The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Last updated: September 2, 2020 at 1:54 PM
Programs of Study
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Master of Arts
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Master of Science
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Master of Business Administration
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Master of Public Policy
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Doctor of Philosophy
History and Organization
Founded in 1959, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management is committed to developing new knowledge in the fields of social policy, human service management, and international development. The fundamental mission of the school—knowledge advancing social justice—is realized through the knowledge that is generated, the education that Heller students receive, and the accomplishments of Heller alumni.
One of the roles of the Heller School is to keep the concepts of social justice and human health and well-being in the forefront of the public conscience. The school and its nationally known research institutes and centers have pioneered in a variety of policy areas, including:
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Aging
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Behavioral health
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Children, youth, and families
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Disabilities
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Health services
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Assets and anti-poverty
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International community and economic development
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Global health policy and development
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Social Policy
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Work and inequalities
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Philanthropy
The Heller School provides its doctoral and master's students with solid training in policy research or management, community and economic development and a broad grounding in social policy. All students benefit from the resources and expertise of the Heller School's social policy research institutes and centers, which include:
- The Schneider Institutes (Institute on Healthcare Systems, Institute for Behavioral Health, and Institute for Global Health Policy and Development)
- Institute on Assets and Social Policy
- Institute for Child, Youth, and Family Policy
- The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy
- The Nathan and Toby Starr Center on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- The Center for Youth and Communities
- The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy
Objectives
Heller's six graduate degree programs are designed explicitly to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Students are engaged actively in examining policies and programs that respond to the changing needs of vulnerable individuals and social groups in contemporary societies, be they vulnerable as a result of economic hardship, illness, disability, age (young or old), or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. These core values are reflected in Heller's deep commitment to social change, a respect for public service, and an investment in the development of public- and private-sector policies and practices that enhance health and human development.
Heller's doctoral program in Social Policy (PhD) educates students for careers in research, teaching, administration, and policy analysis. The MBA in Nonprofit Management prepares leaders for management positions within nonprofit, for-profit, and public organizations or business units pursuing social missions. Heller's Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development (MA SID) imparts the knowledge and skills necessary to design and manage local, regional, national, or international development. The Master of Science in Global Health Policy and Management (MS GHPM) trains professionals to play increasingly responsible roles in the health and well-being of the world's poorest children and families. The Master of Public Policy (MPP) trains early and mid-career professionals for roles as policy analysts, researchers, advocates, and evaluators in public and private organizations. The Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence (MA COEX) trains early and midcareer professionals who are working, or aspire to work, within governments, international agencies or related fields to prevent, manage, and resolve intercommunal conflict and violence. The Heller Executive MBA for Physicians (eMBA) focuses on improving both clinical outcomes and financial results in healthcare organizations by training physician-leaders in the new science of medical management. All Heller students are committed to bettering human welfare, particularly for those who are vulnerable and who lack the capacity or resources to secure their own well-being.
Degree Programs
The Doctor of Philosophy Program in Social Policy
Heller's doctoral program educates students for careers in research, teaching, administration, and policy analysis. Students are immersed in an integrated curriculum that focuses on intensive scholarly preparation in general and on specialized social policy areas in order to apply knowledge to real-world problems. Students graduate with honed research skills and a strong working knowledge of various social science disciplines. The Heller School offers a joint PhD program with the Department of Sociology, and a joint MA Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Social Policy.
The Heller Master of Business Administration
The Heller MBA program prepares leaders for management positions within nonprofit, for-profit, and public institutions pursuing social missions. It offers a rigorous core curriculum addressing all the basic management disciplines found in a traditional MBA program, providing the technical foundation but integrating the distinctive issues that arise in managing for a social mission. Students are trained as the next generation of leaders and decision makers who will know how to find resources, use them efficiently and effectively, and deliver on a social good. The Heller School management education rigorously blends financial, technical, and social considerations. It places management in the context of social policy, drawing on the Heller School's powerful social policy resources. This combination makes the Heller MBA unique when compared to traditional programs in management, public administration, health administration, social work, and public health. The Heller School offers a dual MBA/MA with the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, a dual MBA/MA in Sustainable International Development, a dual MBA/MA in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence, a dual MBA/MS in Global Health Policy and Management, a dual MBA/MPP in Public Policy, a dual MBA/MS in Biotechnology, and a dual MBA/MD in Healthcare Management and a dual MBA/MBS in Biomedical Science in conjunction with Tufts University School of Medicine.
The Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development
Heller's MA program in Sustainable International Development (SID) imparts the knowledge and skills necessary for graduates to advance professionally in the international sector. Students in the SID program learn about human rights and gender-based approaches for reducing poverty and inequality, improving educational outcomes and promoting environmental sustainability. They acquire a suite of management skills, including planning and implementation, strategic management, and monitoring and evaluation, that are critical for successful development practitioners. The curriculum also reinforces students’ basic skills in professional writing, critical thinking, policy analysis, and qualitative and quantitative research methods. Students spend a year in residence studying with SID faculty, and then select a field-based practicum or additional year in residence for advanced study. A one-year accelerated track is available for those who have a minimum of three to four years of professional-level experience in the development field. A prior master’s degree in a related field is also an important qualification for the accelerated track. The Heller School offers a joint MA in SID and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, a dual MA with the Conflict Resolution and Coexistence (COEX) program, a dual MA SID/MBA, a dual MA SID/MS in Global Health Policy and Management (GHPM), a dual MA SID/JD program and a dual MA SID/LLM program with Northeastern University School of Law.
The Master of Science in Global Health Policy and Management
The MS in Global Health Policy and Management at the Heller School is a nine month (one academic year) degree program that offers courses that improve analytical skills, build knowledge of public health and teach about the newest methods in the design, financing and implementation of health system changes. Students in the MS programs will learn how a health system is designed and will acquire the tools that they need to make significant policy changes in health systems around the world. Graduates of the MS program will have a robust toolset that they will be able to use to problem solve and understand many complex issues related to health policy, population health, and health systems. The program focuses not only on building useful skills to assist in high level policy design and decision making but also how to implement these policies appropriately on the ground. The required courses in the MS Program focus on specific skills that are needed to make sound health policy decisions. However, there is enough flexibility in the course work to allow individual students to focus their expertise in policy, management or development. Graduates of the MS Program follow many different career paths. Some of our graduates have returned to their home countries equipped with the necessary skills in order to move into high level positions within their Ministries of Health or other government posts. Other graduates have become key players in many influential organizations and agencies throughout the globe (USAID, World Health Organization, the World Bank, Mercy Corps and other prominent NGOs). The MS Program will also prepare those students who want to apply for further study in a PhD Program. Heller also offers a dual degree between the MS program and the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program between the MS program and the MA Sustainable International Development (SID) program and between the MS program and the MA Conflict Resolution and Coexistence (COEX) program.
The Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence
The Master's Program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management focuses on the challenges posed by intercommunal and societal conflicts in today's world. Bringing greater professional policy and practical expertise and leadership to bear upon these challenges is the goal. Since its inception in 2004, the program has become the preferred choice of midcareer professionals who want and need to understand how better to prevent, manage and resolve such conflicts. The curriculum of the Master's Program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence ensures that participants will secure a solid grounding in the theories of contemporary conflict resolution and coexistence work, as well as develop the professional skills to design and implement successful interventions to deal with the challenges of such conflicts. The sixteen-month program involves an academic year in residence studying at Brandeis, followed by a three-month field placement and the completion of a master's field project. The Heller School offers a dual MA with the program in Sustainable International Development (SID) and a dual MA/MBA in Nonprofit Management.
The Master of Public Policy
The Heller MPP prepares students for policy roles within community agencies, state and federal government, and think tanks. Heller’s high standards for rigorous and unbiased analysis are important assets to students headed for careers that will use their skills in advocacy, policy research, policy implementation and community work. The MPP program provides students with the skills necessary to design, implement, reform, analyze, and promote innovative solutions to society’s most critical problems. The MPP is a two-year degree program that follows the traditional academic year from late August to May. The Heller School offers a dual MPP/MA with the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, a dual MBA/MPP, and a joint degree with Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
The Executive Master of Business Administration for Physicians
The Heller School’s Executive MBA for Physicians (EMBA) is focused on improving both clinical outcomes and financial results in health care organizations by training physician-leaders in the new science of medical management. Designed for practicing physicians who are—or seek to be—in positions of management or leadership, the EMBA for Physicians is an accelerated 16-month program and a curriculum that integrates the student’s medical expertise with new knowledge in critical areas ranging from health policy and economics to operational systems management, high performance leadership, and healthcare innovation.
Admission
How to Apply to the Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Application materials and detailed procedures for each degree program can be found on the Heller School website or by contacting the Heller School Office of Admissions at 781-736-3820 or HellerAdmissions@brandeis.edu. All applications should demonstrate a commitment to addressing some of the world's most pressing social issues as well as a readiness to take on graduate-level studies.
Application deadlines and requirements vary by program. Please see below.
Test Scores and Deadlines
The PhD Program
The application deadline for the PhD program is January 15. The application process and requirements are the same for full-time and part-time applicants. All applicants must submit the online application form, application fee (waived for Brandeis alumni and current or returned Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year and other service organization volunteers), statement of purpose, writing sample, transcripts, official GRE scores, three letters of recommendation, a professional resume/CV, and official TOEFL or IELTS scores for international students whose native language is not English.
Applicants to the PhD program in social policy must submit test results of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The test must be taken within five years of the application and must be submitted directly to the Heller School from ETS using the ETS institutional code: 3097. Although the application process is very competitive, the Heller School does not cite minimum score requirements, as test results are evaluated in conjunction with an applicant's educational background and professional experience. Further information on the GRE can be obtained at www.ets.org/gre.
International applicants whose native language is not English must submit proof of English language proficiency. Official scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test are preferred. Further information about these tests can be found at www.ets.org/toefl and www.ielts.org.
The Heller Master of Business Administration
The application deadlines for the full time MBA program and part-time MBA program (fall start) are November 15 (early deadline), January 15 (priority round one), March 1 (priority round two) and July 1. It is in an applicant’s best interest to apply early to be considered for merit-based scholarships. Applications received after July 1 will be evaluated on a space available basis. Applicants to the part-time MBA program who wish to enter in the spring semester must submit a completed application by November 1. All MBA applicants must submit the online application form, application fee (waived for Brandeis alumni and employees, and current or returned Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year and other service organization volunteers), statement of purpose, two additional application questions, transcripts, official GMAT (preferred) or GRE scores, official TOEFL or IELTS scores (international students whose native language is not English), two letters of recommendation, and a professional resume/CV.
Applicants to the MBA program must submit official test scores from the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or the test results of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The test must be taken within five years of the application and must be submitted directly to the Heller School from ETS using our ETS institutional code: 3097. Although the application process is very competitive, the Heller School does not cite minimum score requirements, as test results are evaluated in conjunction with an applicant's educational background and professional experience. Further information on the GMAT and the GRE can be obtained at www.ets.org/gre.
International applicants whose native language is not English must submit proof of English language proficiency. Official scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test are preferred. Further information about these tests can be found at www.ets.org/toefl and www.ielts.org.
The MA Sustainable International Development Program
The MA in Sustainable International Development program reviews applications on a rolling basis. It is in an applicant’s best interest to apply early to be considered for merit-based scholarships. All applicants must submit the online application form, application fee (waived for Brandeis alumni, applicants from low-income nations, and current or returned Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year and other service organization volunteers ), statement of purpose, transcripts, official TOEFL or IELTS scores (international students whose native language is not English), three letters of recommendation, and a professional résumé/CV.
Standardized test scores are not required of applicants to the MA program, although applicants to the joint MA/MBA program must submit official test scores from the GMAT or GRE. International applicants whose native language is not English must submit proof of English language proficiency. Official scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test are preferred, but the test requirement may be waived if an approved alternative confirmation of language proficiency is presented to the Office of Admissions. Further information about these tests can be found at www.ets.org/toefl and www.ielts.org.
The MS Global Health Policy and Management Program
The MS in Global Health Policy and Management program reviews applications on a rolling basis. It is in an applicant’s best interest to apply early to be considered for merit-based scholarships. All applicants must submit the online application form, application fee (waived for Brandeis alumni, applicants from low-income nations, and current or returned Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year and other service organization volunteers), statement of purpose, transcripts, official TOEFL or IELTS scores (international students whose native language is not English), three letters of recommendation, and a professional résumé/CV.
Standardized test scores are not required of applicants to the MS program, although applicants to the dual degree MS/MBA program must submit official test scores from the GMAT or the GRE. International applicants whose native language is not English must submit proof of English language proficiency. Official scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test are preferred, but the test requirement may be waived if an approved alternative confirmation of language proficiency is presented to the Office of Admissions. Further information about these tests can be found at www.ets.org/toefl and www.ielts.org.
The MA Conflict Resolution and Coexistence Program
The application deadlines for the MA in Coexistence and Conflict program are January 15 (Priority Round One), March 1 (Priority Round Two) and June 1. It is in an applicant’s best interest to apply early to be considered for merit-based scholarships. All applicants must submit the online application form, application fee (waived for Brandeis alumni, applicants from low-income nations and current or returned Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year and other service organization volunteers), statement of purpose, transcripts, official TOEFL or IELTS scores (international students whose native language is not English), three letters of recommendation, and a professional résumé/CV.
Standardized test scores are not required of applicants to the MA program International applicants whose native language is not English must submit proof of English language proficiency. Official scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test are preferred. Further information about these tests can be found at www.ets.org/toefl and www.ielts.org.
The MPP Program
The application deadlines for the MPP program are January 15 (Priority Round One), March 1 (Priority Round Two) and June 1. Applications received after June 1 will be evaluated on a space available basis. It is in an applicant’s best interest to apply early to be considered for merit-based scholarships. All applicants must submit the online application form, application fee (waived for Brandeis alumni and current or returned Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year and other service organization volunteers), statement of purpose, transcripts, official GRE scores, official TOEFL or IELTS scores (international students whose native language is not English), three letters of recommendation, and a professional résumé/CV.
Applicants to the MPP program must submit test results of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The test must be taken within five years of the application and must be submitted directly to the Heller School from ETS using the ETS institutional code: 3097. Although the application process is very competitive, the Heller School does not cite minimum score requirements, as test results are evaluated in conjunction with an applicant's educational background and professional experience. Further information on the GRE can be obtained at www.ets.org/gre.
International applicants whose native language is not English must submit proof of English language proficiency. Official scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test are preferred. Further information about these tests can be found at www.ets.org/toefl and www.ielts.org.
Academic Regulations
For complete information about academic regulations governing the Heller School's PhD, MBA, MA SID, MS GHPM, MA COEX, MPP and EMBA programs, refer to the Academic Policies and Procedures documents for each degree, available from the Heller School Office of Student Records and Enrollment.
Academic Standing
The Heller School reviews students' academic progress annually. Satisfactory academic progress in a program is essential to maintain one's eligibility for funding. Superior performance at Brandeis University is essential. Academic insufficiency or failure to make suitable progress toward the degree may result in withdrawal.
Registration
Every resident, post-resident, and continuation student must register at the beginning of each term, whether attending regular courses of study, carrying on research or independent reading, writing a thesis or dissertation, or utilizing any academic service or facility of the university. Registration requires enrollment in a course—whether a regular course, independent research, or a status course for post-resident and continuation students.
Students work closely with their advisers in planning their program of study. All students file an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) with their program office. At the end of the registration period for each term (see Academic Calendar for specific date), no additional courses may be added to a student's schedule and enrollment is considered to be final, unless a student formally drops a course prior to the drop deadline.
Auditing Courses
The privilege of auditing courses without paying a fee is extended to all regularly enrolled full-time graduate students. Auditors may not take examinations or expect evaluation from the instructor. No credit is given for an audited course. To audit a course, students must obtain the written permission of the instructor on an add/drop form and return it to the Heller School Office of Student Records and Enrollment by the deadline established in the Academic Calendar.
Credit/No Credit Grading Option for Graduate Students
These policy changes for Brandeis graduate students are effective for Spring semester 2020 only.
