Adler University’s Master of Public Policy and Administration trains social change agents to build a better world

(This article is sponsored by Adler University.)

Our world is undergoing a monumental transformation. From the Black Lives Matter protests to the Me Too movement to rising awareness of climate justice and Indigenous rights, the evidence is all around us.

In Vancouver, Adler University is training a new generation of social change agents to continue advancing forward. Its two-year Master of Public Policy and Administration: Social Change program, a.k.a. the MPPA, equips graduates with an understanding of how to make positive societal change by connecting theory with practice.

“If people are able to marry the heart, their head, and their hands with social justice work, the world is going to be a better place,” Adler University’s MPPA program director, Sandra Song, said in a phone interview.

Song has a PhD in sociology and extensive experience working in public policy with the federal government. She pointed out that the MPPA from Adler University’s downtown campus is a “horizontal” degree that enables graduates to work in a variety of areas. This could include policy research or analysis, either in the public, nonprofit, or private sectors.

“Some may eventually, with enough years of experience, go into government relations work,” she added.

Adler University’s MPPA is an extension of the “scholar-practitioner model”, with 500 hours of field experience. That includes a 200-hour social-justice practicum in the first year working with an approved community partner. There, they will learn how to work with a marginalized and vulnerable population. The second year has a 300-hour policy internship along with a capstone project.

“It’s not just purely theoretical erudition of a problem or issue,” Song emphasized.

Rather, the MPPA is ground in practical problem-solving with a community partner, often a nonprofit organization.

As an example, Song mentioned how one student, Keri Guelke, worked with the B.C. and Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors on an initiative called PACK. That’s an acronym for Parents Advocating Collectively for Kin.

Guelke’s capstone project explored how the association’s peer-support network and advocacy could support keeping families together even as they struggled with substance misuse. It’s a timely initiative, given the magnitude of the opioid crisis and efforts by Mayor Kennedy Stewart to look for innovative solutions.

“Our students are making impact at the local level here in Vancouver,” Song said with pride.

To cite another example, Song noted that Adler University students are also looking at how to decolonize programs aimed at Indigenous youths. That, in turn, could make them more appealing.

“These are very complex issues, but students are afforded that 300 hours of training experience to really begin deepening their knowledge and help support the work of the not-for-profit.”

Adler University’s namesake is Austrian medical doctor and psychotherapist Alfred Adler. He was the world’s first community psychologist, according to Song. That’s because he understood the connection between individual health and the larger social system in which that person existed.

The university aims to introduce nonclinical programs that build on Adler’s ideas on the ground in Vancouver. And the professors themselves engage in social-change initiatives to model this behaviour for students.

“The values of the organization very much centre on moving this forward,” Song said. “Our mission statement is about graduating socially responsible practitioners. This is not easy. It takes considerable concerted effort and we have a president who is deeply committed to espousing and practising those values.”

Ideally, students who enter the MPPA program at Adler University will have an undergraduate degree in the social sciences. But Song said that there’s also a need to bring “different stocks of knowledge” into nonprofit organizations and the broader field of public policy. So that means people with engineering or technological skills can also thrive in the MPPA program.

Song recognizes the importance of allowing students to be able to work while studying, given the cost of living in Vancouver. So there’s flexibility in how the MPPA is offered, with daytime and evening courses.

She said that the MPPA attracts some mature students who might be working in the nonprofit sector and want to broaden their knowledge. Other students have left their jobs because they want to pivot their careers to work in a completely new area—and they require the skill set, insights, and knowledge that the MPPA provides.

“I believe the not-for-profit sector is vitally important,” Song said. “If we’re able to listen carefully, if we’re able to reflect carefully through deep analysis, and if we’re able to work hard to share this knowledge in the creation of policies, I am very hopeful that things will improve. But it takes time. It takes patience. I believe the not-for-profit sector has demonstrated that sense of patience and fortitude.”

To request information or to apply for admission into Adler University’s Master of Public Policy and Administration: Social Change program, visit the website.