Public Policy
Explore the processes of making social choices and the content of policy issues from a multidisciplinary perspective. Most courses in the Program in Public Policy serve as interdisciplinary complements to departmental offerings. Likewise, the minor in public policy is designed to be a valuable complement to majors in both the social and the natural sciences.
The first course in the sequence is either PPL 220 Public Policy Analysis or GOV 207 Politics of Public Policy. Contact any of the advisers in the program for more information.
Director: Donald Baumer, Professor of Government
Advisors:
- Carrie Baker, Study of Women and Gender
- Randy Bartlett, Economics
- Brent Durbin, Government
- Deborah Haas-Wilson, Economics
- Leslie King, Sociology
- GOV 207 or PPL 220
- Any two public policy electives
- Any two courses from departmental offerings that have substantial policy content (to be selected in consultation with a minor adviser)
- PPL 390 or an alternate selected in consultation with a minor adviser
The Program in Public Policy provides students with an opportunity to explore, from a multidisciplinary perspective, both the processes of making social choices and the content of contemporary policy issues. Most courses in the program are intended to serve as interdisciplinary complements to departmental offerings. Likewise, the minor in public policy is designed to be a valuable complement to majors in both the social and the natural sciences. For further information, consult the Smith College Course Catalog.
- GOV 207 Politics of Public Policy
- IDP 208 Women’s Medical Issues
- PPL 220 Public Policy Analysis
- SWG 222 Gender Law and Policy
- ECO 224 Environmental Economics
- SOC 232 World Population
- ECO 234 Partisan Economic Issues
- GOV 244 Foreign Policy of the United States
- PPL 250 Race and Public Policy in the United States
- SWG 271 Colloquium: Reproductive Justice
- GOV 306 Seminar: Politics and the Environment
- ENV 323 Climate and Energy Policy
- ECO 324 Seminar: Economics of the Environment and Natural Resources
- SOC 333 Seminar: Social Justice, the Environment and the Corporation
- ECO 395 Seminar: Topics in International Trade
- PPL 400 Special Studies
Faculty
Exploring Big Data Through a Humanities Lens
Associate Professor of Government Brent Durbin is launching a project that aims to explain how the 21st-century “big data revolution” is affecting politics and social change.
Read About The Big Data Research Project
Contact
Lisa DeCarolis-Osepowicz
Administrative Assistant
Hatfield Hall 102
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
Fax: 413-585-3389
Email: ldecarol@smith.edu
Individual appointments may be arranged directly with the faculty.