MPPA Curriculum & Practicum - Northwestern School of Professional Studies

This course provides students with a basic understanding of research design and qualitative and quantitative research methodologies frequently used in social science and policy research. In addition, this course explores the methods and tools essential to writing graduate-level policy papers within the framework of current topics in public policy and administration. The course content includes research design, research question formation, observation and interview based research methods, survey development and research writing. Students will have the opportunity to apply methods to pursue a policy-relevant research topic of their own design. An overview of publicly available quantitative data will be provided, and comparative policy research will be discussed. Students should expect a rigorous workload in this course.

Public budgeting is one of the most important responsibilities of democratic governance. The budget defines policy, sets priorities, allocates scarce public resources, and distributes the burden of paying for public goods and services. The budget is inescapably both a political document and a management tool. The purpose of this course is to understand the complexities of the budget process and its central role in both democratic institutions and the profession of public administration. Students will be introduced to the public budgetary process and to key budget theories, practices, and methodologies. The budget structure and process will be reviewed as well as the role of the public administrator and other participants in the process. The course will also examine politics in the budget process and the role of interest groups in decision-making; more specifically, the role of politics in both establishing public spending priorities and in distributing the burden of taxes and fees. Lastly, students will learn about concepts and methodologies relating to program cost analysis and how the budget may be used as a management tool.

This course introduces graduate students to the discipline and profession of public administration. It reviews aspects of a dynamic and diverse field of study, focusing on techniques of traditional management anchored in a highly complex legal/political environment. As such, public law and politics are central to understanding how these factors shape the delivery of public and quasi-public goods and services. Considerable attention is devoted to understanding how the discipline emerged along with critical assessments of the various tools and techniques of administration that often affect decision-making. Various theoretical constructs are evaluated and tested in the context of real cases using principles of management, politics, and law. This three-pronged approach for analyzing complex issues in public administration elucidates the challenges and constraints faced by public organizations in general and administrators in particular. Public administrators, policy analysts, and those new to the discipline will find the course useful whether they are currently employed in government, nonprofit organizations, or new to the profession and seeking a career in government. The principles, theories, and concepts covered are applicable to federal, state, and local government administration.

Economics is about choice, and microeconomics is the study of resource allocation choices, beginning with how consumers and producers make choices. This course is aimed at developing student understanding of microeconomic theory, especially as it concerns the relationship between the market economy and public policy. Topics include consumer behavior and the theory of demand; production, cost, supply functions; choices under uncertainty, insurance; competitive equilibrium; subsidies, taxes, price controls; monopoly and monopsony; price discrimination and public utility pricing; monopolistic competition; general equilibrium theory and welfare economics; information theory; and public goods, externalities and market failure.

This course teaches students the fundamentals of measuring political data, summarizing observations, and analyzing contingency tables. Descriptive statistics, including central tendency, dispersion, and data display; probability; distributions, including binomial and normal; inference, including confidence intervals and hypothesis testing; correlation; bivariate regression; contingency tables and chi-square. 

Students will do homework using SPSS, a statistical software package. SPSS is installed in some Northwestern computer labs and can be rented and downloaded to your personal computer. The Graduate Pack is sufficient for class.

This course will present a comprehensive overview of program evaluation and policy analysis methods that are important for policy researchers and administrators. These methods help public policy and program analysts systematically value decisions, improve the decision-making process (and hopefully the resultant decisions), value inputs and outcomes, handle uncertainty, and compare aspects of public policy and systems that might not otherwise appear to be comparable. Specific topics covered in this course will include overall evaluation (qualitative and quantitative) design, logic models, implementation and outcome evaluation, decision and cost-benefit analysis.

This course is an introduction to public policy concepts and the public policy process in the United States. It focuses on developing an understanding of what civic decision making and public policy mean and how public policy is made. This course is designed to give MPPA students a basic understanding of the dynamics, political processes, and theoretical frameworks of the public policy-making milieu in the United States, serving as a graduate level survey of the field of public policy. The course considers key theories and concepts including agenda setting, decision-making theory, and methods of analyzing policy outcomes.

