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MPP Focus Areas

Students enrolled in the MPP program have the option of pursuing a specialization or focus area in one of four topical areas:

  • Environment and sustainability policy
  • Health policy
  • Education policy
  • Inequality and social justice policy

Students choosing to pursue one of these focus areas are required to enroll in at least three electives at the graduate level. Pre-approved courses for each focus area are listed below; students may substitute another course with the MPP Director's approval.

In addition, a student may petition to pursue a focus area outside of these four sub-fields, with approval of the MPP Director. To pursue this option, a student must: 1) contact the director and provide a short description of the proposed focus area s/he wishes to pursue and the reasons s/he wishes to pursue it; 2) provide a list of courses within UPPP, the School of Social Ecology, and/or other schools s/he is planning to enroll in; and, 3) if any of these courses is housed in a department outside of the School of Social Ecology (e.g., Information and Computer Science; Social Sciences), the student must obtain written consent from the instructor of record that s/he can enroll in the course.  

Elective courses for MPP focus areas

1. Environment and sustainability policy

  • UPPP 205 – Environmental Economics and Policy
  • UPPP 207 – Land-Use Law
  • UPPP 224 – Environmental Politics and Policy
  • UPPP 232 – Water Policy and Planning
  • UPPP 244 – Land-Use Policy
  • UPPP 252 – Issues in Environmental Law and Policy – Same as CRM/LAW C252.

2. Health Policy

  • UPPP 231 – Transportation and Environmental Health
  • UPPP 243 – Health Policy and Management - Same as PUBHLTH 222
  • PUBHLTH 223 – Risk Communication
  • PUBHLTH 248 – Fundamentals of Maternal and Child Health - Programs, Problems, and Policy
  • PUBHLTH 279 – Special Topics in Environmental & Occupational Health
  • NUR SCI 234 – Health Politics and Policy

3. Education policy

  • EDUC 251 – Educational Policy and Politics
  • EDUC 253 – Foundations of Educational Policy
  • EDUC 258 – Special Topics in Educational Policy and Social Context
  • EDUC 261 – Social and Cultural Foundations of Education
  • EDUC 264 – Economic Foundations of Education and Social Policy
  • SOCIOL 237 – Educational Inequality

4. Inequality and Social Justice policy

  • UPPP 251 – Poverty and Development – same as SOCIOL 235
  • UPPP 266 – Economic Democracy
  • UPPP 273 – Global Urbanization – same as SOCIOL 252A, SOC SCI 254J
  • CRM/LAW C216 – Public Policy, Crime, and Criminal Justice
  • CRM/LAW C229 – Macrocriminology
  • CRM/LAW C268 – Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice
  • PSCI P236 – Inequality and Privilege