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Established in 1981, the Center for Public Policy serves the Houston community as an impartial research organization within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Houston. Directed by Dr Jim Granato, the results of the Center's research are shared with the community through publications, media, conferences, symposia and educational programs. |
 Bob Lanier, Bill Hobby & Richard Murray |
The Center is supported by an advisory board of Houstonians prominent in business and civic affairs, and maintains cooperative relationships with many educational and public service entities in the Houston area and the state of Texas. The Center's funding is currently from legislative appropriations, grants, and from corporate and private donations.
Public Policy Research
The Center for Public Policy (CPP) is dedicated to providing scientific, non-biased data and analysis to public officials, business professionals, community leaders and others within the Houston community. Led by Dr Jim Granato, CPP Director, the research orientation of the CPP is interdisciplinary with particular emphasis on unifying case-study, formal/mathematical modeling, and applied statistical/experimental approaches to any research question. For example, research work teams are now being created to include faculty from a variety of disciplines and universities. These research clusters will focus on a diverse array of important public policy and academic issues while archiving data, conducting statistical analysis, using experiments and computer simulations, and developing working papers. The issue may be education, transportation, energy or a myriad of others but the approach will always use objective methods of analysis. More—
Under the guidance of Dr Richard Murray, director of the Survey Research Institute and the Lanier Chair of Urban Policy in the Department of Political Science, the CPP conducts ongoing public opinion polling. The Center has provided polling data for the Houston Chronicle and KHOU Television, as well as for regional public and private sector entities. In a joint project with Rice University, CPP modernized its polling capabilities with the installation of a CATI (computer assisted telephone interview) system. The overall project consists of twenty stations in the University of Houston’s new Leroy and Lucille Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting. More—
Institute of Regional Forecasting
Since its inception, the Center for Public Policy has provided data and analyses on the local economy. During the difficult economic times of the 1980s, the Center gained local and national recognition for its accurate analysis of Houston's economy and real estate markets. That tradition continues today through the Center’s Institute of Regional Forecasting. Under the direction of Dr Barton Smith, Professor of Economics, this facet of the CPP maintains a reputation for keeping an objective finger on the pulse of Houston's economic heartbeat. More—
Government Internships
In an effort to introduce students to the inner-workings of public
service, Renée Cross, the CPP's Associate Director and Lecturer in
the Department of Political Science, directs the Mickey Leland Congressional
Internship Program in Washington and the CPP Government Internship
Program in Houston, and actively participates in the Texas
Legislative Internship Program and other independent programs.
Intern alumni are now working from Houston City Hall to Capitol
Hill. More—
Community Outreach
The Center for Public Policy works with several Houston
organizations including the Greater Houston Partnership, the League
of Women Voters, Texas Southern University's Mickey Leland Center,
Third Ward Community Cloth, and Global Unisource to promote civic engagement, scientific policy analysis
and professional training.
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