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Summer 2020 Courses — Public Policy Program 

Core Courses

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 brings 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.

Monday/Wednesday, 3:20 PM – 5:40 PM (Online) with Robyn Rowe


Elective Courses

PUPOL 20N00: The Global Pandemic and its Impact: Preparing for the Future, Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This course will count towards all concentrations in the Public Policy Certificate

The impact of the rapid spread of COVID-19 has been felt throughout the world with more than 3.1 million infections, and 216,000 deaths. The fallout from a deadly pandemic and a contracted global economy of this magnitude has revealed the deep fissures of existing and chronic inequalities in the world along the dimensions of job security, capacities of overburdened public health systems, limited ability for local economies to withstand shocks and risks, access to technology and digital divides, governance, emergency preparedness and coordination at multiple levels of government. This course will explore the big questions raised by the global pandemic through an interdisciplinary lens of critical inquiry and analytic frameworks that will bring in perspectives from the social sciences, humanities, and STEM fields. The instructors for this course will represent diverse departments/Schools at Hunter and will offer readings and interpretations from their disciplinary focus that is required to gain a holistic understanding of the crisis and its aftermath.

Tuesday/Thursday, 11:40 AM – 2:00 PM (Online) with multiple Hunter faculty from across various disciplines.


PUPOL 30N03: Digital Privacy, Surveillance, Security in the Pandemic Age: Implications for Public Policy (cross-listed with MEDIA 39932 and SOC 325.1Z)

This course will count towards the following concentrations: media policy, law and policy, health policy; social welfare society.

Digital privacy, online surveillance, and cybersecurity concerns have risen to the top of global policy agendas as the number of active Internet users approaches 60% of the global population. While these issues have been on international and national policy agendas for some time, the COVID pandemic has brought them into sharper focus as global populations have been forced to move almost entirely online as countries enforce varying degrees of strict lock-down and/or stay-at-home orders. At the epicenter of these deliberations lies what has become one of the world’s most precious and vulnerable commodities: data. The legitimate use of personal data during the pandemic can result in more effective public health policies such as contact tracing and containment initiatives. However, mission creep and opaque collaborations between governments and private sector companies can result in unlawful targeting and unnecessary surveillance as was witnessed after 9/11. Will we use the “pandemic as a portal” to envision a new future?

Monday/Wednesday, 11:40 AM – 2:00 PM (Online) with Erica Basu, American University; Researcher at Center for Media & Social Impact


Public Policy Related Courses at Hunter College