BA/BS Public Policy Degree Requirements
The Hobby School offers two undergraduate degrees in Public Policy:
- Bachelor of Arts (BA): includes a language requirement and more emphasis on the social sciences.
- Bachelor of Science (BS): includes a math and science requirement and more emphasis on technical skill building.
BA/BS Public Policy Degree Requirements
1) University Requirements – Core Curriculum (42 credit hours)
*MATH 1314 College Algebra is a prerequisite for POLC 3315 Policy Research Methods: Statistics and Regression Analysis (and an option for the Core Curriculum section in Mathematics), so students are strongly recommended to complete MATH 1314 ASAP.
2) BA: Foreign Language Requirements (6-16 credit hours) OR BS: Math/Formal Science/Math Reasoning Requirements (12 credit hours)
3) College Requirements: at least one of the following options – double major; minor; certification; or dual degree (12-30 credit hours)
4) Departmental Requirements: Required Courses; Tools and Methods; Ethics and Values; Subject Matter Expertise; Capstone (33 credit hours)
5) Electives: Number of credit hours remaining to bring total number of credit hours to 120 and total advanced credit hours (3000-4000 level) to 36
Total Credit Hours for BA/BS Public Policy: 120
Public Policy (POLC) Undergraduate Courses
Required BA/BS Public Policy Courses: Students must take the following five courses
1) POLC 1311 Public Policy Laboratory
Prerequisite: None.
Public Policy Laboratory contains three elements: interaction with local leaders within government, nonprofit organizations, grassroots initiatives and business; a comparative study of Houston's public policies in relation to what is found in other major cities; and a lab component where students work in teams to resolve a policy issue for a public stakeholder.
2) POLC 2312 Introduction to Economics and Policy Analysis
Prerequisite: None.
Develops the skills to understand the economic models and methods used in policy research and political discussion. Systematically evaluates the rationale for government intervention in the economy, and assess the efficiency, incentive, and distributional effects of government policies. Focus on several policy issues, such as education policy, energy and environmental policies, labor policy and health policy.
3) POLC 3313 Contemporary Political Philosophy and Policy
Prerequisite: None.
Explores a number of contemporary political theories or ideologies that inform contemporary public policy positions. The theories include egalitarianism, libertarianism, free market positions, socialism, communitarianism, neoconservatism, race theory, and feminism.
4) POLC 3314 Leadership and Public Policy
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305, or equivalent.
Introduction to the policy process and public policy careers, with particular emphasis on leadership, cooperation and organizational dynamics. Identify the leadership challenges that the community and the nation are facing today.
5) POLC 3315 Policy Research Methods: Statistics and Regression Analysis
Prerequisite: MATH 1314.
Develops quantitative research skills with applications to public policy research. Participants will gain an overview of research design, data management, statistical analysis and interpretations of research findings.
Tools and Methods (6 hours): Students should choose two of the following courses
1) POLC 3322 Public Policy Analysis: Theory and Practice
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305, or equivalent.
Introduces the processes of public policymaking and provides students the empirical and analytical tools of policy evaluations and the models of policymaking and policy analysis.
2) POLC 4323 Data Analytics and Visualization
Prerequisite: POLC 3315.
Data-driven techniques to analyze public policy problems. Utilizing and combining large quantities of publicly available data, such as census individual data and large-scale economic, political and social survey data. Introduce various tools and techniques to visualize political and socio-economic patterns.
3) POLC 4324 Game Theory for Policy Analysis
Prerequisite: POLC 2312.
Analyze policy processes in which multiple actors are involved, based on the game-theoretical framework.
4) POLC 4325 Advanced Policy Research Methods
Prerequisite: POLC 3315.
Provide students with the necessary skills in the methods of policy analysis. Introduces the conceptual and theoretical building blocks of the research process to data analysis with policy applications. Particularly guides students on how to conduct survey research.
5) ECON 4349 Introduction to Game Theory
Prerequisite: ECON 2370 and ECON 3332.
Introduction to the theory of games and solution methods. Real world situations as games, predicting outcomes using game theory techniques. Bargaining, oligopoly, auctions, coordination and provision of public goods.
6) ECON 4363 Political Economy
Prerequisite: ECON 3332 and ECON 3320 or consent of instructor.
Study of politics through the language of economics with precise arguments based on mathematical models and statistical analysis; tools and facts regarding the nuances of policy making and politics; sophisticated arguments about why people vote, whether politicians matter and whose interests they represent, the role of the media, corruption, and the nature of lobbying.
Ethics and Values (3 hours): Students should choose one of the following courses
1) POLC 3341 State Authority and Freedom
Prerequisite: ENGL 1302.
Studies the role of policymaking in democratic societies, as well as the function of policymakers through detailed exploration of the nature and proper scope of state authority and its dangers and limits.
2) POLC 4342 Political Economy and Ethics of the Market Processes
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Explores the relation between citizens and market processes in basic market mechanism concepts, the role of government in market processes, and the ethics and morality in market processes.
3) POLC 4344 Policy and Global Justice
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305, or equivalent.
Empirical and normative approaches to global poverty. Examines arguments from beneficence, arguments from distributive justice, arguments from harm and the Capabilities Approach. Analyses various approaches relevance in light of the problem of urban poverty and global slums.
4) POLC 4349 Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center Ethics and Leadership Seminar
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305, or equivalent.
