The Bachelor of Science in Public Policy (BS PUBP) is designed to provide an education that combines strong analytical skills with understanding of a range of substantive policy issues and the political, social, and cultural forces that shape public policies. The BS PP core courses provide students with the broad political, economic, and philosophical foundations of thought pertinent to public policy, a base of rigorous quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches, and a solid understanding of the political and social dynamics that structure policy debates and policy outcomes.
The curriculum moves from disciplinary foundations (in politics, economics, philosophy, and sociology) to methods of research and data analysis, and finally to a senior-year two-semester capstone “task force” in which students work with outside clients on actual policy problems. Students choose two clusters from concentrations in environment and energy policy, science and technology policy, social and urban policy, philosophy, and politics and policy, and can select electives in additional areas such as information and telecommunication policy, bioengineering and ethics, and regional development policy.
The program’s emphasis on the development of problem-solving and analytical skills constitutes a strong comparative advantage for BS PUBP graduates.