H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management Records

The School of Urban and Public Affairs was founded in 1968 with a $10 million endowment grant from Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Mellon. In a time of social unrest, the Mellons recognized the growing need to educate future leaders of urban areas in a new way, using new knowledge and technology to create positive change. They saw Carnegie Mellon University as a good place to establish this new type of business school because if its urban setting, small size, and its history of interdisciplinary studies and research.

President Stever, Graduate School of Industrial Administration Dean Cyert, William Cooper, and Otto Davis were instrumental in bringing the new school into reality. Otto Davis drafted much of the initial proposal. William Cooper from the GSIA was chosen as the first Dean and began recruiting faculty (on joint appointments) and laying out the groundwork for curriculum. It was decided that the School would seek to incorporate modern developments in scientific analysis and decision making skills as well as bring attention to important areas of research. In these new programs, research and practice would have more emphasis than courses and exams.

In 1992, the School for Urban and Public Affairs accepted the Congressional papers of Senator John Heinz III after his untimely death in 1991. The School was renamed the John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. An annual public policy symposium was also created in his memory.