Across the globe, social welfare systems have been created, often referred to as "welfare states," or in the U.S. in terms of individual programs such as "social security," "unemployment," and "welfare." In this class, we will explore the strategies that welfare states take to protect those who cannot support themselves economically - such as retirees, the unemployed, children, those with poor health or disabilities, or those providing care.

The course develops the practical knowledge and analytical skill required to make sense of field problems faced by public managers, and to design and implement strategic and effective practical action in the public sector. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-PolSci majors.

This course will encourage you to reflect on what you have learned thus far - in your courses, extracurricular experiences, jobs, internships, life - and consider how it will shape your journey forward into your career. It will teach you needed skills to advance your career including networking, resume and cover letter writing, interviewing, negotiating, and embodying professionalism. Ultimately, by looking at your core values and what you have accomplished thus far, you will craft a plan for how to move forward both during your time at UMass and beyond.

This course is designed to help students become better communicators by strengthening their skill as writers since writing is integral to all phases of the policy process. Public policy is concerned with identifying problems, coming up with solutions to those problems, and getting those solutions adopted and implemented. For that to happen, students must be experts in communicating with a variety of audiences. There are three basic ways to do so: speaking, writing, and showing. This course is designed to enable students to do all three, although the focus is on writing.

Not available at this time.

Focus on how public policies are made in the U.S., including the role of citizens, interest groups, and government institutions. Emphasis on the processes by which policies are made in various institutions, including the Presidency, Congress, bureaucracy, and courts. Examples cover numerous public policies, such as campaign finance reform, foreign policy, and the environment. (Gen.Ed. SB)

This course explores the relationships among reporters, publishers and politicians, and how each uses the media. Using historical biographies and other texts, the class will examine past strategies by politicians and media figures. Topics include campaign strategies, Washington politics, day-to-day effectiveness in office, making arguments through the media, and how those not elected use the media. Taught by Congressman Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the class offers an opportunity for students to hear how elected officials work with the press.

This course explores the significance of the public sphere - from pamphlets, newspapers and letters to radio, television, the internet and social media - and its relationship to participatory, democratic society. Moving back and forth between the history of the public sphere and contemporary debates about the tensions between media and democracy, students will learn why democracies prescribe protected roles of the media, how media manipulation plays a role in politics, and how media spaces serve as deliberative spaces.

This is designed to create intelligent consumers of policy research. The course is not designed to make students into policy researchers, but to enable them to understand the research done by others with a sufficiently skeptical eye to allow them to determine whether the findings of the research are valid given the assumptions made and methods used. This will involve, in part, learning by doing. In addition to learning about the building blocks of using statistics for understanding policies, you will be asked to work with real world data to make policy recommendations.