PUBPOL 495 (Policy Seminar) is for students currently enrolled in the Public Policy Undergraduate Program only, no exceptions. Enrollment is by permission only.
History provides a powerful set of tools for policy analysts, practitioners, and advocates. Like historians, policy experts develop sophisticated understandings of the complex, interconnected factors shaping policy problems. Like historians, policy experts assess what has been done in the past to try to solve problems, what hasn't been done, and determine the consequences—both intended and unintended—of those decisions for the present. But policy practitioners can go a step farther: they can use historical knowledge to identify, weigh, and advocate for alternative solutions to longstanding problems. This class will build your policy skillset by teaching you how to use history as a tool for policy practice. This is not a traditional history course. Rather than surveying the past, we will use current high-
profile U.S. policy problems from a variety of areas to hone these skills. Topics may include issues in: immigration policy, poverty policy, technology policy, and/or national security policy. Students will also conduct their own historicized policy analysis or advocacy project on a policy problem of interest to them. No previous experience in history is required.
