Active Course List

Review of selected United States Supreme Court decisions interpreting important freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment. Focus is on the rationale which underlies decisions and their impact on American political social processes. Provides an opportunity to exercise and develop individual analytical abilities through analysis of Court's reasoning.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course examines major schools in American legal thought from the dawn of the 20th century to the present day. Our focus will lie with turn-of-the-century formalism; legal realism; the legal process school; law and economics; and critical legal studies. We will apply legal reasoning from these schools to selected controversal 20th-century Supreme Court cases on church-state issues, gay and lesbian rights, privacy rights, criminal defendants' rights and other issues as appropriate.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course explores topics in public policy and public administration beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Politics of the natural environment (U.S. focus). Environmental and opposition values; roles of public opinion, Congress, presidency and courts in environmental policymaking. Policy areas include: air/water pollution, climate change, hazardous/nuclear waste, sustainable development, and common problems like overfishing.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

A broadly based introduction to the issues, processes, and techniques of public sector labor relations.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

The development of public personnel management in federal, state, and local governments; strategic planning and policy making, position management, staffing, performance management, workplace relations.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course explores the interconnection between political systems, public policy, and food systems. Current food and agriculture policy is evaluated in light of political, economic, and societal conditions.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course examines entertainment policy from historical, cultural, political, and societal perspectives. Among other topics, this course will use a public policy framework to examine the impact of local government policies like noise ordinances, copyright laws, 1st amendment issues of free expression and assembly, and the historical and cultural significance of music as a catalyst for social change.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course explores topics in political institutions and process beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course examines public opinion in American politics. Topics include the definition, nature, and consequences of public opinion; political socialization; public opinion on selected issues; intergroup differences in public opinion, and public polling methods.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

United States Congress and state legislatures, with some cross-national comparisons. Legislative structure, powers; districting, elections, representation, constituency relations; committee system, parties, law-making process, rules and procedure, decision-making, relations with executives and courts. Reforms.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Examination of executive politics in United States at a federal and state level, with some cross-national comparisons. United States Presidency and executive branch, governors and state executive branches, mayors, and other local executives.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

An examination of the structure, jurisdiction, and processes of federal and state courts. Emphasis is placed on selection of judges and justices and on the dynamics of judicial decision-making.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course examines politics in the American South. It examines the historical and cultural roots of Southern distinctiveness: traditionalistic political culture, racial conflicts, hostility toward organized labor, religious fundamentalism, tolerance of state violence, and social and moral conservatism. Major attention is paid to the realignment of white Southerners toward the Republican Party.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Theories and practices of complex public organizations.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course explores topics important to the study of American politics. Specific topics may change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course provides advanced data analysis skills to students working on their final research projects (thesis/APP/capstone). This course includes instruction in methods beyond those offered in core courses, as well as analysis related to students' individual research needs.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course explores topics important to the field of comparative politics. Specific topics may change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course is designed as a theoretical and empiral overview and analysis of the politics, policy processes, and institutions of the developed and emerging welfare states around the world (incl. soc. security, health care, unemployment, family assistance and anti-poverty programs).

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

A capstone course designed to test the student's ability to synthesize and apply information and concepts from the various areas in public administration such as budgeting, personnel administration, finance, organization theory, and policy evaluation.-Ideally, this course should be taken at the end of a student's program in public administration.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course explores topics important to the field of political theory. Specific topics may change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course explores topics important to the study of public administration. Specific topics may change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Change is the constant in today's human resource management in public organizations. The technical framework for productivity improvement and employee development is placed in the context of the legal environment. Emphasis is on managing diversity.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

An in depth study of public budgeting and fiscal management, with emphasis on the approaches to budgeting and background on public revenues and revenue management.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course will focus on communication and leadership during crisis situations in a public safety agency. The crisis situations will include internal, as well as external, crises, and will address internal and external communications and leadership. This course will also focus on interagency cooperation, planning, communication, and leadership.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration