Courses

Operations management specifically involves the analysis, design, operation, and improvement of the systems and processes that deliver goods or services and ultimately outputs and outcomes. It is required to achieve the organization’s mission, provide value to the organization’s many stakeholders, and effectively translate policy into action. As such, operations management plays an important part of being an effective manager and policy implementer.

This course examines the inner workings of successful international public service projects and gives students the opportunity to design one or more themselves. Students will then study the characteristics of effective programs, which bring together a series of projects for mutually supportive and concerted action. Particular attention is paid to programs selected from the five areas where international public sector entities are most active: peace building, relief, development, advocacy and norm-setting.

Advocacy Lab is for those who could imagine working in national or local advocacy organizations that make change happen or anyone who wants to understand the art of issue advocacy as a theory and method of social change. An advocacy campaign attempts to impact public policy, most often through changes in regulations and/or legislation.

From the non-stop subway ride to the “infamed” jaywalking, from the well-acclaimed Citi bike to delivery on almost anything, from the iconic yellow cab to the fist fight over a parking spot, from the Chinatown bus to congestion pricing, this course investigates the kaleidoscope of travel behavior by New Yorkers and their essential connection to the functionality of the City. It explores the unique transportation infrastructure behind these behaviors as well as the policies and rules that provide them and regulate their usage.

The most common Mission-Related Investment (MRI) approaches include socially responsible investing (SRI), and environmental, social, and governance (ESG). While private investments generally account for 20% of an institutional investment portfolio, public investments can represent more than 75%.

This graduate level course will provide an in-depth analysis of gender and sexuality policy in the United States. We will focus on the role that criminalization plays in this area, examining topics such abortion and regulation of intimate partner behavior, including sodomy. Practical application on how policy is made will be intertwined throughout the course and we will use case studies to examine why certain policy efforts, such as marriage equality was successful, while the Equal Rights Amendment failed.

Corporate philanthropy and engagement is an evolving space which is critical to the existence and operation of nonprofit organizations. The role of the private sector in helping nonprofits achieve their mission, serve their clients and realize their expected goals and outcomes is unique and very different from the role that government funders and individual major donors play.

Students will have an opportunity to learn about fundraising, as well as philanthropy more broadly. This introductory course will examine the range of ways to raise funds from government, individuals, foundations and corporations. The importance of stewardship, program evaluation, and the role of the board and staff in developing effective fundraising strategies will be addressed.

This course will focus on the issuance and management of debt by state and local governments as well as nonprofit institutions. The course will serve as an overview of how municipal and nonprofit borrowers access the capital markets, primarily through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds. Students will understand the role of the various participants in the capital markets, including but not limited to the issuer, underwriter, financial advisor, legal counsel, rating agency, insurer and investor.

Public economics uses the tools of microeconomics and empirical analysis to study the impact of government policies on economic behavior and the distribution of resources in the economy. The course begins with a review of market failures and preferences for income redistribution to answer questions such as: When should the government intervene in the economy? How might the government intervene? And, what are the effects of those interventions on economic outcomes?

This course provides an in-depth exploration of social entrepreneurship and innovation as a set of promising pathways to drive social change across sectors using a systems-led approach. Students will delve into understanding complex social and environmental problems at a systems level, equipping them to contribute to long-term, sustainable solutions.

The course incorporates topics of capital planning and other finance issues making as applied to health-care organizations. This course will cover three main topics:

-Public payer rate setting

-Understanding risk and the costs of capital in making financial decisions.

-Issues in working capital and investment management activities of healthcare organizations.

This course incorporates topics of planning and financial decision making as applied to health-care organizations. This course will cover two main topics:

-Financial analysis both as a proactive exercise and a tool for organizational control.

-Issues of budgeting, cost determination, pricing and rate setting in a healthcare environment.

This course describes the growing involvement of government in stimulating and directing the development of information technology in healthcare organizations. Included is a discussion of attempts to exchange information for the purposes of improving the quality of personal healthcare and public health. Methods for determining the financial value of information technology are described. Techniques for insuring the security and privacy of health information are presented.

In study after study, people lying on their deathbeds overwhelmingly say they regret five things at their end of their life: 1. Not living a life of authenticity 2. Working too hard at the expense of their relationships 3. Not having the courage to express their feelings 4. Not staying in touch with friends. 5. Not letting themselves be happier. For leaders, it's not any different.

Understanding geographic relationships between people, land use, and resources is fundamental to planning. Urban planners routinely use spatial analysis to inform decision-making. This course will introduce students to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a tool to analyze and visualize spatial data. The course will emphasize the core functions of GIS: map making, data management, and spatial analysis. Students will learn cartographic best practices, how to find and create spatial data, spatial analysis methodology, and how to approach problem solving from a geographic perspective.

Students in this course will explore the spatial aspects of inequality, including racial segregation, concentrated poverty, and government structure. Course materials will investigate the consequences of these inequalities for individuals, communities, and American society as a whole, as well as how these seemingly-intractable problems were created by and continue because of public policy decisions. This course will be an interactive experience, requiring preparation before coming to class and active exchange during class.

Open only to students in the MSPP program. This intensive course will provide students with: 

• An understanding of basic statistics principles 
• Familiarity with Stata
• Experience manipulating data and reading outputs in different formats 
• A working knowledge of basic microeconomics concepts 

This course is pass/fail.

This is an introductory course in urban transportation planning. The course is divided into 3 parts. Part One is a foundational review of theories and research about the complex relationships among transportation, land use and urban form.  Part Two examines certain key factors that today’s transportation planners deal with as transportation and land use interact in the context of planning and projects. Part Three involves a review of some of the most notable transportation and land use plans, projects and problems facing the New York City metropolitan region.

This course will train students to obtain, clean, manipulate, analyze, map, and visualize spatial and non-spatial data to support their work throughout their urban planning careers. The course emphasizes the critical role of design and communication in effective data storytelling. Students will practice the open-source tools R and QGIS in depth. The course will help students build a strong foundation in working with data that will allow them to learn and master additional programs, languages, and tools toward future goals.

New York City is the nation's largest city, with a strong, active municipal government and an annual municipal budget of approximately $110 billion. The city charter provides the mayor with more power than the mayor of any other large city in the United States. The role of the mayor, the state government and the city council are explored with a focus on economic development policies, public safety, immigration, transportation, planning and climate change.

How does someone go about changing the world? What does social change theory suggest are the most effective tactics to change hearts and minds? What can we learn from the past about what it means to be an effective agent of change? How have social entrepreneurs created organizations that become engines of change? How has technology, social media and trends in mainstream media changed the rules of the game?  

This course introduces the theory and practice of institutional reform in developing and transitional countries. It reviews the evolution of international development paradigms, examining how the role, structure, and management of institutions, the public sector, and non-governmental organizations have changed in response to shifting economic and political trends, with a particular emphasis on accountability. The focus is on major institutional and managerial reforms intended to promote good governance as less developed economies liberalize and their societies democratize.

Many developing countries have been significantly reforming the scope and organization of the public sector in recent years. This course critically examines the changing structures and operations of government fiscal systems in developing countries, with particular emphasis on the growing trend to strengthen sub-national levels.