MPA 2015. Strategic Communication for the World We Live In Now.

This course provides students with insights and training on how to effectively communicate about policy, up to date for America in 2025, with our polarized politics and fragmented media. We’ll work on how effective messages are created and framed, why we respond to messages the way we do, and how to employ advocacy and communications strategies to advance political and public policy goals. In addition, the course aims to give students practical experience in integrating communications into advocacy—not just honing methods, but weighing which to use, and how. No effort as the time or capacity to include everything, of course, so throughout the course we will discuss the tradeoffs inherently involved, and how to maximize effectiveness despite them.

MPA 2020. Public Budgeting and Management.

This course is designed to teach the political, theoretical and administrative aspects of contemporary public budgeting and management in the United States. You will examine the central role of budgeting in policy formulation and implementation and come to an understanding of the budget as a statement of competing for political priorities. In addition, the various roles of key institutions in the budgeting process will be studied.

MPA 2035. Statistics II for Public Policy Analysis.

The course introduces students to the use of multiple regression analysis and causal inference for analyzing data in the social sciences. We will study a variety of designs for empirical public policy analysis, from random assignment to quasi-experimental evaluation methods, and students will have the opportunity to analyze actual datasets. We will also study the strengths and weaknesses of various causal inference strategies.

Please note that students must be present at the first class meeting in order to be have the option to enroll in this course. They must have downloaded Stata 14 (available free of charge through software.brown.edu) and picked up and registered their iClicker on Canvas (see syllabus for details). Because the class meets once per week and the first assignment will be distributed during the first class, we will be launching directly into substantive material for the course. Week one/meeting one is not only an introduction. It is therefore essential that all students attend beginning from the first class meeting.

MPA 2040. Statistics for Program Evaluation.

Broad overview of public policy analysis and program evaluation with emphasis on methodological issues involved in the analysis and assessment of government programs. Illustrations are drawn from a variety of substantive policy areas.

MPA 2055. The Politics of Policymaking in Comparative Perspective.

This course provides concepts and tools for thinking critically about the political context in which policy is made and implemented. The course examines the underlying ideas, interests, and historical legacies that make politics and policymaking distinctive in different countries and governmental systems. It aims to supply a simple but flexible conceptual toolbox that enables students to define policy challenges as they take shape, propose programs and implement policies that can work in various settings.

MPA 2065. Introduction to Data Science and Programming.

We live in the era of data-driven decision making in all aspects of our lives. The features on your iPhone, the images in an ad campaign, even the background colors on many websites are all carefully tested and chosen against their measurable impact on customer satisfaction, purchasing, clicks, or some other goal. In this course, we will be learning to use and apply those same principles to public policy and government programs. Our goal is to equip MPA students with the tools required to set up experiments, gather data, and begin to evaluate and design public policy and government programs.

MPA 2066. Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning.

This course is a highly applied introduction to statistical machine learning. In particular, the key aim of this course is to give students the knowledge and tools to incorporate statistical machine learning methods to answer policy-related research questions. This course will also explore the philosophical differences that exist between traditional methods of statistical inference and the more recent statistical machine learning methods. Finally, throughout this course, we will emphasize the importance of reproducibility in science.

MPA 2140. Politics, Public Policy, and Economic Development in Asia.

It is widely accepted that development is not simply an economic phenomenon. Political processes are intimately tied up with economic development. We will compare and contract the various Asian countries and models of development around themes identified above. The heaviest emphasis will be on China, India and South Korea. Economic policy will be the center of our discussion.

MPA 2150. Experimental Methods and Policy.

How can public health officials design public service announcements to raise awareness about disease? What is the most effective way for school administrators to decrease high school dropout rates? How do civic organizations encourage participation in local meetings? This course offers a way to answer these questions using experimental research methods. This course introduces experimental methods and covers how they can be incorporated while drafting, implementing, and evaluating policy. The course will cover the mathematical logic of experiments as design-based causal inference, the strengths and weaknesses of different types of experimental designs, mathematical strategies to analyze experimental results, and the programming tools to conduct experiments. The class will be centered around applying these skills to policy creation and evaluation, culminating in each student designing an experiment to shape a policy area of their choice.

