Public Policy Minor
The core curriculum in public policy includes courses on policy innovation and analysis, politics of public policy, applied philosophy, applied economics, research design and statistics. Our experiential education (EE) courses develop students’ teamwork, leadership, and communication skills as they produce actionable, client-centered research. UNC Public Policy offers multiple courses on both global and domestic policy issues including courses on education, immigration, the environment, health and human rights, and history and public policy.
The undergraduate minor in public policy consists of five courses. Students gain knowledge, skills, and experience to improve the lives of others.
Knowledge
Students think and learn across academic disciplines with a diverse faculty with degrees in business, economics, history, law, philosophy, political science, public policy, sociology, and sociomedical sciences.
Skills
Students gain an ability to think critically and independently; to write, reason, and communicate clearly; and to develop research methods and quantitative analysis skills.
Experience
Students apply knowledge and skills in real world environments beyond the classroom. Students in our clinic, intersector, and internship courses address contemporary policy challenges by providing innovative analysis to clients in the nonprofit and public sector.
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:
- take at least nine hours of their minor "core" requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the minor core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for minor or specific courses.
For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.
First-year and sophomore students considering a minor in public policy are encouraged to complete PLCY 101 or PLCY 110.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements | ||
| Students must complete at least four of the following core courses: | 12 | |
| Policy Innovation and Analysis H | ||
 The Politics of Public Policy H | ||
| Justice in Public Policy H | ||
| Quantitative Analysis for Public Policy H | ||
| Research Design for Public Policy H | ||
| Microeconomic Foundations of Public Policy 1 | ||
or ECON 410 | Intermediate Microeconomics | |
| One elective course selected from the following options: | 3 | |
A course from the approved list in the major (see below) | ||
| Total Hours | 15 | |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Public policy (PLCY) course descriptions.
The regulations governing a minor, as set forth in this catalog, apply to the minor in public policy.
Public Policy Elective Course List
The following courses satisfy the electives requirement and optional policy field concentration. Please note that some of these courses may have enrollment restrictions, including being restricted to students enrolled in certain majors or minors. Please check for enrollment restrictions before trying to enroll:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Any PLCY course at the 100 level or above, except PLCY 130, PLCY 291, PLCY 293, PLCY 393, or PLCY 394 | ||
| AAAD 307 | 21st-Century Scramble for Africa | 3 |
| AAAD/POLI 333 | Race and Public Policy in the United States | 3 |
| AAAD 488 | Human Rights and Democracy in African Diaspora Communities | 3 |
| AAAD 485 | Transnational Black Feminist Thought and Practice | 3 |
| AMST 390 | Seminar in American Studies | 3 |
| AMST 486 | The Jewish South: Race, Region, and Religion | 3 |
| ANTH 312 | From the Equator to the Poles: Case Studies in Global Environmental Change | 3 |
| ANTH 318 | Human Growth and Development | 3 |
| ANTH 319 | Global Health | 3 |
| ANTH 350 | Anthropology of the State, Civil Society, and Politics | 3 |
| ANTH 355 | Life, Society and Work in the Globalized City | 3 |
| ANTH 360 | Latin American Economy and Society | 3 |
| ANTH 377 | European Societies | 3 |
| ANTH 380 | Anthropological Perspectives on Cultural Diversity | 3 |
