Individualized Major in Public Policy

Public Policy as a Theme

The public policy theme prepares students for intellectual inquiry into the role of government in society and the design, management, and evaluation of public policies and programs. The public policy theme provides a high quality education for motivated and serious students. Graduates will be prepared in the core set of research, problem solving and communication skills that many contemporary employers desire. Students completing this course of study are also well positioned to succeed at graduate study in related areas such as survey research, public administration, law, and urban and regional planning.

Options

There are two options for completing an IMJR theme in public policy.

Students choosing Option A complete the IMJR major in the normal fashion with the majority of their coursework comprised of undergraduate classes.
The Option B Master of Public Administration (MPA) fast track allows students to enroll in graduate courses to reduce the time to complete the MPA degree. Some students have been able to complete the MPA degree, which normally takes two years of full-time study, in only one year beyond their bachelor degree.

Individualized Major

The Individualized Major consists of at least 36 credits at the 2000-level or higher. At least 18 credits must be offered by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the college granting your degree.

PREREQUISITE COURSES: Understanding economic analysis is important for analyzing public policy problems. You are strongly urged to take ECON 1201 and1202 or their equivalents.

The 36 credits (minimum) of your IMJR plan of study will include:

FOUNDATIONS COURSE

Public Policy 1001 Introduction to Public Policy (not included in the 36 major credits)

CORE COURSES (at least 9 credits)

Core courses provide an essential understanding of public policy, broadly defined, as a field of study. Courses must be taken from at least two different departments. A selection of at least three courses from the following list could meet the core requirement. This is not a complete list. Please consult the course catalog and speak with your faculty advisor. Some of these courses might have prerequisites.

ECON 2201 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory, ECON 2202 Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory, ECON (or URBN) 3439 Urban and Regional Economics; ECON 3431 Public Finance

HDFS 3240 Aging in American Society; HDFS 3421 Low Income Families; HDFS 3530 Public Policy and the Family; HDFS 3540. Child Welfare, Law and Social Policy

POLS 3842 Public Administration; POLS 3847 The Policy-making Process; POLS 3852 Politics of Budgeting; POLS (or URBN) 3632W Urban Politics

PP 3001 Public Policy; PP 3020 Cases in Public Policy; PP 3031 Public Administration in Theory and Practice; PP 3098 Public Policy Issues; PP 4034 Social Policy; PP 4095 Special Topics

URBN (or GEOG) 3200 Urban Geography; URBN (or SOCI) 3275 Urban Sociology; URBN (or SOCI) 3276 Urban Problems; URBN (or HIST) 3541 The History of Urban America

RESEARCH METHODS (6 credits)

Option A: PP 2001 Survey Research Methods, PP 3010 Public Policy Research Methods I, PP 3011Q Public Policy Research Methods II, or equivalent research method course.

Option B: PP 5370 Applied Research Design and PP 5376 Applied Quantitative Methods

AREA OF CONCENTRATION (15 credits)

Option A: 15 credits of thematically coherent courses chosen in consultation with your advisor. (Some courses for the concentration may be drawn from the list of courses that can satisfy core requirements.)

Option B Public Administration Concentration: PP 5375 Analytic Tools for Public Problems; PP 5342 Policy Analysis; PP 5364 Public Finance and Budgeting; PP 5365 Human Resource Management, plus 3 credits chosen in consultation with your advisor.

CAPSTONE COURSE (3 credits)

Every individualized major must satisfy a Capstone requirement in the final year of the major. The capstone course also contributes to formal satisfaction of the University’s writing-in-the-major requirement. Therefore, your plan of study must include INTD 4600W Capstone course, INTD 4697W Senior thesis, or an acceptable alternative.

ADDITIONAL COURSE WITH WRITING EMPHASIS (3 credits)

The Individualized Major requires that you take two courses, totaling at least 6 credits, in which emphasizes writing relevant to the major. Your capstone course or thesis counts as one of these courses. Your second would be:

Option A: PP 3020W Cases in Public Policy or equivalent writing course

Option B: PP 5397 Introduction to Public Policy (this is the MPA Program’s intensive writing course)

MPA Program

The MPA program at the University of Connecticut provides students with a dynamic and integrated approach to the field of public policy and management. The use of practical experiences and internships as learning tools, combined with theory, analysis, and case studies in the classroom, makes the MPA program job-relevant and intellectually challenging. Problem-oriented courses prepare students for an important responsibility of public managers and policy makers -- decision-making. The program develops the skills needed to diagnose problems, collect and analyze information, plan, choose among policy alternatives, communicate findings, implement programs, and manage change. The 48 credit MPA program consists of core courses (24 credits), a focus area (12 credits), and internship (6 credits), and a capstone project (6 credits).

Students completing Option B, MPA fast track, in the fashion outlined above will have finished the equivalent of one year of MPA study.

Fast Track Application

There is a separate application required for the fast-track. Admissions decisions are based on all aspects of the student’s application. However, normally a 3.0 GPA is required for admission to the fast track.

More information on the MPA Fast Track | Apply to the MPA Fast Track program

Further Information and Advice

To discuss the possibility of an individualized major with a public policy theme, contact Valerie Rogers (Phone: 860-570-9047 or email: Valerie.Rogers@uconn.edu).

For more information on the individualized major process in general, visit the Individualized Major Program website or contact Dr. Monica van Beusekom (Phone: 860-486-0324 or email: Monica.vanBeusekom@uconn.edu).