MPA 2160. Management and Implementation in Public and Non-Profit Organizations.

How and when can organizational leaders and staff become engines of policy and social change? How do the policies that elected officials, courts, and bureaucrats promulgate get put into practice? What affects whether those policies get put into practice? What affects whether those policies produce expected changes? This course is designed to help students identify and manage core challenges facing policy development, implementation, and sustainment in public organizations.

MPA 2221. Human Rights and AI: Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities.

Technology is not magic—it's power, coded and deployed. Artificial intelligence is becoming one of the most powerful forces shaping our future, determining who has access to opportunity, whose voices are heard, and how resources and rights are distributed. The Human Rights and AI seminar explores the complex, rapidly evolving landscape of AI and its profound impacts on human rights at the intersection of technology, public policy, and international law. Will AI hollow out our civil and human rights through invisible, automated systems that surveil, sort, and silence? Can AI serve liberation and justice if shaped, designed, and deployed from a rights-respecting framework? We will critically analyze both the harms and opportunities that AI poses to fundamental rights, and if civil and human rights laws and frameworks are relevant to responsible AI governance.

MPA 2222. Introduction to Health Policy.

The United States health care system is responsible for delivering high-quality care to millions of people. It is also a major and growing part of the national economy, employing many workers while commanding an ever-growing share of government budgets and employee paychecks. For decades, Americans have debated the best ways to reform the system to get better care for more people for the same or lower spending levels. This course will focus on developing a strong understanding of the system’s dynamics as well as its players, both government and private so that students will be able to develop policy recommendations for how these players can best work toward their goals.

MPA 2224. Race, Policy and Politics of Asian Americans.

Examination of the historical and contemporary political experiences of Asian Americans and how policy systems shaped their pursuit of immigration, equality, citizenship, political identity, racial justice, cross-racial/ethnic coalition-building, and incorporation into the U.S. political system. The course will also explore the effectiveness of the “pan-ethnic” identity in contemporary US politics.

MPA 2225. Climate Diplomacy and International Negotiations.

Building on the Paris agreement, adopted in 2015, this course aims at enhancing the participants' understanding of the global climate change framework in international relations. It will give students the tools to navigate climate COPs and beyond, building on the theoretical basis in science, history, and international relations, putting in practice the art of negotiations in the context of climate governance, and attempting to honestly address possible ways forward.

MPA 2226. Race and Public Policy.

Race and Public Policy is an advanced course about racial bias in U.S. public policy, and the effects of that bias on both practitioners and subjects of public agency activities. You will learn about the process of policy formation and review several important critiques of conventional policy analysis. Substantively, we focus on three key areas: education policy, environmental justice, and police-community relations. During the semester you will engage in small- and large-group discussions, complete two research assignments, and prepare a final “Race and Policy Project” on a subject of your choosing. Regular attendance, active class participation, and extensive reading are expected.

MPA 2227. Dismantling Global Racism:Getting inspired by resilient local communities from around the world.

This course examines the nature and impacts of racism with a global approach. Building on the experiences of resilient post-conflict local communities around the world and on the theories and practices of Transitional Justice, we will explore tools and frameworks to innovate and efficiently dismantle racism in organizations, communities, and societies. Adopting a comparative approach, we will study materials and examples of successful antiracist initiatives coming from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and mobilize diverse academic fields: political sciences, history, genocide studies, psychology, sociology, literature, and cinema. We will articulate our understanding of racial domination and develop approaches to dismantle it with the other forms of oppression.

MPA 2228. Communication on the Political and Global Stage.