| ANTH 422 | Anthropology and Human Rights | 3 |
| ANTH 429 | Culture and Power in Southeast Asia | 3 |
| ANTH 439 | Political Ecology | 3 |
| ANTH 441 | The Anthropology of Gender, Health, and Illness | 3 |
| ANTH 460 | Historical Ecology | 3 |
| ANTH 470 | Medicine and Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 502 | Globalization and Transnationalism | 3 |
| ANTH 537 | Gender and Performance: Constituting Identity | 3 |
| ANTH 585 | Anthropology of Science | 3 |
| BUSI 404 | Business Ethics | 1.5 |
| BUSI 405 | Leading and Managing: An Introduction to Organizational Behavior | 3 |
| BUSI 500 | Entrepreneurship and Business Planning H | 3 |
| BUSI 503 | Family Business I: Introduction to Family Enterprise | 1.5 |
| BUSI 504 | Startup UNC | 1.5 |
| BUSI 506 | Entrepreneurial Strategy: How to Think Like a Venture Capitalist | 3 |
| BUSI 512 | Family Business II: Governance and Ownership | 1.5 |
| BUSI 610 | Global Environment of Business | 3 |
| BUSI 611 | International Development: Focus on Indigenous Issues | 3 |
| COMM 312 | Persuasion | 3 |
| COMM 325 | Introduction to Organizational Communication H | 3 |
| COMM 372 | The Rhetoric of Social Movements | 3 |
| COMM 375 | Environmental Advocacy | 3 |
| COMM 470 | Political Communication and the Public Sphere | 3 |
| COMM 521 | Communication and Social Memory | 3 |
| COMM 524 | Gender, Communication, and Culture | 3 |
| COMM 525 | Organizational Communication | 3 |
| COMM 571 | Rhetorical Theory and Practice | 3 |
| COMM 572 | Public Policy Argument | 3 |
| COMM 574 | War and Culture | 3 |
| COMM 575 | Presidential Rhetoric | 3 |
| COMM 576 | Making and Manipulating "Race" in the United States | 3 |
| COMM 624 | Hate Speech | 3 |
| COMM 625 | Communication and Nonprofits in the Global Context | 3 |
| COMM 652 | Media and Difference | 3 |
| ECON 320 | Macroeconomics: Theory and Policy | 3 |
| ECON 325 | Entrepreneurship: Principles, Concepts, Frameworks, and Fluency H | 3 |
| ECON 345 | Public Policy Toward Business | 3 |
| ECON 380 | The Economics of Labor Relations | 3 |
| ECON 423 | Financial Markets and Economic Fluctuations H | 3 |
| ECON 440 | Analysis of Public Finance | 3 |
| ECON 445 | Industrial Organization | 3 |
| ECON 450 | Health Economics: Problems and Policy | 3 |
| ECON 455 | Environmental Economic Theory | 3 |
| ECON 460 | International Economics | 3 |
| ECON 465 | Economic Development | 3 |
| ECON 480 | Labor Economics | 3 |
| ECON 511 | Advanced Game Theory in Economics H | 3 |
| EDUC 401 | Childhood Development: Prenatal Birth to Age 12 | 3 |
| EDUC 506 | Politics, Policymaking, and America's Schools | 3 |
| EDUC 521 | Schools, Cultures, and Communities I: Youth | 3 |
| EDUC 533 | Social Justice in Education | 3 |
| EDUC 535 | Teachers and Schools | 3 |
| EMES 314 | Earth Systems in a Changing World | 3 |
| ENGL 164 | Introduction to Latina/o Studies H | 3 |
| ENGL 279 | Migration and Globalization | 3 |
| ENEC 463 | Corporate Environmental Stewardship | 3 |
| ENEC 307 | Energy and Material Flows in the Environment and Society | 3 |
| ENEC 308 | Environmental History | 3 |
| ENEC 309 | Environmental Values and Valuation | 3 |
| ENEC 330 | Principles of Sustainability | 3 |
| ENEC 350 | Environmental Law and Policy | 3 |
| ENEC 351 | Coastal Law and Policy | 3 |
| ENEC 352 | Marine Fisheries Ecology | 3 |
| ENEC 370 | Agriculture and the Environment H | 3 |
| ENEC 462 | Ecosystem Management | 3 |
| ENEC 474 | Sustainable Coastal Management | 3 |
| ENEC 586 | Water Quality Policies and Planning | 3 |
| ENEC 685 | Environmental and Resource Economics | 3 |
| ENEC 698 | Capstone: Analysis and Solution of Environmental Problems | 3 |
| ENEC/ENVR 470 | Environmental Risk Assessment | 3 |
| ENEC/PHIL 368 | Living Things, Wilderness, and Ecosystems: An Introduction to Environmental Ethics | 3 |
| ENVR 600 | Environmental Health | 3 |
| GEOG 281 | Ethnographies of Globalization: From 'Culture' to Decolonization | 3 |
