About

About the 
School of Public and International Affairs

Explore, Prepare, Engage and Lead through Scholarship and Practice

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Welcome from the Director
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Welcome to Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies.  We are a vibrant community of scholars, students and professional practitioners working together in support of outstanding scholarship and fostering the skills and knowledge needed to engage and lead on the pressing problems of our time.  Our faculty represent multiple disciplines, and bring distinctive expertise to the challenges of government administration, peacekeeping, policy, leadership, planning, sustainability, and developing and maintaining civil society, among others.  We share a common commitment to understanding the deep complexities of public problems and identifying the collaborative and interdisciplinary skills and knowledge required to effectively engage these problems.  

SPIA has three distinct programs that offer both professional and academic degrees: Center for Public Administration and Policy, Government and International Affairs, and Urban Affairs and Planning.  Each program is co-located in Blacksburg, VA on Virginia Tech’s main campus, and in the historic city of Alexandria, VA in the National Capital Region.  Our public administration and policy program also has a third location in the Capital city of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond.  SPIA faculty lead a number of dynamic centers that enrich and extend the impact of research and foster collaborative engagement of public problems:  The Metropolitan Institute, the Institute for Policy and Governance, and the Virginia Center for Housing Research.

Potential students visiting our site can learn about the undergraduate programs in public and urban affairs, and environmental planning and policy, and the graduate programs in public administration and policy, government and international affairs, and urban affairs and planning  You will also learn about the research and teaching interests of our faculty, and the interests and accomplishments of our students and alumni.  Potential research partners and peer institutions visiting our site can learn about the breadth and quality of faculty research and successful partnerships.  And alumni and friends can learn more about our plans for the continued development and advancement of the SPIA mission to explore, prepare, engage and lead through scholarship and practice.

Anne Khademian,
Director

Current SPIA Brochure...