Students may or may not go into government, politics, or other forms of public service, but wherever they go and whatever they do, including as global citizens, they will consume news and may shape the contours of public debate by their own participation or decision not to participate. Certainly, all will be affected by it. This course seeks to answer the question from the unique perspective of public communicators: how do we communicate issues and messages on the public stage, to insiders and outsiders, whether domestically or in the world?
The objective of the class is not just to encourage a new understanding of the complexities of public communication, but to learn how to bring those skills to whatever vocation and career path you may choose.

MPA 2229. Principles and Practices of Stakeholder Engagement.

This class will introduce you to various types of policy stakeholders, from executives to the mass public. You will identify those actors, the combination of authorities, powers, interests, and constraints each one possesses. This framework for viewing stakeholders will enable you to strategize about how to engage different actors when and where they intervene in the policy process. As a policymaker, analyst, or advocate, you will have to contend with stakeholders that possess formal authorities to shape the policy process. These stakeholders will determine whether the problems that concern you reach the agenda; whether your preferred solution is adopted; how that policy solution is implemented; whether it diffuses from one political venue to another; and whether the policy endures, or reshapes politics, succumbs to termination or reform. We will catalog those authorities and powers and observe how they apply in real policy situations.

MPA 2230. Issues for Future Diplomats.

To prepare students to advocate in this world, we have designed a course with twelve exercises, each involving an issue, a new challenge, and an activity to hone their skills. In each session, the exercise will require practical skills (like speaking, concise writing, and information gathering) and outreach efforts to influence, negotiate and advocate. Students will carry out these exercises individually and in small groups. The goal of the course is to introduce students to some of the issues and practices that will prevail as they seek to influence governments and societies for whatever cause or the entity they represent. By looking at how to shape and influence the new economy, new global problems, new finance, and new dangers students will gain an understanding for engagement in future world affairs.

MPA 2231. Activating Change for Climate & Sustainability.

Taking the class as a metaphor of the outside world, we will explore and propose our own respective path(s) for climate policy while focusing on the class’s individual and collective willingness to act. While the topic of the class is climate policy, the primary material of our work will be yourself, as a participant of this collective effort.

MPA 2445. Policy Analysis and Problem Solving.

This course introduces students to concepts and tools relevant to making public decisions informed by social values. It equips students to define problems and to systematically develop and compare policy options available to public actors. In short, the course teaches students to “think like a policy analyst” and reason in the public interest. In addition, the course is attentive to the political and institutional context in which policy decisions are made.

MPA 2450. Economics of Government Intervention.

This course considers the cases for and implications of government intervention in the economy. When is government intervention desirable? Why is it desirable? What are its consequences?

MPA 2451. Exchange Scholar Program.

MPA 2455. Statistics for Public Policy.

Covers social and economic statistics and their role in public policy research. Among the topics explored are descriptive and inferential statistics, measurement, sampling, and multivariate analysis.

MPA 2460. Economics for Public Policy.

Examines issues in government spending and tax policy. Conceptual topics include the normative assignment of responsibility with federal systems and the equitable distribution of income. Specific policy applications are covered.

MPA 2465. Financial Management For Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit Organizations.

This course focuses on financial aspects of not-for-profit organizations. The objectives of this course include helping students (1) learn the basics of not-for-profit accounting and the construction of their financial reports, (2) become more intelligent users of the financial statements of nonprofit organizations such as private colleges, hospitals, charities, and cultural institutions and (3) better understand the factors that affect the financial condition and financial performance of such entities.

MPA 2475. Policy Problems of the 21st Century.

This course provides a forward-looking analysis of public policy and inequality. By the end of this course you will be able to: Analyze how advocates and policymakers use data to frame policy problems Evaluate how stakeholders at the state and local levels have sought to address inequality Through class participation and exercises, you will also practice several applied skills that good policymakers use and develop¬¬ throughout their careers: Using descriptive data to frame a context and a policy problem Breaking down a complex social and political problem into its components Defining policy tasks in terms that recognize the relevant constituencies (“stakeholders”) and assess political feasibility. Gain experience in public-facing writing, including issue briefs and op-eds.