- Masters students in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management may elect to cover any number of grades from Spring 2020 that are a C+ or higher with a CR once they have seen their grade in a particular course: CR would cover C+ or higher and NC for anything lower. Spring 2020 C+ or CR grades will not count toward the maximum number of C+ grades during their particular program and will be accepted for credit. CR or C+ grades for Spring 2020 will be allowed to fulfill any program or concentration requirement and will be allowed to double count for requirements as a regularly graded course would. Consistent with current policy, grades below a “C+” will be considered as unsatisfactory and will not be counted as credit for degree requirements.
- The deadline for covering a Spring 2020 grade with a CR are May 13th for graduating students; August 21st for students graduating in August; and October 15th for all other graduate students. Once a Spring 2020 grade has been posted, students may email registrar@brandeis.edu to request the grade be covered with a CR or NC.
Drop Courses
Students are allowed to drop courses after the end of the online registration period only with permission of the instructor. To do so, students must obtain an add/drop form and return it to the Heller School Office of Student Records and Enrollment. Courses must be dropped by the deadline established in the Academic Calendar.
Grades and Course Standards
Graduate students are expected to maintain records of distinction in all courses. Letter grades will be used in all courses for master's degree-level students. Doctoral students receive "satisfactory (S)" or "unsatisfactory (U)."
Any letter grade below B- is considered unsatisfactory and will not be counted toward credit for degree requirements. There is one exception to this rule. For master’s programs in which students are in residence for four semesters or more, students may receive a grade of C+ in two courses throughout their program and still earn graduate degree credit for such courses. For master’s programs in which students are in residence for two or three semesters, students may receive only one grade of C+ throughout their program and still earn graduate degree credit. Students are not allowed to receive a grade below B- in the capstone course of their respective programs (Team Consulting Project [TCP] for the MBA Program). If a student receives two grades of C+ in one semester and one of the C+ grades is not eligible for degree credit (e.g., master’s programs in which students are in residence for two or three semesters), the Program Director may decide or create a committee to decide which course will count toward degree requirements.
Incompletes
A student who has not completed the research or written work including examinations for any course may receive an EI (incomplete) or a failing grade at the discretion of the course instructor. A student who receives an EI must satisfactorily complete the work of the course in order to receive credit for the course and a letter grade. An incomplete must be made up no later than the date published in the academic calendar for the term.
An EI that is not resolved by the published deadline will become a permanent incomplete (I).
Full-Time Resident Students
A full-time graduate student is one who devotes his/her entire time, during the course of the academic year, to a program of graduate work at Brandeis.
A full-time program may include a combination of teaching and research assistance and other work leading to the fulfillment of degree requirements, such as preparation for qualifying, comprehensive, and final examinations; supervised reading and research; PhD dissertations; and regular course work.
A full-time resident student must take a minimum of twelve credits per term unless otherwise approved by his or her program director. An accelerated program of study or payment of more than the full-time tuition rate in any single academic year may not satisfy the minimum residence requirement for any degree.
Part-Time Resident Students
A part-time graduate student is one who devotes less than the entire time to a program of graduate work at Brandeis. Part-time students are expected to enroll in two courses per term unless otherwise approved by their program director. Part-time students must register as continuation status (CONT 450a) in any semester in which they are not enrolled in courses.
Students receiving financial aid from the university who wish to change their status from full-time to part-time residency must request permission to do so from their program director and file their change of status with the office of admissions and financial aid with an explanation of why full-time study is no longer possible.
Post-Resident Students
A graduate student who has completed residence requirements and who needs to utilize the full range of academic services and university facilities while completing degree requirements is a post-resident student. This includes doctoral students who do not have approved dissertation proposals. Post-resident students must enroll in a status course (CONT 500a), as they are considered to be full-time students.
Continuation Students
A doctoral student who has completed all degree requirements (including the dissertation proposal hearing) except the dissertation is eligible for continuation status. Students in this category must enroll in a status course (CONT 250 summer term and CONT 500 fall and spring term), as they are considered to be full-time students. Full-time continuation students are eligible for university health insurance, borrowing privileges in the Library, a computer account, use of gym facilities, and purchase of a parking sticker.
A student must be registered and enrolled in the term(s) in which the dissertation is defended and submitted to the Heller School Office of Student Records and Enrollment.
MA students are considered full-time continuation students during their second year when engaged in their field projects.
Limit of Candidacy for the Ph.D. Degree for Students Entering the Program
General Guidelines
- All required coursework and the comprehensive exam are expected to be completed within two calendar years from admission for full-time students, and four calendar years for part-time students.
- The dissertation proposal development, review, and hearing are expected to be completed within one calendar year after #1.
- The dissertation is expected to be completed and defended within two calendar years after #2.
These guidelines are not intended to restrict the pace at which any student proceeds in the Ph.D. program. Rather, they articulate the expected pace that most students should follow.
Time Limit in the Ph.D. Program
While the expected time for completion of the Ph.D. program is 4-5 years, there is a maximum of 10 years allowed for completion, 12 years for part-time students. There is no possibility for reinstatement after the maximum time limit has been reached. Full-time students must defend their dissertations no later than 9½ years (before March 1) from their entry into the program. Part-time students must defend their dissertations no later than 11 ½ years (before March 1) from their entry in the program. If any student’s dissertation committee requires any changes, whether minor or major, the student has no more than 6 months to successfully re-defend his or her dissertation.
In no case can the 10-year time limit be exceeded for a successful dissertation defense for full-time students, nor can the 12-year time limit be exceeded for a successful defense for part-time students. Exceptions to this policy are not permitted under any circumstances.
Full-time students must successfully defend their dissertation proposal, including minor or major changes, within 6 years (before August 31) from the date of their entry into the program. Part-time students must successfully defend their dissertation proposal, including any minor or major changes, by 8 years (before August 31) after their entry into the program (August 31). Failure to successfully defend either the proposal or the dissertation within these time limits will result in termination from the program. Exceptions to this policy are not permitted under any circumstances.
Actions to Monitor Progress
Although students are responsible for ensuring that their progress is satisfactory and timely, the PhD program will contact students in writing each year after successful completion of the comprehensive exam to ensure that students are fully aware of their progress and of the School’s policies and expectations. Students who are not achieving satisfactory progress may be asked to leave the program.
Special Students
No more than two full course equivalents (8 credits) taken for credit may be transferable to degree candidacy if the student is admitted to the doctoral program, the MPP, or the MBA. No more than four credits (two module courses or one full-semester course) may be transferable to degree candidacy if the student is admitted to the MA program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence, MA program in Sustainable International Development, or MS program in Global Health Policy and Management. Successful completion of a course(s) as a Special Student does not guarantee admission into any degree program. Special Students are considered with all other applicants to the School.
Leave of Absence
Students may petition for a leave of absence. The petition must have the approval of the student's program director. Leaves of absence up to one year will normally be granted to students. Leaves of absence beyond one year are extended only for medical reasons. Any student wishing to extend the leave of absence must submit a written request with medical documentation before the leave expires. If there are outstanding incompletes when a student begins a leave, the student will not be allowed to reregister until the missing work has been completed. The PhD Program only allows leave during the residency.
Withdrawal
A student who wishes to withdraw voluntarily from the Heller School during a semester must do so in writing to the program director and must file his or her request with the Office of Student Records and Enrollment before the last day of instruction of the semester. Failure to notify in writing of a withdrawal may subject the student to loss of eligibility for refunds in accordance with the refund schedule outlined in the "Fees and Expenses" section. Permission to withdraw voluntarily will not be granted if the student has not discharged all financial obligations to the university or has not made financial arrangements satisfactory to the Office of Student Financial Services. When a student withdraws during or at the end of a semester, course enrollments are not expunged from his/her record, rather a grade of W ("dropped") is entered for each course.
Students who are obliged to register and fail to do so by the appropriate deadline or who fail to pay their bill will be administratively withdrawn. They may be readmitted (see below) for study in a subsequent term, but not for the term in which they were withdrawn for failure to register. Belatedly fulfilling financial obligations will not negate the effects of administrative withdrawal.
Readmission
A student who has not been enrolled in the Heller School for more than one year and who did not obtain a leave of absence should file an application for readmission and will be charged the readmission fee. The student's program will determine in each case whether a student should be readmitted. If the program's requirements have changed during the student's absence or the student is not deemed current in his or her field of study, the program may require the student to repeat or supplement previous academic requirements, including qualifying exams. When a student is reinstated, he or she will be informed of current status regarding credits and time to degree.
Graduate Cross-Registration
The Heller School has cross-registration agreements with Bentley University School of Business Administration, Boston College, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Regis College, and Tufts University. A full-time graduate student at the Heller School may enroll in one graduate-level course per term (excluding the summer term) at any one of these institutions. Information on courses for cross-registration at each of the host institutions is available at the graduate school office of each institution.
A student who wishes to enroll in a course at one of these institutions should consult with the instructor in the particular course and should expect to satisfy the prerequisites and requirements normally required for admission to the course, including adherence to the academic calendar of that course. To enroll in a graduate course at one of the host institutions, a student should obtain a cross-registration petition from the University Registrar and should present this petition to both the Heller Office of Student Records and Enrollment and the Registrar's office of the host institution for approval. The completed petition should be returned to the Heller School Office of Student Records and Enrollment prior to the deadline established in the Academic Calendar.
Any part-time graduate student in a degree program is allowed to participate in cross-registration. Students may only take one cross-registration course a semester, and are required to take at least one Brandeis course in addition to the cross-registered course. Students cannot exceed taking the equivalent of one cross-registration course per semester of residency.
Due to differences in academic calendars among the colleges in the consortium, it is not advisable for degree candidates to enroll in a cross-registered course in their final semester.
Fees and Expenses
Tuition and Fees
The following tuition and fees are in effect for the 2020-2021 academic year. These figures are subject to annual revision by the Brandeis Board of Trustees.
Payment of tuition and other fees is due on August 21, 2020, for the fall semester and December 11, 2020, for the spring semester. A student who has not paid such fees by the day of registration will be refused the privilege of registration. A late fee will be assessed to all student accounts with outstanding balances after the stated due date. The amount of the late fee will be $100, or 2 percent of the outstanding balance, whichever is greater.
Application fee: $55
Payable by all applicants for admission at the time the application for admission is submitted.
Tuition
PhD Program
Full-time: $52,250 per year
Post-resident: $3,300 per year
Continuation: $1,650 per year
Part-time: $5,992 per course or $1,498 per credit
MBA Program
Full-time: $26,125 per semester (four consecutive semesters program)
Part-time: $5,992 per course or $1,498 per credit
Heller Program Fee: $420 per year
MA SID Program
$52,250 for first year
$1,650 continuation fee for second year
Heller Program Fee: $420 per year
MS GHPM Program
$52,250 per year
Heller Program Fee: $420 per year
MA COEX Program
$52,250 per year
Heller Program Fee: $420 per year
MPP Program
$52,250 per year
Heller Program Fee: $420 per year
A bank service fee will be charged to a student's account if a payment or a check negotiated through Brandeis is returned by the bank for any reason.
Transcript Fee
Current and former students should request official transcripts of their records from the Office of the University Registrar. At this time, students can order official paper transcripts free of charge. Brandeis University has partnered with the National Student Clearinghouse to allow current and former students to obtain official electronic transcripts to be sent to themselves or a third party in a secure manner. The fee for an electronic transcript is $2.25 - $4.00. This fee is payable directly to the National Student Clearinghouse. Official transcripts will be issued only to those students whose financial records with the university are in order.
Graduate Activity Fee: $120 per year
Student Health Insurance Plan (single coverage): $3,395 per year
All three-quarter or full-time students are required by state law to show certification of health insurance. Students without insurance of their own must purchase the Student Health Insurance Plan through the university. All international students at Brandeis University are automatically enrolled in the Student Health Insurance. The fee is payable prior to registration and no portion is refundable. Student insurance is optional for special students. Additional insurance options, including family coverage, are described in A Guide to University Health Services, which is available from Health Services.
Parking Fee: $60-250 per year
Payable annually at fall registration for privilege of parking an automobile on campus. Fee varies with assigned parking area.
Late Fee: $100, or 2 percent of the outstanding balance, whichever is greater
A student who defaults in the payment of indebtedness to the university shall be subject to suspension, dismissal, and refusal of a transfer of credits or issuance of an official transcript.
Financial Regulations
The University may refer the debt to an outside collection agency. The student is responsible for costs associated with the collection of the debt.
Such indebtedness includes, but is not limited to, delinquency of a borrower in repaying a loan administered by the student loan office and the inability of that office to collect such a loan because the borrower has discharged the indebtedness through bankruptcy proceedings. If the student is a degree, certificate, or diploma candidate, his or her name will be stricken from the rolls.
A student who has been suspended or dismissed for nonpayment of indebtedness to the university may not be reinstated until such indebtedness is paid in full.
Every student is required to complete a Financial Responsibility Agreement each semester. Any student who fails to complete this agreement prior to the start of classes will be denied the privileges of attending classes and using university facilities.
Final Doctoral Fee: $235
This fee covers all costs for the year in which the PhD degree will be conferred, including the costs for the full publishing services for the dissertation and three xerographic softbound copies (for the chair, department, and Library). The final doctoral fee also covers the cost of the diploma.
Refunds
The only fee that may be refundable, in part, is the tuition fee. No refund of the tuition fee will be made because of illness, absence, or dismissal during the academic year. A student who is withdrawing must notify the Heller School's chief administrative officer in writing; refunds will be based on the date of notification and calculated in accordance with the following:
- Tuition
Withdrawal
Before the opening day of instruction: 100 percent of the term's tuition.
On or before the second Friday following the opening day of instruction: 75 percent of the term's tuition.
On or before the fifth Friday following the opening day of instruction: 50 percent of the term's tuition.
After the fifth Friday following the opening day of instruction: no refund.
Requests for refunds should be addressed to the Office of Student Financial Services.
- Scholarship
In the case of a scholarship student who withdraws, the student's account will be credited with the same proportion of the term scholarship as charged for tuition: 75 percent if the student leaves on or before the second Friday; 50 percent on or before the fifth Friday and no refund thereafter. - Stafford Loans
In compliance with federal law, special refund arrangements apply to students receiving aid under Title IV. Contact the Office of Student Financial Services for more information or visit https://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/bulletin/2020-2021/arts-sciences/finaid/return-
title-iv-funds.html. - Tuition Assistance Funds
In compliance with federal law, special refund arrangements apply to students receiving aid from Department of Defense Tuition Assistance funds. Contact the Heller School assistant dean for admissions and financial aid for additional information.
Refund Policy for Dropped Courses
A student who drops courses on the per-course tuition-charge basis is allowed a refund following this schedule:
- Full semester-long courses
Before the opening day of instruction through the last day of the registration period (see the Academic Calendar): 100 percent of the dropped course’s tuition fee.
On or before the fifth Friday following the opening day of instruction: 50 percent of the dropped course’s tuition fee.
After the fifth Friday following the opening day of instruction: no refund.
- Module courses
On or before the 10th day of instruction for the module session: 100 percent of the dropped course's tuition fee. See the Academic Calendar page on the Registrar's site includes a link to the list of class meeting dates for a module session.
After the 10th day of instruction for the module session: no refund.
Housing
Nine-month living expenses in the Waltham area for a single individual on an economical budget are estimated to be approximately $16,380.
Financial Aid
The Heller School attempts to assist as many students as possible in securing financial aid, although it is expected that candidates for admission will explore a variety of outside funding sources, such as private scholarships, state scholarships, and G.I. Bill benefits. The Heller School offers scholarships and fellowships awarded on the basis of academic merit. These grants rarely cover the full cost of study plus living expenses, but, in combination with federal loans, make up the typical aid package. Part-time students are not eligible to receive fellowships from the Heller School.
For more information about fellowships, scholarships, and loans for all of our degree programs, visit the Heller School website, or contact the Office of Admissions.
Loans
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans are available to graduate students. Applicants must file the FAFSA to qualify for this loan. Graduate students may borrow up to a maximum of $20,500 a year with an aggregate maximum of $138,500, with no more than $65,500 in subsidized loan funds.
The interest rate on the Stafford Loan for the 20-21 academic year will be a fixed rate of 4.30 percent and the origination fee will be 1.059 percent.
