Welcome to the University of Colorado’s School of Public Affairs!
Whether you are a student, a potential student, an interested citizen, a community leader, or just browsing the website, I hope we have something valuable to offer you.
As the #29 ranked school of public affairs in America, we take pride in our programs and feel a responsibility to train tomorrow’s leaders. Our motto is Lead.Solve.Change, and we take that very seriously. From innovative MPA and MCJ concentrations in Emergency Management to Domestic Violence, to the highly successful growth of our first undergraduate degree (Bachelors in Criminal Justice), to our many community events, to the timely research of our Buechner Institute for Governance, we are a School committed to making a real impact.
I have been privileged to serve as Dean since July 2008. It is a great pleasure to work with our superb SPA faculty, our outstanding staff, and our committed researchers at the Buechner Institute.
As I write this in late 2012, the recent elections have clarified our political leadership at the national, state, and local levels for the next few years. We hope that these leaders will adopt policies that help accelerate the economic recovery, to allow families to prosper and government budgets to stabilize, after the deepest recession and economic downturn in recent memories.
There are many timely challenges for public affairs schools to address, for our nation, the state of Colorado, and the University of Colorado. We hope that SPA’s training and research in leadership, management, policy and budget analysis will help policymakers solve these problems and change the dominant paradigm from gridlock and distrust to one of greater optimism and “can-do” spirit around public and nonprofit endeavors.
As we continue to seek to fulfill our mission, we hope you will take some time to learn more about SPA. And, we look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions or comments.
Best,
Paul Teske
Dean and University of Colorado Distinguished Professor