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SIPA Faculty
Steven A. Cohen
International Affairs Building, Room 1408
Director, Program in Environmental Science and Policy
Phone: 212-854-4445
www.columbia.edu/~sc32
sc32@columbia.edu
Biography:
Steven Cohen is director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy and director of the environmental policy studies concentration at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). He is also Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. From 2002 to 2006 he was the Director of the Office of Educational Programs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. From 1998 to 2001, Cohen was vice dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. From 1985 to 1998, he was the director of Columbia's Graduate Program in Public Policy and Administration. Cohen was associate dean for faculty and curriculum at SIPA from 1987 to 1998. From 2001 to 2005, he was director of the Executive Master of Public Administration Program at SIPA.
Dr. Cohen served as a policy analyst in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1977 to 1978 and from 1980 to 1981, and as consultant to the agency, 1981–91, 1994–96, and 2004–2005. From 1990 to 1994, Cohen served on the board of the Pew Faculty Fellowship in International Affairs. He has also served on the executive committee and committee on Accreditation and Peer Review of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. From 2001 to 2004 he served on the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology and is currently on the board of directors of Homes for the Homeless.
Dr. Cohen has taught courses in public management, policy analysis, environmental management environmental policy, and management innovation. In 1982 Cohen developed and until 2001 directed Columbia's Workshops in Applied Public Management and Applied Policy Analysis, bringing practical professional education into the center of Columbia's public administration curriculum. He has conducted professional training seminars in urban management, quality management, strategic planning, project management, and management innovation.
He is a graduate of James Madison High School in Brooklyn (1970), Franklin College of Indiana (1974), and the State University of New York at Buffalo (MA, 1977; PhD, 1979). From 1976 to 1977, Cohen was a Ford Foundation fellow in urban environmental policy and from 1978 to 1979 he was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow in Public and Environmental Policy and Implementation.
Research Interests: Environment, Climate Change, Public Policy
Publications:
Cohen is the author of The Effective Public Manager (Jossey-Bass 1988) and Understanding Environmental Policy, (Columbia University Press 2006). He has coauthored Environmental Regulation Through Strategic Planning (Westview Press 1991); Total Quality Management in Government (Jossey-Bass 1993); The New Effective Public Manager (Jossey-Bass 1995); Tools for Innovators: Creative Strategies for Managing Public Sector Organizations (Jossey-Bass 1998); The Effective Public Manager, 3rd edition (Jossey-Bass 2002); Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation: A Policy Approach That Works (MIT 2005); The Responsible Contract Manager (Forthcoming); and numerous articles on public management innovation, public ethics, and environmental management.