Introduction to methodologies for analyzing, implementing, and evaluating public policy. Topics include research methods, participant observation survey research and questionnaire construction, research design, measurement theory and practice, and framing categories.

Introduction to microeconomics theory and policy analysis. Examines economic rationales for and against government policy and the economic consequences of public policy.

Introduction to microeconomics theory and policy analysis. Examines economic rationales for and against government policy and the economic consequences of public policy.

Overview of organization theory including theories of administration, motivation, budgeting, decision making, inter- organizational relationships, and ethics. Uses case studies to provide a broad range of policy areas and organizations.

Examination of the influence of political factors, including institutions and interests, on the initiation, formulation, and implementation of public policy. Examines the role of information and expertise in politics.

Examination of the influence of political factors, including institutions and interests, on the initiation, formulation, and implementation of public policy. Examines the role of information and expertise in politics.

This course is designed for those who may be involved in nonprofit organizations at some point in their lives as directors, employees, volunteers, customers, funders, or founders. Students will create, fund, run, and dissolve a virtual 501(c)(3) public charity over the course of the semester, as we learn the opportunities and challenges that nonprofits can face.

This seminar introduces students to enduring and emerging information policy issues in public interest battles fought locally, nationally and globally for the control of Internet infrastructure, code and content. We will analyze how policy and regulation, politics, commercial interests, nation-states, transnational organizations and organized civil society actors are shaping our digital communication environment, considering the implications of Internet governance for democracy and human development.

Over the last decade or more, there has been a detectable and growing dissatisfaction among students with the "status quo" in the way the society works. Students have witnessed terrorism, long-term war, a "great recession," the "Occupy" movement, effects of climate change and worse projections to come, and most recently, a global pandemic with a great impact on the economy. Many students are looking for models of hope and alternatives to the status quo on how society at local, regional and global levels might operate to collectively address problems.

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.