Public Policy Center > Interim Director's Message

Interim Director's Message

Susan Chandler The Public Policy Center in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawai`i will provide new opportunities for students, faculty and the community. The Center offers a graduate certificate in public policy; conducts research designed to solve complex social problems and facilitates community-based dialogs and forums on topics of interest. Our goal is to improve the lives of citizens in our communities through education, research and community dialog.

I believe there is a growing need for faculty, students and policy practitioners to be knowledgeable about specific policy areas as well as the emerging techniques of policy analysis, research and evaluation. Important public policy issues in Hawaii and across the Asia and Pacific area range from promoting a sustainable future, protecting the cultural and environmental aspects of our communities, to overcoming the barriers to obtaining health insurance and confronting the issues of an aging population. The policy analysts and faculty associates in our Center are an extremely diverse group. They are conducting research on globalization, energy and transportation issues; urban poverty to coastal management; drugs, delinquency prevention. long term care, family violence and much more.

This Public Policy Center brings together interested faculty, students, community members and policy makers with the goal of enhancing the quality of community life throughout Hawai`i, the rest of the United States as well as the Asia and Pacific region.

Our Programs:
The Public Policy Center (PPC) offers a Graduate Certificate in Public Policy. The Certificate is designed to prepare students for the challenging and changing world of policy analysis. It will provide both a rigorous core training in policy studies as well as a flexible, interdisciplinary series of courses designed to meet each student’s interest areas and needs.

We conduct community forums on topic of interest to improve the dialog among participants considering policy options. We conduct research and publish policy brief, papers and reports on our website, www.publicpolicycenter.hawaii.edu. Our wesite also provides a brief bio of our faculty associates and their areas of expertise.

The PPC conducts community and faculty dialogs to network with other policy minded researchers, concerned citizens and policy makers.

Please visit our website or contact me if you are interested in getting more information about the Center.

Susan M. Chandler
Professor

chandler@hawaii.edu

808-956-4237