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The Picker Center for Executive Education
Executive Programs
The Picker Center was founded in 1999 by a gift from former Dean Harvey Picker. The Center is dedicated to meeting the educational needs of mid-career learners unable to attend school full-time. The Picker Center offers a Degree program (EMPA) and Non-Degree programs covering a wide range of topics and serving very diverse constituencies.
The Executive Master of Public Policy and Administration (EMPA)
The largest and oldest of the Center’s academic programs is the Executive Master of Public Policy and Administration. The program now has over 160 students taking courses and by May 2010, there will be over 500 graduates. The EMPA offers a cohesive curriculum of eight core courses, three context courses and four concentration courses organized for the following fields—“Advanced Management and Finance”, “International Economic Policy and Management", and "Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management." The program also has a healthy alumni association, the EMPA Forum.
The Picker Center also hosts an active schedule of public events that promote the study and practice of effective public policy making, including the annual Rose Osborne Lecture.
Non-Degree Programs
Please note our non degree programs are not open to the public.
If you are interested in a creating a potential partnership for a new Non-Degree Program with the Picker Center For Executive Education please contact us at (212) 854-2710.
Continuing Education - SIPA and Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education (SCE) offers certificates in Critical Issues in International Relations and United Nations Studies. The courses can be taken independently or as part of a four-course certificate program. More
92nd Street Y Ford Fellows Program - Twenty-five community leaders from six nations are selected each year to participate in the three-week program in New York City. Topics covered include nonprofit management, fund-raising, strategic planning and strategic thinking, globalization, conflict resolution, self-assessment, resource management, media and external relations, and diversity and gender. This program takes place in May/June.
Externado - The core of the SIPA-Externado partnership is the shared teaching of a series of Master’s degree and specialization programs at the Externado campus in Bogota, Colombia. SIPA and Externdo jointly developed the curriculum for a number of different but related management, finance and international affairs programs and jointly select faculty and topics for the classes. Externado awards the degrees and specializations. SIPA awards a certificate of participation to each graduate. SIPA provides the faculty and curriculum for about twelve sessions each year on site at the Externado. Columbia University faculty who have taught in the program include: Lisa Anderson, Francisco Rivera-Batis, Steven Cohen, Peter Danchin, Hans Decker, Rudolfo de la Garza, Bill Eimicke, Nelson Fraiman, Arvid Lukauskas, Katherine Morgan, Jose Ocampo, Jack Synder, and Xiabo Lu.
Federal Aviation Administration - FAA’s mission is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world. Their vision is to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation, while being responsive to their customers and accountable to the public. Recently a new partnership was created between FAA and the Picker Center. Phase I and Phase II consisted of 8 cohorts. Phase II followed the same three-day format as Phase I. The emphasis remains on building skills in the areas of communication and negotiation, with an emphasis on how to use these skills to manage performance more successfully. Two dimensions that will receive special attention are dealing with difficult employees and engaging FAA clients, as individuals and as institutions, more effectively. This program took place over the past 2 years and is currently in negotiations for a Phase III.
The Global Perspectives on Governance Program
The Global Perspectives on Governance Program is developed by Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in partnership with The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration as a training program for senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officers.
This program is designed to enhance directorate civil servants’ core leadership competence, to empower them to think forward with imagination and to gather more insights into effective governance and management. The program aims to provide civil servants an opportunity to examine key challenges in policy formulation and implementation, against a broad international perspective, and to generate practical insights and strategies for enhancing their respective roles in public governance.
International Financial Issues in Emerging Markets In partnership with The Inter-American Development Bank - The goal of this executive training program is to help world practitioners design and implement macroeconomic and financial policies in a cohesive and comprehensive fashion based on state-of-the-art emerging market knowledge. This program is designed for the experienced global policymaker from emerging marketgovernments as well as international financial institutions. It covers macro-financial analytical issues and provides quantitative tools such as growth vulnerability to external factors, international liquidity and vulnerability to financial crises, fiscal vulnerability to Sudden Stops and banking stress tests.
Saudi Arabia Program In partnership with The Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Saudi Arabia UN Security Council Executive Studies in collaboration with the Picker Center for Executive Education has designed a 1-year module of executive courses as a structured program which consists of four quarters. The module aims to provide civil servants an opportunity to examine key challenges in policy formulation and implementation, against a broad international perspective, and to generate practical insights and strategies for enhancing their respective roles in public governance.