Course materials will provide students with the analytical framework to explore why some problems reach the public agenda, why some solutions are adopted and others rejected, and why some policies appear to succeed while others appear to fail. This core course of the MPPA program should be recognized as an “advanced introduction” since the literature in public policy, broadly defined, is very large. It will examine policy making primarily at the national level, but will also look at examples at the state and local level.

This course focuses on organization theory and management as it applies primarily to public organizations. The unique environment that public organizations face will be emphasized. Students will study a range of theories grounded in the traditional literature over time and leading to contemporary theories and modern application in the public sector. The course requires students to critically examine public organizations and leadership using theories and concepts studied during the class with a particular emphasis on collaborative systems.

This course will examine relevant theory and research regarding ethics and leadership in public organizations and provide an opportunity for students to develop a personal foundation for ethical leadership. Students will also look at ethics and leadership from an organizational and systemic level while applying learning to normative questions and case studies.

MPPA 498 Capstone

The capstone project course is the culmination of the MPPA program and demonstrates to faculty a student's mastery of the curriculum and core competencies in the public policy and administration field. Working both in small groups and individually, students complete a comprehensive project chosen in conjunction with their instructor. Students are individually assessed and graded throughout duration of class. Students should retain all course material from previous classes in the program, including textbooks, to successfully complete assignments.

This course examines the inner workings of Congress. Beginning with a brief review of the Constitutional roles of the American legislative branch, students continue by discussing the federal budget process. The class pays particular attention to how each chamber of Congress works, how the structures and leadership of House and Senate differ, and how those differences affect what legislation get passed. Students will study some ways the legislative process has changed in the last 20 plus years.

This course, especially relevant during Congressional elections, will give extra attention to aspects of the political environment Congressional candidates operate in, and how they make the decision to run, during election years. Finally, the class will take a look at the oversight role of Congress and its interactions with the executive branch.

This course examines theories of nonprofit (NPO) and nongovernmental organization (NGO) development and operation. Broad trends shaping NPOs/NGOs, both nationally and globally, are studied from a variety of perspectives. Also, high level operational issues, such as governance and executive management in the NPO/NGO environment, are discussed.

This course is designed to develop students' practical understanding of public human resource management. It is structured to examine the relationships between contemporary public policy-making processes, legal and ethical standards of public human resource management, and key human resource functions. Students will analyze how strategic human resource management and positive organizational frameworks apply to key public human resource functions, including recruiting and retention, compensation and benefits, and skill development. The course will also provide students with action-oriented learning to value the impact of current public policy issues, such as healthcare and immigration reforms, on public organizations in general.

Why do people not recycle, even when offered monetary incentives? Why has the 'War on Drugs' failed? Why don't people enroll in 401(k) savings plans? Why is the market for knock-off brand-name goods and pirated DVDs/software so large? This class will use behavioral economics to investigate questions related to policy formulation, implementation, framing and failure. With readings from current experts in the field including Ariely, Thaler, Kahneman and Frank, this class will discuss both behavioral economic theory and its application in policy areas such as immigration, the environment, health care, international relations and (of course) the national economy. Counts toward all specializations.

This is an introductory master’s level course that focuses on public law generally and administrative law particularly. The course provides students with a thorough grounding in the broad functions of public administrative law with special emphasis on procedural due process and rule-making. Students will learn the genesis of administrative rules and their impact on private and public affairs and the reasons why Congress delegates so much authority to administrative bodies. In addition, students will critically examine the various oversight mechanisms designed to monitor and check administrative abuses. Students will become familiar with the federal register, the scope and power of administrative law judges, the impact of judicial review on agency decisions, and generally understand administrative law “in the context of the American political system.”

Counts toward the Public Administration and Public Policy specializations.

