Overview
Frank Anechiarico, director
The goal of the Public Policy Program is to prepare students to examine, shape, and participate in civic life in all its dimensions.
Students Will Learn to:
- Understand the ethical dimensions of policy decisions and the justice implications of policy research
- Communicate clearly and persuasively about public policy issues in their own research
- Engage with stakeholders and policy makers as interns and researchers
- Establish a foundation for professional work in policy science and policy making
The Public Policy Program is administered by the Government Department in cooperation with the Departments of Economics and Philosophy. A concentration in public policy consists of
· PPOL-251, PPOL-382 and the Senior Project;
· GOVT-116 and GOVT-230;
· ECON-100 (prerequisite for PPOL-251) and ECON-166 (prerequisite for GOVT-230);
· Two courses in ethics (approved by the program director); and
· One course on a specific public policy issue (approved by the program director).
Students are strongly encouraged to take ECON-100 and GOVT-116 in their first year, and to take GOVT-230 and PPOL-251 in their sophomore year. No student may declare a concentration in public policy without either completing or being enrolled in PPOL-251.
Concentrators must complete the following courses by the end of the junior year: PPOL-251; PPOL-382; ECON-100 and ECON-166; GOVT-116 and GOVT-230; and one of the required courses in ethics.
Concentrators fulfill the college’s Social, Structural, and Institutional Hierarchies (SSIH) requirement by completing PPOL-251 and the Senior Project. To qualify for honors in public policy, a student must have an average grade of 90 (3.7) in courses taken in the concentration and perform with distinction in the Senior Project.
After declaring the concentration, students may not take any course on a credit/no credit basis if the course will be used to fulfill concentration or minor requirements.
Credit from academic work taken off-campus may be substituted for one of the ethics courses or for the course on a specific public policy issue required for the concentration, with the approval of the program director. Students interested in pursuing graduate study in public policy or public administration are encouraged to take additional courses in economics, in substantive areas of governance and politics, and in mathematics and statistics.
Public policy students will find the programs at the Levitt Public Affairs Center particularly helpful. The Center provides speakers, leadership courses, summer research opportunities, and other activities that will augment and enrich the coursework in the concentration.
A minor in public policy consists of PPOL-251, ECON-100, ECON-166, GOVT-230, and one ethics course. If the student’s concentration is in economics, government or philosophy, these courses cannot count in both the student’s concentration and the minor. Instead, courses that are required for both the concentration and the minor will be used to satisfy concentration requirements, and they will be replaced by alternative courses in the minor requirements. These alternative courses will be chosen by the program director in consultation with the chair of the student’s concentration department.