MPA 2475B. Policy Problems of the 21st Century: State Law, Policy, and Advocacy.

This section of Policy Problems of the 21st Century examines the changing role of states in the American system – the ways in which states are simultaneously limited in their ability to respond to certain social challenges, but increasingly empowered and expected to engage in other spheres of policymaking. After reviewing the fundamentals of state policymaking, we will focus on four substantive areas: environmental justice; housing policy; constitutional and civil rights; and health care. We will find throughout the course that these substantive areas overlap in complex ways at the individual and societal level. During the semester you will engage in group discussions, debate and roleplaying exercises, complete two written assignments, and prepare a final “State Law, Policy and Advocacy Project” on a subject of your choosing. Readings will include: a policy textbook, Deborah Stone’s Policy Paradox; an ethnography, Desmond's

MPA 2501. Challenges & Opportunities in Intelligence and Decision-Making.

This graduate seminar examines how intelligence is generated, interpreted, and used across three domains: national security, private sector/commercial competition, and humanitarian and intergovernmental response. Students analyze why intelligence succeeds or fails in each setting, how organizational culture and politics shape assessment, and how technology and open-source information are transforming practice. Through historical cases (e.g., Pearl Harbor, Iranian Revolution, Iraq WMD, October 7), contemporary crises, corporate and cyber incidents, and humanitarian emergencies, students compare analytic methods, ethical challenges, and the consequences of failure for different populations. The course culminates in a multi-week simulation and a final project in which students apply sector-specific frameworks to a complex, real-world problem.

MPA 2545. An Introduction to Public Finance in Multilevel Democracies.

This course will introduce students to the fundamental political, institutional, and technical issues associated with sub-national governance and public finance reform multilevel democracies. The course requires no prior experience with either intergovernmental finance or fiscal issues. Its central purpose is to explore how politics and policy shape the way responsibility for regulating, financing, and managing public services get defined and divvied up between levels of government in both federal and unitary states.

MPA 2555. Environmental Policy, From the Ground Up.

The seminar will examine selected environmental issues at local, national and international (especially Global South) levels which are at the center of widespread public concern. We will give critical consideration to some of the key ideas, concepts, discourses and approaches underlying public solutions to those concerns. The seminar will draw on literature and concepts from the fields of public policy and administration, science and technology studies, feminist theory, Africana Studies, and indigenous knowledge systems, as well as on practitioners’ knowledge.

MPA 2580. Pandemic Game Changers.

Pandemic Game Changers will examine the public health and public policy issues vital to mitigating pandemic risks. It will afford students opportunities to analyze scenarios, identify and hone policy solutions, and learn how to convince decision-makers to take the steps needed to address the public health crises that pandemics cause. Students will be required to participate in interactive Q&A with field experts, perform a group analysis of an outbreak scenario, make a written and oral analysis of policy solutions for a biosecurity or biosafety risk, and provide a policy memo and persuasive oral briefing outlining views and potential next steps on one specific pandemic-related public policy issue.

MPA 2601. Envisioning and Building Prosperous, Inclusive Communities.

Great communities do not happen by accident. Great communities take vision, thoughtful planning, participation and an inclusive civic engagement plan. The top communities in our country engage diverse leaders, acknowledge the complex and inextricable tie between community and economic development, are accountable – measuring their progress, and are fiercely competitive. This course will focus on the planning, creation, and implementation of successful community development plans from across the country. Specific topics that will be covered include: Collective Impact, the utilization of data, the role of sustainability, health, education, art, transportation, and parks, evaluation methodology, communication, and working with local governments.

MPA 2602. Poverty, Redistribution, and the Future of Work.

