Andrew Young School of Policy Studies guides young leaders toward good works for the world

Business Journals

2 days ago

At the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, a truth goes marching on — an unshakeable belief that good economics, good governance and good social policy make a better world.
'When I was mayor of Atlanta, I saw what the public and private sector could do when they teamed up,' said Andrew Young, the school's namesake. 'Atlanta today is the result of that partnership, and that same principle is just as true in the poor countries of the world.'
The good-hearted values of Young, a man still energetically engaged with the Andrew Young School at age 93, uphold the college.
'Our school embodies Andrew Young's spirit of public service and dedication to social and economic progress,' said Dean Thomas J. Vicino. 'His commitment to opportunity and inclusion shapes our mission and values.'
Young earned fame and worldwide respect as a trusted young lieutenant to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. Young became the first Black representative elected to Congress from Georgia (1972-1977) since Reconstruction. President Jimmy Carter then appointed him as the United States' first-ever Black U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Later, as Atlanta mayor (1982-1990), Young blended public and private interests in ways that attracted 1,000-plus corporations to the city and helped win the 1996 Olympic Games.
His able and pragmatic leadership demonstrated how an effective application of economics, governance and social policy can drive prosperity and well-being.
That model is the Andrew Young School's beating heart.
A Global Beacon
Today's college stands as a beacon to young leaders of the future.
The school boasts more than $28 million annually in active sponsored grants, and faculty and students write more than 250 scholarly papers, chapters and books every year. The school's work impacts more than 70 countries.
The AYSPS comprises five academic units: the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the Department of Economics, the Department of Public Management and Policy, the School of Social Work and the Urban Studies Institute. Students and faculty fill various additional policy-critical research centers, cluster and labs engaged with dozens of government, industry and nonprofit collaborators and partners.
In April 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked AYSPS No. 16 (of 285 schools) among the nation's Best Graduate Schools in Public Affairs. The school ranked in the top five in the 2023-24 survey for Urban Policy and for Public Financing and Budget, and it ranked in the top 10 in Local Government Management and Nonprofit Management.
About one-fifth of AYSPS graduate students come from developing countries. Some 59 percent of all students are women, and nearly one-half are African Americans. Many students come to Atlanta expressly to study in a place shaped by Young's practices and ideals and to learn ways to develop those in their own communities.
'Every time we graduate a young person from a developing country and send them back home,' Young said, 'I feel like we have leveled the playing field a little more.'
Young's Founding Role
Almost 30 years ago, Young helped bring the founding dean of AYSPS to Atlanta.
The same year as the Centennial Olympic Games, 1996, then-dean of GSU's business college, Michael Mescon, asked Young to contact Roy Bahl at Syracuse University. Bahl had an international reputation as a thought leader on fiscal matters for governments in developing and transitioning economies internationally — a perfect pairing to Young's life work.
Young persuaded Bahl to come south. The new arrival was named dean when GSU merged the departments of Economics, Public Administration and Urban Studies with a couple of research centers into a new college.
Bahl didn't forget a favor.
'Here we are, a school of policy,' Bahl said in 2013. 'We're about government, we're about international, we're about not-for-profit, we're about linking the public and private sectors.
'And here you get a guy who's a former ambassador, has been a businessman, was a U.S. representative, has a global view of the world. What better name could there possibly be (for the school) … and what better role model?'
In 1999, Andrew Young entrusted his name to the new school of policy.
A Field of Dreams
Avani Raval, AYSPS' college administrative officer, still marvels that Young persuaded Bahl to come to GSU, catalyzing creation of the college.
'Andrew Young gave us that 'Field of Dreams' moment,' Raval says. 'You know – build it, and they will come.'
They still come. And they're more welcome than ever.
'Our doors are open to hardworking students who want to be the leaders of tomorrow,' Young said. 'There is nothing elitist or conventional about us. We love overachievers, and we love students who have the improvement of policy as a goal.'
'We are proud,' Dean Vicino added, 'to carry forward Andrew Young's vision by advancing knowledge, fostering innovation and empowering future leaders to build a more just and equitable world.'
Georgia State, an enterprising public research university in Atlanta, is a national leader in graduating students from diverse backgrounds. The university provides its accomplished faculty and 52,000 students with unsurpassed connections to the opportunities available in one of the 21st century's great global cities.