This seminar develops understanding of systemic injustices and the need for social change. Specifically, we examine one of the most enduring social problems in the United States: poverty. Course-specific topics build from a survey of the conceptualization and measurement of poverty, as well as the demographic groups that are most likely to suffer from high poverty rates. We examine alternative explanations for poverty, focusing on the distinction between individual and structural explanations and how this distinction influences public discourse and the politics of poverty. We explore in detail the major government programs aimed at alleviating poverty, including the major social insurance and public assistance programs, as well as health, education, and civil rights policies.

We examine health policy, with particular focus on the interdependence of the national, state, and local governments to provide healthcare services. The political environment of health policymaking and implementation is explored, with a strong focus on health outcomes and vulnerable populations. Health policies such as Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act will be examined, as well as other policies that affect health. We compare the US health care system with systems in other industrialized democracies, as well as examine why the US spends more, covers fewer people, and has worse health outcomes than our peers. 

Public health practitioners, researchers, and policymakers have long known that providing access to health care and engaging in traditional public health activities are necessary to improve health, but they are not sufficient. Improving health requires a multi-faceted approach across sectors and levels of government, and attention to the health effects of all policymaking. Health equity is an important focus of Health in All Policies (HiAP), thus we begin with an examination of the social determinants of health and health disparities. We examine the origins of HiAP in a global context, but the focus of this course is on HiAP in the United States. We focus primarily at the state and local level, but recent federal efforts (National Prevention Strategy) through the Affordable Care Act are also examined. The approach of this course is practice-based and will primarily utilize case studies of state and local efforts in HiAP, government reports, and some academic research for required reading.  Practical instruction in areas such a convening multi-sector task forces, reforming state and local law, conducting Health Impact Assessments, identifying and engaging stakeholders, and creating capacity-building plans, and more will be a primary focus of this course to prepare MPA students to contribute to or institute HiAP in their future careers.

All policy is health policy.

In this course, we examine theories and related research on state government and the policymaking process in the U.S. states. The course is divided into three parts. For approximately the first third of the semester, we examine a representative set of readings which span a broad range of political institutions through which policy is made. These institutions include the office of the governor, the state legislature, the state judicial system, and the various practices of direct democracy across the states.

Part two of the course focuses on theories of the state policy process. We examine theories, reflecting a broad range of forces that are thought to play a significant role in shaping state policy outcomes.  Despite the complex and seemingly idiosyncratic nature of the policymaking process, state politics scholars have identified many systematic relationships between various institutional and contextual variables, and state policy outcomes. The insights that have been generated from this literature not only contribute to our understanding of state policymaking, but in many cases they shed light on debates that are relevant to scholars of American (national) politics, or in some cases, comparative politics.

In the final section of the course, we examine research in several substantive policy areas such as health, education, criminal justice, and others which have traditionally been considered the domain of the states. Our emphasis in this section will be broadened to include not just studies of policy adoption, but studies of policy implementation and impact as well.

Public managers, policy analysts, nonprofit managers, and many others are expected to be familiar with analytical skills in the era of “big data” in order to be successful in their work. This is a course in research methods and fundamental statistics with a strong focus on applied quantitative techniques. In this course, MPA students will learn to competently apply quantitative research methods to real-world inquiries.