Repayment of a Stafford Loan begins six months after the borrower ceases to be enrolled at least half-time. The standard repayment period is 10 years, during which time interest is charged. (Please go to www.studentloans.gov for information about alternate repayment plans.) Students are required to pay the interest during the in-school period, or have it capitalized and added to the loan balance, for the unsubsidized loan.
The terms for the above loan programs are subject to federal legislation, regulations and other guidance, and may change. Additional current information is available from the Graduate School.
Students wishing to apply for loans should contact the Heller School for application materials.
The Graduate PLUS Loan is a federal loan that allows graduate students to borrow up to their total cost of education less any financial aid received. The student must pass an independent credit review. For the 20-21 academic year, the PLUS Loan will have a fixed interest rate of 5.30 percent and an origination fee of 4.236 percent. Go to www.studentloans.gov to apply for this loan.
Borrowers of the Federal Direct Stafford Loan, and the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan must complete the required promissory notes and entrance counseling online at the beginning of their entering semester upon receipt of correspondence from the Office of Student Financial Services. Anticipated credits on a student's account will be cancelled if all required steps are not completed.
Faculty
See the Heller School website for a full faculty listing.
Requirements for the Degrees
Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Policy
Program of Study
Students in the program must complete fifteen courses (60 credits) over two years in residence (training grants may have additional requirements). The core curriculum spreads across three categories: theory, methods, and area of concentration. Students have to take the 5.5 core curriculum courses. These are indicated by name below. In addition students have to take one course as well as a non-credit doctoral seminar in their area of concentration. Of the remaining 8.5 courses, 3.5 must be from an approved list of PhD courses allowing for 5 electives. Electives can be chosen from a variety of offerings in all three categories. Successful completion of course work fulfills the requirements for the Master of Arts in Social Policy. Students must successfully complete an integrated Comprehensive Exam to proceed to the dissertation.
Core Requirements (5.5 courses – 22 credits)
Fall
HS 326f Introduction to STATA Programming and Data Management (2 credits)
HS 401b Research Methods (4 credits)
HS 403b Qualitative Research (4 credits) HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
Spring
HS 508a Theory of Social Policy and Change (4 credits)
HS 510a Applied Design and Analysis (4 credits)
Residence Requirement
The minimum residence for the PhD is two years.
Qualifying Paper
Upon completion of course work, each student must complete an integrative comprehensive paper. This paper is usually administered at the end of the student's fourth semester.
Language Requirement
There is no foreign language requirement for the PhD degree.
Dissertation and Final Oral Examination
A dissertation proposal should be submitted within one year after the comprehensive paper is completed. The dissertation committee consists of four members—at least two members from the Heller faculty and at least one member from outside of the Heller School or outside the university. Students may elect to write the dissertation in either a three-paper academic-journal format or the monograph format. To be granted the degree, the student is required to defend the dissertation in a public final oral examination.
Requirements for the Joint Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Policy and Sociology
The PhD in Social Policy and Sociology is a joint degree of the Department of Sociology and the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Students are encouraged to apply during the first year of study in either department. The application deadline is April 1 for the following September. Students are responsible for obtaining a letter of recommendation from their program director. If the student is accepted by the complementary department (admission is not guaranteed), the following procedures apply.
Program of Study
Students entering the joint PhD program in social policy and sociology are expected to complete a total of eighteen courses (72 credits). At least nine of these courses must be offered by the Brandeis sociology department—four of these courses must be graduate seminars and the remaining five may be advanced undergraduate/graduate seminars or directed readings; at least one of these must be a sociology theory course. A minimum of nine courses (36 credits) must be taken within the Heller School. A list of required courses is available from the Heller PhD program. In addition, in their first year, students are required to participate in a year-long, noncredit proseminar in the sociology department that introduces the program's faculty and their research interests. Students are also required to take a noncredit doctoral seminar at the Heller School for two semesters.
Students are assigned advisers from the sociology department and from the Heller School. Advisers in both departments work together with students to assure appropriate coherency in their program of courses. An interdepartmental meeting between advisers and students should take place at least once a year.
Residence Requirement
The minimum residence for the joint PhD degree is three years.
Language Requirement
There is no foreign language requirement for the joint PhD degree.
Qualifying Examinations
Each student must complete a comprehensive paper as required in the Heller School curriculum. Students must also show competence in two areas of sociology as certified through the Qualifying Portfolio and Defense (QPD) Committee process. Students elect two areas of interest and develop a contractual set of requirements with a faculty member of each area. When both QPDs are completed, there is a meeting (typically one to two hours) to discuss the student's interests, directions in the field, and the upcoming dissertation.
Dissertation and the Final Oral Examination
A dissertation proposal should be submitted soon after the comprehensive examination and GACs are completed. The dissertation committee should consist of five members—two faculty members each from the sociology department and the Heller School and one outside member. The joint PhD dissertation may be accepted by the sociology department and the Heller School upon the recommendation of the dissertation committee. To be granted the degree, the student is required to defend the dissertation in a public final oral examination.
Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Social Policy & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Students enrolled in the PhD program in social policy may elect to pursue a joint master's degree in Social Policy & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, with the program director's permission as well as the agreement of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program. This masters in passing degree option replaces the master's degree in social policy and can only be earned in a semester prior to the conferral of the doctoral degree in social policy. The joint degree provides students an opportunity to mesh the Heller School’s social policy research and analytical training with issues that affect women and gender. The joint MA is for a select group of students interested in pursuing an additional interdisciplinary perspective. Students in the program must be willing to do additional course work, take part in a proseminar, and write a master's paper.
Please refer to the requirements for the PhD as this MA is open only to PhD students in Social Policy.
Program of Study
- WGS 205a or another course designated as a graduate foundational course in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
- A course in feminist research methodologies (WGS 208b, the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies, or an alternative).
- Two courses cross-listed with Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (one inside the Heller School and one in any department other than the Heller School).
- Participation in a year-long noncredit Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies graduate proseminar.
- Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the Heller School faculty and one of whom is a member of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies core or affiliate faculty.
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration
Program of Study
Students must successfully complete 68 credits, 52 of which are core requirements. Over the summer, students are engaged in a team-consulting project involving actual clients and there are opportunities for internships during the summer and the second fall.
Required Courses
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 245f Economics I (2 credits)
HS 246b Statistics (2 credits)
HS 247f Evaluation for Managers (2 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 248f Economics II (2 credits)
HS 249f Social Justice, Management, and Policy (2 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 254a Human Resource Management (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop (2 credits)
Team Consulting Project
The Heller MBA culminates in the team consulting project: a real-world, practical experience where students have the opportunity to apply the analytical and problem-solving skills they have developed at Heller to an organization or business unit pursuing a social mission. Working under the supervision of a faculty adviser, students work in teams of three to five, providing management consulting services to a variety of organizations over a four-month period. By working with real organizations that are facing human resource, operational, financial, strategic, and other management challenges, students are better prepared to function as successful professionals after graduation.
Residence Requirement
16 months in residence.
Master's Thesis
There is no master's thesis.
Language Requirement
There is no language requirement.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration/MD with Tufts University School of Medicine
Admission
MBA/MD applicants may apply via the online Tufts University School of Medicine secondary application at any time during the application cycle. (Space is limited in the program so applying early is recommended.) Students' applications are reviewed by the Heller MBA committee after they are offered admission to the medical school. Please note that the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is not required for admission to the MBA/MD program. During the first summer, students are required to take the GMAT (if not already taken) as a condition of their full matriculation at Brandeis University. Test scores will be sent directly to the Heller School by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Council. The GMAT code for the Heller School at Brandeis University is 3FD-ZX-31. For further information, see the GMAT website.
For more information on MD Program Admissions, visit the Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) Admissions site.
Degree Requirements
The dual degree requires 65 MBA credits, including 39 credits in the core curriculum and 26 health-specific classes. Four credits are transferred in from Tufts. The program is usually completed in four years including two summers of intense course work. The MBA portion of this program culminates in a Team Consulting Project (TCP).
Required MBA Courses
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 246b Statistics (2 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 257b Negotiation (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 290a Economics (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HS 343f Health Care Entrepreneurship (2 credits)
HS 347a Healthcare Technology & Information Systems (4 credits)
HS 357f Health Law and Ethics I (2 credits)
HS 358f Health Law and Ethics II (2 credits)
HS 365 Physician’s Executive Field Experience (4 credits)
HS 513a Issues in National Health Policy (4 credits)
HS 518a Management of Healthcare Organizations (4 credits)
HS 801g Team Consulting Project Workshop (1 credits)
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration/MS in Biomedical Sciences (MBS) with Tufts University School of Medicine
Admission
MBA/MBS applicants may apply via the online Tufts University School of Medicine secondary application at any time during the application cycle. (Space is limited in the program so applying early is recommended.) Students' applications are reviewed by the Heller MBA committee after they are offered admission to the medical school. Please note that the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is not required for admission to the MBA/MBS program. During the first summer, students are required to take the GMAT (if not already taken) as a condition of their full matriculation at Brandeis University. Test scores will be sent directly to the Heller School by GMAC, Graduate Management Admission Council. The GMAT code for the Heller School at Brandeis University is 3FD-ZX-31. For further information, see the GMAT website.
For more information on MD Program Admissions, visit the Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) Admissions site.
Degree Requirements
The dual degree requires 60 MBA credits, including 42 credits in the core curriculum and 14 health-specific classes and 4 electives. Six credits are transferred in from Tufts. The program is usually completed in two years including two summers of intense course work. The MBA portion of this program culminates in a Team Consulting Project (TCP).
Required MBA Courses
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 290a Economics (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HS 347a Healthcare Technology & Information Systems (4 credits)
HS 357f Health Law and Ethics I (2 credits)
HS 513a Issues in National Health Policy (4 credits)
HS 518a Health Care Management (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop (2 credits)
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration/Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development
Admission
All applications for dual degrees will be reviewed by the admissions committee of each program, using the same standards for admission that are used for all other degree applicants. If a student does not meet the criteria for admission to one of the degree programs, the student will retain the option of attending the program to which he or she is accepted. This dual-degree option is restricted to MA students who spend the second year in residence and students admitted to the accelerated MA program. Students in the dual degree must take the GMAT or GRE.
Degree Requirements
The dual degree requires eighty-two course credits comprised of specific MASID courses totaling fourteen to sixteen credits, and specific MBA courses totaling fifty to fifty-two credits. The remaining credits are taken as MA/SID electives. The program is usually completed in five semesters, including one summer of course work. This program culminates in an MBA Team Consulting Project (TCP).
Required MBA Courses
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 245f Economics I (2 credits)
HS 246b Statistics (2 credits)
HS 247f Evaluation for Managers (or HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation) (2 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 248f Economics II (2 credits)
HS 249f Social Justice & Management (2 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership & Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 254a Human Resources Management (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop(2 credits)
Required MA SID Courses
HS 264f Environment & Development (2 credits)
HS 279a Introduction to Planning and Implementation (4 credits)
HS 278f Monitoring and Evaluation (or HS 247f Evaluation for Managers) (2 credits)
HS 319f Ethics, Rights and Development or HS 210f Comparative Approaches to Global Justice and Social Inequality (2 credits)
One course in Gender and Sexuality from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Economics from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Environment and Ecology from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
Master's Project
Students must fulfill the Team Consulting Project as defined by the MBA Program.
Residence Requirement
Full-time students must be in residence for a minimum of twenty months and complete all degree requirements within five years. Full-time students begin in the fall semester, continue through the spring, take a full course load in the summer, and finish at the end of the following spring.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration/Master of Science in Global Health Policy and Management
Admission
All applications for dual degrees will be reviewed by the admissions committee of each program, using the same standards for admission that are used for all other degree applicants. If a student does not meet the criteria for admission to one of the degree programs, the student will retain the option of attending the program to which he or she is accepted. Students in the dual degree must take the GMAT or GRE.
Degree Requirements
The dual degree requires eighty-four course credits comprised of specific MS GHPM courses totaling sixteen credits, and specific MBA courses totaling fifty-two credits. The remaining 16 credits are taken as health electives. The program is completed in a minimum of five semesters including the summer between years one and two. The MBA portion of this program culminates in a Team Consulting Project (TCP).
Required MBA Courses
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 246b Statistics (2 credits)
HS 247f Evaluation for Managers (2 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 249f Social Justice Management and Policy (2 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 254a Human Resource Management (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HS 518a Management of Health Care Organizations (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop (2 credits)
Required MS GHPM Courses
HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits)
HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits)
HS 239f Intersectionality and Bioethics
HS 326f Introduction to Stata Programming and Data Management (2 credits)
HS 330f International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 402f Research Methods
Residence Requirement
Students must be in residence for a minimum of twenty months and complete all degree requirements within five years. Full-time students begin in the fall semester, continue through the spring, take a full course load in the summer, and finish at the end of the following spring.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration/Master of Conflict Resolution and Coexistence
Admission
All applications for dual degrees will be reviewed by the admissions committee of each program, using the same standards for admission that are used for all other degree applicants. If a student does not meet the criteria for admission to one of the degree programs, the student will retain the option of attending the program to which he or she is accepted. Students in the dual degree must take the GMAT or GRE.
Degree Requirements
The dual degree requires 90 credits comprised of specific MA COEX courses totaling thirty-eight credits, and specific MBA courses totaling fifty-two credits. The program is usually completed in six semesters including two summers. The MBA portion of this program culminates in a Team Consulting Project (TCP).
Required Courses (MBA)
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 245f Economics I (2 credits)
HS 246b Statistics (2 credits)
HS 247f Evaluation for Managers (2 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 248f Economics II (2 credits)
HS 249f Social Justice Management and Policy (2 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 254a Human Resource Management (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop (2 credits)
Required MA COEX Courses
HS 210a Coexistence and Conflict: Theory and Analysis (4 credits)
HS 218a Coexistence Field Practicum
HS 227f Coexistence Intervention, Monitoring and Evaluation (2 credits)
HS 230f Coexistence Research Methods (2 credits)
HS 233f Social Policy for Shared Societies (2 credits)
HS 236f Strategies for Coexistence Interventions (2 credits)
HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits)
HS 277f Introduction to Planning and Implementation (2 credits)
HS 294f Mediation Principles and Skills (2 credits)
Master's Project and Paper
All students are required to complete an internship or independent fieldwork, with a concluding paper written under the supervision of a faculty mentor. Students must develop an MA project designed to test their application of theory to practice, to expand their policy and practical experience, and, under supervision, to increase their security and comfort levels at working in what is usually a contentious and sometimes dangerous field. In addition, the field project is planned to test and improve the breadth and depth of students' professional skills and to significantly increase their networks of collaboration.
The project will consist of either of the following options:
- An internship of at least three months in a governmental or nongovernmental organization assisting with the development and implementation of a policy or a program of coexistence intervention. Students will (1) identify an intervention or their particular part of an intervention; (2) set objectives and time lines; (3) secure partners where necessary for its implementation; (4) ensure that appropriate monitoring and evaluating techniques are built into the program design; and (5) write a final report on the intervention.
- Independent fieldwork for at least three months in a conflict area. Such fieldwork will be designed to assist the generation and development of new coexistence and conflict management intervention options, and must be undertaken in partnership with policymakers or practitioners who are already working in the area. The report of this fieldwork includes feedback and evaluations from prospective partners already working in the area. Students who are on a sabbatical from their place of employment, and whose courses of study are funded by that employer, may carry out their project either within, or on behalf of, their sponsoring organization with the approval of the program director. The option of doing a Master’s thesis as a final output of the independent field research must be approved by the COEX program.
Residence Requirement
Students must be in residence for a minimum of twenty months and complete all degree requirements within five years. Full-time students begin in the fall semester, continue through the spring, take a full course load in the summer, and finish at the end of the following summer.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration/Master of Arts (Hornstein MA in Jewish Professional Leadership)
Admission
Students applying to this program must demonstrate professional and academic capability and the capacity for sustaining an intensive program of study. Applicants must submit a single application to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Program of Study
This program prepares professional leaders with the full complement of business and nonprofit skills, as well as specialized knowledge of Judaic studies and contemporary Jewish life. The program blends the Heller School's management curriculum with the Hornstein program's integrated approach to Jewish leadership training. Graduates of the dual-degree program receive two master's degrees: a Master of Arts in Jewish professional leadership from the Hornstein program and an MBA from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
Degree Requirements
The dual degree requires eighty course credits comprised of specific Hornstein courses totaling approximately thirty-eight credits and specific Heller courses totaling thirty-eight credits. The remaining credits are taken as electives. The program is usually completed in four and a half semesters, including part of the summer between years one and two. The MBA portion of this program culminates in a Team Consulting Project (TCP).
