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Fall 2023 Courses — Public Policy Program

Public Policy Program’s Fall 2023 Core Courses

PUPOL 100: Introduction to Public Policy
PUPOL 100 is an interdisciplinary course designed to introduce students to basic concepts in policy studies. It is taught by faculty from different disciplines. It will acquaint students with public policy as a field of study, the basic elements of the policy-making process, and a variety of approaches for applying distinct modes of analysis (political, economic, demographic, statistical, qualitative, normative). In addition to a textbook and select articles that have defined the field, the course uses practical case studies that address a range of policy problems. This course is open to students who declare the Public Policy Minor.
Wednesday, 11:00-1:45pm 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.
Tuesday, 11:30am-2:20pm with Basil Smikle

Public Policy Program’s Fall 2023 Electives

PUPOL 30N05: Labor and Employment Rights
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, 4:00am-6:50pm with William Herbert, Executive Director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions

SOC 3251P: 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.
Monday, 11:30-2:20pm with CalvinJohn Smiley

SOC 3252F: Social Change and the Change Makers
This course will count towards the following concentrations: Urban Policy, Social Welfare Policy, Law and Public Policy
This course provides students with an overview of the mechanisms necessary to create social change and, through a series of guest lectures, introduces students to some of the change-makers engaged in the work of re-making society. Designed to flip the conventional “social problems” course into one that highlights innovative approaches to the liberation for all people, which we will use as the key metric for assessing social change. The course will cover a range of topics, including: the campaign against the drug war, efforts to combat the far right, environmental activism, prison abolition, gun violence and pro-democracy movements around the world. One of the key questions we will explore throughout the semester is the role that the Internet and digital media technologies play in creating social change. For each of these topics, we will host an invited speaker who has been a leading change-maker in this space. Students will choose their own topic to research early in the semester, and as a final assignment, write and present their proposed change for their issue.
Thursday, 2:30-5:15 PM with Jessie Daniels

URBS 4032A: 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, 3:10-5:00 PM with Basil A. Smikle Jr., Director, Public Policy Program