• Home
• About Us
• Academics & Staff
• Admissions
• Alumni Services
• Career Services
• Contact Us
• Course Information
  • General Information
  • Graduate Courses
  • Undergraduate Courses
• Executive and International Programs
• Giving to GSPP
• IGERT Program
• News & Events
• PPIA Junior Summer Institute
• Programs Offered
• Students

Course Information

Undergraduate Electives

Public Policy 101: Introduction to Public Policy Analysis (4 units)

Course Format: Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.
Description: A systematic and critical approach to evaluating and designing public policies. Combines theory and application to particular cases and problems. Diverse policy topics, including environmental, health, education, communications, safety, and arts policy issues, among others.

Public Policy 182: Environment and Technology from the Policy and Business Perspective (4 units)

Course Format: Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.
Description: This class explores a wide range of environmental policy issues that shed light on the complex relationships between the natural environment, technology, policy, and business. The first few weeks provide an overview of contemporary (and historic) environmental problems and introduce a number of political and economic themes as well as approaches to environmental policy and management. But most of the classes explore the government and business contexts in which particular environmental technology “heroes” and “villains” develop, with the idea of creating a “bottom-up” understanding of the dynamics of environmental innovation as well as technology-induced risk. This class should particularly appeal to students interested in designing innovative approaches to environmental policy and management from positions in government, industry, or the non-profit sector. Topics include water management, approaches to solid waste issues, the reduction of air pollution from stationary and mobile sources, solutions to climate change, and coping strategies with respect to emerging technologies with potential environmental implications, including nanotechnology. Taught concurrently with PP282-1.

C184-1 Energy & Society (4 units)

Course Format: Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.
Description: Energy sources, uses, and impacts: an introduction to the technology, politics, economics, and environmental effects of energy in contemporary society. Energy and well-being; energy in international perspective, origins, and character of energy crisis. Also listed as Energy and Resources Group C100.

PP190-1 Special Topics in Public Policy - “Law and Public Policy” (3 units)

Course Format: Three hours of lecture and discussion per week.
Description: The course focuses on legal aspects of public policy, with an emphasis on the relative capacities of, and relationships among, law-making agencies (courts, legislatures, administrative agencies, referenda processes). Students will be exposed to primary legal materials, including judicial decisions, statutes, and regulations, and skills of legal interpretation will be developed. The course will be a mixture of lecture and discussion. Course examines current problems and issues in the field of public policy.

PP190-3 Special Topics in Public Policy - “Poverty & Inequality” (3 units)

Course Format: Four hours of lecture per week.
Description: This course will examine the nature and extent of poverty in the U.S., its causes and consequences, and the antipoverty effects of existing and proposed government programs and policies. The types of questions to be addressed include the following: What is poverty? Why is poverty so persistent? Why are poverty rates for minorities so high? Is there a culture of poverty? What are the interrelationships among poverty, family structure, inner city neighborhoods, labor market conditions and public policies? Is poverty passed on from generation to generation? The first ten weeks of this course (Topics 1-6) focuses on social science theory and evidence about the causes, consequences and costs of poverty. The last four weeks of the course (Topics 7-9) examines child poverty policies, employment policies, and setting an overall agenda for poverty policy.

PP190-12 Special Topics in Public Policy - “Negotiations” (3 units)

Description: The objective of this course is to improve negotiation skills and to increase the ability to resolve conflicts in a multitude of situations, including public policy disputes. Topics will include: distributive and integrative bargaining; preparation strategies; defense to ploys; power and perceptions; multi-party negotiations; legislative and regulatory negotiations, working with legal counsel; emotions, email negotiations, handling difficult negotiators, impact of personality traits and public policy mediation. Simulated negotiation exercises will be used extensively. Course examines current problems and issues in the field of public policy. As topics vary from year to year, course may be repeated for credit.

PP190-14 Special Topics in Public Policy - “Collaborating Across Sectors” (1-2 units)

Course Format: Two hours of lecture and/or discussion per week.
Description: Advancing the public interest now motivates not only government careers, but those in the private and nonprofit sectors as well. Standard delineations between sectors grow blurry, however. Governments and nonprofits seek to learn the ways of private firms. Firms find new kinds of productivity fostering public aims. And many cutting-edge programs feature cross-sector participation and investment. This course will convene weekly presentations by visiting speakers from various sectors, career perspectives, and subject areas. The course is designed to deepen students' understanding of change in the political economy and the related evolution of policy analysis and practice. We will treat specific project and program examples--domestic and international, in numerous policy arenas--to teach ourselves about the opportunities and challenges collaboration engenders. Special note: Students may enroll for one or two units. The two unit option will entail additional course assignments.

PP190-15 Special Topics in Public Policy - “WMD Terrorism” (3 units)

Description: The idea that terrorists could acquire and use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) acquired new urgency after September 11. Yet public discussions still rely on Hollywood cliches at least as much as science. This course will present what is known about the WMD terrorism threat and how the US can respond. Topics will include terrorist incentives for acquiring WMD; the technology behind nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical weapons; methods for allocating scarce defense resources and promoting the development of new technologies; and international initiatives designed to limit WMD proliferation and fight terrorism. Course requirements will include a mid-term project, term paper, and individual class participation. Course examines current problems and issues in the field of public policy. As topics vary from year to year, course may be repeated for credit.

Public Policy 199: Supervised Independent Study and Research (1-4 units)

Prerequisites: Consent of Instructor.
Credit option: Course may be repeated for credit.
Grading option: Must be taken on a 'passed/not passed' basis.
Description: Individual or group study of a selected topic or topics in Public Policy. Please pick up an Instructor Consent Form for Independent Study or Restricted Courses from the front desk at GSPP, 2607 Hearst Ave. This form must be filled out and submitted to the Departmental Scheduler or the Graduate Assistant at GSPP to obtain a Class Entry Code.

updated: 7/2009