Required MBA Courses
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 245f Economics I (2 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 254a Human Resource Management (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop (2 credits)
Required HRNS Courses
HRNS 231b American Jewish Community in Historical Perspective (4 credits)
HRNS 237b Organizational Behavior in Jewish Nonprofits (4 credits)
HRNS 241a Skills and Techniques in Jewish Philanthropy and Fundraising (4 credits)
HRNS 246a Statistics for Jewish Professional Leaders (4 credits)
HRNS 247a Program Evaluation for Jewish Professional Leaders (4 credits)
HRNS 297a Hornstein Professional Field Experience (2 credits)
HRNS 350a Myra Kraft Seminar in Israel (4 credits)
HRNS 399a Capstone (2 credits)
Supervised Professional Field Experience
Supervised professional field experience forms an important part of the Hornstein Program. It is designed to immerse students in the best professional practices within the Jewish community, and to help students refine their practical skills, learn to turn theory into action, and become self-reflective and effective practitioners.
Field experience usually takes place in the summer and/or second year of the program and usually consists of a minimum of 150 hours of work managing a project jointly created by the student, the Hornstein faculty, and the supervisor in the field organization.
Myra Kraft Seminar in Israel
Students take a classroom seminar and then travel to Israel twice as a required part of the curriculum to examine contemporary issues in Israeli society and its relationship with diaspora communities.
Language Requirement
All students are expected to know the Hebrew alphabet prior to beginning their studies. Proficiency in modern Hebrew at a level comparable to one year of Brandeis University training is required for graduation. Students not meeting this requirement upon entrance are required to enroll in courses in Hebrew language during their academic residency. Students may fulfill the Hebrew language requirement by passing (B- or above) a 20-level or higher Hebrew course.
Cocurricular Requirements
Students have the chance to practice teamwork and leadership skills by becoming involved in the planning and execution of a number of co-curricular activities.
Starr Seminar in New York City
Students usually spend four days during their first academic year in New York City visiting the national offices of major and start-up Jewish organizations to explore aspects of the communal agenda with agency executives.
Residence Requirement
The residence requirement is 4.5 semesters of full-time study or the equivalent thereof in part-time study. Students must complete all degree requirements within five years.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Biotechnology
Admission
Applicants to this program must fulfill all requirements for admission to both programs. Students already enrolled in the MS BIOT program who desire to enter the MBA program will be required to take the GMAT or GRE.
Degree Requirements
The dual degree requires 96 course credits comprised of specific MBA courses totaling 56 credits and specific biology and biochemistry courses totaling 28 credits, along with 8 credits in science electives and 4 credits in management electives. The program is usually completed in six consecutive semesters, including two summers. Students in the dual degree program may choose either track--beginning with the MBA curriculum and matriculating in the summer or beginning with the MS curriculum and matriculating in the fall.
The core requirements for the dual degree are shown as follows:
MBA Core Course Requirements
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 246b Statistics (2 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 290a Economic Analysis for Managers (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HS 347a Healthcare Technology and Information Systems (4 credits)
HS 513a Issues in National Health Policy (4 credits)
HS 518a Management of Healthcare Organizations (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop (2 credits)
Biotechnology Core Course Requirements
BIOL 101a Molecular Biotechnology (4 credits)
BIOL 151a Project Lab: Protein Biochemistry (4 credits)
BIOL 156a Biotechnology Project Laboratory (4 credits)
BIOT 201b Business of Biotechnology (4 credits)
BIOT 203a Management for Biotechnology* (4 credits)
BCHM 100a Introductory Biochemistry or BIOL 100b Advanced Cell Biology or BIOL 103b Mechanisms of Cell Function (4 credits).
Responsible Conduct of Research (non-credit Course) usually offered in the spring.
*or science elective if beginning the dual degree with the MBA curriculum.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Policy
Program of Study
This intensive program requires six semesters (102 credits), including one summer. Students in the dual degree program are required to complete both the Team Consulting Project (TCP) and the MPP Capstone paper.
Students in the dual degree program may choose either track--beginning with the MPP curriculum or beginning with the MBA curriculum. In each case, dual-degree students must fulfill requirements for admission to both programs, including taking either the GRE or the GMAT. Dual degree students are still required to choose a concentration and complete 12 credits in their concentration.
Required Courses (courses may vary depending on which curriculum students start with)
Required MBA Courses
HS 215b Corporate Finance (4 credits)
HS 245f Economics I (2 credits)
HS 247f Evaluation for Managers (2 credits)
HS 248b Financial Management (4 credits)
HS 248f Economics II (2 credits)
HS 249f Social Justice, Management, and Policy (2 credits)
HS 250a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 251b Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
HS 252b Strategic Management (4 credits)
HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
HS 254a Human Resource Management (4 credits)
HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits)
HS 285a Marketing (4 credits)
HS 299b Team Consulting Project (4 credits)
HRNS/HS 232a Team Consulting Project Workshop (2 credits)
Required MPP Courses
HS 303a History and Contemporary Developments in Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 332a Research Methods and Evaluation (4 credits)
HS 336a MPP Capstone Seminar (4 credits)
HS 341a Public Finance and Budgeting (4 credits)
HS 372b Economic Theory and Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS 405a Applied Econometrics (4 credits)
HS 472b Policy to Action: Understanding Implementation (4 credits)
HS 529a Diversity, Inclusion and Equality in Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 532b Social Policy Analysis: Technique and Application (4 credits)
Residence Requirement
Students must be in residence for six semesters of full-time study and complete all degree requirements within five years.
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development
Program of Study
Students must successfully complete a minimum of 32 credits in two semesters (16 credits each semester of the first year). Toward the end of their spring semester in residence, students will select their second year option: a full-time practicum at a development organization, advanced study, or a concentration. In the second year, students must complete a master's paper under the supervision of a Brandeis faculty adviser. Faculty advisers are assigned prior to the start of the students' second year. All students are required to return to campus at the end of the second year to share the results of their master’s papers at a Capstone event. Presentations done remotely will be accepted from students for whom physical return to campus would pose an undue hardship.
There is a 16-credit minimum for each term, and students are required to take the following courses:
Fall
HS 319f Ethics, Rights and Development or HS 210f Comparative Approaches to Global Inequality and Social Injustice (2 credits)
HS 279a Introduction to Planning and Implementation (4 credits)
Spring
HS 264f Environment & Development (2 credits)
HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation (2 credits)
Fall or Spring
HS 266a Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners (2 credits)
One course in Environment and Ecology from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Gender and Sexuality from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Economics from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
Accelerated Degree
The Accelerated MA SID degree exempts a select group of advanced development practitioners from the second year. Students typically complete the Accelerated Program in 9 to 12 months. They enter with all incoming students in late August and fulfill all first year in-residence requirements for the existing program in the fall and spring semesters. The SID program assigns them to a faculty adviser at the start of their first year. Students in the Accelerated Program write a master’s paper that applies development theory and skills to solving a development problem, and they present their research at the SID Capstone in May.
Second Year Requirement
Students are required to complete a master's paper and Capstone presentation in their second year. SID students have three options for their second year in the program as outlined below.
Advanced Study
Students stay in residence for their second year (two full semesters) and complete a minimum of 24 credits (12 credits each semester), plus they must complete a master's paper and Capstone presentation. Students build on the holistic approach of the first year, with the opportunity to choose from a broad range of courses at SID, Brandeis, and other schools in the Boston area to design a personalized multidisciplinary program of development related studies. Advanced Study students present their research at the Capstone seminar in May of their second year.
Practicum
After completing their first-year requirements, students in their second year engage in a six-month full-time practicum for a minimum of 24 credits. The practicum must be done with a recognized development or research organization that nurtures new ideas, deepens field experience and professional growth and is suited to a student’s background, level of experience, and career path. The practicum is focused on a development issue or problem, which then forms the basis of the second year master's paper. The master’s paper can take the form of a consultant’s report or a more extensive research paper. Practicum students present their field work at Capstone in May of their second year.
Concentration
Students have the option to complete a specialization in a significant sub-field of sustainable development. Depending on their concentration, students complete a practicum in either the fall or spring semester of their second year, and enroll in classes during the semester when they are not engaged in field work. A concentration comprises a practicum (three months, 12 credits) and an additional semester in residence (16 credits). Advanced study students who choose to complete a concentration will, in their second year, complete both the fall semester (minimum of 12 credits) and a spring semester (minimum of 16 credits) in residence in addition to a three-month summer practicum. The summer practicum must be completed between the student’s first and second year. Concentrations include gender, development management, environmental conservation, and coexistence and conflict. Coursework for the gender, development management, and environmental conservation concentrations is usually completed in the fall, followed by a practicum assignment in the spring semester of the second year. The COEX concentration requires students to take courses in the fall and to complete a practicum in the spring semester. Concentration students may write a consultant’s report or a research paper for their master’s paper requirement. They present their research at Capstone in May of the second year.
Residence Requirement
One year in residence as a full-time student, and all degree requirements must be met within five years.
Master's Project
The master's paper and presentation at the SID Capstone are required for the granting of the degree. The Capstone presentation may be done remotely in cases where returning to campus posts an undue hardship.
Language Requirement
There is no language requirement.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development & Juris Doctorate with Northeastern University School of Law
Program of Study
Candidates for MA SID/JD with Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) must independently apply and gain admission to each program. Completion of the dual MA SID/JD takes four years, rather than the average five years if the degrees were obtained separately. In addition to completing all requirements for the JD program as outlined in NUSL documents, students in the dual MA/JD program spend their third year in residence at the Heller School where they complete their SID course requirements (32 credits over two semesters). At least one legal co-op that dual degree students undertake should have relevance to sustainable development work. This is in lieu of a standard SID practicum at a development organization.
Required MA SID Courses (18 credits)
HS 266a Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners (2 credits)
HS 264f Environment & Development (2 credits)
HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation (2 credits)
HS 279a Introduction to Planning and Implementation (4 credits)
HS 319f Ethics, Rights and Development or HS 210f Comparative Approaches to Global Inequality and Social Injustice (2 credits)
One course in Environment and Ecology from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Gender and Sexuality from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Economics from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
Admission
Students apply and are accepted to each degree program separately.
Residence Requirement at Brandeis
One year in residence as a full-time student, and all degree requirements must be met within five years.
Master's Project
Students follow NUSL’s guidelines for their final deliverables.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development & Northeastern University School of Law Master of Laws
Program of Study
The dual degree option awards a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Northeastern University School of Law and the MA SID degree from Brandeis in two years of study and a field placement. The program requires two academic years in residence, one at NUSL and one at the Heller School, plus a summer field practicum. Students can start at either NUSL or Heller. Students must fulfill all year in residence requirements for the MA SID (32 credits) and the 33 quarter credits in one year at NUSL for the LLM degree.
For the LLM degree, students must complete courses in legal research, legal writing, and an introduction to US law and legal institutions along with a substantive program of upper-level legal courses relevant to development in areas such as trade, environment, human rights, poverty and economic development, health, immigration, labor, intellectual property, social change, and/or public international law. An approved piece of legal writing completed in conjunction with a seminar is required of all students. A legal placement experience (co-op) is required for all students.
For the MA SID degree, students must satisfactorily complete a three-month practicum (12 credits) related to sustainable development, ideally linked with legal and policy aspects relevant to the LLM degree. Students undertake the practicum during the summer between their first and second years in residence.
Required MA SID Courses (18 credits)
HS 279a Introduction to Planning and Implementation (4 credits)
HS 319f Ethics, Rights and Development or HS 210f Comparative Approaches to Global Inequality and Social Injustice (2 credits)
HS 266a Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners (2 credits)
HS 264f Environment & Development (2 credits)
HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation (2 credits)
One course in Environment and Ecology from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Gender and Sexuality from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Economics from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
Admission
Students apply and are accepted to each degree program separately.
Residence Requirement at Brandeis
One year in-residence as a full-time student, and all degree requirements must be met within two years.
Master's Project
An in-person or remote presentation at the SID Capstone seminar is required.
Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Program of Study
Students must complete the first year in residence (32 credits) for the MA SID degree, as well as the following WGS requirements in the second year (two semesters in residence):
- WGS 205a: Graduate Foundational Course.
- A course in feminist research methodologies (WGS 208b, the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Culture, Women's, and Sexuality (GCWS).
- Two elective graduate courses in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (one inside the Heller School and one outside the Heller School).
Required MA SID Courses (18 credits)
HS 279a Introduction to Planning and Implementation (4 credits)
HS 319f Ethics, Rights and Development or HS 210f Comparative Approaches to Global Inequality and Social Injustice (2 credits)
HS 266a Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners (2 credits)
HS 264f Environment & Development (2 credits)
HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation (2 credits)
One course in Environment and Ecology from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Gender and Sexuality from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
One course in Economics from the list of SID required courses (2 credits)
Admission
To gain acceptance to the joint degree, applicants must meet all qualifications and be admitted by both programs.
Residence Requirement
Two years in residence as a full-time student, and all degree requirements must be met within two years.
Master's Project
Completion of a master's paper of professional quality and length on a topic related to the joint degree and presentation at the SID Capstone event in May. The paper will be advised by a member of the Heller faculty and a member of the WGS core or affiliate faculty.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development & Conflict Resolution and Coexistence
Program of Study
This dual-degree MA SID and MA COEX program requires a total of 76 credits. For the SID degree, students must complete 32 credits in the first year, including 18 credits in required courses. The balance of credits in the first year is filled by electives approved for the MA SID program.
In the second year in residence, students must complete 32 course credits from MA COEX program, which includes 18 credits of required courses. Students are awarded an additional 12 credits after the successful completion of the COEX field project, master’s paper and Capstone presentation. Preparation for the field project is undertaken in the spring semester research course.
Students will be enrolled in the summer and fall after the second academic year to complete the field project and report.
Accelerated Dual Degree
The accelerated MA SID and MA COEX dual degree allows a select group of advanced practitioners to complete both degrees in 21 months. Accelerated students enter with all incoming students in late August and fulfill all requirements for the existing program in two years in residence. Students are required to do a three month field practicum in the summer between the years in residence, write the COEX master's paper the following fall and present at COEX Capstone in December of the second year in residence.
Required MA SID Courses (18 credits)
HS 279a Introduction to Planning and Implementation (4 credits)
HS 319f Ethics, Rights and Development or HS 210f Comparative Approaches to Global Inequality and Social Injustice (2 credits)
HS 266a Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners (2 credits)
HS 264f Environment & Development (2 credits)
HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation (2 credits)
One course in Environment and Ecology from the list of SID required options (2 credits)
One course in Gender and Sexuality from the list of SID required options (2 credits)
One course in Economics from the list of SID required options (2 credits)
Required MA COEX Courses (14 credits)
HS 210a Coexistence and Conflict: Theory and Analysis (4 credits)
HS 218a Coexistence and Conflict Field Practicum (12 credits)
HS 230f Coexistence Research Methods (2 credits)
HS 236f Strategies for Coexistence Interventions (2 credits)
HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits)
HS 294f Medication Principles and Skills (2 credits)
Admission
To gain acceptance to the dual MA SID and MA COEX degree, applicants must meet all qualifications and be admitted by both programs. To enter the accelerated MA SID and MA COEX degree, applicants must meet MA SID requirements for accelerated students and demonstrate the academic and professional capacity to complete both degrees in an integrated fashion.
Residence Requirement
Two years in residence as a full-time student, and all degree requirements must be met within five years.
Master's Project
Students must fulfill final paper and Capstone presentation requirements as defined for the COEX degree program.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development & Master of Science in Global Health Policy and Management
Program of Study
This dual degree MA SID and MS GHPM program requires two years in residence, a three-month field placement, a master’s paper, and presentation at the SID Capstone. Students may enter in either program and must complete:
- All required courses and a minimum of 32 credits for the MA SID degree in one year in residence (two semesters).
- All required courses and a minimum of 32 credits for the MS GHPM degree in one year in residence (two semesters).
