Due to exceptionally high interest in its Undergraduate Certificate in Public Policy program, the La Follette School will offer eight undergraduate courses in fall 2020 – the most in School history. More than 50 students are enrolled in the program, with about a dozen expected to graduate in May.
Associate Professor Geoffrey Wallace leads the Undergraduate Certification program and teaches Inequality, Race, and Public Policy (PA 520).
“When planning the Undergraduate Certificate program, we were confident that students would find it appealing, but this much interest in only the second year far exceeds our expectations,” said Wallace.
The La Follette School launched the program in spring 2019, offering two courses: Contemporary Public Policy Issues and Analytic Tools for Public Policy.
UW–Madison juniors and seniors are eligible for the program, which is funded by the Kohl Initiative. Students must have at minimum sophomore status (24 credits) to apply and may begin doing so on May 1, 2020.
“We are extremely grateful to former Sen. Herb Kohl for allowing us to achieve our vision of educating more students about the important role of policy in everyday life,” said La Follette School Director and Professor Susan Webb Yackee.
The Undergraduate Certificate in Public Policy allows undergraduate students to apply a policy perspective to their major course of study and bolsters their skills for success in the workforce or in their graduate school coursework. Students build a strong foundation for careers in government, nonprofit organizations, or the private sector.
The certificate program is ideal for students seeking careers related to key domestic and international issues such as health policy, criminal justice, education, energy, environmental studies, finance, transportation, and poverty. It also prepares students to be engaged citizens, ready to use their talents to improve the world around them.
Fall 2020 Undergraduate Courses (dates and details)
- Contemporary Public Policy Issues (PA 200): Professor Tim Smeeding and Assistant Professor Denia Garcia
- Causal Inference and Health Policy (PA 274): Assistant Professor Sam Trejo – NEW
- Contemporary Issues in Health Policy (PA 274): Associate Professor Christine Durrance – NEW
- Perspectives in Healthcare Policy (PA 274): Lisa Ellinger – NEW
- Public and Private Sectors in Policymaking (PA 274): Assistant Professor Tana Johnson – NEW
- Analytic Tools for Public Policy (PA 380): Assistant Professors Lindsay Jacobs and Reed Lei
- Inequality, Race, and Public Policy (PA 520): Associate Professor Geoffrey Wallace
- Policy, Privacy, and Personal Identity in the Postgenomics Era (PA 523): Assistant Professor Lauren Schmitz