UJA Federation of New York - The UJA Federation cares for those in need, rescues those in harm’s way, and renews and strengthens the Jewish people in New York, in Israel, and around the world. Some of the topics covered include Leading Organizations, Personal and Interpersonal Competencies, Essential Tools for Effective Managers and Action Learning Projects. This program takes place over 2 years.
Northern Ireland Community Builders Program - Despite the best efforts of all parties involved, the Northern Ireland peace process continues to be fraught with uncertainties precipitated by decades of mutual distrust. To date, no effective vehicle has been devised to bridge the cultural, religious and political divide among the Northern Irish people at the grass roots level. It is our belief that a cross-cultural, university-based pilot program of classroom and fieldwork in the United States could be an effective method of building trust and peacekeeping skills. In the fall of 2002, ten community leaders and ten police personnel from Northern Ireland engaged in a six week experiment in learning about themselves, each other, New York City, innovative policing, community building and advanced management techniques. The institutional home of the program is the Picker Center for Executive Education in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Dr. William B. Eimicke, Director of the Center, manages the U.S. side of the program. Dr. Francis Costello directs the Ireland-based part of the program. This program will have its 8th group visit January 2010.
The People's Government of Guangdong Province (GDPTO) Executive Management Training Program - Guangdong has a population of more than 78 million, the highest GDP of all Chinese provinces and is home to many multi-national companies. The province has 21 major cities, 121 county divisions and 1,710 townships. SIPA provides GDPTO participants with 15 days of classroom instruction on topics that must be mastered by effective public managers, including strategic planning, financial management, human resources management, negotiation and conflict resolution, managing police and emergency services, innovative parks management, leadership, contracting and outsourcing management, performance management, communications and media relations, risk management, international finance and trade, U.S.-China relations, public ethics and anti-corruption measures, managing technology and management innovation. This program will have its 5th group visit August 2009.
Guangdong Southern Media Non-Degree Program - A 20-member GSMG delegation, headed by board members, visit Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and participate in the Media Management Training Program organized by the Picker Center for Executive Education. The visit and the training program are to give participants a better understanding of the latest developments in the media industries of the United States, and enable them to meet the challenges of the rapidly developing global media industry.
Jiangsu Broadcasting Media Company - A 25-member JSBC delegation, headed by board members and special assistants to the President of JSBC, visit Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and participate in the Media Management Training Program organized by the Picker Center for Executive Education. The visit and the training program are to give participants a better understanding of the latest developments in the media industries of the United States.
COMFAMA - A Colombian organization that is a private group that provides most of the social services for working communities. They had a short course at Columbia in which they learned about some of the global issues involved in development. This program took place in September.
The World Bank -The School of International Affairs in collaboration with the World Bank Institute has partnered to create a state-of-the-art and comprehensive two-week course in trade policy for development. The next World Bank program will take place in 2010.
Southeast Asia Fellows Program
The Southeast Asia Fellows Program is a five-year effort to provide midcareer training for development professionals from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and China's Yunnan Province. Fellows spend a month at the Picker Center and then return to their organization with enhanced management and development skills. The program also equips participants with the skills for building a regional development.
Chinese Central Television
Columbia has a relationship with China's Central Television (CCTV), which partners with the University to work on media projects. Through SIPA, senior-level executives participate in a program that offers instruction in management, policy and the use of television media.
United Nations/UNDP
The Picker Center has provided and continues to provide a wide variety of seminars, training programs and materials, conference design and hosting services, and basic research for the United Nations and its sister agencies.
In Partnership with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy...
in Singapore we are now offering a Senior Management Program designed for senior executives in the government, non-profit, and private sectors, who are earmarked to be the next generation of leaders in their organizations. The ideal SMP candidate is a senior functional head or director of an organization unit with at least 8 years of significant managerial experience. The program is conducted in English and takes place in Singapore. If you are interested, please contact Senior Management Programme at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, 469C Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259772. Click here for more information about the program.
The Picker Center has also assisted the Fire Department of New York on the development of its diversity initiative and evaluation of its innovative CPR program, the New York City Department of Citywide Services with its leadership training initiative and the United Nations Development Program with its LEAD recruitment initiative and Virtual Development Academy.