About JPSM
The Joint Program in Survey Methodology (JPSM) is the nation's oldest and largest program
offering graduate training in the principles and practices of survey research.
DECEMBER 1, 1990
IT BEGAN WITH AN IDEA
The idea for the first Joint Program emerged from a 1990 initiative of the Federal Statistical agency heads, the then-current head of the OMB Statistical Policy Office, and then Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. The mismatch between the disciplinary organizations of most universities and the technical staffing needs of the system required a new academic organization. The legislative initiative called for a graduate education and research center offering courses in the Washington D.C. area.
SEPTEMBER 1, 1992
NSF AWARD
After an open competitive process, the National Science Foundation awarded a $4.1 million five year cooperative agreement to the University of Maryland at College Park. Maryland had joined with the University of Michigan and Westat, a survey organization in Rockville, MD, to propose the Joint Program.
DECEMBER 1, 1992
FIRST JPSM DIRECTOR
STANLEY PRESSER, PHD.
Dr. Presser is named the founding director for the Joint Program in Survey Methodology (1992-1996)
About the Program
Founded in 1993, it is sponsored by the Federal Interagency Consortium on Statistical Policy and is housed in The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland. To date, it has more than 270 graduates working in government agencies, academic settings, and private survey research firms. Its award-winning faculty is drawn from the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, Westat and other organizations.
JPSM's mission is to educate the next generation of survey researchers, survey statisticians, and survey methodologists. To that end, we offer a Ph.D. program, an M.S. in survey methodology, and certificate and citation programs. We also offer a program of short courses and a Summer Fellows program for undergraduates.
We have both full-time and part-time students, many of them drawn from local agencies (such as the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Health Statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics, the National Agricultural Statistical Service) and survey organizations (including Westat, RTI International, the Gallup Organization, and Mathematica). Many of our full-time students are placed in summer internships at these and other organizations.
The Future
It is no small matter to build an organization that is a collaboration of two educational institutions, one commercial organization, and faculty in several other locations, designed to serve thirteen large statistical agencies but also dozens of other agencies with statistical functions. Since its inception, JPSM has increased the quality of technical staff in the Federal Statistical System and is enriching the field of survey statistics and methodology itself. Our faculty has historically been in the vanguard of research in survey methodology and strives to continue that leadership into the future.
