Required Core Courses
Besides completing 6 hours in a specialized subject area, all students are required to complete either Economics 2001.01 / 2001.02 (Principles of Microeconomics) or AED Econ 2001 (Principles of Food and Resource Economics) as a prerequisite to the minor, as well as the following core course requirements:
- Political Science 3115 (Introduction to Policy Process)—a course which focuses on the workings of policy-making processes within governments, and the use of social science reasoning to evaluate and improve the content of policies.
- A choice of one of three courses below:
Economics 4320: Public Expenditures and Cost-Benefit
AEDECON 5331: Benefit-Cost Analysis
Public Policy and Management (PPM) 3000: Introduction to Public Policy Analysis
Beyond these required core courses, all students who minor in public policy will be required to complete a capstone requirement, which will help you combine the knowledge learned in your core and specialization courses and apply this knowledge to real world issues.
You can complete the capstone requirement by either taking the capstone course (SBS 4591) which is offered annually, or by writing a senior thesis that focuses on a public policy issue through the 4999H honors course or 4999. Students who choose to write an honors thesis must receive approval from the Director of the Public Policy Minor program to enroll in 4999H and prior approval on the thesis topic.
Areas of Specialization
All students undertaking a minor in public policy are required to complete 15 credit hours, including 6 credit hours in a specialized subject area. The goal of the specialization is that all students emerge with knowledge about a substantive social science area where public policy issues are highly relevant. Students must select two courses in a single area and both courses may be in the same department. The possible areas of specialization include:
Business and Labor
Communication
Crime and Criminal Justice
Environment and Natural Resources
Gender
Policy Methods
Social Welfare
Race and Ethnicity
Security
Size and Scope of Government
Urban
Several other areas of specialization are currently under development that could be explored by students in the future, including economic policy, education policy, and health care.
For further information please review the following link.
New Courses for Public Policy Minor
The following courses have been recently approved as satisfying specialized subject area requirements for the SBS Minor in Public Policy:
Business and Labor
Geog 5401: Economies, Space and Society
Geog 5700: Geography of Development
Communication
Ant 5630: Language and Culture in Education
Crime and Criminal Justice
Econ 3710: Economics and the Law
Econ 4597.01: Sex, Drugs and the Underground Economy
Environment and Natural Resources
Geog 2800: Physical Geog and Environ Issues
Geog 3900 or 3901H: Global Climate Change: Causes and Consequences
Geog 5801: Environmental Conservation
Pol. Sci. 4335: International Environmental Politics
Gender
Econ 3820: The Economics of Gender in Labor Markets
Econ 4553: Economics of Population
Policy Methods
AED Economics 4003: Economics of Public Policy Analysis
Geog 5220: Fundamentals of GIS
Social Welfare
Ant 5600: Biosocial Aspects of Health
Ant 5602: Global Perspectives on Women’s Health
Econ 4553: Economics of Population
Geog 5601: Geographies of Governmentalities
Race and Ethnicity
Econ 3850: Diversity Economics
Security
Econ 4560: Cooperation and Conflict in the Global Economy
Geog 3601: Global Politics and the Modern Geopolitical Imagination
PPM 4000: Rebuilding Failed and Weak States
Size and Scope of Government
Geog 3600: Political Geography
Pol. Sci. 3905: Political Manipulation
Urban
Econ 4920: Housing Economics
Geog 5501: Urban Spaces in the Global Economy
Geog 5602: Urban Political Geography