| GEOG 370 | Introduction to Geographic Information | 3 |
| GEOG 391 | Quantitative Methods in Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 414 | Climate Change | 3 |
| GEOG 416 | Applied Climatology: The Impacts of Climate and Weather on Environmental and Social Systems | 3 |
| GEOG 423 | Social Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 428 | Global Cities: Space, Power, and Identity in the Built Environment | 3 |
| GEOG 430 | Global Migrations, Local Impacts: Urbanization and Migration in the United States | 3 |
| GEOG 435 | Global Environmental Justice | 3 |
| GEOG 446 | Geography of Health Care Delivery | 3 |
| GEOG 447 | Gender, Space, and Place in the Middle East | 3 |
| GEOG 448 | Transnational Geographies of Muslim Societies | 3 |
| GEOG/ENEC 451 | Population, Development, and the Environment | 3 |
| GEOG 457 | Rural Latin America: Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources H | 3 |
| GEOG 458 | Urban Latin America: Politics, Economy, and Society | 3 |
| GEOG 460 | Geographies of Economic Change | 3 |
| GEOG 470 | Political Ecology: Geographical Perspectives | 3 |
| GEOG 480 | Liberation Geographies | 3 |
| GEOG 491 | Introduction to GIS | 3 |
| GEOG 541 | GIS in Public Health | 3 |
| GEOG 542 | Neighborhoods and Health | 3 |
| GLBL 382 | Latin American Migrant Perspectives: Ethnography and Action | 3 |
| GLBL 390 | Current Topics in Global Studies | 3 |
| HIST 238 | The American Revolution, 1763-1815 | 3 |
| HIST 365 | The Worker and American Life | 3 |
| HIST 385 | African American Women's History | 3 |
| HIST 510 | Human Rights in the Modern World H | 3 |
| HIST 566 | The History of Sexuality in America | 3 |
| HIST 568 | Women in the South | 3 |
| HIST 577 | United States Foreign Relations in the 20th Century | 3 |
| HIST 584 | The Promise of Urbanization: American Cities in the 19th and 20th Centuries | 3 |
| HIST 589 | Race, Racism, and America: (United States) Law in Historical Perspective | 3 |
| HPM 310 | Introduction to Health Law and Ethics | 3 |
| HPM 330 | Introduction to Health Organization Leadership, Management, and Behavior | 3 |
| HPM 340 | Foundations of Health Care Financial Management | 3 |
| HPM 350 | Introduction to the U.S. Health System I | 3 |
| HPM 351 | Politics, Public Health, and Health Policy | 3 |
| HPM 352 | Introduction to the U.S. Health System II | 3 |
| INLS 382 | Information Systems Analysis and Design | 3 |
| INLS 515 | Consumer Health Information | 3 |
| MEJO 340 | Introduction to Media Law: Journalism Focus | 3 |
| MEJO 441 | Diversity and Communication | 3 |
| MEJO 442 | Gender, Class, Race, and Mass Media | 3 |
| MEJO 443 | Latino Media Studies | 3 |
| MEJO 445 | Media Effects on Audiences | 3 |
| MEJO 446 | Global Communication and Comparative Journalism | 3 |
| MEJO 458 | Southern Politics: Critical Thinking and Writing | 3 |
| MEJO 541 | Reporting & Writing About the Economy | 3 |
| MEJO 560 | Environmental and Science Journalism H | 3 |
| MEJO 652 | Digital Media Economics and Behavior H | 3 |
| MNGT 345 | Public Policy Toward Business | 3 |
| MNGT 365 | The Worker and American Life | 3 |
| MNGT 380 | The Economics of Labor Relations | 3 |
| MNGT 410 | Formal Organizations and Bureaucracy | 3 |
| MNGT 412 | Social Stratification | 3 |
| MNGT 415 | Economy and Society | 3 |
| MNGT 427 | The Labor Force | 3 |
| PHIL 364 | Ethics and Economics | 3 |
| PHIL 370 | Authority, Freedom, and Rights: Advanced Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 384 | Gateway to Philosophy, Politics, and Economics H | 3 |
| PHIL 473 | American Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 480 | Philosophy of Law | 3 |
| PHIL 698 | Philosophy, Politics, and Economics: Capstone Course | 3 |
| PLAN 330 | Principles of Sustainability | 3 |
| PLAN 574 | Political Economy of Poverty and Inequality | 3 |
| PLAN 636 | Urban Transportation Planning | 3 |
| PLAN 637 | Public Transportation | 3 |
| PLAN 641 | Watershed Planning | 3 |
