The Advanced Seminar is designed to provide students an opportunity to design and execute an independent analytic project. The project — the Professional Decision Report (PDR) — should be an intensive, integrative experience which demonstrates the student’s professional abilities as well as the analytic skills they have acquired through graduate study. The final document should exhibit both a facility with technical and formal skills of analysis and an understanding of the political and operational dimensions which condition policy and management responses. It should be written, organized, and argued to convince a decision-maker of the wisdom of a particular policy or management decision; a simple description of policy choice options is not enough.             The course is organized to assist you in the completion of your PDR in an efficient and timely manner. It is highly structured to allow you to complete the critical steps in planning and carrying out your project. These include finding a client, identifying and refining an issue, developing a statement of the analytic approach, and outlining the report. We will use class time to explore these topics. As your work progresses, we will schedule time in class and individual meetings to review your progress and to work through any administrative or intellectual problems that may arise. Each participant will also have an opportunity to present their problem and preliminary analysis to the seminar.

This advanced seminar provides an opportunity to design and execute an independent analytic project. The project—the professional decision report (PDR)—is an intensive, integrative experience that demonstrates students’ professional abilities, as well as the analytic skills they have acquired through graduate study. PDRs must address a policy or management issue facing a client, usually a government official or nonprofit executive, of the student's choosing. The final document should exhibit both a facility with technical and formal skills of analysis and an understanding of the political and operational dimensions that condition policy and management responses. (Offered Fall and Spring Term.) Pre-req NURP 6010: Urban Policy Lab. Capstone PUP/MS only.