The main idea that we want to get across is implicit in the title: Systematic thinking - largely from the social sciences, but with the application of scientific methods and knowledge more generally - can make a difference in the way that we approach and solve current problems. This will be a sophomore level course, offered for four credit hours. The class will consist of three hours of lecture and one section review each week. For each topic, there will be at least two faculty members, teaching a module together. Between 3 and 6 of these topics will be covered: vaccines and drugs for diseases that are more prevalent in developing countries; the Kyoto accords and policy related to global warming; No Child Left Behind and other national education policy issues; national health insurance; AIDS (national and international); intellectual property issues (such as the case involving Google); electoral college reform; affordability of higher education; globalization, trade and US workers; and stem cell research. Pre-reqs: Econ 101 and at least one other introductory social science class. PubPol 201 is the inaugural offering of the Ford School's newly-established Bachelor of Arts (BA) program in public policy, a junior/senior year program which will formally begin in Fall 2007. The BA in Public Policy will be a liberal arts program that emphasizes multidisciplinary training in the social sciences organized around understanding the public policy process at both the domestic and international levels. Learn more about the BA in Public Policy.
