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Public Policy Courses
PPOL-G 602 Political Economy of Class, Race and Gender +
Description:
This required course introduces students to political economic theories of class, gender, race, ethnicity and their intersection with each other and with policy. The course explores various theoretical explanations for the existence and persistence of class, gender, racial and ethnic inequality in the United States, largely within the economics and sociology literature (including Marxist, feminist and critical race theorists). Particular attention is paid to the way these inequalities shape the notions of citizenship as well as employment. Students will be asked to explore how theoretical understandings of race, class and gender underlie various policy prescriptions and to use various theories to explore the ways policies can or do result in class, gender and /or racially/ethnically based disparities. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 603 Community-based and Participatory Research +
Description:
This course provides graduate students with an introduction to the history, theory, epistemology, and methods of community-based and participatory research for social justice. Attention will be paid to the processes of building equitable partnerships with community members and to the ethics, power dynamics and rigor of action research. This course will model and give students experience with core elements and principles of participatory research, including participation, reflection, co-learning, learning by doing, relationship-building and collaboration. The course features practical application in conducting this type of action research. Students will work in partnership with a community organization to conduct a project that supports the racial equity and social justice goals of the organization. Using apprenticeship-style and group-based learning, students will work as a team to develop and conduct the project together, guided and supported by the instructor. Reflecting upon the experience of conducting participatory research, students will deepen their understanding of community engaged scholarship, foster the skills and orientations necessary to practice it, and consider the role it will play in their research and professional career as well as their lives as members of diverse communities. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
PPOL-G 604L Statistical Methods in the analysis of Social Problems I +
Description:
This required core course introduces foundational concepts in statistics for social science research including: descriptive statistics, probability distributions, hypothesis testing, bivariate inferential techniques, and multiple linear regression. The course focuses on understanding the components of a dataset, selecting appropriate descriptive and inferential techniques, evaluation assumptions of these techniques, generating statistical analyses, interpreting results, and presenting findings. The course familiarizes students with statistical software commonly used in social science research. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 605L Statistical Methods in the Analysis of Social Problems II +
Description:
This required core course explores widely used regression methods in statistics and social science research including: ordinary least squares, probit, and logit regression models. Additional topics may include time series analysis, weighted least squares and non-linear transformations. The course focuses on how to select an appropriate model, specify its mathematical form, and use the model to test hypotheses and estimate outcomes. The course explores a variety of issues related to estimating regression models including mission variables, multi-collinearity, heteroskedasticity, and diagnostic procedures to identify and address these issues. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 609L Qualitative Methods and Field Research +
Description:
This course is designed to introduce students to qualitative research methods; its specific focus is on policy research and aging. Students practice the skills needed to observe the world around them by attending to social phenomena, descriptively and analytically. The course functions as both a seminar and a research workshop, and students learn by engaging in a field work project. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 611 Public Policy Processes: Environments, Power and Outcomes +
Description:
This required core course introduces students theories of public policy processes, highlighting the intellectual development of the interdisciplinary field of public policy. The course focuses on the social, economic, and political environments of policy systems that shape policy processes and policy outcomes. The course is a survey of the theories and topics related to key public policy processes including issue framing, agenda setting, and policy design. The course also introduces the role of power in policy processes and how various actors such as government, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, and private organizations influence policy outcomes in variety of contexts. A key focus o this seminar is on tensions between conflicting values arising from the requirements of democracy and capitalism, and how they are resolved through policy processes. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 612 Approaches to Policy Analysis: Epistemology, Theory and Institutions +
Description:
This required core course surveys the major epistemological approaches and theoretical foundations used by scholars in the interdisciplinary field of public policy. It is organized into four sections: (1) epistemological foundations; (2) theoretical approaches; (3) defining and emerging debates/considerations within the field with an emphasis on the role of institutions; and, (4) a short section on how students conceptualize themselves as policy scholars and define their epistemological and ontological commitments. The course introduces students to the variety of theoretical and epistemological approaches available to policy researchers, helps students develop both an ability to recognize and critique them in empirical work, and to understand the institutional influences of public policy in the American case. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 621 Microeconomics for Policy Analysis +
Description:
This required core course covers the issues in microeconomics, behavioral economics, public finance, and (to a small degree) macroeconomics that are relevant to policy analysts. The course begins by discussion consumer choices and producer behavior in a competitive market setting. The course then explores circumstances of market failures, first within the neoclassical economic model and then in the context of alternative economic theories. The discussion of consumer and producer behaviors in a competitive market provides students with a reference point for the subsequent discussions of market failures since it describes an abstract, optimally working market setting. The course critically examines market efficiency and the elimination of market failures as normative criteria on for policy development and evaluation. The course specifically considers the policy implications of other, potentially competing goals such as equity. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 622 Public Finance and Budgeting +
Description:
This required core class covers both public finance and budgeting. The course discusses theories of optimal tax design under rational optimization and efficient public spending with rational consumers. The course also critically examines alternative reasons, other than market-oriented efficiency, for the existence of specific taxes and particular spending programs, such as politics and equity. This course further considers ways by which governments may be able to manage taxes, spending and deficits in line with citizens' preference. This include long-term budget planning, decentralization, privatization and performance based budgeting. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
PPOL-G 630 Research Methods I for Policy +
Description:
This required course offers an introduction to research methods and design from a social science perspective. The primary objective is to improve students' ability to become better producers and consumers of public policy research by providing an introduction to an array of methodological issues and approaches to policy research. In this course, students will compare and contrast different approaches to scientific inquiry and highlight their implications for selecting topics of research, framing research questions, choosing tools, and collecting and analyzing data. The course examines the main components of adequate research designs and will discuss and critique the research design and methodological approach of numerous pieces of published research. Finally, the course addresses an often neglected aspect of the research enterprise: how to write effective proposals for various purposes and audiences. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 631 Research Methods II for Policy +
Description:
This required core course will prepare students to produce professional-quality research, and will provide exposure to a variety of special topics in policy analysis. The course will focus in part on applied research methodologies and prescriptive approaches to the study of public policy. Students will design and implement a research project suitable for conference presentation that is relevant to their field of interest. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 697 Special Topics +
Description:
This course offers study of selected topics within this subject. Course content and credits vary according to topic and are announced prior to the registration period. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
PPOL-G 711 Multi-Disciplinary Topics in Public Policy +
Description:
PPOL-G 711 is a multi-disciplinary course which will take advantage of policy expertise among the department faculty to address current policy topics. The course introduces students to inter-disciplinary perspectives on a current policy topic. The course will consider how theoretic and methodological frameworks employed to examine specific policies may be transferable to other the study of other policy arenas.Examples of current topics and the Public Policy department faculty might teach about include (this is a non-exhaustive illustrative list):- immigration policy - housing policy - education policy - nonprofits and public policy - international development - gender and public policy - social welfare policy More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 716 Public Policy ProSeminar +
Description:
This course is a 1-credit required course in the Public Policy PhD program which is required in the fall semester of each of the three years of required coursework (for a total of 3 credits). The ProSeminar provides students with skills and knowledge that will help them to succeed in the PhD program and their career. About half of the class will focus on policy relevant academic research, while the other half will emphasize professional skills. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 741 Urban Housing Policy +
Description:
This course will provide students with the ability to identify and analyze phenomena in cities and urbanized areas related to a socially fundamental need for adequate and affordable shelter that ensures individual well-being and social and community stability and sustainability. Students completing this course will understand the progress the United States has made in ensuring decent and affordable housing for its population, as well as the considerable policy barriers that prevent many people enjoying the housing they desire and the individual and social benefits that arise from it. Students will understand initiatives and interventions related to housing primarily from the perspective of public policy, but also disciplines such as sociology, economics, planning and management science. Students will be able to identify and analyze means by which to measure outcomes related to housing policy that affect diverse groups in society based on age, race/ethnicity, family status, geography and other characteristics. Students will understand how ideology and values are fundamental to understanding how housing is conceived as a good and a service, how various stakeholder groups are affected by housing policies, and whether and how housing can be viewed as a means for social justice and equality. Though the focus of this course is housing policies in the United States, examples will be drawn from other developed and developing countries as appropriate and feasible. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
PPOL-G 753L Epidemiological Thinking and Population Health +
Description:
Introduction to the concepts, methods, and problems involved in analyzing the biological and social influences on behaviors and diseases and in translation such analyses into population health policy and practice. Special attention given to social inequalities, changes over the life course, and heterogeneous pathways. Case studies and course projects are shaped to accommodate students with interests in diverse fields related to health and public policy. Students are assumed to have a statistical background, but the course emphasizes epidemiological literacy with a view to collaborating thoughtfully with specialists, not technical expertise. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
PPOL-G 760 Sociological Perspectives on Public Policy and Social Justice +
Description:
This course introduces students to sociological perspectives relevant to the study of public policy with a focus on the relationship between public policy and social justice. We will focus on theoretical and empirical work from core aspects of the sociological discipline that are pertinent to these concerns, including urban sociology, political sociology and stratification. The course will cover the following topics:+ How do various sociological traditions understand the role of the state and public institutions in relation to structures of inequality in society? Under what conditions do public institutions reproduce social inequality, act as agents of social control, work as a force for greater equity and inclusion, or otherwise support or oppose movements for social justice?+ How have contemporary processes of social inequality, such as concentrated poverty, educational failure, mass incarceration and undocumented peoples, presented new challenges to equity-oriented policy-makers?+ In what ways have marginalized populations organized to influence public policy to address inequality and to advance equity and social justice?+ What models exist for researchers and policy-makers to collaborate with community-based organizations and for citizens to participate in the formation and implementation of public policy more generally?This course is designed as a seminar, where the professor serves as a guide and commentator on a set of texts that students examine. We will work to build a learning community in the classroom where students support and challenge each other. Students will be required to explore a theoretical or policy issue relevant to the course through a piece of original research. The course will primarily (although not exclusively) focus on the public policy/social justice relationship in eh U.S. context. But students, in their research projects, are welcome to pursue their own interests internationally or comparatively. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 795 Independent Study +
Description:
Study of a particular area of this subject under the supervision of a faculty member. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 891 Dissertation Workshop for Public Policy +
Description:
Required core course that is designed as a workshop for third year doctoral students in the Public Policy Ph.D. Program to assist them in developing their dissertation proposals. The class will facilitate the transition of students from class work to the dissertation stage, helping students choose and define a dissertation topic. During the course of the semester, students will create first drafts of all the parts of their proposals, including literature review, research questions, methods and policy implications. In addition, the course will facilitate students' understanding of how the dissertation fits into their career goals. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 898 Internship in Public Policy +
Description:
Students carry out supervised internships in such settings as state and local governments quasi-public and non-profit organizations, and some areas of the private sector. Students are given credit for their internships on the basis of a detailed research paper written about their experience and a presentation in the Public Policy Department. More Info
Offered in:PPOL-G 899 Dissertation +