Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Online

What is Introduction to Public Policy?

Introduction to Public Policy examines how governments create, implement, and evaluate policies addressing societal challenges. This interdisciplinary field draws from political science, economics, sociology, and public administration to understand the processes behind policy decisions. You'll learn analytical tools for evaluating policy research and frameworks for addressing ethical questions in governance.

This course explores the history and principles of public policy across multiple academic disciplines including political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, and public administration. You'll investigate the socioeconomic and political mechanisms that shape policy formulation and implementation while developing tools to evaluate policy consequences. The course provides frameworks for engaging normative and ethical questions and applying policy analysis to real-world situations.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Understand socioeconomic and political mechanisms shaping policy

• Develop basic analytic tools for evaluating policy research and practice

• Learn to apply understanding and tools

• Acquire framework for engaging normative and ethical questions

What is Principles of Microeconomics?

Principles of Microeconomics introduces the economic reasoning framework that professionals across business, policy, and administration use to analyze how individual decisions shape markets and what that means for the organizations and communities they serve.Understanding how markets function, how prices form, how incentives drive behavior, and what happens when markets fail is foundational knowledge for professionals working in business, government, healthcare, and policy contexts. This course develops the economic literacy needed to evaluate resource allocation decisions, assess the efficiency and equity implications of different approaches, and contribute more analytically to the strategic and policy conversations that define many professional roles. The reasoning skills built here apply across sectors wherever evidence-based decision-making matters.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Explain the production possibilities frontier model, the comparative advantage model, and the circular flow model of the economy

• Determine the meaning of market equilibrium through demand and supply analysis

• Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the market system and the implications of market efficiency on the economy

• Discuss the different types of elasticity and their relevance to business decision-making

• Analyze the production function and cost functions of a firm

• Compare and contrast the different types of market structures and analyze perfect competition

• Examine the characteristics of a monopoly, an oligopoly, and a monopolistic competitive industry

What are the Principles of Macroeconomics?

Principles of Macroeconomics examine how the overall economy functions, covering national income, economic growth, business cycles, inflation, and unemployment. You'll analyze fiscal and monetary policies, international trade, and exchange rates while exploring contemporary economic policy issues and their impact on economic stability and prosperity.

This course examines fundamental principles governing the overall economy. You'll explore topics including demand and supply analysis, national income accounting, economic growth, business cycles, inflation, and unemployment. The course covers fiscal and monetary policies, international trade, and exchange rate markets. You'll learn how the Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy and how government fiscal decisions affect the economy, preparing you to understand contemporary economic policy debates.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Explain the production possibilities frontier model, the comparative advantage model, and the circular flow model of the economy

• Explain what business cycles are, how national income is measured, and the relevance of GDP in economic policy-making and the business cycle

• Define the unemployment rate, the categories of unemployment, the measurement of the aggregate price level in the economy, and the costs and implications of high unemployment rates and high and unstable inflation rates

• Explain the factors that affect the aggregate demand for goods and services in the economy, the factors that affect the aggregate supply of goods and services, the interaction of demand and supply, and how policy-making is interwoven into these factors

• Explain the meaning of expansionary and contractionary fiscal policy in the context of recessions and inflationary states of the economy, how budget deficits and surpluses affect the economy, and how a rising public debt has consequences for future generations

• Explain the evolution of money and the banking system in the United States, and the role of the Federal Banking System in conducting expansionary or contractionary monetary policy in the context of recessions and inflationary states in the economy

• Explain the meaning of inflows and outflows of money in an economy, the factors that affect the demand for and the supply of currency in the foreign exchange market, and how the relative price of currencies affects the balance of goods, services, and payments in the economy

What is Applied Statistics?

Applied Statistics develops the quantitative research skills that allow public policy professionals to conduct rigorous analysis, evaluate existing research critically, and communicate evidence-based conclusions to policy audiences.

Analyzing public policy issues using qualitative and quantitative research methods is a core graduate outcome of the B.A. in Public Policy, and this course builds the statistical foundation for the quantitative half of that competency. You will apply statistical methods to real social science data, developing the analytical judgment needed to draw defensible conclusions and identify the limitations of existing research. These skills are foundational for careers as Survey Researchers, Social Science Research Scientists, and Statisticians.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Understand how social science research methods answer sociopolitical and economic questions

• Develop analytic tools to explain sociopolitical and economic events, processes, and behaviors

• Describe and critique major types of empirical research and their implications for problem solving

• Acquire framework to formulate and evaluate normative and ethical consequences of types of empirical research

What is Survey Research?

Survey Research develops the empirical research skills that allow professionals to generate original, credible evidence about social phenomena and evaluate the quality of research produced by others.

Evidence-based practice and policy depend on the ability to design rigorous research, collect valid data, and draw defensible conclusions, competencies that are valued across social work, public policy, organizational consulting, healthcare administration, and market research. This course develops hands-on fluency in the full survey research process: from sampling design and questionnaire construction through data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The methodological skills developed here are directly applicable in any professional role that involves generating, evaluating, or acting on empirical evidence about human behavior and social conditions.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Understand basic elements and principles of quantitative data sets (primary and secondary)

• Apply analytical techniques commonly used for quantitative data in sociology and public policy

• Understand the role of research in science and ethical conduct of inquiry

What is Social and Political Philosophy?

Social and Political Philosophy develops the foundational reasoning skills that allow policy professionals to engage seriously with competing value frameworks, not just describe them.

