The MPP program allows students to approach the study of public policy with a focus on public policy in the urban setting.

The program trains people capable of leading by making positive policy decisions, addressing the difficult questions associated with public policy, and managing the process of policy creation, approval, implementation and evaluation. At the conclusion of the master's degree program, students are able to identify, analyze and interpret the challenges and dilemmas of public policies, especially those of urban areas. Students also are able to approach policy analysis with a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods and are prepared to develop innovative processes and tools to deal with changing realities of public policy and address issues on a global, regional and local scale.

The Master of Public Policy program with a concentration in policy informatics provides the knowledge and skills for students who seek careers that require them to use informatics tools, models and simulations to help individuals and groups deliberate and evaluate policy decisions and explore new governance infrastructures. This concentration emphasizes theories and research concerning decision-making, complexity theory and visualization of quantitative and qualitative information, collective intelligence, behavioral economics and persuasive technologies.

The concentration combines mastery of advanced methods for processing information with domain expertise that can help humans understand complex social phenomena and achieve goals within public and governance applications. The program's design responds to the need for professionals with domain knowledge who can take a problem-driven, system-level, user-oriented perspective in developing and applying informatics systems to address societal and governance needs.