PUBLIC POLICY SPECIALIZATION

Overview

The Public Policy Specialization gives you tools play a leading role in creating, advocating for, and evaluating policies that better serve the public good, whether from within government, nonprofit organizations, or private sector firms that work adjacent to the public sector.   

You'll learn the analytical skills and frameworks you’ll need to design and assess policy responses to important public issues, and will have the option to deepen your quantitative skills. You’ll graduate ready to address big questions: Which public policies are doing what they're designed to do, and which could do their job better? How can cities create and implement policies for growth and development? What are the next steps to reducing poverty? Which policies are most effective at minimizing racial disparities? How can education policy improve the performance and equity of US educational systems?

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Below is an overview of the required coursework. For detailed information, view the program checksheet

DEGREE CORE requirements

Students must complete the following courses:

Specialization Requirements

Students must complete the following courses:

Students must also choose and complete one of the following courses:

Electives

Focus areas

Focus Areas are optional groupings of courses to help you choose electives. You can go deeper in your specialization and develop more advanced skills by choosing electives within the specialization-related focus areas below. To pursue depth in a focus area we suggest completing 9 credits. To pursue breadth, you may also choose electives across focus areas. 

A career in policy needs an entry point; it needs pathways for depth; and it needs breadth to sustain it. An entry point is just that, the job that gets you into an organization or field, whether it is at the start or midway through a career. Along with many other aspects of your degree and experience, the policy specialization provides the core analytical, conceptual, and communication skills relevant in a wide array of policy positions. A pathway for depth is a set of skills, frameworks, or knowledge that builds upon the foundation of the degree core and specialization requirements and is particularly helpful for career progression. The policy specializations focus areas listed below are examples of these. Breadth is important because as your career develops you are unlikely to follow a linear path; you might jump from policy analysis, to advocacy, to evaluation, and back again. So it helps to experiment beyond your base. If you have tried some courses within one policy specialization focus area, you could try another policy focus area.

Policy Advocacy and Creation

Creating policy through direct advocacy, working for advocacy or interest groups, or mission-driven organizations, e.g., political, social interest, etc. (potential titles and roles: interest-group advocacy, lobbyist, think-tank analyst, legislative or committee staffer, government relations for the nonprofit or private sector)

Policy Design and Implementation

Design of policy based on economic, political and institutional, or contextual analysis (potential titles and roles: policy analyst, staffer for office holder, public office staff roles, program officer, program manager, urban and regional planner, local government manager, consultant) and policy implementation, considering how policy parameters and choices interact with institutional, technical, and behavioral constraints (additional job titles include: user experience for public services, services officer or manager, policy innovation coordinator)

Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

Analysis of policy outcomes, synthesizing the literature, prospective analysis of policy proposals, and ex post evaluation of program and policy impacts form the core toolkit of the policy analyst (potential titles and roles: policy analyst for government, nonprofit, think tank or consulting firm; program evaluator)

PADM-GP.2875, Estimating Impacts in Policy Research, and PADM-GP 2172, Advanced Empirical Methods, are strongly recommended courses in this focus area.

Data Science

Understanding, analyzing, presenting, and managing data (potential titles and roles: policy or data analyst, data scientist, data manager, database manager, fundraising officer/ manager, researcher, consultant). 

PADM-GP 2172, Advanced Empirical Methods, and PADM-GP 4503, Introduction to Data Analytics, are strongly recommended courses in this focus area.

School-wide Focus Areas

In addition to the courses in the specialization-related elective focus areas above, to gain a breadth of knowledge and skills you may also wish to choose electives from across course offerings, including from the school-wide focus areas or a different specialization. Relevant school-wide focus areas for you to consider as a Policy student include, Environment and Climate Change; Health Policy and Management; Inequality, Race, and Poverty; Transportation; and more. 

CAPSTONE

The Capstone Program, a year-long consulting or research project that's required for all Policy specialization students, puts you out in the world, resolving a problem or conducting an analysis for a client organization.

Students must complete the following courses:

CAP-GP.3401 & 3402 Capstone: Advanced Projects in Policy, Management, Finance, and Advocacy I & II

or

CAP-GP 3148 & 3149 Capstone: Advanced Research Projects in Quantitative Analysis I & II

Authoritative curriculum information can be found exclusively in the University Bulletin. All other content, including this web-page, is for informational purposes only. You can find the curriculum for this program on this page of the Bulletin.