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Stanford MBA Program

Public Management

The first MBA program to offer a certificate in public management, Stanford has prepared government, nonprofit, and socially responsible business leaders for more than 35 years through the Public Management Program (PMP).

As part of the Center for Social Innovation, the PMP remains the premier program to equip MBA students to apply management skills to social and environmental concerns.

Almost all MBA students take at least one PMP elective course and about 20 percent earn a PMP Certificate which also offers you the option to specialize in government, nonprofit management, or socially responsible business.

In addition to taking elective courses in areas such as public and nonprofit management, social entrepreneurship, international development, environmental sustainability, and philanthropy, you can extend your learning outside the classroom through participation in a variety of domestic and international service learning trips, clubs, conferences, speaker events, and an annual study trip to Washington, D.C.

Certificate In Public Management

The Certificate in Public Management is an academic option within the MBA program.

The certificate is evidence of a student's preparation for and commitment to using management tools to address social and environmental issues and serves as an important signal to future employers.

To earn the certificate, you must complete at least 16 units of related courses, including an approved economics course.

Each year, you can choose from approximately 30 classes that encompass public, nonprofit, and socially responsible business management topics.

Sample PMP electives include Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, Business and International Development, Leading Social Change, Innovation & Management in Healthcare, Strategic Philanthropy, and Environmental Entrepreneurship.

Public Management Initiative

The Public Management Initiative (PMI) is a primary component of the PMP and offers an opportunity to investigate one important public management topic in detail.

Each year, first-year PMP students choose the Public Management Initiative topic for the following academic year. This topic becomes the focus of a wide range of activities, speakers, and events for that year.

The 2007-2008 topic is "Reel Impact: Emerging Media, Business and Social Value."

Past topics have included:

  • Bridging the Digital Divide
  • Climate Change—Energy, Economics, and Corporate Policy
  • Greening the Bottom Line
  • Investing in Social Change
  • Public/ Private Partnerships
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Sustainable Economic Development
  • The Double Bottom Line: Promoting Profits and Public Service
  • Women in the Global Economy

Experiential Learning

A host of PMP programs provide the opportunity to extend your learning beyond the classroom while engaging with and contributing to the community.

Opportunities Include:

  • Board Fellows—serve an eight-month apprenticeship on a San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit board of directors to learn firsthand about effective board governance. In 2005-2006, 80 students served on the boards of over 50 community-based organizations.
  • Future Alumni Consulting Team—partner with alumni and fellow students to provide pro bono nonprofit consulting services to Bay Area nonprofits.
  • Service Learning Program—work alongside and learn from globally recognized international and domestic social entrepreneurs who are addressing some of the world's most pressing social and environmental problems.
    • Service Day: One-day direct service programs with local, Bay Area nonprofits.
    • Service Learning Trips: Seven to ten day domestic and international trips to visit and work with leading social entrepreneurs. 2006-2007 trip destinations include East Africa, Guatemala, Thailand and Cambodia, and Greater Yellowstone. (These trips do not preclude your participation in an international study trip offered by the Global Management Program.)
    • Service Learning Summer Program: Short-term summer consulting projects with organizations visited on the Service Learning Trips.
  • Washington, D.C. Study Trip—explore the intersection of business and government on this annual trip to Washington, D.C.

Career Assistance

Throughout the year, the PMP and Career Management Center (CMC) provide resources and counseling to help you pursue summer or full-time positions in the government, nonprofit, and socially responsible business arenas.

Career opportunities include:

  • Stanford Management Internship Fund (SMIF) Summer Internships—SMIF supports students who intern in nonprofits or the government during the summer. The program was initiated and initially funded primarily by other first-year students who pledged up to two percent of their summer income.

    The GSB has since assumed financial responsibility for funding SMIF internships to approximate all students' median summer salaries.

    Past summer internship destinations include: Environmental Defense Fund, Executive Office of the President, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NewSchools Venture Fund, Save the Children, Share Our Strength, Social Venture Network, The World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and Yosemite National Park.

    In its 25-year history, the program has supported over 400 GSB summer interns to serve over 250 different organizations around the world.
  • GSB Nonprofit/Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program—if you accept a qualifying government or nonprofit positions after graduation either in the U.S. and internationally, you may be eligible for a loan forgiveness program that substantially reduces your MBA financial obligation.

    Stanford MBA graduates working in the nonprofit and public sectors are eligible to have up to 100 percent of your debt repayments forgiven for that year. You may apply at any time during your career while you are still repaying loans, and there is no limit on the number of years you can qualify for the program.

    The GSB Nonprofit/ Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is one of the most generous loan forgiveness programs among U.S. business schools.

Community

The Public Management Program is committed to supporting a vibrant community of people actively engaged in building a more just and sustainable world. The breadth and depth of activities offered by the PMP—including retreats, speakers and conferences, social events, and student clubs—allow you to connect with GSB peers, faculty, alumni, and expert practitioners who share your interests.

The GSB hosted the Net Impact 2005 Conference, which brought together over 1,600 academics, business leaders, and MBAs from all over the world to generate ideas about how the public, nonprofit, and private sectors can use business tools to address critical social issues.

Additionally, PMP students, collectively, organized more than 75 events last year on topics as varied as corporate social responsibility, education, environment, healthcare, international development, philanthropy, social enterprise, and state and local government

Hundreds of students belong to PMP-related clubs, some of which include:

  • Challenge for Charity (C4C)—raises money and volunteer support for Special Olympics, and hosts the C4C Weekend held each spring at Stanford, which is attended by students from west coast business schools.
  • Education Club—engages business and education students in discussion and learning about their roles in education, education's role in society, and business' role in education.
  • Environmentally Sustainable Business Club—informs students about environmental concerns in a business context.
  • Government and Politics Club—facilitates a highly energized, non-partisan group of students interested in developing a deeper understanding of the intersection between government and business.
  • Healthcare Club—brings students with interest or experience in healthcare together with alumni, industry experts, and thought leaders who share common interests.
  • I Have a Dream (IHAD)—seeks to improve graduation rates, build college aspirations, and help finance continued education for children growing up in low-income and otherwise disadvantaged communities.
  • International Development—brings together students interested in learning about various international development issues and opportunities.
  • Social Venture Club—explores the blurring boundaries between the public and private sectors in the belief that social sector organizations can benefit from applying business principles and skills to deliver public services.
  • Start Up—promotes economic development in and around East Palo Alto, an economically depressed area near Stanford, by providing training, capital, and consulting services to local entrepreneurs.