A changing economy is providing fewer paths to a middleclass existence. Worldwide, absolute poverty has declined, , yet most people around the globe still subsist on living standards most Americans would consider to be near-poverty levels. What can be done? Is it true that the poor we shall have with us always? Are governmental actions, economic evolution, or technological changes the cause – or the cure? We will be particularly interested in the future: Will jobs still exist, what will they look like, and what will that mean for the structure and distribution of wealth and income?

MPA 2603. Leading for Impact.

Students in Leading for Impact will explore multiple leadership paradoxes such as: in every context, people are both more connected than ever—mostly digitally—and at the same time more socially and politically polarized, and lonely, than ever. Engaging with the concepts of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in an authentic and vulnerable way is critical for leaders. Creating impact requires a thorough understanding of the problem at hand. A common mistake policy-makers, politicians, executives, or social business founders make is to address the problem they want to tackle as if it were “technical” i.e. only requiring expertise and appropriate tools. However, wicked problems have “adaptive” aspects: their root causes and their impact have to do with people’s beliefs, values, habits, or behaviors. Leaders need to use Emotional Intelligence to leverage their own strengths as well as the conditions that enable success,

MPA 2604. The Corporation and Public Policy.

This course examines corporations as instruments of government policy and as significant policy setters in their own right. Rather than taking a fixed viewpoint about the proper location of executive authority, the course will examine the changing boundaries of private and public decision-making. Through selected readings paired with case studies, the course investigates a range of critical policy problems: the underlying purpose of corporate organization; climate change and environmental sustainability; consumer safety in the gig economy; labor standards in transnational supply chains; corporate responsibility and health in developing regions.

MPA 2605. Translating Evidence into Economic Policy.

The objective of this course is, precisely, to offer those insights to students interested in a career in policymaking by providing case studies of the most important and challenging policy questions of our lifetimes. By the end of the course, students will have deepened their understanding of the most important policy challenges from an array of different policy questions and studying the evidence around them, with a special focus on quantitative methods useful to analyze those questions.

MPA 2606. Public Policy and Politics in Partisan Times.

This course explores the causes and consequences of partisan polarization, focusing on the impact of polarization on the development and implementation of American national policy. The course examines both historical and contemporary examples of successful and unsuccessful policy-making in such a climate, as well as the role of effective leadership and political entrepreneurship in the promotion of policy that can build wide support and overcome the barriers to adoption.

MPA 2607. Political Economy of Development.

It is widely accepted that development is not simply an economic phenomenon. Political processes are intimately tied to economic development. Consider the following questions. Does the nature of the political system affect development? Does democracy slow down economic development? Does authoritarianism promote it? What is the relationship between democracy and markets? Are there inherent tensions between the two? Why is globalization facing huge roadblocks now? Are these troubles purely, or primarily, economic? Consider some comparative questions now. Why have some countries industrialized faster than others? Why do some countries do better at poverty alleviation than others? Are there different paths to agrarian and industrial development? Since the Second World War, an enormous amount of intellectual effort has gone into understanding these issues. We will compare and contrast development experiences around the themes identified above.

MPA 2608. Applied AI for Public Policy.

This course has two components every week: coding and reading. Students build working tools — data scripts, visualizations, automated pipelines — using AI coding assistants. And they read and discuss research on how AI systems affect public policy — from biased algorithms to governance failures. Neither component stands alone: the builds make the readings concrete, and the readings make the builds responsible. Artificial intelligence is transforming how governments deliver services, analyze policy options, and make decisions that affect millions of people. At the same time, AI systems introduce new risks — bias in automated decisions, hallucinated facts in policy analyses, opacity in public-facing tools — that demand careful governance. This course teaches MPA students to use AI tools for public policy analysis and implementation, while also understanding the risks, limitations, and governance challenges those tools create.

MPA 2675. Science and Technology Policy in the Global South.

