Capstone Course in Public Policy
Required Core Courses
Besides completing 9-10 hours in a specialized subject area, all students are required to complete either Economics 200 (Principles of Microeconomics) or AED Econ 200 (Principles of Food and Resource Economics) as a prerequisite to the minor, as well as the following core course requirements:
- Political Science 305 (Introduction to Public Policy)—a course which focuses on the workings of policy-making processes within governments, and the use of social science reasoning to evaluate and improve the content of policies
- A choice of one of three courses below:
- Economics 532: Public Expenditures and Cost-Benefit
- AEDE 631: Benefit-Cost Analysis
- Public Policy and Management (PPM) 522: Introduction to Public Policy Analysis
Beyond these required core courses, all students who minor in public policy will be required to complete a capstone requirement, which will help you combine the knowledge learned in your core and specialization courses and apply this knowledge to real world issues.
You can complete the capstone requirement by either taking the capstone course (SBS 591) which is offered annually, or by writing a senior thesis that focuses on a public policy issue through the H783 honors course. Students who choose to write an honors thesis must receive approval from the Director of the Public Policy Minor program to enroll in H783 and prior approval on the thesis topic.