Leadership courses

Instructor: Soojin Kwon
Course listing: PubPol 750.019

From grassroots community organizing to congressional hearings, effective verbal communication has proven crucial in shaping policy outcomes, mobilizing support, and driving societal change.

In this hands-on course, you will learn frameworks for crafting persuasive messages and techniques for delivering compelling verbal communications. Through practical speaking assignments and simulations, you will receive personalized feedback to refine your ability to influence and inspire in various contexts including:

• Public speeches to inform or persuade large audiences about policy issues (e.g., press conferences, town halls, public forums or community meetings)

• Presentations of research findings, policy proposals or program evaluations to inform policy decisions

• Meetings with colleagues, stakeholders, interest groups or decision makers to influence opinions, gather support, or provide counsel

The objective of this course is to enhance your confidence in public speaking, strengthen your communication effectiveness, and expand your impact as a policy leader in a world that is increasingly influenced by the power of verbal communication.

Whether you’re an analyst, manager or leader in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, leadership presence and verbal communication skills are indispensable. Strong presence and communication skills can amplify your impact and enhance your career opportunities. 

Instructor: Adam Schmidt
Course Listing: PubPol 750.019This course is designed to equip future public policy leaders with advanced facilitation skills essential for leading diverse teams and influencing public policy. Over seven sessions, students will explore the dynamics of facilitation within various contexts, understanding both the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of leading discussions and decision-making processes. Special emphasis will be placed on integrating facilitation skills with contemporary policy challenges at different governmental levels. Through a mix of lectures, case studies, and practical exercises, students will learn to design facilitative frameworks that foster inclusive participation and effective policy outcomes. Students will gain confidence in their ability to lead difficult conversations, help teams and groups come to consensus.

Instructor: Molly Spencer 
Course Listing: PubPol 300

This course, structured as a seminar and writing workshop, intensively develops students' persuasive writing and critical reading skills through abundant practice and feedback. Weekly writing assignments and exercises will focus on every stage of the writing process, from brainstorming and research through drafting and revision, in three vital areas of political writing: the short opinion piece, the policy memorandum, and the polemical essay. We will read and analyze a wide variety of examples from traditional print and online media, from journalistic, government, and academic sources. We will also explore ethical considerations of policy writing, considering the ways in which our rhetorical choices, tone, word choice, even syntax construct our subjects and frame contentious issues for target audiences.

Instructor: Cat Summers
Course Listing: PubPol 475.011

This course will introduce you to the fundamental leadership concepts and skills you need to successfully navigate and shape dynamic organizational and policy environments. You will have opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of yourself and build your ability to effectively lead teams. You will learn how to set a tone, a focus, and a direction for an organization, its members, and other stakeholders. You will practice leadership behaviors that will help you better connect across differences and enact change in complex, multi-layered contexts. Designed to provide you with opportunities for reflection, study, debate, and practice, this course will enhance your ability to make a positive and meaningful difference.

Instructor: Kamissa Camara
Course Listing: PubPol 475.012

Great power rivalry is a critical concept that frames current perceptions of international affairs around China's rise, Russia's resurgence and the United States relative decline. This undergraduate course goes beyond the traditional focus on the U.S., China, and Russia by providing a comprehensive overview of the shifting dynamics in global power politics of the 21st century. It will explore the involvement of rising powers in the international order, such as India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Morocco, Gulf countries and Indonesia. The course will examine each rising power's foreign policies and strategic priorities, their economic and military capabilities and how these shape how they engage and compete in the global order. The course will also examine how global rivalries play out within multilateral organizations (such as the United Nations, NATO, the European Union and the African Union) and will deep dive into current geopolitical crises such as the war in Ukraine, the political crises of the Sahel and China's ambitions over Taiwan.

Instructor: Morela Hernandez
Course listing: PubPol 580

Instructor: Morela Hernandez
Course listing: PubPol 582

This course will introduce you to the fundamental leadership concepts and skills you need to successfully navigate and shape dynamic policy environments. You will have opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of yourself and build your ability to effectively lead teams. You will learn how to set a tone, a focus, and a direction for an organization, its members, and other stakeholders. You will practice leadership behaviors that will help you better connect across differences and enact change in complex, multi-layered contexts. Designed to provide you with opportunities for reflection, study, debate, and practice, this course will enhance your ability to make a positive and meaningful difference.

Instructor: Attia Qureshi
Course Listing: PubPol 583

Negotiation Basics for Public Policy will provide students with an understanding of the theory and processes of negotiation as practiced in a variety of settings. It is designed for relevance to the broad spectrum of bargaining problems faced by the manager and professional. Students will have the opportunity to develop negotiation skills experientially and to understand negotiation in useful analytical frameworks. Emphasizes simulations, exercises, role playing, and cases.

Instructor: Amy Harris
Course Listing: PubPol 586.003

This course will equip students with the management skills and tools to strategically plan and implement initiatives that further their intended positive impact. The course will help students develop a framework to move from a public problem they observe in the world and develop a results-driven approach to addressing it. Students will develop and apply an analytical toolkit and set of leadership best practices to manage for positive change, including: mapping their environment, strategic organizational planning, planning for results, and managing for results. In teams, students will create strategic and performance management plans for a public or non-profit organization that furthers a positive impact. These plans will be submitted as a group memo, and presented during class. Students will also complete an individual reflection paper.

Instructor: Amy Harris
Course listing: PubPol 586.002, PubPol 587.002

Conflict is an inevitable part of the human experience--in relationships, at the work place, in public administration and especially in the public policy making process. Unresolved conflict can hinder decision making and impede organization change, but when conflict is addressed, managed or transformed, it is possible for relationships, organizations, and systems to grow and succeed. Drawing on empirical research and case studies, this skills-based course will begin with a discussion of the impact of conflict in systems and a taxonomy of forms of conflict with an eye toward public administration. Then the course will focus on the development of strategies that can be used to resolve or manage conflicts, with opportunities for students to develop those skills through in-class exercises. Special attention will be paid to skills that can be used to address conflicts that emerge across differences such as race and ethnicity, political orientation, and gende

Instructor: Katherine Walsh
Course listing: PubPol 589

Conflict is an inevitable part of the human experience--in relationships, at the work place, in public administration and especially in the public policy making process. Unresolved conflict can hinder decision making and impede organization change, but when conflict is addressed, managed or transformed, it is possible for relationships, organizations, and systems to grow and succeed. Drawing on empirical research and case studies, this skills-based course will begin with a discussion of the impact of conflict in systems and a taxonomy of forms of conflict with an eye toward public administration. Then the course will focus on the development of strategies that can be used to resolve or manage conflicts, with opportunities for students to develop those skills through in-class exercises. Special attention will be paid to skills that can be used to address conflicts that emerge across differences such as race and ethnicity, political orientation, and gende

Instructor: Susan D. Page
Course listing: PubPol 750:013

Africa is the continent least understood by Americans; it is often presented by the media as a land of war, famine, drought, and poverty. This course will present Africa's contemporary reality, the positive as well as the negative by examining major current issues after briefly surveying Africa's history, geography, societies and culture. Themes covered will include: political developments; regional conflicts; human rights and fundamental freedoms; economic development (including the role played by international assistance); humanitarian crises and intervention; terrorism; population growth and urbanization; and public health crises (including Ebola and Covid-19). The course will focus on providing students with an in-depth understanding of the historical, as well as contemporary context to policy-making in Africa and provide them with an opportunity to analyze the successes and failures of policy implementation.