School of Public Policy 397M - ST-Making/Difference:SocChange

This course will look at social change through the perspective of policies and strategies that have made a large positive difference in people's lives. Each week we will cover a successful public policy and a strategy that helped make that policy successful. Successful policies could include desalinization projects, a poverty alleviation program, and/or a new way of providing access to justice. We will study these policies in the context of successful social-change strategies, such as systems thinking, asset mapping, impact measurement, and appreciative inquiry. We will also examine the roles of individuals, groups, and institutions, both public and private, in implementing policies for social change. The final project will be to develop a solution to a public policy issue using the tools learned in the class and suggesting ways to implement that policy.