- A summer practicum or field placement of three months (12 credits) related to sustainable development and health.
- During the second year in residence, students can choose to write either an SID master’s paper or an MS paper. Students who prepare the SID master's paper can choose to write either a research paper or a consultant’s report based on their practicum experience. In both the SID research paper and consultant’s report, students should integrate their learning from the perspectives of global health and sustainable development. The master's paper must be done in cooperation with a faculty advisor and reflect graduate-level scholarship representing the culmination of academic work for the dual degree and demonstrating the student's ability to synthesize knowledge and skills learned in both programs. Students who choose to develop an MS master’s paper will work with an MS faculty advisor and follow the guidelines set forth by the MS program.
All MA SID/MS GHPM students present at the SID Capstone event in May of the second year. The Capstone presentation may be done remotely in cases where returning to campus poses an undue hardship.
During their SID year, students must successfully complete 32 credits, which include 16 required credits and 16 elective credits.
Required MA SID Courses (18 credits)
HS 279a Introduction to Planning and Implementation (4 credits)
HS 319f Ethics, Rights and Development or HS 210f Comparative Approaches to Global Inequality and Social Injustice (2 credits)
HS 266a Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners (2 credits)
HS 264f Environment & Development (2 credits)
HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation (2 credits)
One course in Environment and Ecology from the list of SID required options (2 credits)
One course in Gender and Sexuality from the list of SID required options (2 credits)
One course in Economics from the list of SID required options (2 credits)
Health Systems
During their MS year, students in the Health Systems concentration must successfully complete 32 credits, which include eight required courses (20 total credits) and twelve elective credits.
Required MS GHPM Courses for the Health Systems Concentration (22 credits)
HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits)
HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits)
HS 329f Introduction to Epidemiology (2 credits)
HS 330f International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 349f Introduction to Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 402f Research Methods
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS 422f Cost-Effectiveness (2 credits)
Health Economics and Analytics
Students must successfully complete 36 credits, which include 10 required courses (26 total credits), 4 Health Economics and Analytics designated elective credits (out of an option of 14 credits), and 6 additional elective credits.
Core Requirements (26 credits)
HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits)
HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits)
HS 330f International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS NEW Introduction to Microeconomics (2 credits)
HS 340f Advanced International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 326f Introduction to Stata Programming and Data Management (2 credits)
HS 239f Intersectionality and Bioethics (2 credits)
HS 402f Research Methods (2 credits)
HS 405a Applied Econometrics (4 credits)
Health Economics and Analytics Electives
Students choose a minimum of 4 credits from the following list:
HS 422f Cost Effectiveness (2 credits)
HS 426f Advanced Techniques of Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit Analysis (2 credits)
HS 256f Healthcare Data Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)
HS NEW Advanced Healthcare Data Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)
BUS 211f Analyzing Big Data I (2 credits)
BUS 212a Analyzing Big Data II (4 credits)
Admission
To gain acceptance to the dual degree, applicants must meet all qualifications and be admitted by both programs. Applicants must meet MA SID requirements for students in the Accelerated program and demonstrate the academic and professional capacity to complete both degrees in an integrated fashion.
Residence Requirement
Two years in residence as a full-time student, and all degree requirements must be met within five years.
Master's Project
Completion of an SID or MS master's paper and presentation at SID Capstone.
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Global Health Policy and Management
Program of Study
The MS GHPM is a 9 month (one academic year) degree program that offers courses that improve analytical skills, build knowledge of policy development and implementation and teach about the newest methods in the design, financing and implementation of health system changes. Students in the MS GHPM programs will learn how a health system is designed and will acquire the tools that they need to make significant policy changes in health systems around the world. Graduates of the MS GHPM program will have a robust toolset that they will be able to use to problem solve and understand many complex issues related to health policy, population health, and health systems. The MS GHPM offers two concentrations: 1) Health Systems and 2) Health Economics and Analytics, which is a STEM certified degree.
Health Systems
Students must successfully complete 36 credits, which include 8 required courses (20 total credits) and 14 elective credits.
Core Requirements
HS 326f Introduction to Stata Programming and Data Management (2 credits)
HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits)
HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits)
HS 239f Intersectionality and Bioethics (2 credits)
HS 330f International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 349f Introduction to Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 402f Research Methods or HS 278f Monitoring & Evaluation (2 credits each)
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS 518a Management of Healthcare Organizations
Health Economics and Analytics
Students must successfully complete 36 credits, which include 10 required courses (26 total credits), 4 Health Economics and Analytics designated elective credits (out of an option of 14 credits), and 6 additional elective credits.
Core Requirements
HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits)
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS 349f Introduction to Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 330f International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 340f Advanced International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 326f Introduction to Stata Programming and Data Management (2 credits)
HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits)
HS 239f Intersectionality and Bioethics (2 credits)
HS 402f Research Methods (2 credits each)
HS 405a Applied Econometrics (4 credits)
Health Economics and Analytics Electives
Students choose a minimum of 4 credits from the following list:HS 422f Cost Effectiveness (2 credits)
HS 426f Advanced Techniques of Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit Analysis (2 credits)
HS 256f Healthcare Data Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)
BUS 211f Analyzing Big Data I (2 credits)
BUS 212a Analyzing Big Data II (4 credits)
Residence Requirement
One year in residence as a full-time student.
Second Year Concentration
The Second Year Concentration within the MS Program in Global Health Policy and Management is an enhanced program of study that provides MS GHPM students the option to complete an approved second-year specialization in a significant field of global health policy, as part of a two-year program. Working alone or with one classmate, if approved, students must produce a Master’s Paper that contributes to the field of their concentration situated within the broader goals of global health policy and management.
Master's Thesis
There is no master's thesis.
Language Requirement
There is no language requirement.
5-year Combined BA/MS or BS/MS Program in Global Health
The Global Health Bachelors-Masters Program provides a pathway for undergraduate students interested in and passionate about global health to obtain the skills necessary to enter careers in the global health space. This program represents a partnership with the undergraduate major in Health: Science, Society, and Policy (HSSP) and the Global Health Policy and Management (GHPM) degree program at the Heller School.
Students apply in the spring of their junior year through the Heller admissions process, preferably by March 1 but no later than June 1. Admitted applicants take three Heller GHPM core requirements HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits), HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits), and HS 239f Intersectionality and Bioethics (2 credits) in the senior year. [Note: the latter two courses are offered as half-semester modules in the spring, so students are only required to take the equivalent of one full semester course per term.] These courses may count toward the undergraduate major in HSSP as Focal Area C or general electives. They do not count toward graduation requirements toward the GHPM MS degree, although they allow students room in their schedule to take additional electives. Accepted students will normally be expected to maintain a minimum GPA of 3.25 and a grade of B or better in the required courses.
Through partnerships, the GHPM program will help secure a summer internship (paid or unpaid, minimum 55 hours) for admitted students between undergraduate and graduate years. These internships count toward fulfilling two credits of electives that count toward graduation requirements for the graduate degree. Students will pay undergraduate tuition through their senior year and graduate with a bachelors degree (BA or BS, per HSSP requirements). In their fifth year, students will pay Heller tuition (however, as a Brandeis alum, Heller guarantees a 50% tuition scholarship for students accepted into the program), and, assuming adequate academic progress, will graduate with a Masters of Science in Global Health Policy and Management.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Science in Global Health Policy and Management & Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence
Program of Study
This dual degree awards the MA COEX and MS GHPM degrees to highly qualified students in 21 months that include two years (four semesters) in residence, a field placement, and a professional paper. Students may enter in either program and must complete:
- All required courses and a minimum of 36 credits for the MS GHPM degree in one year in residence (two semesters).
Health Systems
Students must successfully complete 36 credits, which include 8 required courses (22 total credits) and 14 elective credits.
Core Requirements (22 credits)
HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits)
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS 518a Management of Healthcare Organizations
HS 326f Introduction to Stata Programming and Data Management (2 credits)
HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits)Health Economics and Analytics
Students must successfully complete 36 credits, which include 10 required courses (26 total credits), 4 Health Economics and Analytics designated elective credits (out of an option of 14 credits), and 6 additional elective credits.
Core Requirements (26 credits)
HS 236a International Health Systems and Development (4 credits)
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS 330f International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 340f Advanced International Health Economics (2 credits)
HS 326f Introduction to Stata Programming and Data Management (2 credits)
HS 229f International Health Financing (2 credits)
HS 405a Applied Econometrics (4 credits)Health Economics and Analytics Electives
Students choose a minimum of 4 credits from the following list:
HS 422f Cost Effectiveness (2 credits)
HS 426f Advanced Techniques of Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit Analysis (2 credits)
HS 256f Healthcare Data Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)
HS NEW Advanced Healthcare Data Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)
BUS 211f Analyzing Big Data I (2 credits)
BUS 212a Analyzing Big Data II (4 credits) - All required courses and a minimum of 32 credits for the MA COEX degree in one year in residence (two semesters).
- Students can also add an optional concentration in Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Management, as part of their elective coursework.
- A summer practicum or field placement of 3 months (12 credits) related to coexistence and health, under the supervision of the COEX program.
- During the second year in residence, students must prepare a professional paper integrating their learning from the perspectives of coexistence and global health. The paper must be done in cooperation with a faculty advisor and reflect graduate-level scholarship representing the culmination of academic work for the dual degree and demonstrating the student's ability to synthesize knowledge and skills learned in both programs. Students present at COEX Capstone in May of the second year.
Admission
To gain acceptance to the dual degree, applicants must meet all qualifications and be admitted by both programs. Applicants must demonstrate the academic and professional capacity to complete both degrees in an integrated fashion.
Residence Requirement
Two years in residence (four semesters) as a full-time student and all degree requirements must be met within five years.
Master's Project
Completion of a professional paper and presentation at the COEX Capstone.
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence
Program of Study
The Master's Program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management focuses on the challenges posed by intercommunal and societal conflicts in today's world. The curriculum of the Master's Program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence ensures that participants will secure a solid grounding in the theories of contemporary coexistence and conflict work, as well as develop the professional skills to design and implement successful interventions to deal with the challenges of such conflicts. The sixteen-month program involves an academic year in residence studying at Brandeis, followed by a three-month field placement and the completion of a master's field project.
Students must successfully complete 32 credits, which include: six required courses (18 credits total), and 14 elective credits. Core courses include:
Fall
HS 210a Coexistence and Conflict Theory and Analysis (4 credits)
HS 230f Coexistence Research Methods (2 credits)
HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits)
HS 277f Introduction to Planning and Implementation [for COEX] (2 credits)
Spring
HS 220a 227f Coexistence Monitoring and Evaluation (2 credits)
HS 236f Strategies for Coexistence Interventions (2 credits)
HS 294f Responsible Mediation (2 credits)
Following a year in the program, students will undertake a three-month internship or independent fieldwork. The project concludes with a master's field paper written under the supervision of a faculty mentor, to be completed by December.
Residence Requirement
At least one year of full-time study.
Master’s Field Paper
Master's paper is written under the supervision of a faculty mentor.
Language Requirement
There is no language requirement.
Requirements for the COEX Concentration Semester Program
Program of Study
This program is structured to incorporate an additional semester of concentration coursework beyond the degree requirements for the general Conflict Resolution and Coexistence degree program. This intensive program requires a minimum of 56 credits to be completed in 21 months. After fulfilling the program requirements, students receive one degree with a concentration in Sustainable International Development or Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Management.
Program Requirements
- Twenty-one months in residence with 56 credits required.
- Complete required courses and requirements for COEX degree program for a minimum of 40 credits
- Complete all required courses and requirements for concentration for a minimum of 16 credits
- Three-month minimum required practicum
- Completion of a Master's paper and Capstone presentation
- Pending completion of requirements, student will graduate in May of year two with a Masters of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence with a chosen concentration
- Note: Students who wish to work primarily as development practitioners should instead apply for admission to the SIDCO dual degree program.
Students electing to complete the concentration in Sustainable International Development must complete the courses in fall of the second year.
Required concentration semester courses
HS 266a Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners (2 credits)
HS 319f Ethics, Rights & Development (2 credits)
HS 258f Strategic Management (2 credits)
HS 282f Environmental Impact Assessment (2 credits)
A Gender & Sexuality course from the list of SID required options (2 credits)
Minimum of 6 credits of SID electives from approved list
Required concentration semester courses (plus HS 297a)
HS 257f International Humanitarian Law, Policy and Practice (2 credits)
HS 303f Disaster Management and Capacity Building (2 credits)
HS 328f Humanitarian Action in Conflicts (2 credits)
HS 503f Global Mental Health (2 credits)
Minimum of 4 credits of electives from approved list
Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence & Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Program of Study and Residence Requirement
Ordinarily, two years of full-time residence are required at the normal course rate of seven or eight courses each academic year.
- At least eight courses must be taken in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department and must include the NEJS graduate Pro seminar (NEJS 231a) and joint MA capstone project and paper (see below). Students may not include courses taken to prepare for the MA language examination (HBRW 102a and b and below, or ARBC 40b and below) among these eight courses. Students who enter with graduate credit from other recognized institutions may apply for transfer credit for up to two courses that are comparable to NEJS offerings, or, with prior approval of the MA adviser, candidates may receive transfer credit for up to two courses at a university abroad.
- At least eight courses must be taken in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence program. They include the seven COEX core courses:
HS 210a Coexistence and Conflict: Theory and Analysis (4 credits)
HS 227f Introduction to Design, Monitoring and Evaluation (2 credits)
HS 230f Coexistence Research Methods (2 credits)
HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits)
HS 277a Planning and Implementation (2 credits)
HS 294f Responsible Mediation (2 credits)
Students must also take POL 164A Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East and choose at least 4 credits in the list of COEX core elective courses.
All course selections and their relevance must be discussed with and approved by the NEJS Director of Graduate Studies and the COEX program director.
Language Requirement
All candidates are required to demonstrate language proficiency, normally in biblical or modem Hebrew or Arabic. The language requirement for Hebrew or Arabic may be fulfilled in one of two ways:
- By enrolling in and receiving a grade of B- or higher in a 40-level or higher Hebrew or Arabic course, or by passing a classical Hebrew text course, or modem Hebrew literature course taught in Hebrew;
- By passing the language examination offered by the adviser or by the Hebrew faculty or Arabic faculty. Students are permitted the use of an appropriate (hard copy) dictionary. Electronic dictionaries are not permitted.
Joint Master's Project and Paper
All students are required to complete an internship or independent fieldwork, with a concluding paper written under the supervision of two faculty mentors, one from NEJS and one from COEX. Students must develop an MA project designed to test their application of Conflict Resolution and Coexistence theory to practice while applying their background in NEJS. This will entail expanding students' policy and practical experience, and, under supervision, increasing their security and comfort levels at working in what is usually a contentious and sometimes dangerous field. In addition, the field project is planned to test and improve the breadth and depth of student's professional skills and to significantly increase their networks of collaboration.
The project will consist of either of the following options:
- An internship of at least three months in a governmental or nongovernmental organization (consistent with the NEJS focus) assisting with the development and implementation of a policy or a program of coexistence intervention. Students will (1) identify an intervention or their particular part of an intervention; (2) set objectives and timelines; (3) secure partners and terms of references, where necessary for its implementation; (4) ensure that appropriate monitoring and evaluating techniques are built into the program design; and (5) write a final report on the intervention.
- Independent fieldwork for at least three months in a conflict area (consistent with the NEJS focus). Such fieldwork will be designed to assist the generation and development of new coexistence and conflict management intervention options, and must be undertaken in partnership with policymakers or practitioners who are already working in the area. The report of this fieldwork includes feedback and evaluations from prospective partners already working in the area.
The option of doing a Master’s thesis can be discussed with, and approved by, the NEJS Director of Graduate Studies and the COEX program director.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence & Master of International Public Policy, KDI School of Government, South Korea
The program is designed to be two years in length including two summers, and requires a minimum of 79 credits. All courses are offered in English.
Participants spend a year in residence at the Heller School. They learn the foundations of coexistence and conflict resolution from August to May and then embark on their COEX Practicum during the summer (May to August). Participants also spend a year in residence at KDI School studying public policy.
Admission
The course of study is dependent upon the student being admitted to each of the individual programs. There are three options for entrance into the dual degree program.
