Welcome to CHASP!
Welcome to the Center for Health and Social Policy (CHASP), created in 2002 with a mission to enhance research and teaching and inform public debate in health and social policy issues. Quality research and informed debate are critical as demographic and economic trends rapidly change the contours of our nation, and we face pressing needs and problems not addressed on a large scale since the 1960s.
About CHASP
The LBJ School's Center for Health and Social Policy addresses health and social policy concerns by
- Conducting groundbreaking policy research,
- Educating students and practitioners to become future leaders, and
- Providing a forum for debate and dialogue among today’s foremost policymakers and scholars about critical health and social policy issues.
CHASP Policy Research
The Center for Health and Social Policy supports faculty members and students specializing in health and social policy as they produce research that critically analyzes issues impacting people statewide, nationwide and globally. CHASP-supported research covers a wide range of social issues. Recent published articles by CHASP faculty analyze education policy issues, aging and minority issues, health care and mental health issues.
To encourage excellence in research among our students, the center also sponsors the Wilbur and Eloise Cohen Award for outstanding work on their professional reports. Our student spotlight features students’ special achievements and their professional reports on health and social policy issues.
Educating Future Leaders
The Center for Health and Social Policy faculty prepares future leaders, offering courses and Policy Research Projects for a specialization in social and economic policy. In addition, CHASP hosts events and sponsors fellowships to bring experienced practitioners to the LBJ School for the benefit of our current students and to help our alumni and other professionals keep abreast of trends and developments in social and health policy from a variety of perspectives.
Providing a Forum for Dialogue
The Center for Health and Social Policy hosts a variety of events to bring policymakers, scholars, students and practitioners together to discuss key issues and create policy solutions.
The CHASP Colloquia Series features a monthly lunchtime forum for education and dialogue about issues in health and social policy, drawing from the perspectives of practitioners with extensive experience in state and federal government, advocacy and other public policy fields. Through the colloquia, CHASP gives students the opportunity to network with and learn from professionals in the field, as well as to maintain strong relationships with our alumni, many of whom hold prominent public policy positions.
CHASP hosts or sponsors conferences on a range of social policy issues, and center faculty are involved with other university research centers, such as the Population Research Center and the Texas Center for Education Policy, to ensure a well-rounded and complete perspective of issues with broad social impact.
Who’s Who in CHASP:
CHASP membership includes LBJ faculty with expertise in health, social and economic policy. An executive committee directs the center’s operation, which is carried out by the CHASP coordinator and LBJ Alumnus Robin Pearson.
