Public Policy / Bachelor of Science

Total Credit Hours: 128
Major Credit Hours:  39

The Public Policy major is offered through the Political Science Department. This is an interdisciplinary major in which students take a core of mostly Political Science courses and select electives based on their career interests: Environmental Policy; Gender, Sexuality, and the Family; International and Foreign Policy; Society and the Legal System; and Transportation Policy. Students preparing for careers in government, law, non-profits, or business learn about how the public policy-making process works at the local, state, national, and international levels of government. All Public Policy majors take an internship in their senior year.

Majors in Public Policy may not double major or minor in Political Science.

 

Degree Requirements

Program: BS-PUBP-3

I. Core Courses (21)

POLS-20000	American National Government	3
	OR
POLS-21000	State and Local Government	3
POLS-30000	Research Methods	3
POLS-35300	Congress	3
POLS-38100	Public Policy Formation and Analysis	3
POLS-38200	Issues in Public Policy	3
POLS-39800	Internship in Political Science	1-3
PSYC-30300	Statistics for the Social Sciences	3

II. Program Electives (6)

Choose 2 courses from the following:

ECON-20100	Basic Microeconomics	3
ECON-33000	Government and Business	3
POLS-20000	American National Government	3
POLS-21000	State and Local Government	3
POLS-35500	American Presidency	3

III. Electives (12)

Students may select any courses from any policy area. Nonetheless, students are encouraged to select an area of study appropriate for their career paths.

A. Environmental Policy

BIOL-23300	Principles of Environmental Science	4
BIOL-37500	Issues in Environmental Science	3
POLS-38400	Environmental Politics	3
PRLG-32800	Environmental Law for Paralegals	3
SOCI-35500	Sustainable Communities	3

B. Gender, Sexuality, and the Family

POLS-36500	Women and Politics	3
SOCI-10800	Introduction to Women's Studies	3
SOCI-22000	Marriage and Families	3
SOCI-37000	Sociology of Gender	3
SCWK-20900	Social Welfare Policy	3
SCWK-31400	Social Services for Children and Adolescents	3
CSJS-35100	Topics: Gender and Crime	3

C. International and Foreign Policy

ECON-34600	Business-Government Relations in the Global Economy	3
POLS-30400	Nonviolent Political Action	3
POLS-33100	International Relations	3
POLS-33300	International Human Rights	3
POLS-33400	Political Violence	3
POLS-33600	American Foreign Policy	3
POLS-33800	International Political Economy	3
SOCI-21000	U.S.-Mexico Border Experience	3

D. Society and the Legal System

CSJS-28600	Domestic Violence	3
CSJS-44000	Social Policy and Social Justice	3
CSJS-35100	Topics: Race and Crime	3
CSJS-35700	Victims and Victimization	3
CSJS-49300	Organized Crime	3
INSY-23000	Legal and Ethical Issues in Computing	3
INSY-35000	Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy	3
POLS-37100	Constitutional Law	3
POLS-37200	Civil Liberties	3
PRLG-31800	Family Law for Paralegals	3
PRLG-33000	Immigration Law for Paralegals	3
SOCI-34500	Youth, Justice, and Society	3
SOCI-35000	Criminology	3
SOCI-36000	Violence and Peace	3
SOCI-36010	Social Deviance and Control	3
SOCI-40500	Sociology of Hate and Violence	3

E. Transportation Policy

AVTR-32100	Transportation Legislation	3
AVTR-35300	Air Transportation	3
AVTR-397XX	Topics in Aviation and Transportation	3

IV. Advanced Writing Requirement

The advanced writing requirement of the General Education curriculum is satisfied by successful completion of:

POLS-38200

Issues in Public Policy

3