American University School of Public Affairs

The American University School of Public Affairs (SPA) houses three academic departments - Public Administration & Policy, Government, Justice, Law, & Society - as well as the Washington Institute for Public & International Affairs Research, a research unit jointly sponsored with the School of International Service. SPA was created on March 3, 1934, with a $4,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to provide training to 80 promising young federal government employees in downtown D.C. By 1937, its enrollment had grown to over 1,000 students, and it quickly expanded its mission to include undergraduate and graduate degrees. SPA's institutional role shifted several times over the next twenty years. In 1957, it was renamed the School of...