- Simultaneous application and admission to each program prior to being enrolled in any Heller program, with a prospective first year at Brandeis and a second at KDI.
- Application to the Brandeis MA COEX program when a student is already enrolled in a KDI MA program.
- Application to the KDI MA program when a student is already enrolled in the MA COEX program. In each case, the student must fulfill all requirements for admission to both programs.
Participants who have successfully completed this dual-degree program receive an MA in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence from Brandeis University and an MA in International Public Policy from the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, South Korea.
Program Requirements
Students may begin their first year in the program at the Heller School or at KDI.
First Year – Heller School (40 credit minimum)
Fall (16 credits minimum)
HS 210a Coexistence and Conflict: Theory and Analysis (4 credits)
HS 230f Coexistence Research Methods (2 credits)
HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits)
HS 277f Introduction to Planning and Implementation (2 credits)
COEX Electives (4 credits)
Spring (16 credits minimum)
HS 227f Coexistence Monitoring and Evaluation (2 credits)
HS 294f Medication Principles and Skills (2 credits)
COEX Electives (at least 10 credits)
Summer (12 credits)
Three-month COEX Practicum and Master’s Paper. Students may choose from the following field options:
- Internship
- Field Project
Second Year – Master of International Public Policy, KDI, South Korea (39 credits)
Fall (12 credits)
MCA002 Analysis of Market and Public Policy (3 credits)
MCA003 Quantitative Methods (3 credits)
MEA145 Language of Public Policy and Management (3 credits)
MEA132 Korean Language and Culture I (3 credits)
Spring (12-15 credits)
Concentration Courses – students may choose a maximum of two concentrations from the following:
- Finance and Macroeconomic Policy
- Trade and Industry Policy
- Public Finance and Social Policy
- Regional Development and Environment Policy
KDI Electives
Summer (12-15 credits)
Concentration Courses – students may choose a maximum of two concentrations from the following:
- Finance and Macroeconomic Policy
- Trade and Industry Policy
- Public Finance and Social Policy
- Regional Development and Environment Policy
KDI Electives
Master’s Project and Paper
All students are required to complete an internship or independent fieldwork, with a concluding paper written under the supervision of a faculty mentor. Students must develop an MA project designed to test their application of theory to practice, to expand their policy and practical experience, and, under supervision, to increase their security and comfort levels at working in what is usually a contentious and sometimes dangerous field. In addition, the field project is planned to test and improve the breadth and depth of students’ professional skills and to significantly increase their networks of collaboration.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence and International Law and Human Rights from the University for Peace, Costa Rica
Program of Study
This dual-degree program requires a minimum of 80 credit hours usually taken during 21 months, or over five consecutive semesters. Participants spend their first year (August to August) at Brandeis University learning the foundations of coexistence and conflict resolution. Students then embark on their COEX three month summer practicum (between May to August). Following their field project, students spend the next two semesters (August to May) at the University for Peace studying international law and human rights, and completing their COEX Master’s Paper. They share their findings with other COEX students through Skype or other means when the Capstone is taking place.
Admission
The course of study is dependent upon the student being admitted to each of the individual programs. There are three options for entrance into the dual degree program:
- Simultaneous application and admission to each program prior to being enrolled in any Heller program, with a prospective first year at Brandeis and a second at UPeace
- Application to the Brandeis MA COEX program when a student is already enrolled in a UPeace MA program
- Application to the UPeace MA program when a student is already enrolled in the MA COEX program
In each case, the student must fulfill all requirements for admission to both programs. Participants who have successfully completed this dual-degree program receive an MA in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence from Brandeis University and an MA in International Law and Human Rights from the University for Peace.
Program Requirements
First Year – Heller School (40 credit minimum)
Fall (16 credits minimum)
HS 210a Coexistence and Conflict: Theory and Analysis (4 credits)
HS 230f Coexistence Research Methods (2 credits)
HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits)
HS 277f Introduction to Planning and Implementation (2 credits)
COEX Electives (4 credits)
Spring (16 credits minimum)
HS 227f Coexistence Monitoring and Evaluation (2 credits)
HS 294f Medication Principles and Skills (2 credits)
COEX Electives (at least 10 credits)
Three-month COEX Practicum and Master’s Paper. Students may choose from the following field options: • Internship • Field Project
Second Year – University for Peace, Costa Rica (40 credit minimum)
Fall
Foundation Course in Human Rights Law
Foundation Course in Peace and Conflict Studies
Foundation Course in Public International Law
Foundation Course in the University Nations and Other International Organizations
Human Rights Advocacy
Human Rights Law and Gender
Law Related to Armed Conflict
Legal Research and Writing
In addition, participants can choose an elective course (3 credits) offered by the UPEACE Institute or other UPEACE programs.
Spring
Global and Regional Human Rights Systems
Globalization and Human Rights
Health and Human Rights
Human Rights Advocacy
Human Rights Law and Gender
Independent Studies Project
International Refugee Law
Research Seminar
Transitional Justice and Human Rights
In addition, participants can add elective courses offered by the UPEACE Institute or other UPEACE programs (8 credits), or an Independent Studies Project (8 credits).
Master's Project and Paper
All students are required to complete an internship or independent fieldwork, with a concluding paper written under the supervision of a faculty mentor. Students must develop an MA project designed to test their application of theory to practice, to expand their policy and practical experience, and, under supervision, to increase their security and comfort levels at working in what is usually a contentious and sometimes dangerous field. In addition, the field project is planned to test and improve the breadth and depth of students' professional skills and to significantly increase their networks of collaboration.
The project will consist of either of the following options:
- An internship of at least three months in a governmental or nongovernmental organization assisting with the development and implementation of a policy or a program of coexistence intervention. Students will (1) identify an intervention or their particular part of an intervention; (2) set objectives and time lines; (3) secure partners where necessary for its implementation; (4) ensure that appropriate monitoring and evaluating techniques are built into the program design; and (5) write a final report on the intervention.
- Independent fieldwork for at least three months in a conflict area. Such fieldwork will be designed to assist the generation and development of new coexistence and conflict management intervention options, and must be undertaken in partnership with policymakers or practitioners who are already working in the area. The report of this fieldwork includes feedback and evaluations from prospective partners already working in the area. Students who are on a sabbatical from their place of employment, and whose courses of study are funded by that employer, may carry out their project either within, or on behalf of, their sponsoring organization with the approval of the program director. The option of doing a Master’s thesis as a final output of the independent field research must be approved by the COEX program.
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Public Policy
The Heller MPP prepares students for policy roles within community agencies, state and federal government, and think tanks. Heller’s high standards for rigorous and unbiased analysis are important assets to students headed for careers that will use their skills in advocacy, policy research, policy implementation and community work. The MPP is a two-year degree program that follows the traditional academic year from late August to May.
Program of Study
Students must successfully complete 16 courses over two years in residence. The core curriculum fits into three categories: concepts, methods, and tools. Ten courses are required and a minimum of three courses is required in a concentration (Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Poverty Alleviation, Children, Youth and Family Policy, Health Policy, Behavioral Health, General Social Policy), allowing for three electives. A final capstone paper is also required.
Required MPP Courses
HS 303a Historical and Contemporary Developments in Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 332a Research Methods and Evaluation (4 credits)
HS 336a MPP Capstone Seminar (4 credits)
HS 341a Public Finance and Budgeting (4 credits)
HS 372b Economic Theory and Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 404b Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)
HS 405a Applied Econometrics (4 credits)
HS 472b Policy to Action: Understanding Implementation (4 credits)
HS 529a Diversity, Inclusion and Equality in Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 532b Social Policy Analysis: Technique and Application (4 credits)
Second Year
Students will complete a capstone paper with the guidance of faculty and senior research advisors in the various concentrations. The capstone paper can address any suitable dimension of social policy, from analysis to evaluation to communication, and must demonstrate the student’s competence in core skills through scholarship, application, integrative analysis, and originality. The paper is presented at a capstone seminar in the second year.
Residence Requirement
Two years of full-time study.
Capstone Paper
A capstone paper is required.
Language Requirement
There is no language requirement.
Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Public Policy/Master of Arts (Hornstein MA in Jewish Professional Leadership)
Admission
Students applying to this program must demonstrate professional and academic capability and the capacity for sustaining an intensive program of study. Applicants must submit a single application to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Program of Study
This program prepares professional leaders with the full complement of policy analysis and development skills, as well as specialized knowledge of Judaic studies and contemporary Jewish life. The program blends the Heller School's public policy curriculum with the Hornstein program's integrated approach to Jewish leadership training. Graduates of the dual-degree program receive two master’s degrees: a Master of Arts in Jewish professional leadership from the Hornstein program and a Master of Public Policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
Degree Requirements
The dual Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Leadership/Master of Public Policy is a rigorous, interdisciplinary degree program that provides students with the skills necessary for advanced careers in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors.
The dual degree requires eighty course credits comprised of specific Hornstein courses totaling approximately forty credits and specific Heller courses totaling approximately thirty-two credits. The remaining credits are taken as electives. The program is usually completed in 4.5 semesters, including the summer between years one and two.
Dual-degree students must meet the MPP second-year capstone requirement and will generally focus their papers on Jewish community-related policy. Capstone advisers will include the instructor of the capstone seminar and a designee from the Hornstein program.
Required MPP Courses
HS 303a Historical and Contemporary Developments in Social Welfare (4 credits)
HS 332a Research Methods and Evaluation (4 credits)
HS 336a Heller MPP Capstone Seminar (4 credits)
HS 372b Economic Theory and Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 405a Applied Econometrics (4 credits)
HS 472b Policy & Program Implementation (concepts) (4 credits)
HS 529a Diversity, Inclusion and Equality in Social Policy (4 credits)
HS 532b Social Policy Analysis: Technique and Application (4 credits)
Required HRNS Courses
HRNS 230a Managing Jewish Nonprofits (2 credits)
HRNS 231b American Jewish Community in Historical Perspective (4 credits)
HRNS 237b Organizational Behavior in Jewish Nonprofits (4 credits)
HRNS 241a Skills and Techniques in Jewish Philanthropy and Fundraising (4 credits)
HRNS 246a Statistics for Jewish Professional Leaders (2 credits)
HRNS 247a Program Evaluation for Jewish Professional Leaders (2 credits)
HRNS 297a Hornstein Professional Field Experience (2 credits)
HRNS 350a Myra Kraft Seminar in Israel (4 credits)
HRNS 380a Proseminar (4 credits)
HRNS 399a Capstone (2 credits)
Supervised Professional Field Experience
Supervised professional field experience forms an important part of the Hornstein Program. It is designed to immerse students in the best professional practices within the Jewish community, and to help students refine their practical skills, learn to turn theory into action, and become self-reflective and effective practitioners.
Field experience usually takes place in the summer and/or second year of the program and usually consists of a minimum 150 hours of work managing a project jointly created by the student, the Hornstein faculty, and the supervisor in the field organization.
Myra Kraft Seminar in Israel
Students take two classroom seminars and then travel to Israel twice as a required part of the curriculum to examine contemporary issues in Israeli society and its relationship with diaspora communities.
Language Requirement
All students are expected to know the Hebrew alphabet prior to beginning their studies. Proficiency in modern Hebrew at a level comparable to one year of Brandeis University training is required for graduation. Students not meeting this requirement upon entrance are required to enroll in courses in Hebrew language during their academic residency. Students may fulfill the Hebrew language requirement by passing (B- or above) a 20-level or higher Hebrew course.
Cocurricular Requirements
Students have the chance to practice teamwork and leadership skills by becoming involved in the planning and execution of a number of co-curricular activities.
Starr Seminar in NYC
Students usually spend four days during their first academic year in New York City visiting the national offices of major and start-up Jewish organizations to explore aspects of the communal agenda with agency executives.
Residence Requirement
The residence requirement is 4.5 semesters of full-time study or the equivalent thereof in part-time study. Students must complete all degree requirements within five years.
Requirements for the Degree of Executive MBA for Physicians
Program of Study
The Heller School's Executive MBA (EMBA) for Physicians is focused on improving both clinical outcomes and financial results in healthcare organizations by training physician-leaders in the new science of medical management. Designed for practicing physicians who are – or seek to be – in positions of management or leadership, the EMBA for Physicians is an accelerated 16-month program and a curriculum that integrates the student's medical expertise with new knowledge in critical areas ranging from health policy and economics to operational systems management, high performance leadership, and healthcare innovation.
Students must successfully complete 63 credits across four modules.
Module 1 (16 credits)
- Operations Management (4 credits)
- Financial Accounting (4 credits)
- Economic Analysis for Managers (2 credits)
- Leadership and Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
- Physicians Field Experience (1 credit)
- Leadership Coaching (1 credit)
Module 2 (17 credits)
- Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
- Management of Healthcare Organizations
- Strategic Management (4 credits)
- Team Consulting Project (2 credits)
- Relational Coordination Masterclass (2 credits)
- Health Care Entrepreneurship (2 credits)
- National Health Policy (2 credits)
- Physicians Field Experience (1 credit)
Module 3 (17 credits)
- Strategic Management (4 credits)
- Corporate Finance I (2 credits)
- Healthcare Marketing (2 credits)
- Quality and Performance Measurement (2 credits)
- Systems Thinking: Clinical and Managerial Uncertainty Data and Judgment (2 credits)
- Physicians Field Experience (1 credit)
- Health Law and Ethics (2 credits)
- Executive Team Consulting Project (2 credits)
Module 4 (13 credits)
- 360 Leadership Coaching (1 credits)
- State Health Policy (2 credits)
- Conflict Resolution by Negotiation (2 credits)
- Healthcare Technology and Information (4 credits)
- Physicians Executive Field Experience (2 credits)
- Corporate Finance II (2 credits)
Residence Requirement
The residence requirement for this program is full-time study. Degree candidates are expected to matriculate and graduate with their cohort and attend all four modules. The program is designed so that the modules must be completed in consecutive order.
The four 10-day residency sessions are held at the Babson Executive Conference Center at Babson College, 1 Snyder Drive, Babson Park, MA 02457. The Executive MBA for Physicians program utilizes privately managed facility on their grounds and is unrelated to Babson College academic programs.
Master's Thesis
No Master's Thesis is required to complete the degree.
Language Requirement
There is no language requirement.
Information about Courses
Listed on the following pages are graduate courses of instruction for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Courses meet for three hours a week unless otherwise specified.
Most courses are available to all students qualified to take them. Access to some courses is governed by the signature of the instructor. Other courses impose a numerical limit to preserve environmental conditions suitable to the pedagogy the instructor employs; students increase their chances of gaining enrollment in such courses by participating in pre-enrollment.
Generally, a course is offered with the frequency indicated at the end of its description. The frequency may be designated as every semester, every year, every second year, every third year, or every fourth year.
Courses numbered 100-199 are for undergraduate and graduate students; and courses numbered 200 and above are primarily for graduate students. Undergraduates may not enroll in courses numbered 200 or higher without the written permission of the instructor.
Suffixes after course numbers have the following meanings:
A or B Semester courseC Semester course meeting throughout the year
D Full-year course
E Intensive course, two semester course credits in one semester
F Half-semester course, half-course credit
G Quarter-course credit
A semester course carries one semester course credit (four semester-hour credits) and a full-year course carries two semester course credits (eight semester-hour credits). Exceptions are noted under the individual course descriptions. Certain courses factor toward rate of work and do not carry course credit toward degree requirements. Occasionally, courses are awarded additional semester-hour credits, yet count as only one semester course toward degree requirements. All such courses are specifically identified in the course listing. Certain courses require a laboratory course taken concurrently.
A student may take either half of a full-year course with a D suffix for credit with the approval and consent of the course instructor on the appropriate form designated by the Office of the University Registrar. Students who enrolled in full-year courses in the fall term are continued in the spring term automatically.
The university reserves the right to make any changes in the offerings without prior notice.
Courses of Instruction
(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students
HS
104b
American Health Care
[
ss
]
Examines and critically analyzes the United States healthcare system, emphasizing the major trends and issues that have led to the current sense of "crisis." In addition to providing a historical perspective, this course will establish a context for analyzing the current, varied approaches to health care reform. Usually offered every year.
Stuart Altman
HS
110a
Wealth and Poverty
[
ss
]
Examines why the gap between richer and poorer citizens appears to be widening in the United States and elsewhere, what could be done to reverse this trend, and how the widening disparity affects major issues of public policy. Usually offered every year.
