Johns Hopkins University Opening New Policy School In Washington, D.C.

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) is opening a new School of Government and Policy that will be located at its recently opened Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The location is the former site of the Newseum, a museum of journalism and freedom of the press that closed in 2019.

The school is the first new academic division launched at Hopkins since 2007. It will join several other JHU units at the D.C. site, including the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Carey Business School, and the Peabody Institute.

The School of Government and Policy will include multiple academic areas – science and technology, engineering, medicine and life sciences, public health, and international affairs – that will be integrated to research and advance new approaches to government and prepare students to develop strategic policy solutions and government innovations.

“Anchored in our magnificent new home in the nation’s capital, the School of Government and Policy will bring novel expertise and insight informed by large-scale data sets to shape policy and address the challenges facing our nation and world,” Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels said in the university’s announcement.

Daniels described the new school as “part of a reciprocal connection between Baltimore and Washington that allows our Baltimore-based faculty and students to easily and effectively bring their ideas and expertise to Washington, while Washington’s policymakers and policy analysts more regularly engage with the vibrant communities of our flagship campuses in Baltimore.”

Initial plans call for the hiring of 35 full-time faculty over the next five years. Many of them are expected to hold cross-appointments with other academic units, thereby increasing interdisciplinary collaboration with the university’s Baltimore campuses.

A search will soon begin for the appointment of the inaugural dean of the school, which is projected to serve 200-250 graduate students and offer coursework and other educational opportunities for undergraduate students. The first cohort of students will matriculate in the fall of 2026.

“A new School of Government and Policy at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center will unquestionably bolster the university’s impact on policy change and decision-making at the federal level,” added Keshia Pollack Porter, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at JHU’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The university release said that “developing cross-disciplinary policy solutions to complex national and global challenges is one of the primary drivers for the creation of JHU’s new school,” likening it to its Coronavirus Resource Center, which provided systematic, updated information to experts and the public at large during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Johns Hopkins University purchased the Newseum in 2019 for $372.5 million, and since then has spent more than $200 million to renovate the building into an academic center for learning, research, and public service. According the the university, it will house “scholars and researchers from all nine JHU academic divisions and cover a range of topics, including artificial intelligence and health policy, the arts and humanities, global health and gender equity, and much more.”

“We are honored that the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center chose to open a new space on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of our downtown,” said Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser. “We have set the bold goal to win back our downtown by making Washington, D.C., a place for successful businesses and opportunity-rich neighborhoods. Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center brings a new hub for global leaders to convene, and new employment and educational opportunities to our downtown.”