UC Riverside

Proposed Medical School, School of Public Policy to Fulfill Needs in Inland Southern California

As UC Riverside grows, we continually look for ways to aid and benefit the Inland Southern California region that we call home. The establishment of professional schools such as the School of Medicine and the School of Public Policy will serve the community by educating the next generation of leaders in these areas of need.

Improving Health in Inland Southern California

The proposed UC Riverside School of Medicine will help meet the need for physicians in the medically underserved Inland Southern California region. The university's existing UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Science has helped build a strong foundation for a medical school. When completed, the school will:

• Provide a pipeline for diversifying the physician workforce.
• Facilitate partnerships with community clinics and hospitals.
• Develop research and health care delivery programs that improve the health of medically underserved populations.
• Help create a knowledge-driven economy within Inland Southern California.

Learn more about where we are in the process of establishing a medical school at the Medical School Web site.

Teaching the Next Generation of Inland Southern California Leaders

The establishment of School of Public Policy at UCR was unanimously approved by UC Regents on September 17, 2008. When it opens in 2010, it will help address the unique challenges the Inland Southern California region has experienced during its recent period of rapid growth by teaching the next generation of leaders a coordinated approach to evidence-based policy making. The school will:

• Train students in rigorous policy analysis skills, enabling them to pursue careers in local, state, and national governments and in non-profit organizations.
• Facilitate research by multidisciplinary research teams at UCR on substantive public policy problems that cut across traditional subject boundaries.
• Disseminate key policy research findings to policy makers.

The school will offer the following programs:

• Master of public policy (MPP)
• Ph.D. in public policy
• Ph.D. minor in public policy
• Executive MPP program and certificate courses

To distinguish itself from public policy schools at other universities, the school will emphasize the intersection of social policy with environmental policy, and the importance of policy making in a regional context — such as when social, economic and environmental problems transcend city, county, state or national lines.