Tom Shapiro
HS
143a
Social Justice and Philanthropy
[
ss
]
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.
Examines the role of philanthropy in American society including individual, institutional, and societal-level factors that affect philanthropic efforts to create social change and the relationship between social justice and philanthropy. Students explore philanthropy from both theoretical and practical perspectives using an academic framework grounded in sociological theory and a semester-long experiential learning exercise in real-dollar grantmaking. Usually offered every year.
Staff
(200 and above) Primarily for Graduate Students
HS
200f
Social Movements for Emancipatory Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Students study theories of social mobilization; explore the relationships and tensions between state and non-state actors in social movements including NGOs, people’s movements, and religious groups; study selected social movements for their lessons for sustainable development process, failures, and achievements; and articulate their own “theories of change” about the role of social movements around critical problems for social inclusion. Usually offered every year.
Laurence Simon
HS
203f
Contemporary Issues in Africa's Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides an introductory overview of Africa's development and strategies to address current patterns of development on the continent. The course will also examine patterns of recent development achievements within the continent and how these can be sustained. Usually offered every year.
Joseph Assan
HS
204f
Education, Gender and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Reviews the relationship between gender access to education and development indicators such as reduced fertility, improved health, and women's access to employment, income, and decision-making. Students look at the broader factors behind these links, and at issues that prevent education from playing the expected role in overcoming inequalities and building human and social capital in developing countries. Usually offered every year.
Cristina Epinosa
HS
205f
Organizational Management for Development Practitioners
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces challenges faced by managers in international and local development organizations and provides an opportunity for interactive learning of skill sets required to overcome these challenges. Students examine elements of new public management such as performance management, privatization, and partnerships and the changing role played by NGOs in development practice. Usually offered every year.
Joseph Assan
HS
210a
Coexistence and Conflict: Theory and Analysis
Open only to students enrolled in the MA program in coexistence and conflict. Other students considered with permission of the instructor.
Explores the sources of conflict at a global level as well as the ways in which conflict may be transformed to benefit people and societies, paying special attention to the role of power in shaping conflict and in attending to its transformation. It takes a cross-disciplinary approach to exploring and understanding global conflict analysis and resolution. Drawing on literature and research from the fields of peace and conflict studies, international relations and political science, law, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, this course will give students an overview of the tools of analysis necessary for engaging conflict constructively. We will examine the causes, patterns and dynamics of various forms of violence, including ‘direct’ and ‘structural violence,’ as well as the tools available to promote peace and justice. We will draw on the contributions and findings of various academic disciplines and the best practices of experts in modern peace and conflict research. We will also carefully reflect on how insiders and outsiders to a violent conflict can build stable peace by analyzing the practices of advocates and activists. Usually offered every year.
Mari Fitzduff
HS
210f
Comparative Approaches to Global Injustice and Social Inequality
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines historical, philosophical and political concepts of poverty, injustice and inequality from a comparative perspective, as seen by thinkers and activists primarily from the global South. It is based on understanding perceptions of race, ethnicity, social class and other markers of ‘difference’ in contemporary societies, how those perceptions lead to bias, social exclusion and marginalization, and how to assess policies designed to overcome those divisions. Country case studies examine responses to historical and cultural legacies of repressive systems based on colonialism, slavery, apartheid and caste. Usually offered every year.
Joan Dassin
HS
211f
Agriculture and Rural Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides an overview of the impact of development policy on agriculture and rural sectors, consequences of neglecting these sectors, and policy responses in developing countries. Topics include household economics, rural production systems, land tenure, rural markets and institutions, rural poverty and inequality, the environment, and the role of institutions. Usually offered every year.
Joseph Assan
HS
214f
Environmental Economics and Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to economic perspectives on modern environmental issues. Students study economic theories related to natural resources, with an emphasis on the strengths and weaknesses of economic models. Students learn that economic objectives do not necessarily conflict with environmental goals, and that markets can be harnessed to efficiently improve environmental quality. Usually offered every year.
Brian Roach
HS
215b
Corporate Finance
Prerequisite: HS 250a.
Introduces the modern theory of corporate finance and the institutional background of financial instruments and markets. Considers ways to measure value. Explores alternative forms of financing and ways to analyze them. Considers the financing tools appropriate for for-profit and nonprofit organizations.
Elif Sisli
HS
216f
Policy Perspectives on Women, Work, and Inequality
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Interrogates the gendered and racial contracts at the heart of modern economic relations, women and work. The course analyzes how the structures of work, laws, and policies create opportunities, barriers, and consequences for women's wealth, opportunity, personal and family health, and well being. The course integrates an examination of work through the lens of race, class, gender, culture, and wealth as critical frameworks for understanding why women in the United States experience greater economic and social inequality than men. Usually offered every year.
Janet Boguslaw
HS
217f
Eli J. Segal Seminar in Citizen Leadership
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Engages students in a rigorous examination of the concepts of Citizen Leadership and Citizen Service, as they have been used in the past, in an effort to support them in integrating these ideas into their career plans and personal development. Each session will involve readings on a specific aspect of Citizen Leadership or Service and an opportunity to discuss these aspects with guest speakers and resources, most of whom are Segal Program Founders, men and women who have exemplified them. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
218a
Coexistence and Conflict Field Practicum
Open only to Coexistence and Conflict Students. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis.
Usually offered every year.
Alain Lempereur
HS
218f
Media Strategies and Data Visualization
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides practical communication skills essential to advocate for social change including the importance of clear electronic and written public media; developing cogent arguments address policy or program challenges at the local, national, or international level; and the ability to communicate positions and potential solutions in a concise convincing manner. Students explore a variety of modern communication methods. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
219f
Policy Making Institutions in the Developing World
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Institutions are often defined as a set of rules and procedures for getting things done—in this case, making policy. Yet institutions are not merely machines or algorithms (if x, then do A). Institutions are also ideas—people have understandings and interpretations about what any institution is and should be, and about what goals an institution should serve, and about how to make any institution better serve their goals. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
220f
Renewable Energy for Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Access to inexpensive energy is fundamental to human well-being and economic development. There are two glaring failures in this otherwise happy moment in history. First there is a failure of fair access, with 1 in 5 people still living with no electricity at all - these are the energy poor. The second failure relates to our use of poor energy, primarily fossil fuels, major hydro, and conventional nuclear power. For SID graduates to fully appreciate the nature of these two kinds of energy challenges, and to potentially work in organizations focused on overcoming these challenges, it is necessary to master some of the fundamentals of both climate and energy science. The aim of this course is to provide sufficient climate and energy literacy to allow you to accurately analyze, compare, and critique different solutions, specifically by improving your understanding of energy technologies and of energy-related policies and programs, including the evolving international framework of low-carbon pro-poor technology transfer. Usually offered every year.
Eric Olson
HS
221f
Economics of Education
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be repeated by students who have taken HS 259f with this topic in previous years.
Centers on (a) discussing the intuition behind concepts in household economics and (b) the applied aspects of the concepts for practitioners of development. The course is purposefully not technical and is designed for students who have taken the introductory course to economics. The course will provide a theoretical and empirical introduction to the field of household economics as well as provide practical tools to do basic analysis of intra-household gender inequalities. Usually offered every year.
Ricardo Godoy
HS
222f
Tourism and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores the sustainability of tourism and of ecotourism in particular. The rapid growth of ecotourism is a welcome change in the global tourism industry. At its best, ecotourism aims to increase the sustainability of the travel and tour industry, and makes direct support of wildlife and habitat conservation an element of doing business. Usually offered every year.
Eric Olson
HS
223f
Gender and Development in the Context of Neoliberalism and Globalization
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Reviews connections between gender and macroeconomics and explores changes brought by globalization and neoliberal policies as they affect livelihoods, families, and gender hegemonies. The course provides a critical analytical framework to understand the role of gender within development in light of globalization, which has transformed relations between the state, markets, and civil society and the context of gender practice. Usually offered every year.
Cristina Espinosa
HS
224f
Gender and the Environment
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be repeated by students who have taken HS 259f with this topic in previous years.
Introduces students to the field of gender and the environment, examining the relevance of gender for environmental conservation that includes social sustainability, and the different ways gender has been conceptualized and integrated within environmental conservation and within sustainable development interventions. Usually offered every year.
Cristina Espinosa
HS
225a
Fundraising and Development
Offers a basic grounding in key concepts of private fundraising and development. It explores management and leadership issues associated with the rapidly changing field of development and philanthropy, especially within development NGOs. Students learn to analyze, plan, and evaluate a comprehensive fundraising program and create a professional fundraising portfolio. Usually offered every year.
David Whalen
HS
225f
Measurement of Inequality to Health and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be repeated by students who have taken HS 259f with this topic in previous years.
Exposes students to current debates about the causes and consequences of three dominant topics in development: income inequality, social capital, and empowerment. Through a combination of country case studies, this course will enhance appreciation of empirical analysis of the topics. In addition, students will be familiarized with technical aspects of how one measures income inequality, social capital, and empowerment in applied work. Usually offered every year.
Ricardo Godoy
HS
226f
Environment and Conflict
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the relationship(s) and interaction(s) between conflict and the environment. Both social and ecological theoretical frameworks regarding this interaction will be explored. The course will focus on establishing a set of analytical tools that can form the basis for intervention in emerging conflicts. Usually offered every year.
Mihaela Papa
HS
227f
Coexistence Monitoring and Evaluation
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Open only to students enrolled in the MA program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence. Other students considered with permission of the instructor. May not be taken for credit by students who took HS 220a in prior years.
Provides an introductory review of the core concepts and practical steps of design, monitoring and evaluation in the field of coexistence and peacebuilding. The course will stress participatory methods in monitoring and evaluation, in which multiple stakeholders are involved in the process of planning, collecting, interpreting, synthesizing, and using information. The course will feature case studies and actual DM&E plans and evaluation reports. Usually offered every year.
Isabella Jean
HS
228a
Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Explores how entrepreneurship has become a driving force in the social enterprise sector, provides tools for developing and evaluating new ventures, and explores the blurring line between for-profit and nonprofit social initiatives. The course also teaches hands-on social venture business plan development tools, from assessing markets to developing financial and operating plans. Usually offered every year.
Carol Carlson
HS
228b
Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Development
Examines how climate change, biodiversity loss, population growth, and development intertwine and affect each other. Usually offered every year.
Dan Perlman
HS
228f
The Paulo Freire Seminar
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Even in his own lifetime, Freire became a global icon for social movements against poverty and for unshackling of the minds of the poor. This seminar will introduce Freire’s core beliefs as presented in selections from his oeuvre including a full reading of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Students will consider the relevance of Freire’s ideas and methods to today’s poor as well as to their own experiences of societal change. Usually offered every year.
Laurence Simon
HS
229f
International Health Financing
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the mobilization of resources for the health system as a whole and the funding of individual providers for health services in developing countries. Provides the tools for examining broad reforms as well as refinements of individual components of the health care system. Usually offered every year.
Allyala Nandakumar
HS
230a
SID Field Practicum Course
Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated twice for credit.
Students will be evaluated based upon an approved proposal, terms of reference, and satisfactory evaluation from a field supervisor. Usually offered every semester.
Joan Dassin
HS
230f
Coexistence Research Methods
Open only to students enrolled in the MA program in coexistence and conflict. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Preparation for the research necessary for the required field project in the MA program in coexistence and conflict. Usually offered every year.
Sandra Jones
HS
231b
MBA Internship
Provides an opportunity for MBA students to carry out a formal internship with a client organization under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The internship allows students to apply principles from the MBA curriculum for a client organization. Usually offered every semester.
Staff
HS
231f
MBA Internship
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May be repeated once for credit.
Provides an opportunity for MBA students to carry out a formal internship with a client organization under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The internship allows students to apply principles from the MBA curriculum for a client organization. Usually offered every semester.
Staff
HS
232a
Team Consulting Project Workshop
Corequisite: Concurrent registration with HS 299b. Yields half-course credit. Formerly offered as HRNS/HS 232a.
A series of sessions designed to provide students with the team building and consulting skills necessary to meet the team consulting projects client needs and provide them with tools that will be useful throughout their careers. Several sessions will enable teams to share their experiences with other teams and problem solve as a group. Usually offered every year.
Larry Bailis, Carole Carlson and Ellen Smith
HS
233f
Social Policy for Shared Societies
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the challenges emerging in the management of diverse societies. Refugee flows, forces migration, and labor mobility, have all contributed to societies that are increasingly pluralistic. States that are multiethnically, culturally, religiously, and racially shared are now more the rule than the exception. Accommodating, managing and appreciating such diversity in social policy programming has proved to be one of the major challenges that governments and societies face today. This course looks at how governments, NGO’s and and others can develop policies and programs in e.g. development, health, the environment, business and education so that such policies can prevent societal conflicts, and assist the creation of shared rather than contested and conflicted societies. The course will be particularly useful to those who are studying public policy and administration both domestically and internationally and who are interested in how social and policies can increase social cohesion in societies where there are social and identity divisions. Usually offered every year.
Mari Fitzduff
HS
234f
Global Social Entrepreneurship
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Enables students to explore the fundamentals of social entrepreneurship in an international context. This course enables students to consider how entrepreneurship has become a driving force in the social enterprise sector, provides tools for developing, evaluating and gaining stakeholder support for new mission-driven ventures, and explores the blurring line between for-profit and non-profit social initiatives and their role in sustainable development. Both U.S. and international social entrepreneurial ventures will be discussed. Usually offered every year.
Carole Carlson
HS
235f
Democracy and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the relation between democracy and development geared for development practitioners and policy-makers. Students will discuss if democracy is essential for sustainable development and, if so, what kinds of democracy should be promoted in developing countries. The major critiques of aid and development theory rooted in secular democracy, free-market economies, and human rights will be explored. Usually offered every year.
Rajesh Sampath
HS
236a
International Health Systems and Development
Provides students with the framework to understand how health systems are organized and to understand what affects their performance. Students also will be able to describe key features of health systems; how health system performance is measured; and how lessons from other countries can be applied to their own countries. The course examines different health system frameworks, how to use these frameworks to ask health system questions, different aspects of health systems, how national health systems differ, and what measures are being implemented in different countries to improve their health system performance and eventually health outcomes. The course will also take a broader look at the relationships between health policy, economic policy and development policy, examining some of the main economic and development theories shaping global policies and also examine the international institutions and political dynamics in health policy making. Usually offered every year.
Diana Bowser
HS
236f
Strategies for Coexistence Interventions
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces and mobilizes a variety of strategies for coexistence and conflict interventions. To enable participants to analyze and match coexistence interventions to contextual needs and values frameworks of intended identity-group audiences. This includes leveraging of the appropriate role of structural approaches (such as political agreements, constitutional developments, democracy, human rights, governance, legislation, equity work, and development), as well as psycho-social, religious, dialogue and mediation approaches. To ensure students consider the ethical issues that may arise for them in the course of their work, and increase their awareness of the various codes of ethics, which have been developed to address these issues. To develop students' networking and communication skills on coexistence issues. Usually offered every year.
Eugene Kogan
HS
237f
Applied Cost-Benefit Analysis for Development Practitioners
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and international development organizations have to decide whether to invest in projects. Benefit-cost analysis has become a standard method to evaluate the net monetary benefits of a project. This course introduces students to these principles and allows them to apply them by using cost-benefit analysis to evaluate a real-world development project. Usually offered every year.
Ricardo Godoy
HS
238f
Evaluating Survey Data Using Stata: Questioning Answers
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Exposes students to principles and practices of evaluating survey data. Governments, NGOs, international development organizations, universities, and private researchers collect more and more data through surveys. Data sets cover development topics such as public health, agriculture, environment, education, and economic indicators, so it is vital that practitioners know how to critically examine what is presented. Usually offered every year.
Ricardo Godoy
HS
239f
Intersectionality and Bioethics
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Trains students on international ethical guidelines, history and contemporary relevance of issues in health research involving humans. The course covers ethics in quantitative and qualitative methods drawing from global case studies and peer reviewed journals. The first half of each class reviews guidelines and research methods. The second half of each class assesses extant research through the lens of a checklist incorporating key elements of ethical principles. The goal of the course is to enable students to become informed and intelligent researchers, managers or policy advisors when either designing, reviewing or applying data that involves human populations. The course will emphasize understanding and interpretation of basic ethical principles particularly as defined by global agencies at local, regional, national and international levels. Usually offered every year.
