Time to Invest in You

Master’s Program Sampler

Our Master’s program is dedicated exclusively to applied politics in the legislative arena, where you’ll gain unique insights from both political scholars and seasoned professionals.

Our faculty includes experts who bring real-world experience to the classroom, spending their days working on Capitol Hill and their evenings teaching at GSPM. In fact, two sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives have recently served as professors in our program.

This distinctive blend of academic rigor and practical skills equips you for a successful career in any legislative setting, whether in the U.S. or around the world.

Mastering the Room

Mastering the Room gives you a behind-the-scenes look inside the room where it happens, guided by some of the brightest minds in politics, advocacy and communications. Every episode, these power players share their stories about how they turned the lessons and experiences they learned at GSPM into successful careers at the peak of their professions.

Presented by the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University.

Career Growth Potential

Our graduates hold influential positions at the highest levels of government, serving as chiefs of staff in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, elected members of the German Bundestag, and state legislators from coast to coast. They are trusted advisors, policymakers, and leaders shaping the future of politics both in the United States and internationally.

Master’s Program

Upon completing the Master’s degree in Legislative Affairs, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the U.S. Congress, including its history, key players, processes, and ethical considerations. They will master effective communication within the legislative environment, develop strategies to influence political outcomes, and leverage governmental resources for research, advocacy, and policy efforts. Additionally, they will learn to collaborate and employ outreach techniques tailored to various policy audiences, equipping them with the skills needed to navigate and impact the legislative arena with confidence and expertise.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this comprehensive program, learners will have developed the ability to:

• Gain both a theoretical and practical understanding of the U.S. Congress, including its historical development, key players and organizations, legislative processes and ethical considerations.
• Write and communicate effectively within the legislative environment, including policy and research memos, issue briefs and in-person presentations and briefings.
• Understand critical congressional functions and procedures, common obstacles to legislative advancement and proven strategies to influence political outcomes.
• Make use of open source and publicly available governmental resources and data to inform research, advocacy and policy efforts.
• Learn how to work effectively with others, the value of collaborative work and effective outreach strategies for a variety of policy-related audiences.

Meet the Program Director

Casey Burgat is the director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management and host of its Mastering the Room podcast. Prior to joining GSPM, Dr. Burgat was a Senior Governance Fellow at the R Street Institute where his research focused on issues of congressional capacity and reform. In this role, Casey wrote regularly for both scholarly and journalistic publications, including CNN, the Washington Post, and Politico, and appeared on a variety of television and radio outlets. Dr. Burgat coauthored Congress Explained: Representation and Lawmaking in the First Branch, a textbook on all things Congress, published by the Sage/CQ Press in the fall of 2022.

Previously, Casey worked at the Congressional Research Service, where he served in the Executive Branch Operations and the Congress & Judiciary sections. There, he was responsible for responding to congressional requests about federal rulemaking, issues of congressional reform, the president’s role in federal budgeting, federal advisory committees, and congressional staffing.

Casey is a graduate of Arizona State University, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He also holds a master’s in political management from George Washington University and received his doctorate in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, where his dissertation focused on the impacts of congressional staff.

Casey Burgat
Program Director