Utilizes our unique location in the Washington, DC region to create a laboratory within which to analyze local, regional, national and international policy problems. Students will be put into teams and assigned to real and timely policy cases. The course will include meetings and field trips with local leaders in the field, ideally connected to the cases. Student will then expand and apply their use of policy analysis and evaluation skills to define those problems, analyze alternative responses, devise appropriate strategies for implementation, and evaluate the success of the proposed policy and implementation. The course will conclude with team presentations to local leaders and faculty. This distinctive course will serve to prepare students for their client- based senior capstone course. Restricted to students who have earned a minimum of 60 credits; and must be in a major in PLCY.
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Course designed to create intelligent consumers of policy research and enable students 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, thinking about the various problems in research design or conduct that could lead to faulty conclusions. It will also involve being able to differentiate between credible sources of information and those that are not objective. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to differentiate objective evidence from political argumentation. Restricted to students in a major in PLCY. 
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Prerequisite(s): STAT100

Applied course in public finance, including introductions to resource mobilization (including taxation), macroeconomic policy, key public expenditure policies, and government budgetary processes and politics. The course will build on the foundations from ECON 200 to address the specific application of public finance principles to solving public problems. The course will focus on the principles of welfare economics (including market failure), economic principles as applied to particular spending programs and tax choices, and issues and institutions involved in the allocation and management of resources both at a national and subnational level. The focus of the course is on these issues from both a domestic and global perspective. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to apply the tools of economics to inform societal and governmental choices, and understand how those choices are made in practice. 
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Prerequisite(s): ECON200

Understanding pluralism and how groups and individuals coexist in society is an essential part of the public policy process. This course will examine the ways in which the diverse experiences of race, gender, ethnicity, class, orientation, identity, and religion impact the understanding of and equitable delivery of public policy. The examination of how identity development shapes our understanding of society and influences the decision-making process is central to students’ shaping policy that is truly for the people. This course will equip students with the skills needed to analyze pluralism and draw conclusions about the application of various theories to public policy issues. 
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Designed for students whose academic majors would be enhanced by the complementary study of a widely shared but hard-to-operationalize aspiration: that present choices should preserve or improve future options rather than foreclose or degrade them. How should we understand sustainability? How might we achieve it? How would we know if we had achieved it? And how could sustainability activists of a rising generation lead by example?
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Examination of societal responses to public problems, including actions by government, non-profit and private sector actors, as well as civil society. Students will examine the roles of these various actors, as well as the nature of civic responsibility. The course will examine the various stages of the policy process, asking the following questions: How does something get defined as a problem that requires a public policy response? How do we think about what the options are for this response, and how do we choose among them? What are the factors that contribute to successful policy implementation? How do we evaluate the success of public policies? These questions will be addressed using examples of current public policy problems, and students will be expected to engage in individual and collaborative work to design responses to those problems. Restricted to students in a major in PLCY.
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A team-based, highly interactive and dynamic course that provides an opportunity for students to generate solutions to a wide range of problems facing many communities today. Students in the iGIVE Program will deepen their understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation practices by creating and implementing projects or ventures that address an issue of their choosing while learning topics such as communications, project management, teamwork, leadership, fundraising, project sustainability and next steps in social change. Restricted to students in the iGive program.
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Defines philanthropy as an exploration of how one develops a vision of the public good and then deploys resources (including donations, volunteers, and voluntary associations) to achieve an impact. Restricted to students in the iGive program.
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Through discussions of contemporary trends, challenges and issues, this course provides an introduction to the nonprofit and NGO sectors, social innovation, and the leadership and management skills required to achieve social impact. The course will explore the history, theories, and roles of philanthropy, the nonprofit sector, and social innovation in societies and cultures. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the process and principles of social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Additionally, the course will introduce students to topics in leadership, social innovation, resource development, community mobilization through networks, the role of policy-making in creating change, project management, and overall strategies for achieving social impact. The course will include mini hands-on learning experiences that allow them to apply key learning outcomes.
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This course will broaden students’ understanding of the moral dimensions of public policy as well as their own individual moral perspective. Discussions will include the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, while focusing on contemporary theories of ethics and justice.  It will develop students’ appreciation of the ethical challenges unique to the public service sector while building their skills in ethical analysis and decision-making. We will explore the increasing ethical challenges in a world in which technology, global risks, and societal developments are accelerating faster than our understanding can keep pace. A framework for ethical decision making underpins the course.
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