| Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs | |
| Image Alt: | Virginia Tech Seal |
| Motto: | Ut Prosim (Latin) |
| Mottoeng: | That I May Serve |
| Established: | 1996 |
| Type: | Public university |
| Affiliations: | Virginia Tech |
| Head Label: | Director |
| Head: | Mehrzad Boroujerdi |
| City: | Blacksburg, Arlington, Richmond |
| State: | in Virginia |
| Country: | U.S. |
| Colors: | Chicago maroon and Burnt orange[1] |
| Mascot: | HokieBird |
The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at Virginia Tech offers graduate and undergraduate education in the fields of public administration, public policy, international affairs, urban affairs, and urban & regional planning. It has three campuses throughout Virginia: Arlington; Blacksburg and Richmond.
The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) was approved by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in 1996 as a collaboration of five departments and programs in two colleges to develop interdisciplinary instruction, research and outreach initiatives related to public policy, planning, and administration and globalization and international development.
SPIA is one of the schools in the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. SPIA houses three programs:
The Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP) has three locations in Arlington, Blacksburg, and Richmond, Virginia. CPAP integrates the challenges of governing with the scholarship of public administration and public policy. CPAP offers doctoral and master's degree programs as well as graduate certificates. The majority of CPAP students take classes on a part-time basis, while working full-time in government, consulting, and non-profit positions. CPAP offers the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Ph.D. degrees. Certificates are available in three fields: Homeland Security, Local Government Management, and Public and Nonprofit Financial Management.[2]
The Urban Affairs and Planning program has locations in Arlington and Blacksburg and offers an interdisciplinary, comparative, hands-on approach to instruction and research in two undergraduate degrees (B.A. in Public and Urban Affairs and B.S. in Environmental Policy and Planning), an accredited master's in Urban and Regional Planning (MURP), and a doctoral program in Planning, Governance & Globalization (PGG).[3]
The Government and International Affairs program has locations in Arlington and Blacksburg and offers a Master of Public and International Affairs (MPIA) and a Ph.D. in Governance and Globalization with an international affairs and cultural geopolitics focus. The MPIA is a 36-credit academic-oriented master's degree with a focus on international politics, critical geopolitics, international political economy, and cultural identity politics.[4]
Affiliated Departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS):
In 1969, the university launched new locations within the Virginia Tech National Capital Region (NCR). These facilities serves as a hub in the Washington metropolitan area for its students and alumni. As of 2015, the NCR offers graduate programs in Public Administration, Policy, Government, and International Affairs.[5]
In the summer of 2019, SPIA moved its Washington D.C. metro area campus from its Old Town Alexandria site to the Virginia Tech Research Center located in Arlington, Virginia.
Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs has received the following rankings:
In research and outreach, SPIA members lead a number of interdisciplinary efforts:
SPIA is administered by a director and an SPIA Executive Committee made up of the three program chairs and one other faculty member from each program.