Greater Boston Applied Field Lab: Advanced Budgeting, Financial Management and Operations (at HKS)

SES 5536 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This course is offered at the HKS as MLD-412 and jointly listed with the GSD. The course is a challenging, advanced experiential-learning lab that will enable students to work on financial and operational challenges in state and local governments. The coursework will focus on specific problems in local government, which may relate to infrastructure, financing, budgeting, and operations. The client partners are mayors and elected officials, and students will report to them directly. The course is affiliated with the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Harvard-Bloomberg Cities Initiative. Client partners will be finalized during fall 2026, but will likely include cities and towns in the Greater Boston area and in the Northeast region. Course work includes training in advanced relevant analytical skills, such as financial spreadsheet modelling and GIS mapping. Extensive field work is required, including multiple visits to client sites. Students who complete the course may be eligible for paid summer follow-on work in the field, or conducting research on the relevant datasets for publications.

This is a full-semester Spring 2027 course. This course requires permission of the instructor. Please complete the application at: https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1HzOQwQZ35fJ8Xk

Due to strong interest in the course, we encourage applicants to submit their materials as early as possible.

• Early Decision Deadline: Friday, December 11, 2026 at 11:59 pm EST
• Deadline: Sunday, January 10, 2027 at 11:59 pm EST

Learn more at fieldlabs.hks.harvard.edu

ONLY 5 seats are available to GSD students and enrollment is by instructor permission/application.