Using both theoretical ideas and empirical examples, this seminar will explore the relationships among science, technology, society, and public policymaking in the Global South, in places where local science and global science often collaborate and sometimes clash. The class will investigate, from a variety of perspectives, how the governance of science and technology in various parts of the Global South is influenced by their past experiences, forms of public science organization, systems of knowledge, civic epistemologies and regulatory frameworks and strategic agendas for development, as well as the knowledge claims and concerns of social movements, and tensions in power and social relations.

MPA 2700. Lessons (Un)Learned in Public Health and Humanitarian Response: A Historical Perspe.

This course is premised on the belief that public health experts rarely understand the full nature of previous humanitarian health crises and argues that a better understanding of historical events will improve our response to future challenges. Through thoughtful reflection and interactive discussion, we will explore the oft-repeated themes that continue to challenge public health and humanitarian response to this day and examine the progress we’ve made as a field. Most importantly, we will question why lessons identified so often fail to become lessons learned.

MPA 2710. GIS and Public Policy.

This seminar presents an introduction to the theory and practice of social science Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as applied to public policy analysis. We will cover a variety of topics, such as the geographical basis of policy issues, spatial mapping, and use of ArcGIS software to study a wide range of policy issues. The course will involve discussions, hands-on computer laboratory exercises, take-home problem sets and a Practical Exam.
The goals of the class are: 1) learning how to use GIS software and techniques, 2) database development and editing 3) spatial modeling techniques, and 4) using GIS to study policy issues.

MPA 2715. Education Governance in Comparative Perspective.

This course will examine some of the governance issues associated with these trends by pairing critical readings with case studies. We will begin by surveying the historical relationship between how education gets defined as a public good, and systems of finance and governance. We will then examine the very particular trajectory of school governance and finance in America.

Course Goals: Robust understanding of how the competing, and hard-to-measure objectives (e.g. civic virtue, economic competitiveness, equal opportunity, personal growth) that people invest in schooling shape how education is defined as public good, and how it is governed and finance.

MPA 2722. Dimensions of Energy, Climate, and Environmental Policy.

Energy is an essential input to the economy and daily life, while the environment provides the life-sustaining functions upon which we depend every day. Consequently, almost all areas of policy analysis– from domestic social policy to international diplomacy, and local infrastructure planning to national industrial policy are affected by energy, the environment, and climate change. The changes we can expect in our global environment in the future are a crucial context for policymakers’ choices in the present. Climate change will reshape weather patterns, storms, sea levels, and agricultural output worldwide. Human societies have only three basic options for responding: mitigating the amount of climate change; adapting to the changes that come; and suffering the consequences of failing to do the first two options. This multi-disciplinary course focuses on both the politics of energy and the environment.

MPA 2723. Dimensions of Security.

This course introduces students to the central topics in, and major approaches to the field of international security. The course examines threats to security that arise within and between states as well as potential strategies that states and international organizations may take to prevent or resolve these threats. The topics span a range of issues related to military force, the economy, politics, and diplomacy, as well as domestic and international institutions, among other things. Through the course, students will develop the tools to analyze, design, evaluate, and communicate effectively policy solutions on security-related issues.

MPA 2724. Dimensions of Social and Economic Policy.

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the most pressing social and economic policy challenges facing the United States and other middle- and high-income countries. Topics include inequality and economic mobility, education and human capital, labor markets and workforce development, immigration, health disparities, housing, criminal justice, the social safety net, trade and globalization, and climate policy. Each topic is examined through empirical and policy-oriented lenses that draw on perspectives from economics as well as from public health, sociology, political science, and public administration. The goal of the course is twofold. First, students develop a deep understanding of these issues and the complexities surrounding them — including the trade-offs, political constraints, and unintended consequences that make policy design so difficult. Second, students learn how policy professionals can leverage the research literature, large-scale data, and empirical methods to bring practical, evidence-based policy.

MPA 2725. Smart Policy.