The goal of the class is to provide students with a hands on opportunity to apply core skillsets from the MPPA program, particularly as they relate to an organization facing global, social and economic policy challenges. Students will work for a client organization on a commissioned project supervised by an MPPA faculty member. The goal of the client project is to analyze a specific challenge facing the organization, then develop a set of policy recommendations for the client. Students will work in teams to produce final deliverables. The project will culminate in a live client briefing and a written report (so one site visit by a student team representative may be required). Students should expect to spend 20 hours per week on the course. Counts toward all specializations.

Examines the organization of legislatures that make public policy; specifically, how a bill on Capitol Hill becomes the law of the land. Topics include House and Senate procedure, parliamentary maneuvers, committees, structural issues, information issues, re-election concerns, and partisanship.

The purpose of this course is to provide students an opportunity to study public policy in a holistic fashion while at the same time focusing on development, implementation, and the evaluation of public policy. This is accomplished by critically analyzing public policy theory and practice alongside a case-study driven examination of public policy successes and failures. The course maintains an emphasis on strategic public policy development, implementation, and evaluation.

This course is designed to develop students’ practical understanding of American intergovernmental relations and intergovernmental management. The course is structured to examine contemporary relationships between U.S. federalism and public policy making processes at the federal, state, and local levels. It will also provide a comparative view of federalism, recognizing differences in the developing world as well as increased international relationships due to globalization. Students will analyze how various theories of intergovernmental relations apply to key areas of public policy making — federalism and the courts, fiscal federalism, and regulatory federalism. Students will engage in action-oriented learning to synthesize theories of intergovernmental relations and institutions to recommend policy programs and appraise future policy reform.

Why do people not recycle, even when offered monetary incentives? Why has the 'War on Drugs' failed? Why don't people enroll in 401(k) savings plans? Why is the market for knock-off brand-name goods and pirated DVDs/software so large? This class will use behavioral economics to investigate questions related to policy formulation, implementation, framing and failure. With readings from current experts in the field including Ariely, Thaler, Kahneman and Frank, this class will discuss both behavioral economic theory and its application in policy areas such as immigration, the environment, health care, international relations, and (of course) the national economy.

This is an advanced specialization course in the politics and practice of governmental regulation, designed to give students the tools needed to understand the many facets of regulatory politics. It will cover broad areas of regulatory policy and procedure from communications, to environment, to consumer products. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to understand, articulate, and assess the political debates around regulatory policy and approaches to regulation. Additionally, students will be able develop policy solutions to address various regulatory problems using standard regulatory tools and best practices.

Climate and environment are among the most complex and consequential arenas of 21st-century public policy. This course will provide an overview of major U.S. environmental laws and the court cases interpreting them, and will also explore initiatives to reach international agree-ment on global environmental threats such as climate change. We will address habitat and natural resource protection, explore the limits of federal power to mediate between private resource extraction and public property rights, and learn the frameworks and standards for protection of U.S. surface waters and air quality. We will address how federalism operates in addressing issues as diverse as land use planning and solid waste disposal, and explore elements and effectiveness of different policy frameworks for environmental protection regimes. We will examine the roles of environmental NGOs in U.S. and international debates over standards and enforcement. We will review case studies of regional cooperation among groups of states and nations. We will study the international climate regime, identifying the primary scientific sources of climate change data, and how they set the parameters for international climate policy, and discuss the future prospects of the Paris climate accord following the 2016 U.S. elections.

Demography is the formal study of population size/structure and factors associated with its change (i.e., fertility, migration, and mortality). Developing a theoretical and technical understanding of demographic tools can provide a better understanding of population dynamics and how this influences national and global health, as well as regional and national policy. This course provides such a framework by drawing upon seminal readings from demography, economics, public health, and sociology. We will examine issues relating to global aging, old-age dependency ratios, and social policy with respect to Italy, Japan, and the U.S. We will explore fertility and family planning polices with respect to Finland and Sweden. We will also discuss fertility by focusing on China and India. The course will also introduce health policy concepts relating to health care systems/access/disparities with respect to the U.S. and developing countries.

