.

Join ASHEcon and APPAM experts as they discuss the rising cost of drugs, how it will impact healthcare policy, what is currently being done to address this issue, and what future steps policy makers and researchers can take to alleviate the impact of rising prescription drug costs.
JPAM Insights:
Is Information Enough? The Effect of Information about Education Tax Benefits on Student Outcomes

by Peter Bergman, Jeffrey T. Denning and Dayanand Manoli

There is increasing evidence that tax benefits for college do not affect college enrollment. This may be because prospective students do not know about tax benefits for college or because the design of tax benefits is not conducive to affecting educational outcomes. We focus on changing awareness of tax benefits by providing information to students or prospective students. We sent e‐mails and letters to students that described tax benefits for college, and we tracked college outcomes. For all three of our samples—rising high school seniors, already enrolled students, and students who had previously applied to college but were not currently enrolled—information about tax benefits for college did not affect enrollment or reenrollment. We test whether effects vary according to information frames and found that no treatment arms changed student outcomes. We conclude that awareness is not the primary reason that tax benefits for college do not affect enrollment.

Spotlight:
APPAM Members in the News
Pennsylvania State University has introduced a Public Policy Masters degree to its offerings and has begun accepting applications for Fall 2019 enrollment in the program.

The Pepperdine University School of Public Policy joined the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) as one of 21 founding member institutions. Launched by a collaboration comprised of the Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and New America Foundation, PIT-UN is composed of leading academic institutions working at the intersection of the public, technology, and government agencies.

Georgia Institute of Technology will launch a Masters degree in Sustainability this fall, with Public Policy faculty such as Marilyn A. Brown involved in program development.

Do you have news about your institution, its employees or its students to share?
We want to feature it! Email coverage and information to  rrobinson@appam.org .
Upcoming Deadlines:
Mark Your Calendars for These Important Dates
March 29-30, 2019: DC Regional Student Conference
April 12-13, 2019: CA Regional Student Conference
Member
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Membership question?
Email Membership and Administration Manager Ryan Martz for assistance.
Take Advantage of Your Access to JPAM as an APPAM member!

All APPAM members receive a complimentary digital access to JPAM, the Journal for Policy Analysis and Management , when they sign up for and renew their APPAM memberships. Visit JPAM's page today to read the latest research published and view opportunities to publish your institution's work through JPAM.