Bill Coplin
Professor and Chair, Policy Studies
Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence
Degree
Ph.D., American University, 1964
Specialties
Higher education, citizenship and urban education, public policy analysis, pedagogical partners with undergraduates
Personal Website
http://https://wdcoplin.expressions.syr.edu/
Courses
PST
101: Introduction to the Analysis of Public Policy
PST 409: Intermediate Analysis of Public Policy
PST 416: Community
Problem-Solving
Biography
Bill Coplin has received
almost all Syracuse University teaching
awards as well advising the public service awards since arriving on campus in
1969. After a distinguished He has devoted most of his recent
teaching, research and service to changing undergraduate and high school
education so that the fundamental skills required for career and citizenship
success occupy a central place in the curriculum. More than 40,000 students
have taken his course, PST 101: Introduction to the Analysis of Public Policy
at Syracuse University and more than 50 high schools in the northeast since
1977. Based on the highly successful Policy Studies Major he introduced in 1977
and managed since then, Bill has promoted the idea that the key to skill
development is experience outside the formal classroom. Policy Studies Website
He is an advocate of
working with undergraduate as junior partners in curriculum development,
delivering courses and conducting applied research. He published 10 Things
Employers Want You to Learn in College in 2003 which carries the same
message. A revised edition was published in 2012. He
has also developed several experiential learning course taught by
him and several members of the faculty, including,
PAF 410: Practicum in Public Policy: SU Policies.
His book, Public Policy: Skills in Action:
A Pragmatic Introduction (Roman & Littlefield, (Roman &
Littlefield,2017) is
the textbook for his popular PST 101 course.
His latest book. The
Happy Professor: How to Teach Undergraduates and Feel Good About It (Roman
& Littlefield, 2019).
Bill received his BA in
Social Science from Johns Hopkins University in 1960, and his M.A (1962) and
Ph.D. (1964) in International Relations from American University. He has been
the Director and Professor of the Public Affairs Program of the Maxwell School
of Syracuse University and College of Arts and Sciences since 1976. He has
published more than 115 books and articles in the fields of international
relations, public policy, political risk analysis, and education and
citizenship.