Every substantive policy argument rests on philosophical premises about what governments owe their citizens, how competing interests should be weighed, and what justice requires in conditions of scarcity and disagreement. Students in this course develop the conceptual vocabulary and argumentative rigor needed to engage with these premises critically, a skill that distinguishes policy analysts who reason well from those who simply advocate. Graduate programs in public policy, law, and political science view philosophical training as a meaningful differentiator among applicants.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Raise questions about and comment upon the foundational social and political ideas embodied in the United States of America

• Explain the ethical, social, and political ideas of such theorists as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, John Locke, Montesquieu, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, and Chief Seattle among others

• Write papers that use the philosophical distinctions between two or more authors to analyze and reflect upon the political structure of contemporary society

What is a Research Project?

The Research Project is the capstone of the online B.A. in Public Policy, where original research, analytical rigor, and professional communication come together in a single, substantive piece of work.

The capstone research project is where all five graduate outcomes of the B.A. in Public Policy come together in a single, original piece of work. You will analyze a policy issue using quantitative and qualitative methods, interpret data to assess impacts and inform recommendations, develop and communicate a clear policy position, apply strategic thinking to the options available, and demonstrate ethical judgment throughout. The formal oral presentation mirrors the professional environments where Political Scientists and Survey Researchers present findings to decision-makers.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of social science research methods, including ethical and normative considerations, to answer sociopolitical and economic questions

• Develop intermediate and advanced analytic skills to answer sociopolitical and economic questions

• Apply new understanding and advanced analytic skills to selected topic area

• Apply ethical and normative considerations to selected topic area

• Effectively communicate each stage of knowledge and skill development in written and oral form

What is Public Policy Analysis and Cases?

Public Policy Analysis and Cases is the core analytical methods course of the B.A. program, developing the systematic frameworks that policy professionals use to evaluate options, anticipate consequences, and make principled recommendations.

The graduate outcomes of the B.A. in Public Policy center on the ability to analyze complex issues and apply evidence to decision-making in public and community settings. This course develops the specific analytical frameworks that make that possible, moving from theory into the applied policy cases that government agencies, nonprofits, and research organizations actually work on. Graduates heading into careers as Political Scientists and Survey Researchers use the policy analysis frameworks developed here throughout their professional work.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Develop intermediate to advanced competency for understanding socioeconomic and political policy decision-making

• Research and expand analytic tools for evaluating policy research and practice

• Master diverse frameworks for engaging normative and ethical questions

• Critique socioeconomic and political policy decision-making and apply new models

What is the Survey Internship?

The Survey Internship places you inside a professional research environment where you apply the methodological skills developed throughout the B.A. program to real survey projects with real stakeholders.

The B.A. in Public Policy is grounded in applied research, and the internship is where that applied orientation becomes professional experience. You will conduct hands-on survey research in an organizational setting, developing the professional skills and methodological confidence that employers in policy research, advocacy, and consulting look for. The reflective academic component connects the field experience back to the analytical frameworks that define your professional identity as a policy graduate.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Develop and refine career-related skills

• Apply academic skills in professional research settings

• Cultivate self-efficacy, vital work habits, and resilience

What is Social Policy?

Social Policy examines the major programs and debates that define how societies respond to inequality, vulnerability, and social need, developing the analytical framework that practitioners across social services, policy, and administration apply in their work.

Social welfare policy shapes the conditions in which communities live and the resources available to the people that social workers, administrators, and policy professionals serve. This course develops your ability to analyze how major policy programs in healthcare, education, housing, income support, and criminal justice are designed, what outcomes they produce, and how competing values and political interests shape their evolution. The evidence-based policy analysis skills developed here are applicable across the professional contexts where understanding the policy environment is essential to effective practice.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Apply analytic tools to evaluation of policy process, including critique of socioeconomic forces underlying social policy decision-making and implementation; demonstrate competency in applying this knowledge and these tools to decision-making practice, not simply as a matter of theoretical understanding

• Acquire framework for engaging normative and ethical questions; demonstrate an intermediate ability in articulation and evaluation of normative and ethical ramifications of policy, including equity and justice issues

• Apply understanding and tools in novel circumstances

What is Culture, Health, and Illness?

Culture, Health, and Illness is a cross-disciplinary course that develops your ability to analyze health policy through the lens of culture, power, and social structure, expanding the analytical toolkit available to policy professionals working in health-adjacent fields.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Understand the sociopolitical, cultural, and economic contexts of disease, illness, and health

• Develop tools to analyze these sociopolitical, cultural, and economic contexts impacting health, illness, and healthcare locally and worldwide

• Acquire a framework to formulate and evaluate normative and ethical consequences of sociopolitical, cultural, and economic processes, including equity, bias, justice, and stratification

• Apply understanding and tools to diverse sociopolitical, cultural, and economic contexts

What is Contemporary Moral Issues?

Contemporary Moral Issues develops the ethical reasoning capacity that public policy professionals need to engage with contested value questions rather than avoid them, drawing on theological and philosophical traditions to build a principled analytical framework.

The graduate outcomes of the B.A. in Public Policy include both the ability to apply strategic thinking and the capacity for ethical judgment and accountability in public service. This course develops the latter with depth and rigor, examining contemporary moral challenges through theological and philosophical frameworks that give students a substantive basis for ethical reasoning. Graduates who go on to work as Political Scientists or in government and nonprofit leadership roles carry this ethical grounding into policy work where competing values create genuine tension.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Understand moral theology, its purpose, function, and development

• Know and study the moral principles involved in making a moral decision

• Demonstrate awareness and knowledge of the present moral issues that are confronting us

• Critically reflect upon these moral issues and then make responsible decisions as a moral and ethical person