The purpose of this course is two-fold. Students will read, analyze and understand the current research literature in the behavioral economics of policy reform. Second, they will continue themes and projects started in the RIIPL Smart Policy Consultancies, and use data collected as well as the RIIPL database to design a Smart Policy Innovation and a test of that innovation. Smart Policy Innovations will be considered for the RIIPL Smart Policy Fellowship for 2016-2017.

MPA 2730. The Political Economy of Hard Policy Problems.

This class tackles the “hard problems” of public policy. While governments are cajoled and enjoined to produce economic growth, do something about economic inequality and social mobility, and improve the life chances of millions through purposive action, actually delivering in these areas of policy is incredibly hard. These areas constitute ‘“hard problems” for policy for two main reasons. Economically, we don’t have much of a clue about how to do many of these things. Politically, there are powerful interests and entrenched ideas that like these areas of policy just as they are and work hard to keep them “hard problems.”

MPA 2735. Women and Nations.

See the linkage between the security and situation of women and the security and situation of the nations in which they live. Understand the roles women play in world society as producers, reproducers, agents of cultural continuity and change, and to render women "visible" in international and national affairs. Explore in greater depth women's choices about education, family, and work in the developing world, and how these affect and are affected by national and international forces and influences.

MPA 2765. System Dynamics: Policy Analysis for a Complex World.

The course studies why so many public policy problems are challenging and often lead to disappointing results or outright failure. Students learn to conceptualize a social problem as a set of structures and policies that create dynamics and govern performance. The course introduces the tools of system dynamics for modeling and analyzing public policy. Using role playing games, simulation models, and management flight simulators, we develop insights essential to managing in a world characterized by dynamic complexity. Case studies include applications of system dynamics in healthcare, environmental policy, project management, and implementation of improvement programs.

MPA 2772. Disaster, Displacement and Response: A Practitioner, People-Focused Lens on Urban Policy & Practice.

Applying a practitioner's view and working from scenarios will allow students to examine practical elements of delivery as well as the complexities of coordination in an emergent arena. This class will create both empathy and urgency - fueled by stories the class can explore together. The aim is to examine commonalities in the experiences of displaced people with respect to how cities respond across the world and to create a people-centered lens for examining effective responses.

Assignments will focus on creating convincing presentations – making a case for what works and what cities may learn from one another.

MPA 2775. U.S. Foreign Policy: The Institutional Basis.

This course will examine the institutions that influence American foreign and development policy. Institutions provide the organizational framework, rules and social structures that in turn impact on the policy positions of those who are part of them. The agencies and bureaus that make up the national security cluster have both professional expertise and bureaucratic qualities. We will delve deeply into these entities to understand better their jurisdictional authorities and professional perspectives. We will use case studies and roll playing exercises to enhance understanding of these orientations and their impact on the policy process.

MPA 2796. The Historical Determinants of Public Health.

An ignorance of public health history is partly to blame for our imperfect response to COVID-19 in the United States. Throughout the pandemic, the reductive framing of public health’s greatest challenges —from addressing vaccine hesitancy, the rampant spread of pseudoscience and misinformation, or pervasive stigma and discrimination in communities of color—allowed our field to overlook the deep and undeniable historical roots of contemporary public health practice. This course will highlight the central role that historical determinants of public health continue to play in shaping health policy and response. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a prism, students will critically examine the successes and setbacks of earlier eras in public health history, providing them with the historical framing necessary to better understand and advocate for impactful public health interventions in the present and future.

MPA 2800. Policy in Action Project.

The Policy in Action experience is designed to provide a rigorous and practical immersion in dealing with a real policy issue in a domestic or global community-based or institutional setting. The course focuses on experiential learning and creative problem-solving. Teams of students address real-world, complex, contemporary problems, explore policy and practice-based solutions, identify strategies for addressing feasibility concerns, and recommend future approaches to external partner organizations. Students conduct research to understand contemporary problems and issues and develop policy and practice-related solutions to address these issues and/or enhance an organization’s capacity.

MPA 2981. Independent Graduate Study.

This is an independent study course for the MPA program.