Judicial Process

Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PUBP
Course number:
3016
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

In this Course, we will cover the functions, structures, and procedures of state and federal court systems. The Course will address civil and criminal procedure in addition to judicial concepts that apply to both civil and criminal cases such as jury selection and the rules of evidence. We will study several types of law that impact judicial decisions: statutes, case law, and rules of evidence and procedure. 

 

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Social Sciences area. 

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help students master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals. 

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question: 

  • How do I understand human experiences and connections? 

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome: 

  • Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economic, political, social, or geographic relationships develop, persist, or change. 

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies: 

  • Intercultural Competence  
  • Perspective-Taking  
  • Persuasion  
Instructor first name:
Jennifer, Chong
Instructor last name:
Weizenecker, Kim
Section:
HP, WK
CRN
35344
28567
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Government of the U.S.

Last Updated: Sun, 01/04/2026
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
POL
Course number:
1101
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

This course is about politics, government, public policy and the individuals who occupy that critical space which we refer to as “the political arena.” Those who occupy the political arena are many, and include elected officials and aspirants to elective office; political parties and interest groups who seek to determine who gets elected and what elected officials do once in office; and civil servants and appointed officials who staff the governmental bureaucracy and who take care that policies are executed and laws and regulations are duly enforced. “We the people,” voters and non-voters—taxpayers all, also play varied roles in the dramatis personae who populate and sustain American democracy.

 

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Citizenship area.

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I prepare for my responsibilities as an engaged citizen?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will demonstrate a broad overview knowledge of the history of the United States, with emphasis on the organization, provisions and principles of the United States Constitution and how it is operationalized in everyday governance and citizenship. Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:
  • Critical Thinking
  • Intercultural Competence
  • Persuasion
  • Citizenship and its Responsibilities

 

Instructor first name:
Georgia
Instructor last name:
Persons
Section:
1
CRN
CRN 94455
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Political Processes

Last Updated: Fri, 01/02/2026
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PUBP
Course number:
2010
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Our focus is both on how politics shapes policies (social science) and how professionals and citizens can be effective as policy analysts or advocates (practice). Current politics and policy will be discussed but this is neither a casual survey of news events nor an introduction to political science or American politics. Attention to current electoral and policy issues is essential – you all are public policy majors. Students are expected to approach policy issues with a well-informed and (self-)critical perspective that requires active engagement with a variety of current issues. Because this is the gateway course for the BSPP program (and restricted to BSPP majors) we also will discuss the curriculum and course offerings, internship and career prospects, etc.  

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

It is your obligation to be familiar with the Georgia Tech Honor Code and to ask the professor if its application to any part of this course is unclear. Pay particular attention to the definition of plagiarism in its several forms. Also be acquainted with GT Student-Faculty Expectations  (http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/rules/22.php). CRUCIAL: if you're unsure about what is allowed, what constitutes plagiarism, etc., ask! In an online world it might be tempting to cut-and-paste, including inadvertently copying text from your notes – that were copied. Be very careful.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

The Learning Outcomes satisfy the designated learning objectives for the Core IMPACTS Social Sciences area: “how political relationships develop, persist, and change,” and an understanding of “the complexity of human behavior as a function of the commonality and diversity within groups.”

Instructor first name:
Richard
Instructor last name:
Barke
Section:
RB
CRN
31379
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

POLICY TASK FORCE II

Last Updated: Fri, 01/02/2026
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PUBP
Course number:
4020
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Capstone project in which teams of students formulate, analyze, and recommend policy options.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

PUBP 4020: POLICY TASK FORCE II

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Social Sciences area.

