Nonprofit and Civil Society Program

The School has created an integrated interdisciplinary program of discovery, learning, and engagement in the areas of governance and nonprofit organizations and civil society. The Program enrolls approximately 35 doctoral students in the two PhD. programs within SPIA, in Public Administration and Public Affairs and in Environmental Design and Planning, and a roughly equivalent number of Master’s candidates across the three such programs in the School: the Master of Public and International Affairs, the Master of Urban and Regional Planning and the Master of Public Administration. The Program is offered in both the National Capital Region and Blacksburg. Interested students may earn graduate certificates in Nonprofit/Nongovernmental Organizations and Management and Administration and Leadership and integrate these into their degree plans of study. Program students also share in symposia and special programs. Substantively, the Program allows students to concentrate on either domestic governance and civil society issues or internationally or globally focused ones. Leaders and staff of the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance oversee the Program.

Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Management Program/Certificate
Through the Institute for Policy and Governance, SPIA offers a 12-hour Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Management allowing students and practitioners to develop their academic interests and in-service work in the nonprofit or third sector. The Certificate may be undertaken as a stand-alone credential of advanced educational achievement for non-degree students or as a supplement to a master's or doctoral degree. In addition to SPIA undergraduate and graduate students, participants from other Virginia Tech departments and colleges may earn this Certificate.
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Graduate Fellows Program
Two graduate fellowships in public and nonprofit financial management.

For more information please contact:
Professor Max Stephenson at (mstephen@vt.edu) or 540-231-7340, Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance, or any of the three Program Chairs within SPIA (Urban Affairs and Planning, Center for Public Administration and Policy, and Government and International Affairs).

©2005 School of Public & International Affairs