Counts toward the Public Policy, Global Policy, and Global Health specializations.

This is an introductory master’s level course that focuses on public law generally and administrative law particularly. The course provides students with a thorough grounding in the broad functions of public administrative law with special emphasis on procedural due process and rule-making. Students will learn the genesis of administrative rules and their impact on private and public affairs and the reasons why Congress delegates so much authority to administrative bodies. In addition, students will critically examine the various oversight mechanisms designed to monitor and check administrative abuses. Students will become familiar with the federal register, the scope and power of administrative law judges, the impact of judicial review on agency decisions, and generally understand administrative law “in the context of the American political system.”

Counts toward the Public Administration and Public Policy specializations.

The goal of the class is to provide students with a hands on opportunity to apply core skillsets from the MPPA program, particularly as they relate to an organization facing global, social and economic policy challenges. Students will work for a client organization on a commissioned project supervised by an MPPA faculty member. The goal of the client project is to analyze a specific challenge facing the organization, then develop a set of policy recommendations for the client. Students will work in teams to produce final deliverables. The project will culminate in a live client briefing and a written report (so one site visit by a student team representative may be required). Students should expect to spend 20 hours per week on the course.

Why do people not recycle, even when offered monetary incentives? Why has the 'War on Drugs' failed? Why don't people enroll in 401(k) savings plans? Why is the market for knock-off brand-name goods and pirated DVDs/software so large? This class will use behavioral economics to investigate questions related to policy formulation, implementation, framing and failure. With readings from current experts in the field including Ariely, Thaler, Kahneman and Frank, this class will discuss both behavioral economic theory and its application in policy areas such as immigration, the environment, health care, international relations and (of course) the national economy.

This class examines several prominent international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization. The course will focus on both policy controversies and broader theoretical analysis. Students will address why each organization was created, its institutional structure, and current problems confronting each organization. The effects of international organizations on world politics will also be examined. Some of the key questions that will be addressed are: How do IOs foster interstate cooperation and state compliance? How do IOs shape state interests and identities? Why do IOs often fail? How should we think about the pathologies of IOs as global bureaucracies? How do IOs influence NGOs and their strategies? Particular emphasis will be placed on students' ability to think critically, both about the nature of problems that face states as well as development of global governance mechanisms.

The goal of this course is to give students the knowledge, tools, and confidence to understand, craft, and advocate for incentives and economic policies. Students will be able to apply macroeconomic principles, draw conclusions about the relevance of economic incentives, and explain in substantial detail the current debates covering such topics as economic systems, international trade, monetary policy, global resource allocation, and development economics. While a working understanding of undergraduate-level microeconomics is helpful, and it is recommended students take 404 Microeconomics first, the content of this course will cover these areas in sufficient detail for students without any background. Previously titled International Macroeconomic Policy.

This class introduces and unpacks the concept of global health governance to familiarize students with questions and problems that revolve around it. This is done with the intention to enable students to relate their already existing knowledge of public health to the field of policy-making and apply this new knowledge to their own areas of expertise. The class aims to develop an awareness of actual cases, which will enable the students to understand the way successful policies work. Since academic research is never a solitary activity, students will be expected to discuss the readings and lectures with their peers along the way. The instructor will prompt the debate by positing particular questions.

