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Fall 2022 Courses — Public Policy Program

PUPOL 100: Introduction to Public Policy
PUPOL 100 is an interdisciplinary course designed to introduce students to basic concepts in policy studies. The course will introduce students to the study of public policy at a time when acute, critical, analysis of governance, policy processes, and the meaning of ‘the public’ are more urgent and necessary than ever. The class will bring our experiences of global pandemic and overlapping crises of capitalism, environment, and human rights into the classroom using an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to public policy as a subject inextricably intertwined with power relations, political beliefs and values, long established institutions, structural inequalities, and the agency of individuals and groups. Students will have an opportunity to focus on a policy area of their choice as they make ‘real-life’ contributions to the policy process by writing an op-ed, conducting a policy analysis, and finally presenting a policy brief to the class. The class is designed to be accessible to all students and requires no previous study of American politics or government.
Thursday, 1:00-3:45pm (Roosevelt House Room 204) with Robyn Rowe

PUPOL 400: Public Policy Capstone Seminar
Roosevelt House’s Public Policy Capstone course serves as the culminating educational experience for students pursuing the 18-credit Public Policy Minor and/or 27-credit certificate. During this semester-long seminar, each student develops a substantive project that integrates the practical skills and topical knowledge learned in the Public Policy Program. The Capstone presents students the opportunity to go in-depth with real-world policy questions and ideas, with the aim of discovering, developing, and refining individual policy interests and goals.
Wednesday, 11:30-2:20pm (Roosevelt House Room 204) with Basil A. Smikle Jr., Director, Public Policy Program

SOC 325.1P: Criminal Justice and Public Policy
This course will count towards the following concentrations: Urban Policy, Health Policy, Social Welfare Policy, Law and Public Policy

This course introduces students to the criminal justice system and policy-related issues within the United States, generally, and New York, specifically. For the last half century, the United States criminal justice system expanded exponentially. Therefore, this course will take an in-depth examination into the policies that have created the largest prison system in the world and the various ways punishment and justice are instituted. This course is broken into the following areas: (1) History of punishment; (2) Policing; (3) The Courts; (4) Corrections; (5) Reentry; and (6) Reform & Abolition. Drawing from various scholarly articles, policy reports, books, print media, film, and guest speakers, students will have a chance to enhance their knowledge of the criminal justice system and the various stakeholders that govern and determine policies which impact contemporary society.
Wednesday, 4:00-6:45pm (Roosevelt House Room 304) with the Hon. Assemblymember Latrice Walker

MEDIA 399.19: Changing Media Landscape: United States Policy and Politics
This course will count towards the following concentrations: Media Policy, Social Welfare Policy, Law and Public Policy

The splintering of the Old Guard media establishment, the ascent of social and non-traditional media platforms, and the ever-changing, 24/7 news cycle has fundamentally transformed the American political landscape and the way Americans digest and analyze the news. This course will serve as an introduction to these dramatic shifts that have reshaped American politics and how public officials communicate and implement policy. Using key moments since 9/11 as the narrative framework for the course, from Hurricane Katrina and the financial crisis to Obamacare and the election of President Trump, the course will survey and analyze the media’s impact on American politics. The course will also examine the fundamental question: what’s next? This course will focus on critical thinking about the state of our Democracy and which technologies and communications tools will play a central role in the upcoming political and policy debates.
Tuesday, 4:00-6:45pm (Roosevelt House Room 304) with Peter Kauffmann, Founder and Principal, Bluejacket Strategies

PUPOL 30N04: Critical Equity Issues at the Intersection of Disability, Policy, and Law
This course will count towards the following concentrations: Urban Policy, Health Policy, Social Welfare Policy, Law and Public Policy

This course will focus on understanding the development and impact of disability policy and law on people’s lives. We will take an interdisciplinary, historically grounded, critical, and intersectional approach to understand what disability legislation has achieved and what it has yet to strive for. This course will examine a variety of enduring inequities and analyze assumptions behind seminal court cases and legislation that have shaped and defined the ways in which the rights of people with disabilities have been negotiated and secured in policy and law. We will also explore issues related to disability and mass incarceration, mental health disparities, racial inequity in education, climate justice, and accessibility. We will discover the limits of current legal and legislative approaches to secure the rights of people with disabilities and begin to derive a more appropriate, intersectional, and just policy framework based on our class discussions. Students will bring their own topics of interest into the classroom discussions, leading to a final project for the course which requires a written paper, an oral presentation, and a brief policy memo. The seminar course is for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students.
Tuesday, 10:00-12:45pm (Roosevelt House Room 304) with Catherine Voulgarides, School of Education, Hunter College

PUPOL 30N05: Labor Employment Rights: Law, Policy, and History
This course will count towards the following concentrations: Immigration Policy, Economic Development, Social Welfare Policy, Law and Public Policy, Health Policy

In this interdisciplinary seminar, students will begin to develop a substantive understanding of collective and individual workplace rights in the private and public sectors under federal, state, and local labor law.  It is aimed at introducing students to labor and employment legal principles along with the history and policies that underlie them. Among the subjects we will be covering are worker associational and free speech rights, legal protections against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, electronic workplace privacy, the growth in precarious employment, and the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. The course is designed to permit each student an opportunity to research workplace legal and policy subjects, discern their primary area of subject matter interest, and prepare a final report analyzing the issue. Central goals of the course are informed, lively, and engaged classroom discussions, and the encouragement of independent student research, analysis, and presentations that integrate course readings and presentations.
Tuesday, 4:00-6:45pm (Roosevelt House SDR Library) with William Herbert, Executive Director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions

URBS 403.2A: Educational Planning and Policies
This course will count towards the following concentrations: Education Policy, Social Welfare Policy, Law and Public Policy

It is imperative for students to understand the socio-political phenomena that influence local, state, and national political life. A significant grasp of the nature of politics will give you a competitive advantage in almost every field. The purpose of this course is to provide you with a broader understanding of the ways that education, race and politics uniquely and collaboratively influence American society. Discussions of these elements will be applied to a wide range of socio-political applications. The course will engage with the intertwining nature of race, politics and education in American society. Education, politics and race interact in powerful ways across the American landscape. One’s level of educational attainment frequently impacts their political leanings and racial perspectives. Legislative bodies draft the policies that dictate the United States’ educational opportunities and diversity initiatives. Race is frequently a third rail that drastically impacts everything from school districting and political contests. This course will allow students to critically explore the intersections of these three phenomena in American life and, thereby, poise them to be more effective change agents in their communities.
Tuesday, 7:30-9:20 PM (Roosevelt House Room 204) with Basil A. Smikle Jr., Director, Public Policy Program