The Master of Public Policy Program curriculum has two tracks: The General Track and the STEM Track.
General Track Curriculum
The curriculum for the Master of Public Policy Program is organized around providing students with competencies in three key technical skills:
Technical Competency
- Public Policy Process
- Policy Evaluation and Data Analytics
- Social Theory, Politics, & Economics
The technical skills are built through an 18-credit hour core curriculum, that introduces students to each competency, and through 3 technical skills elective courses.
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Core Curriculum |
|
|
PLCY 510: Public Policy for the Common Good |
3 |
|
PLCY 511: Introduction to Public Policy Process |
3 |
|
ECON 572: Advanced Microeconomics |
3 |
|
LSC 527: Introduction to Data Analytics |
3 |
|
Capstone Project |
3 |
|
Practicum - Professional Skills Courses [Pick 3] |
|
|
PLCY 520: Innovative Thinking |
1 |
|
PLCY 521: Technical Writing |
1 |
|
PLCY 522: Strategic Communication |
1 |
|
PLCY 523: Leadership and Statesmanship |
1 |
|
Core Curriculum - Total Credit Hours |
18 |
|
Technical Skills Electives [Pick 3] |
|
|
PLCY 530: Strategic Public Policy Management |
3 |
|
ECON 573: Econometrics |
3 |
|
ECON 545: Experimental Economics |
3 |
|
One Approved Master’s level General Politics Course (e.g. Political Theory or American Politics) |
3 |
|
One Approved Master’s level General Economics Course (e.g. Macroeconomics or Behavioral Economics) |
3 |
|
One Approved Social Theory Course (e.g. Christian Social Ethics or Catholic Social Teaching and Political Economy) |
3 |
|
One Approved Law Course (e.g. Constitutional Law or Administrative Law) |
3 |
|
Technical Skill Elective - Total Credit Hours |
9 |
Beyond the technical skills, students are also trained in specific areas of topical specialization, through 3 Topical Specialization Electives. The topical specialization electives are organized into 6 topic areas, yet students are free to allocate their 3 elective courses however they wish across the 6 topic areas.
Specializations
- Family and Social Policy
- National Security Policy
- Technology and Innovation Policy
- Development and Sustainability Policy
- Health Policy
- Advanced Quantitative Methods
Core Curriculum Course Descriptions
PLCY 510: Public Policy for the Common Good
Public Policy for the Common Good is an interdisciplinary course that builds a rigorous picture of the human person based on psychology, sociology, economics, philosophy, and theology. Then with a robust understanding of the human person, it casts a vision of what the common good looks for humans as they are. Finally, the course explores the role that public policy plays in pursuing the common good.
PLCY 511: Introduction to Public Policy Process
The course introduces the foundational concepts, theories, and frameworks that structure the field of Public Policy, with a focus on the theories of the public policy process and their application to concrete cases. Topics include the stages of the public policy cycle and their interactions with political processes, institutions, actors, and rules, in different policy areas. Students learn how to apply the diverse frameworks in order to understand, analyze, and strategically act in real world policy-making and implementation situations, obtaining a global view that helps structure the skills and competencies they acquire in the program.
ECON 572: Advanced Microeconomics
This course provides an in-depth analysis of the theory of the consumer and theory of the firm, contexts in which markets achieve efficiency and contexts in which markets are not socially efficient. The tools for microeconomic analysis are then applied to specific topics in economics such as inequality, trade, taxes, and behavioral economics with particular emphasis on public policy in developed and developing country contexts.
LSC 527: Introduction to Data Analytics
This is an introduction course to provide foundations in the area of data science with discussion on methods, concepts and opportunities in Data Science. Students will learn foundational data analytics concepts and techniques through recent work and publications as well as projects. Topics of the course include types of datasets, data management and processing, methods for data analysis including machine learning and data mining, data visualization, and issues around data including ethics and policy. The course will combine theoretical foundations with implementation and evaluation of data analysis algorithms on real data.
Course Sequence
The exact course sequence through the MPP program can vary by student based on their interests, the semester in which they enroll, and their desired graduation date. Some example courses sequences are provided below:
Part Time Enrollment Starting Fall
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Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
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Fall |
Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
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Core 1 |
Technical Elective |
Topical Elective |
Core 3 |
Technical Elective |
Technical Elective |
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|
Core 2 |
Topical Elective |
Core 4 |
Topical Elective |
Capstone |
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Practicum 1 |
Practicum 2 |
Practicum 3 |
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Part-Time Enrollment Starting Spring
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Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
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Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
Spring |
|
Technical Elective |
Topical Elective |
Core 1 |
Technical Elective |
Core 3 |
Technical Elective |
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|
Topical Elective |
|
Core 2 |
Topical Elective |
Core 4 |
Capstone |
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|
Practicum 1 |
Practicum 2 |
Practicum 3 |
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Full-Time Enrollment Starting Fall
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
||
|
Fall |
Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
|
Core 1 |
Technical Elective |
Technical Elective |
|
|
Core 2 |
Technical Elective |
Topical Elective |
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|
Core 3 |
Topical Elective |
Capstone |
|
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Core 4 |
Topical Elective |
Practicum 3 |
|
|
Practicum 1 |
Practicum 2 |
||
Full-Time Enrollment Starting Spring
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
||
|
Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
Spring |
|
Technical Elective |
Core 1 |
Technical Elective |
|
|
Technical Elective |
Core 2 |
Topical Elective |
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|
Topical Elective |
Core 3 |
Capstone |
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|
Topical Elective |
Core 4 |
Practicum 3 |
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Practicum 1 |
Practicum 2 |
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STEM Track Curriculum
The curriculum for the STEM Track is also organized around providing students with the three technical competencies: Public Policy Process, Policy Evaluation and Data Analytics, and Social Theory, Politics, & Economics. The STEM track focuses more heavily on the Policy Evaluation and Data Analytics skill and therefore includes more core curriculum courses.
|
STEM Core Curriculum |
|
|
PLCY 510: Public Policy for the Common Good |
3 |
|
PLCY 511: Introduction to Public Policy Process |
3 |
|
ECON 572: Advanced Microeconomics |
3 |
|
ECON 573: Advanced Macroeconomics (or approved ECON MA course alternative) |
3 |
|
ECON 573: Econometrics (or approved data analytics alternative) |
3 |
|
ECON 545: Experimental Economics |
3 |
|
ECON 570: Big Data for Economics (or approved machine learning alternative) |
3 |
|
LSC 527: Introduction to Data Analytics |
3 |
|
Capstone Project |
3 |
|
Practicum - Professional Skills Courses [Pick 3] |
|
|
PLCY 520: Innovative Thinking |
1 |
|
PLCY 521: Technical Writing |
1 |
|
PLCY 522: Strategic Communication |
1 |
|
PLCY 523: Leadership and Statesmanship |
1 |
|
Core Curriculum - Total Credit Hours |
30 |
Students in the STEM track must then complete 2 elective courses that are available in the Advanced Quantitative Methods specialization or an approved course from another specialization that has a data analysis component.