Public Policy Minor

Public Policy Minor Chair: Herschel S. Nachlis

Faculty: Center Associate Director and Senior Policy Fellow, Research Assistant Professor of Government Herschel S. Nachlis; Center Director, Professor of Government Jason Barabas; Center Executive Director and Senior Policy Fellow, Lecturer of Government Anna M. Mahoney; Policy Research Shop Director, Visiting Research Associate Professor of Sociology Kristin E. Smith; Judicial Fellowship Program Coordinator, Lecturer of Public Policy Julie L. Kalish; Senior Lecturer of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Adjunct in Public Policy, Government, and Education Melissa R. Herman; Postdoctoral Fellows and Lecturers Elizabeth Pfeffer, Hwayong Shin, and Benjamin Carter.

To view Public Policy courses, click here. 

Public Policy Minor

The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth offers the Minor in Public Policy, which is open to students from all academic backgrounds who seek to study public policy, broadly defined.

Drawing on faculty in the social sciences and interdisciplinary programs, the minor provides a variety of perspectives on policy questions, and it enables students to focus on a range of policy areas, and on domestic policy and international policy.  In addition to fostering knowledge of the policy process and policy analysis, it includes a substantive focus based on students’ policy interests.  The Public Policy Minor is intended to foster a critical understanding of policy issues and solutions.

Students who wish to pursue the minor generally should officially sign up for it no later than the third term prior to graduation. 

The six courses required for the minor may not count toward a student’s major(s) or toward another minor.

Course requirements: A total of six courses.  The courses must include:

One (1) PBPL 5: Introduction to Public Policy course

Two (2) courses in a substantive policy track/area of study.  Students may design their own policy track.  Possible tracks include, but are not limited to:

Economics and public policy; Education and public policy; Environment and public policy; Gender and public policy; Health and public policy; Identity and public policy; Institutions, organizations and public policy; International relations and public policy; Law and public policy; Leadership and public policy; Research methods and public policy; Urban issues and public policy.

Two (2) public policy methods courses.  Choices include, but are not limited to:

Economics 20, Engineering 18, Public Policy 40, Public Policy 41, Public Policy 40.01, Public Policy 40.02, Public Policy 40.03, Public Policy 42, Public Policy 43, Public Policy 44, Public Policy 45, Public Policy 46, Public Policy 47, Public Policy 48, Public Policy 49, Public Policy 82.08, other Public Policy 40-level courses, and other methodologically-relevant courses in the social sciences.

One (1) Public Policy Seminar-level course (offered in PBPL, or another Social Science) relevant to the chosen substantive policy track. 

Prerequisite requirement: One course conveying quantitative or qualitative research methods. Options include, though may not be limited to: PBPL 10, ECON 10, GOVT 10, MATH 10, PSYC 10, SOCY 10, QSS 15, GEOG 9.01, GEOG 11, or SOCY 11.