History

In September 2018, Douglas and Mary Scrivner made a generous gift to the University of Denver to establish the Douglas and Mary Scrivner Institute of Public Policy. Mary attended the University, and Doug is a DU alumnus, a member of the university’s board of trustees, and a former chair of that board.

Prior to the Scrivner Institute’s inception, the Institute for Public Policy Studies (IPPS) housed the University’s Master of Public Policy and undergraduate program in Public Policy. From the institute’s inception in 1981 until 2016, IPPS was housed in the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences. IPPS was co-directed by former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm and Richard. A. Caldwell, who also served as the director for the public policy academic programs. In July 2016, IPPS officially joined the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs. The move leveraged the complementary nature of IPPS and Korbel School programs and marked the completion of a year-long planning process.

In September 2020, Dr. Naazneen Barma became the Scrivner Institute’s director and chair. After six years with the World Bank, Dr. Barma became a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where she spent 10 years teaching mid-career military officers to become intelligence and foreign area officers.

In fall of 2025, the Scrivner Institute celebrated its first five years of full operations. In that time, it has become a vibrant hub for innovative and evidence-based learning, research, and discourse about public policy at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs, across the University of Denver, and in its wider communities. 

An impact report commemorating the first five years showcases the Scrivner Institute's robust program of policy discourse and events along with the cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research led by faculty affiliates, integrated with graduate and undergraduate public policy curricula for the 21st century.