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I understand human experiences and connections?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes:

  • Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economic, political, social or geographic relationships develop, persist or change.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Intercultural Competence
  • Perspective-Taking
  • Persuasion
Instructor first name:
Christopher
Instructor last name:
Hayter
Section:
1
CRN
28445
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Environmental Ethics

Last Updated: Mon, 12/29/2025
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PHIL
Course number:
4176
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Conceptual and normative foundations of environmental attitudes and values. Impacts of traditional and modern beliefs that shape human attitudes toward nature on creating a more compatible relationship between humans and their environment. Credit not allowed for both PHIL 4176 and PST 4176.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

Core IMPACTS: Humanities

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:
•    How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:
•    Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance, and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts or of works in the visual/performing arts.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help student develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:
•    Ethical Reasoning
•    Informational Literacy
•    Intercultural Competence

 

Ethics Requirement:  
Students should come away with:
•    An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in real-world contexts.
•    An ability to assess actions or decisions based on established ethical principles and theories, or through deliberative processes.
•    An ability to consider the implications of actions, both broadly (e.g., global, economic, environmental, or societal) and for individuals.
 

Instructor first name:
Cayla
Instructor last name:
Clinkenbeard
Section:
RK
CRN
35603
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Engineering Ethics

Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PHIL
Course number:
3109
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Engineering is a profession, but what exactly does that mean? What is it that engineers are supposed to profess? 

On one account, to be a professional is to have an exclusive claim on authoritative judgment in some domain, which brings with it a certain social standing and a higher degree of autonomy than is generally possible for those who merely have jobs. That acknowledgment of authority is conditional, however: for the public to accept and to trust such an exclusive claim of expertise, professionals must strive to be worthy of trust.

In short, to become a professional is to make a commitment to practice well and responsibly; it is to be accountable to the public. 

In this course, we will examine the ethical commitments at the heart of engineering through attentive reading, lecture, active discussion and writing.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Georgia Tech aims to cultivate a community based on trust, academic integrity, and honor. Students are expected to act according to the highest ethical standards.  For information on Georgia Tech's Academic Honor Code, please visit http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/policies/honor-code/ or http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/rules/18/.

Any student suspected of cheating or plagiarizing on a quiz, exam, or assignment will be reported to the Office of Student Integrity, which will investigate the incident and identify the appropriate penalty for violations of the Honor Code.

Take this seriously. All suspected instances of academic dishonesty will be dealt with immediately, according to Institute procedures.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

Core IMPACTS: Humanities

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance, and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts or of works in the visual/performing arts.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help student develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Informational Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence

Ethics Requirement 

Many of you are taking this course to fulfill the Ethics Requirement of your degree program.  You may get more out of your experience with the course if you know the background of that requirement.

Degree programs in engineering are evaluated and accredited by a non-profit organization known as ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. In the current version of the criteria for accreditation, Criterion 3.3 specifies that students should come away from a degree program in engineering with “an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.” 

In April 2023, The Academic Faculty of the Institute specified outcomes for courses that fulfill the Ethics Requirement. Students should come away with:

  • An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in real-world contexts.
  • An ability to assess actions or decisions based on established ethical principles and theories, or through deliberative processes.
  • An ability to consider the implications of actions, both broadly (e.g., global, economic, environmental, or societal) and for individuals.

This course is designed to foster the kind of moral imagination that is a prerequisite for these three “outcomes.” 

Instructor first name:
Robert
Instructor last name:
Kirkman
Section:
RK
CRN
33614
33615
33616
33617
33618
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Politics and Policy

Last Updated: Fri, 01/02/2026
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PUBP
Course number:
3510
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Politics and policy overlap in a seemingly infinite number of ways involving procedures, people, institutions, etc.  The course will be built around the role of politics at each of the "stages" of the policy process, exploring the political forces shape policy agenda-setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation. Readings and concepts will be introduced from the fields of political science, policy studies, and related disciplines. Ideas will be synthesized at the end of the course in an exercise that simulates the interplay of politics and policy making. Our purpose is to improve our understanding of how politics and policy affect each other, for better or worse. 


