The Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy announced the creation of a new advisory board to focus on diversity and inclusion efforts within the school.
The McCourt advisory board will focus on various projects, including decreasing tuition barriers for students, doubling the size of faculty and expanding research opportunities. With the Oct. 4 announcement of the creation of the board, the McCourt School also appointed 17 inaugural members, including graduates, former government officials and business leaders.
Sami Powderly/The Hoya | The McCourt School of Public Policy announced the creation of a new advisory board focused on increasing diversity Oct. 4.
The board members’ varied skills will allow them to support McCourt’s efforts to increase inclusivity, according to Maria Cancian, dean of the McCourt School.
“This inspiring and accomplished group brings a variety of lived experience and professional expertise, reflecting and strengthening McCourt’s commitment to diversity and inclusion,” Cancian wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The board will contribute their unique expertise and extend their networks to expand our issue-specific bench of experts and deepen the impact of their work, diversify experiential and career development opportunities for students, and further embed equity and inclusion within our school.”
McCourt’s goal to improve inclusivity will allow many more students access to public policy education, according to advisory board member Maria Ghazal (GRD ’90), a graduate of the school and senior vice president and counsel for Business Roundtable, a non-profit lobbying firm.
“I am eager to support the McCourt School’s strategic priorities, particularly the goal of one day eliminating tuition barriers for students seeking a public policy degree,” Ghazal wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I think this is one of the best ways we can provide opportunity to all students — and encourage the greatest diversity in our student body, including diversity of thought and professional goals.”
In recent years, McCourt has taken steps to improve inclusivity. In March 2021, Frank McCourt Jr. (CAS ’75), founding donor of the school, donated $100 million to the school, $50 million of which he committed to scholarships and financial aid. The McCourt faculty also voted last spring to add “engaging with bias” as a McCourt “foundational skill,” a set of core competencies emphasized in all degree programs.
Increased diversity in public policy education will allow policymakers to understand the full impact of their decisions, according to board member Cecilia Muñoz, former White House director of intergovernmental affairs and former director of the White House domestic policy council under the Obama administration.
“I care a lot about how policy reaches people,” Muñoz wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Too often we think we have finished the work when we pass a new law, and we don’t pay enough attention to whether it has the intended effect on people’s lives.”
The push to expand the McCourt School’s focus on inclusivity comes as the school simultaneously seeks to increase its size and presence in the Washington, D.C. area. The school announced plans to move from Georgetown’s main campus to the Capitol Campus as part of an initiative to expand to include an undergraduate public policy major for juniors and seniors.
The advisory board will assist the school’s creation of the new undergraduate program as well as the school’s move downtown, according to Cancian.
“This group of leaders will support us in leveraging our new downtown location to build more dynamic programming experiences for our students; help strategize on new career pathways into policy making, public service and civil society for our students; and, more broadly, be ambassadors and champions for our school,” Cancian wrote.
The board’s wide range of expertise and experience will also allow the school to create more career and educational opportunities for students and improve community programming, according to the press release announcing the creation of the advisory board.
According to Ghazal, her career experience will help inform her role on the board.
“I would like to bring the insights I have gained at Business Roundtable to my work on the Advisory Board, including by encouraging McCourt students to explore opportunities in the business sector and helping students achieve a better understanding of how business and public policy interact with one another,” Ghazal wrote.
Ultimately, the advisory board will help bring about positive change within the McCourt school, according to Muñoz.
“I’m hopeful that we will be thoughtful and systematic both about inspiring a broader array of students to imagine themselves in policy careers, and in addressing the obstacles that prevent the world of policymakers from being as diverse as it needs to be,” Muñoz wrote.
