Research and service in the first state

An integral part of the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy experience

One of the many benefits of being a big part of a small state is access to opportunities. While at Delaware you will have many opportunities for hands-on experience to connect your academic interests to the needs of the local community. Our symbiotic relationship with the community allows the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy to fund over 80% of graduate students through research assistantships.

The community relies on our talented graduate students for advisement, development, technical expertise, and program evaluation while we turn to local governments and nonprofit agencies for professional experience, field-specific insight, and funding partnerships. Whether your interest is in historic preservation, state and local government, social policy, water resource management, urban planning, or any of our other quality specializations, you can be connected to relevant research and service opportunities through a research assistantship. Our goal is to introduce students to the professional field of urban affairs and public policy through direct engagement in research or service activities.

Student Journal: New Visions for Public Affairs

The New Visions in Public Affairs student journal is run by students in the masters and PhD programs from the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy (SUAPP) at the University of Delaware. The journal process is entirely student-led.

Student Involvement in Research Centers

There are seven College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy (or CHEP) research centers that are associated with the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy. They provide a physical and ideological home for focused research, strong support infrastructures for thesis and dissertation work, and sources of funding for research assistantships. All of the centers are interdisciplinary and do a wide range of contract and grant work for public agencies, major foundations and nonprofit organizations.

The Delaware Model at work

A major component of experiences of full-time grad students in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy is research assistantships. Students gain real world professional experience while earning their degree.

While studying…	As a research assistant at SUAPP, you could be…
Media policy	Analyzing crime coverage on local television news
Community development	Evaluating a community center’s homeownership program.
Environmental planning	Working on a proposal to minimize the impacts of poultry plants on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Architectural preservation	Mapping the Underground Railroad
Program evaluation	Teaching a statistics lab
Poverty in neighborhoods	Co-authoring an article on how welfare reform is affecting the local community
Sustainable development	Presenting your research to the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Research assistants work in tandem with faculty and staff on applied research and public service projects to collect and analyze information, evaluate policies, develop management systems, plan for future needs, train community leaders, and support the activities of the School and College. This community partnership is what makes the Delaware experience unique.

Find out more about the finanical aid award aspects of research assistantships.

School of Urban Affairs & Public Policy
184 Graham Hall | University of Delaware | Newark, DE 19716
phone 302 831 1687 | e-mail suapp@udel.edu | fax 302 831 3296