| PLAN 651 | Urban Form and the Design of Cities | 3 |
| PLAN 685 | Water and Sanitation Planning and Policy in Less Developed Countries | 3 |
| POLI 400 | Executive Politics | 3 |
| POLI 401 | Political Economy I: The Domestic System | 3 |
| POLI 406 | State Governments: Laboratories of Democracy | 3 |
| POLI 410 | The Constitution of the United States | 3 |
| POLI 411 | Civil Liberties under the Constitution H | 3 |
| POLI 412 | United States National Elections H | 3 |
| POLI 416 | Constitutional Policies and the Judicial Process | 3 |
| POLI 418 | Mass Media and American Politics | 3 |
| POLI 419H | Race and Politics in the Contemporary United States | 3 |
| POLI 420 | Legislative Politics H | 3 |
| POLI 431 | African Politics and Societies | 3 |
| POLI 433 | Politics of the European Union H | 3 |
| POLI 434 | Politics of Mexico | 3 |
| POLI 438 | Democracy and International Institutions in an Undivided Europe | 3 |
| POLI 442 | International Political Economy | 3 |
| POLI 443 | American Foreign Policy: Formulation and Conduct | 3 |
| POLI 444 | Terrorism and International Peace | 3 |
| POLI 457 | International Conflict Processes | 3 |
| POLI 470 | Social and Political Philosophy H | 3 |
| POLI 472 | Problems of Modern Democratic Theory H | 3 |
| PSYC 467 | The Development of Black Children | 3 |
| PSYC 469 | Evolution and Development of Biobehavioral Systems | 3 |
| PSYC 471 | The Study of Adolescent Issues and Development | 3 |
| PSYC 500 | Developmental Psychopathology | 3 |
| PSYC 502 | Psychology of Adulthood and Aging | 3 |
| PSYC 504 | Health Psychology | 3 |
| PSYC 514 | Mania and Depression | 3 |
| PSYC 530 | Design and Interpretation of Psychological Research | 3 |
| PSYC 531 | Tests and Measurement | 3 |
| PSYC 532 | Quantitative Psychology H | 3 |
| PSYC 565 | Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination | 3 |
| PSYC 601 | Psychology and Law | 3 |
| PWAD 250 | Introduction to Peace and Security Studies | 3 |
| PWAD 368 | War and American Society to 1903 | 3 |
| PWAD 416 | Constitutional Policies and the Judicial Process | 3 |
| PWAD 443 | American Foreign Policy: Formulation and Conduct | 3 |
| PWAD 444 | Terrorism and International Peace | 3 |
| PWAD 453 | Political Geography | 3 |
| PWAD 460 | International Economics | 3 |
| PWAD 469 | Conflict and Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia H | 3 |
| PWAD 574 | War and Culture | 3 |
| PWAD 575 | Presidential Rhetoric | 3 |
| PWAD 577 | United States Foreign Relations in the 20th Century | 3 |
| RELI 423 | Ethnicity, Race, and Religion in America | 3 |
| RELI 443 | Evangelicalism in Contemporary America H | 3 |
| STOR 305 | Introduction to Decision Analytics | 3 |
| STOR 358 | Sample Survey Methodology | 4 |
| STOR 415 | Introduction to Optimization | 3 |
| STOR 455 | Methods of Data Analysis | 3 |
| SOCI 410 | Formal Organizations and Bureaucracy | 3 |
| SOCI 412 | Social Stratification | 3 |
| SOCI 415 | Economy and Society | 3 |
| SOCI 418 | Contemporary Chinese Society | 3 |
| SOCI 420 | Political Sociology | 3 |
| SOCI 422 | Sociology of Mental Health and Illness | 3 |
| SOCI 423 | Sociology of Education, Experiential Education | 3 |
| SOCI 424 | Law and Society | 3 |
| SOCI 425 | Family and Society, Junior/Senior Section | 3 |
| SOCI 426 | Sociology of Education | 3 |
| SOCI 427 | The Labor Force | 3 |
| SOCI 431 | Aging | 3 |
| SOCI 444 | Race, Class, and Gender | 3 |
| SOCI 468 | United States Poverty and Public Policy | 3 |
| SOCI 469 | Health and Society | 3 |
| SPHG 350H | Introduction to Public Health | 3 |
| WGST 368 | Women of Color in Contemporary United States Social Movements | 3 |
| WGST 388 | The International Politics of Sexual and Reproductive Health | 3 |
| WGST 410 | Comparative Queer Politics | 3 |
| WGST 662 | Gender Issues in Planning and Development | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
See the program page here for special opportunities.
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