Prerequisite: MSGH 405 Foundations of Global Health and Global Burden of Disease

Climate and environment are among the most complex and consequential arenas of 21st century public policy. This course will provide an overview of major US environmental laws and the court cases interpreting them, and will also explore initiatives to reach international agree-ment on global environmental threats such as climate change. We will address habitat and natural resource protection, explore the limits of federal power to mediate between private resource extraction and public property rights, and learn the frameworks and standards for protection of US surface waters and air quality. We will address how federalism operates in addressing issues as diverse as land use planning and solid waste disposal, and explore elements and effectiveness of different policy frameworks for environmental protection regimes. We will examine the roles of environmental NGOs in US and international debates over standards and enforcement. We will review case studies of regional cooperation among groups of states and nations. We will study the international climate regime, identifying the primary scientific sources of climate change data, and how they set the parameters for international climate policy, and discuss the future prospects of the Paris climate accord following the 2016 US elections.

This course explores contemporary relations between the United States and the world. The primary goal is to give students conceptual and critical tools to understand and analyze how international relations theory, U.S. foreign policy decisions, and current events fit together. It is designed to develop students’ capacity both to explain the foreign policy-making process in the United States, and to better understand the underlying patterns, logic, and implications of American foreign policy in the world at large. The course is divided into three main topics. First, students will discuss the theory that grounds U.S. foreign policy, focusing on U.S. power in the world. The second part of the class will examine the public policy institutions and processes that guide foreign policy formation and implementation. Finally, the last third of the course will review some of the more salient foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. in the 21st century, including a focus on geographic regions. We will discuss how the recent global economic crises may influence foreign policy, and how terrorism and democracy promotion continue to shape U.S. foreign policy.

The goal of the class is to provide students with a hands on opportunity to apply core skillsets from the MPPA program, particularly as they relate to an organization facing global, social and economic policy challenges. Students will work for a client organization on a commissioned project supervised by an MPPA faculty member. The goal of the client project is to analyze a specific challenge facing the organization, then develop a set of policy recommendations for the client. Students will work in teams to produce final deliverables. The project will culminate in a live client briefing and a written report (so one site visit by a student team representative may be required). Students should expect to spend 20 hours per week on the course.

Demography is the formal study of population size/structure and factors associated with its change (i.e., fertility, migration, and mortality). Developing a theoretical and technical understanding of demographic tools can provide a better understanding of population dynamics and how this influences national and global health, as well as regional and national policy. This course provides such a framework by drawing upon seminal readings from demography, economics, public health, and sociology. We will examine issues relating to global aging, old-age dependency ratios, and social policy with respect to Italy, Japan, and the U.S. We will explore fertility and family planning polices with respect to Finland and Sweden. We will also discuss fertility by focusing on China and India. The course will also introduce health policy concepts relating to health care systems/access/disparities with respect to the U.S. and developing countries.

Counts toward the Public Policy, Global Policy, and Global Health specializations.

This course introduces the student to global health epidemiology, international public health, and global medicine. Students will gain knowledge of some of the major global health problems, their socioeconomic determinants, and their impact on individuals, populations, and societies. This 10-week course is structured around a series of pre-recorded lectures, readings, short answer questions, and an interactive discussion forum. The course is designed to be taken by students of widely varying backgrounds who may be interested in pursuing further study and/or careers in global health.

Overview of the structure of the U.S. health systems followed by a selective international comparison of other health delivery systems including their relationships to social policies and economic factors.

This class introduces and unpacks the concept of global health governance to familiarize students with questions and problems that revolve around it. This is done with the intention to enable students to relate their already existing knowledge of public health to the field of policy-making and apply this new knowledge to their own areas of expertise. The class aims to develop an awareness of actual cases, which will enable the students to understand the way successful policies work. Since academic research is never a solitary activity, students will be expected to discuss the readings and lectures with their peers along the way. The instructor will prompt the debate by positing particular questions.

This course is designed to introduce students to grant writing and fundraising in global health. Topics include assessing and communicating community needs, planning a grant-fundable program, researching funders, writing a successful application, and strategies for fundraising. Students will apply course material to the development of a proposal for a global health grant maker.

This course addresses how to address and maximize sustainability of global health initiatives, including burdens on infrastructure, environment, and human systems.