 

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

The course will satisfy designated learning objectives for courses carrying social sciences credit (Core Area E) at Georgia Tech:  “how political relationships develop, persist, and change,” and an understanding of “the complexity of human behavior as a function of the commonality and diversity within groups.”  Furthermore, These objectives satisfy learning objectives for “general education” social sciences courses at Georgia Tech:  “Students will be able to describe the social, political, and economic forces that influence social behavior.”

Instructor first name:
Richard
Instructor last name:
Barke
Section:
RB
CRN
30255
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Research Methods

Last Updated: Thu, 12/18/2025
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PUBP
Course number:
3130
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

This course introduces methodological concepts through the lens of pragmatism, the perspective that research should be problem-centered, consequence-focused, and supportive of applied action. You will not only learn about methodological concepts and their interrelationship, but also their application in support of comprehension and good policy decisions. Assignments will help develop hands-on skills, especially data collection, analysis, and communication that will serve you throughout your academic and professional careers.  

For students majoring in public policy this course is important as preparation for your Task Force class. One of the key skills that we will focus on is developing research proposals that clearly specify research designs aimed at informing the policy process.  This is a skill set that you will use during the first semester of your Task Force year as you work with a client to develop, specify, and present a research design that can address an applied policy problem.  

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Social Sciences area of instruction. Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help students master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward the following broad Orienting Question: How do I understand human experiences and connections?

Completion of this course should enable you to meet the following Learning Outcomes: Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economic, political, social or geographic relationships develop, persist or change.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Critical Thinking
  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Inquiry and Analysis
  • Perspective-Taking
  • Persuasion
  • Problem-Solving
  • Teamwork
  • Time Management
Instructor first name:
Michelle
Instructor last name:
Graff
Section:
MG
CRN
28431
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Policy Analysis

Last Updated: Fri, 12/19/2025
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PUBP
Course number:
30303
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

A fundamental principle of good governance is making decisions based on sound reasoning and good information. In this course we will develop the skill of analyzing public policies in a structured way using systematic logic and empirical evidence. Good policy analysis applies abstract theories in a practical way that generates insights useful to decision makers. 

This course is based on two major themes of public policy and administration. The first is the concepts and process of public policy analysis, defined as “Client-oriented advice relevant to public decisions and informed by social values”. The second major theme is analytical methodology, including prospective tools and retrospective models used to make inferences about the likely or actual impacts of policies.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

PUBP 3030 develops Core Impacts competencies through the study of public policy. Students strengthen Communication by crafting policy briefs and delivering presentations. The course emphasizes Community and Social Responsibility by examining how policies affect different populations. Ethical reasoning is cultivated as students navigate competing values and the moral responsibilities of analysts. Students engage in Research and Inquiry by applying quantitative and qualitative methods to real-world policy problems. Together, these experiences prepare students to contribute thoughtfully to public discourse and democratic governance.

Instructor first name:
Travis
Instructor last name:
Whetsell
Section:
TW
CRN
30256
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy

Modern Philosophy

Last Updated: Mon, 12/08/2025
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
PHIL
Course number:
3103
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Why did modern scientific thought emerge when it did and not thousands of years earlier? What can the history of inquiry into the natural world tell us about why we think the way we do today? Does the history of science matter for scientific practice today? 

To answer these questions, this course will trace through Western intellectual history from the Renaissance into the modern age and finish in the early 20th century. 

Often, scientific revolutions have been characterized by questioning and altering fundamental assumptions about self and world understanding. By seeing the developments that led to the modern world, we can bring to light our own assumptions and better understand the philosophical assumptions implicit in scientific theories. Knowing where the boundaries of thought are and why they are there can be critical in overcoming them. By participating in an ongoing dialog about the worldview changes that shaped philosophical thought from the Renaissance to the 20th century, students will see how modern thought emerged, why it emerged when it did and what implications this has for creative scientific thought today.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Humanities area.

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic and philosophical works?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages, or of works in the visual/performing arts.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence
Instructor first name:
Clint
Instructor last name:
Johnson
Section:
AC
CRN
28671
Department (you may add up to three):
Public Policy
Subscribe to Public Policy