An independent endeavor that takes place both inside and outside the classroom and is motivated by students’ own interests. Encourages students to learn more about ethics and leadership.
5) POLS 3348 Left, Right and Center
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Study of the principles of conservative and progressive politics political theories and their historical roots.
Subject Matter Expertise (6 hours): Students should choose two courses from one of the following concentrations
Social Policy
1) CIS 2337 Fundamentals of Information Security
2) COMM 3340 Health Campaigns
3) ECON 3368 Economics of Health Care
4) ECON 4372 Economics of Education
5) ECON 4331 Economics of Gender
6) HON 3303 Readings in Mental Health & Society
7) NUTR 4349 Public Policy in Nutrition
8) PHIL 3354 Medical Ethics
9) POLS 3319 Politics of Social Policy
10) POLS 3359 Criminal Justice (course will be officially renamed LST 3359 Criminal Justice System in Fall 2024)
11) POLS 3370 State Government and Politics
12) POLS 3373 Inside Texas Politics
13) POLS 3375 Health Policy and Politics
14) PSYC 3351 Health Psychology Research
15) SCLT 3385 Transport Economics and Policy
16) SCLT 3389 Transportation Law
17) SOC 3326 Immigration in U.S. Society
18) SOC 3327 Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States
19) SOC 3351 Social Class and Mobility in America
Globalization, Energy and the Environment
1) ARCH 3368 Sustainable Development
2) ECON 2301 Macroeconomic Principles
3) ECON 3342 Global Issues in Economic Development (course will be officially discontinued in Fall 2025)
4) ECON 3347 Capital Market Economics (course will be officially renamed ECON 3347 Financial Economics in Fall 2025)
5) ECON 3348 Food, Population, Agriculture and the Environment (course will be officially discontinued in Fall 2025)
6) ECON 3351 Economics of Development
7) ECON 3363 Environmental Economics
8) ECON 3365 Labor Economics
9) ECON 3377 Economics of Public Finance
10) ECON 3385 Economics of Energy
11) ECON 4370 International Trade
12) ENRG 3310 Introduction to Energy and Sustainability
13) HIST 3349 War, Globalization and Terrorism
14) POLS 3311 Introduction to Comparative Politics
15) POLS 3330 International Political Economy: Policymaking in a Global World
16) POLS 3333 Comparative Politics
17) POLS 3336 Globalization
18) POLS 4349 International Energy Politics
19) POLS 4365 National Defense Policy (course will be officially renamed NSS 4365 National Defense Policy in Fall 2025)
Political Analysis
1) COMM 3313 Data Journalism
2) COMM 3358 Leadership Communication & Organizations
3) HON 3330 Leadership Theory and Practice
4) POLS 3312 Arguments, Data and Politics
5) POLS 3316 Statistics for Political Scientists
6) POLS 3318 Introduction to Public Policy
7) POLS 3350 Public Law - Political Theory
8) POLS 3353 Policy and Administration
9) POLS 3360 Politics and Mass Media
10) POLS 3363 Groups in the Political Process
11) POLS 3364 Legislative Processes
12) POLS 3394 Selected Topics in Political Theory and Methodology
13) POLS 4366 Constitutional Design
14) PSYC 3310 Industrial-Organizational Psychology
15) PSYC 4371 Organizational Psychology
16) TLIM 3365 Team Leadership
Capstone (3 hours): Students should choose one of the following courses
1) POLC 4390 Public Policy Internship
Note: POLC 4390 Public Policy Internship can be substituted for POLS 4390 Government Internship to satisfy this requirement.
The Civic Houston Internship Program (CHIP), Harris Fellows, Hobby Fellows, Leland Fellows, and the Social Economy and Enterprise Academy internship programs can be used for POLC 4390. Each internship program has program requirements and application deadlines that must be followed.
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305 or equivalent. To be eligible for this course, students must have completed at least 60 hours of undergraduate courses, including at least 9 hours of Public Policy (POLC) coursework, and have an overall GPA of 2.7 and above. Students who do not meet these requirements may apply to the undergraduate academic advisor for a waiver.
Internship/work experience in selected private industry, nonprofit, federal, state, and local government offices under faculty and field representative direction and supervision. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisite: Approval of Undergraduate Director
Independent research and writing for the senior thesis.
Other BA/BS Public Policy Courses
1) POLC 4198 Independent Study
Prerequisite: Approval of Undergraduate Director.
Independent study topic selected by student and approved by the Hobby School. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
2) POLC 4298 Independent Study
Prerequisite: Approval of Undergraduate Director.
Independent study topic selected by student and approved by the Hobby School. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
3) POLC 4397 Selected Topics in Public Policy
Prerequisite: GOVT 2306 and GOVT 2305 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Independent study topic selected by student and approved by the Hobby School. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
4) POLC 4398 Independent Study
Prerequisite: Approval of Undergraduate Director.
Independent study topic selected by student and approved by the Hobby School. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
5) POLC 4498 Independent Study
Prerequisite: Approval of Undergraduate Director.
Independent study topic selected by student and approved by the Hobby School. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
6) POLC 4598 Independent Study
Prerequisite: Approval of Undergraduate Director.
Independent study topic selected by student and approved by the Hobby School. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
7) POLC 4698 Independent Study
Prerequisite: Approval of Undergraduate Director.
Independent study topic selected by student and approved by the Hobby School. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.