Prerequisite: MSGH 405 Foundations of Global Health and Global Burden of Disease

Demography is the formal study of population size/structure and factors associated with its change (i.e., fertility, migration, and mortality). Developing a theoretical and technical understanding of demographic tools can provide a better understanding of population dynamics and how this influences national and global health, as well as regional and national policy. This course provides such a framework by drawing upon seminal readings from demography, economics, public health, and sociology. We will examine issues relating to global aging, old-age dependency ratios, and social policy with respect to Italy, Japan, and the U.S. We will explore fertility and family planning polices with respect to Finland and Sweden. We will also discuss fertility by focusing on China and India. The course will also introduce health policy concepts relating to health care systems/access/disparities with respect to the U.S. and developing countries.

Counts toward the Public Policy, Global Policy, and Global Health specializations.

Students learn techniques for building and interpreting mathematical models of real-world phenomena in and across multiple disciplines, including linear algebra, discrete mathematics, probability, and calculus, with an emphasis on applications in data science and data engineering. This is for students who want a firm understanding or review of these fields of mathematics prior to enrolling in courses that assume understanding of mathematical concepts.

This course introduces traditional statistics and data modeling for supervised learning problems, as employed in observational and experimental research. With supervised learning there is a clear distinction between explanatory and response variables. The objective is to predict responses, whether they be quantitative as with multiple regression or categorical as with logistic regression and multinomial logit models. Students work on research and programming assignments, exploring data, identifying appropriate models, and validating models. They utilize techniques for observational and experimental research design, data visualization, variable transformation, model diagnostics, and model selection.

Behind every analytics project is an analytical data source. In this course, students explore the fundamentals of data management and data preparation. Students acquire hands-on experience with various data file formats, working with quantitative data and text, relational database systems, and document database systems. They access, organize, clean, prepare, transform, and explore data, using database shells, query and scripting languages, and analytical software. This is a case-study and project-based course with a strong programming component.

Prerequisites: MSDS 402-DL Introduction to Data Science.

This course begins with a review of human perception and cognition, drawing upon psychological studies of perceptual accuracy and preferences. The course reviews principles of graphic design, what makes for a good graph, and why some data visualizations effectively present information and others do not. It considers visualization as a component of systems for data science and presents examples of exploratory data analysis, visualizing time, networks, and maps. It reviews methods for static and interactive graphics and introduces tools for building web-browser-based presentations. This is a project-based course with programming assignments.

Prerequisites: MSDS 400-DL Math for Data Scientists and MSDS 401-DL Statistical Analysis.

This course covers fundamental concepts, solution techniques, modeling approaches, and applications of decision analytics. It introduces commonly used methods of optimization, simulation and decision analysis techniques for prescriptive analytics in business. Students explore linear programming, network optimization, integer linear programming, goal programming, multiple objective optimization, nonlinear programming, metaheuristic algorithms, stochastic simulation, queuing modeling, decision analysis, and Markov decision processes. Students develop a contextual understanding of techniques useful for managerial decision support. They implement decision-analytic techniques using a state-of-the-art analytical modeling platform. This is a problem and project-based course.

Prerequisites: MSDS 400-DL Math for Data Scientists and MSDS 401-DL Statistical Analysis.

Choose any special topics course that is appropriate.

The capstone project course is the culmination of the MPPA program and demonstrates to faculty a student's mastery of the curriculum and core competencies in the public policy and administration field. Working both in small groups and individually, students complete a comprehensive project chosen in conjunction with their instructor. Students are individually assessed and graded throughout duration of class. Students should retain all course material from previous classes in the program, including textbooks, to successfully complete assignments.

Students may choose this course or registration in the 590 individual thesis research to fulfill their capstone requirement.

The 590 Thesis Research is an individual research project in an independent study format. The paper is written under the supervision of an approved faculty member and presents an opportunity to research and explore a topic thoroughly. The typical time to complete the master’s thesis is four months to a year.