Maria Madison
HS
240b
Professional Writing
Yields half-course credit.
Provides students with training and regular practice in policy-oriented writing for development purposes. Based on the most common types of writing in development organizations, such as memos, reports, policy briefs, position papers and proposals, the course reviews the structure of these various forms and enables students to practice and improve their writing skills for development purposes. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
240f
Contemporary Issues in Gender and Public Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides a deep dive into the analysis of contemporary gender-related policy issues, such as health, domestic violence, military service, reproductive rights, equal employment opportunity, child and dependent care. While we will focus primarily on the US, we will also explore the implications of these issues for women globally. Special emphasis will be placed on the connection between theory and practice and the intersectional issues of gender, race, identity, and culture. This course investigates basic concepts about sex, gender, and sexuality and considers how these categories intersect with issues of race, class, ethnicity, family, religion, age, and/or national identity. Each week we will discuss perspectives on how to move policy forward in consideration of these issues and develop a shared framework for policy gender analysis by the end of the course. Each week I will challenge you to think about the ways in which current thinking about sex, gender, and sexuality formed our experiences and understandings of ourselves, the world we inhabit, and the world we envision? Usually offered every year.
Sangeeta Tyagi
HS
241f
Kingian Nonviolence and Reconciliation
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Traces the intellectual well-spring of what we call Kingian Nonviolence—from its
early roots in history to its tenets in theology and philosophy, coupled with the evolution of local and national movements dedicated to peacebuilding practice and social justice. Usually offered every year.
Theodore Johnson
HS
242f
Development Aid
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Looks at the evolution of international development aid through multilateral, bilateral, and non-State actors; explores underlying theories of development and how theory has real world influence through aid strategies and programs; examines motivations, objectives and interests of aid programs; and introduces concepts and current debate on aid effectiveness. It helps students develop and articulate their own “theories of change” to shape aid programs toward a more sustainable development. Usually offered every year.
Laurence Simon
HS
243f
Religion Identity and Conflict
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the role that religious identity can play in both the escalation and mitigation of conflict. Students will study the role that ideology, belief, values, and faith-based relationships can play in developing and legitimizing, or in transforming and resolving, deeply rooted conflict dynamics. The focus of this course will be on both integration of religious identity factors into conflict analysis and an introduction to faith-based interventions skills, used by religious actors to foster coexistence. During the course, we will explore different types of contemporary conflict in which religion functions as a conflict driver, including how to understand and handle conflicts perpetrated by extremist religious groups. We will also explore the diversity of faith-based reconciliation processes (such as hospitality, healing ritual, apology, etc.) as well as the kinds of roles performed by a wide variety of religious actors (education, advocacy, mediation, dialogue facilitation, etc.). Examples and case studies will be drawn from a wide variety of religious traditions and diverse cultures. In addition to those cases presented in the readings and by the professor, each student will be required to select cases on which to make a class presentation and write a paper. The purpose of these assignments, and the course in general, is to provide students the opportunity to assess concrete conflict situations in which religious identity is a factor, know the potential contribution that faith-based actors can make to coexistence, and evaluate how best to function in faith-based peacebuilding roles and reconciliation processes that interest them. Usually offered every year.
David Steele
HS
244a
Responsible Negotiation
Provides concepts, observations and suggestions to improve analytical and operational negotiation skills. Everyone negotiates on a daily basis, but what about doing it responsibly? Faced with projects, contracts, conflicts or crises, coping with people, problems and process, how can negotiators lever the right reflections and actions in the right direction? How can they optimize utility for themselves and for others? This course also addresses negotiation foundations on how to do first things first, i.e. how to make the right moves at the right time in order to reach the right decisions and to achieve ad hoc implementation. Usually offered every year.
Alain Lempereur
HS
245f
Economics I
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces basic microeconomic concepts, including market analysis. Markets are of direct relevance to managers. A manager, whether for-profit or nonprofit, must operate at least partially in a market environment. The market sets the constraints and provides some of the opportunities for the organization to pursue its goals. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
246b
Data, Models and Decisions
Meets for 1.5 hours a week for a full semester; yields half-course credit.
Presents students with an introduction to the fundamentals of parametric statistics. Covers the essentials required for students to understand issues related to measurement and how to generate descriptive information and statistical analyses from these measurements. Focuses primarily on understanding the importance of summary measures along with a study of fundamental statistical distributions. Usually offered every year.
Stephen Fournier
HS
247f
Evaluation for Managers
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Focuses on program evaluation techniques of interest to managers, including balanced scorecard methods, needs assessment, participatory evaluation methods, process/implementation analysis, impact analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and utilization-focused evaluation. These techniques are discussed in the context of building "learning organizations" that enable the organization and its managers to know whether they are succeeding. Usually offered every year.
Susan Curnan
HS
248b
Financial Management
Prerequisite: HS 250a.
Develops students as educated consumers of financial information. Covers financial management problems encountered by today's human service professionals in a real-world perspective based on sound financial and accounting theory. Includes topics such as financial statement analysis, budget development and control, managing growth, cash flow management, and management controls. Usually offered every year.
Anne Murphy
HS
248f
Economics II
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Prerequisite: HS 245f. Required for all MBA students except those in the Hornstein Program.
Elaborates further on microeconomic topics related to market structure and labor markets and their relevance to managers. It also considers applications of economics to social policy. The course will examine the balance between government spending and revenues and will consider issues in tax policy. It will consider briefly the government debt, unemployment, inflation, and major macroeconomic issues. The course then returns to the economic and social policy issues of poverty and inequality. Usually offered every year.
Daphne Kenyon
HS
249f
Social Justice, Management, and Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Allows students the opportunity to explore the management implications of "Knowledge Advancing Social Justice." Examines historical and contemporary thinkers, justice issues, and management activities. Students grapple with the daily management dilemmas faced by managers and change agents both inside and outside organizations. Usually offered every summer.
Sangeeta Tyagi
HS
250a
Financial Reporting and Analysis
Develops a fundamental understanding of financial accounting and reporting issues as they apply to nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Students will learn about the importance of fiscal responsibility and integrity in the efficient utilization of an organization's resources relative to organizational goals. Accounting practices that are unique to nonprofit organizations will be introduced, discussed, and differentiated from those practices employed by for-profit entities. Emphasis will be placed on interpreting financial statements to understand how accounting information, in a variety of settings, can be utilized by decision makers. Usually offered every year.
Brenda Anderson
HS
250f
Dynamics of Intercultural Communication
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Engages students to honor and share their own culture while developing a capacity to be inclusive of many other cultures; progress from an ethnocentric toward an ethno-relative sate of understanding and acceptance of cultural differences; view cultural differences objectively and understand that differences are not hierarchical; identify and appreciate the beliefs, values and norms of their own culture, and recognize and articulate differences and commonalities in the cultures of others; demonstrate increasing ability to communicate with non-native speakers, as well as persons who exhibit a different worldview, value system and communicative style; analyze and synthesize large amounts of disparate information to produce relevant, insightful presentations; understand the relationship between national, personal, professional and organizational cultures; and learn to appreciate the challenges and develop key skills in cross cultural dispute resolution processes. Usually offered every year.
Theodore Johnson
HS
251b
Managerial Accounting
Prerequisite: HS 250a or equivalent.
Provides general introduction to the concepts, problems, and issues related to managerial accounting. Managerial accounting predominantly addresses the internal use of economic information regarding the resources used in the process of producing goods and providing services. Fundamental aspects of cost behavior and cost accounting will be discussed, but always from the perspective of the manager who must make decisions rather than the accountant who prepares the information. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
251f
Critical Approaches to Diversity
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be taken for credit by students who took HS 277f in prior years.
Diversity and multiculturalism are challenges to global human relationships whether in conflict management, peacebuilding, or humanitarian development. Imbedded in each of these concepts are numerous misconceptions around issues of ethnicity, race, culture, religion, class, gender, and oppression. Through a combined approach including lectures, readings, films and discussions, this course will uncover many of the popular misconceptions about these concepts and factors, will offer innovative and effective approaches to understand and address them, and will help students develop scenarios for a future of constructive coexistence which goes beyond the popular misconceptions. Usually offered every year.
Theodore Johnson
HS
252b
Strategic Management
Provides students with the theoretical constructs and practical tools necessary to create and manage organizations strategically. Includes strategic process, organizational design, and development of planning tools and cycles. All students perform an applied strategic analysis for an actual organization. Usually offered every year.
Carole Carlson and Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld
HS
252f
Women, Peacemaking, and Peacebuilding
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Why do women remain sidelined when it comes to peacemaking and peacebuilding? And, what can we, as practitioners and policymakers, do to support more inclusive decision making? This course will provide an introduction to the field of women, peace, and security - from its origins as a global women’s movement to a burgeoning field of practice. We will explore a few major themes in peacemaking/peacebuilding and consider both the gendered challenges preventing women’s participation as well as opportunities to promote greater inclusion. This course is taught by a practitioner, so we will focus primarily on what women, peace, and security looks like in practice. Reading assignments and course activities include analysis of projects implemented by various UN entities, foreign governments, as well as NGOs. Usually offered every year.
Nanako Tamaru
HS
253b
Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Focuses on leadership and managing organizations. Uses cases on a variety of organizations to expose students to problems and to improve their effectiveness in analyzing, diagnosing, and leading people in organizations. Students learn organizational concepts, analytic frameworks, and models, and practice their leadership skills in class. Uses case discussions, simulations, role-playing, mini-lecturing, and experimental exercises. Provides an opportunity to develop leadership skills through group work and reflection. Usually offered every year.
Jon Chilingerian
HS
254a
Human Resource Management
Considers how human resource management might aid in achieving organizational excellence. Focuses on the development of concepts and strategies that can increase effectiveness in developing policies and practices to enhance the value of people in the organizations served. Usually offered every year.
Jody Gittell
HS
256f
Healthcare Data Analytics and Data Mining
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores concepts, techniques and applications of data mining to make better sense of “big data” in healthcare. Healthcare payers, providers, and government agencies around the globe have expanded their investments in all sorts of healthcare data including insurance claims, EHR, registries, surveillance, patient surveys, and other datasets so that the healthcare industry has already entered the club of “big data” providers. However the famous quote by Rutherford D. Rogers applies to healthcare big data as well that “we are drowning in information and starving for knowledge.” Making sense of big-data is becoming an essential skill in governing health systems. Usually offered every year.
Moaven Razavi
HS
257b
Conflict Resolution by Negotiation
Develops in students an understanding of the nature, advantages, and limitations of negotiations as a conflict resolution tool. Provides a normative and practical framework for pursuing a negotiation strategy as a method of resolving disputes. Provides students with opportunities to apply this knowledge in a variety of simulated negotiation contexts. Finally, exposes students to feedback regarding their negotiation approaches via explicit instructor evaluation and via the impact of their actions on their teammates and opponents. Usually offered every year.
Jeffrey Prottas
HS
257f
International Humanitarian Law, Policy and Practice
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Traces the evolution of international human rights from a moral concept to the establishment of a principle of law. While there have been numerous advancements in the acceptance of human rights since 1949, the field is continuing to face increasing challenges evolving from an ever more complex human environment. Merely adopting new declarations does not turn them into new law or address North/South issues, unilateral use of force by nations, combating of terrorism and extremism, new forms of mass torture and killing, international crimes, environmental degradation, and the responsibility to protect. This course will provide a forum for critical examination of these issues so as to offer a context within which to apply reason and rigorous analysis to appreciate both the opportunities and constraints on the theory, policy and practice of international human rights law. Usually offered every year.
Theodore Johnson
HS
258a
Operations Management
Prerequisite: HS 246b.
Explores how operations management skills can help organizations to deliver high-quality services, while using resources efficiently. Students develop skills including quality assessment, process mapping, productivity analysis, wait-time analysis, process improvement, and supply chain analysis. A field project involves assessing social and technical aspects of operations. Usually offered every year.
Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld
HS
258f
Strategic Planning and Project Management
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces concepts, techniques, and skills related to the management of projects within the context of international development. The course would review strategies, concepts and debates on participatory project management with an examination of consensus and controversies associated with these concepts and how they relate to contemporary development agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Project Management will introduce and promote a well-informed understanding of contemporary frameworks for participatory project management and community development. This will include project management tools employed by international development institutions and organizations. The course will provide conceptual and practical training as well as the application of key project management techniques and frameworks. These may including Stakeholder Engagement; Social Analysis; Project Management Plans/Matrix; Project Readiness and Status; Scope of Project, Budgeting and Investment Feasibility; Mission, Vision and Goal Setting; Policy Relevance; Project Leadership; Time and Motion Analysis; Gantt Charts; Project Reporting; Stakeholder Feedback Analysis/Sheets; Project Management Reporting; Efficiency, Equity and Effectiveness; Performance Management; Monitoring Frameworks; and End of Project Reports. Usually offered every year.
Joseph Assan
HS
259f
Pharmaceutical Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Students will develop an understanding of the key factors that influence access to appropriate pharmaceuticals in different contexts, both at the level of a nation state and globally. They will analyze “teaching” case studies based on real life situations in Cambodia, West Africa, Bangladesh, Jamaica, and globally, assuming the role of protagonists in each situation. The module is highly participatory, and reading assignments must be thoroughly digested in order to participate in classroom discussions. Although some of the cases below (Jamaica and Bangladesh) are older, they are considered classics and the issues remain as relevant now as when the cases were written. Usually offered every year.
Susan Eaton
HS
260b
Practicing Social Justice Philanthropy: Purpose, Practice and Problems
Juxtaposes a theoretical framework for understanding the economic, political, and social role of philanthropy in American society with the practical experience of real-dollar grantmaking. Through course readings and an opportunity to develop a grantmaking process that will grant real money, students will be exposed to the complexity of the philanthropic process and the challenges associated with allocating scarce resources. The course also provides opportunities to explore organizational behavior, group dynamics and individual leadership skills. Students will learn how to negotiate, reach consensus, and execute the plan they design and through readings will gain perspective on process, grantmaking, and evaluation techniques. The process will be documented by the students for use in case studies, teaching materials, and workshops. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
260f
Development, Aid, and Coexistence
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Increases the knowledge and skills of students undertaking development and aid work in conflict situations. Explores how such work can address development needs, as well as the need to increase intercommunal equity, understanding, and cooperation. Usually offered every year.
Theodore Johnson
HS
262f
Culture, Power and Development: Advanced Ethics
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Students engage with constructs of cultural superiority, debate about modernization, and learn about what motivates individual and cultural change. Students are introduced to alternative theoretical approaches to culture and development and learn how to apply those theories to different historical contexts as well as contemporary situations. Usually offered every year.
Joan Dassin or Rajesh Sampath
HS
263f
Applied Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
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Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Prerequisite: HS 297f or permission of the instructor.
Designed for students wishing to receive advanced training in GIS. Instruction includes geospatial data management and archiving, raster and vector analysis techniques, and basic GPS instruction. Emphasis is on 'hands-on' training using ARCView GIS software; qualitative skills in data gathering, analysis, and presentation; and understanding the potential of GIS as a tool for planning and evaluating development projects. Includes a computer lab. Usually offered every year.
Ravi Lakshmikanthan
HS
264f
Environment and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Three pillars -- economy, society, and environment -- are the foundation of sustainable development. Practitioners benefit from basic environmental literacy concerning the primary threats to human and planetary well-being including climate change and its direct and indirect impacts, air and water pollution, ocean acidification and other global changes to the seas, alteration of Earth’s major nutrient cycles, and loss of biodiversity, among other topics. The module includes a special focus on agriculture and human diets, because our crops, livestock, and associated deforestation are the most extensive sources of environmental harm and of freshwater depletion world-wide, and a significant contributor to climate change. Usually offered every year.
Eric Olson
HS
266a
Introduction to Economics for Development Practitioners
Yields half-course credit. May not be taken for credit by students who took HS 266f in prior years.
Provides a foundation in economics for discerning, creative, and forward thinking development practitioners. It explores selected economic theories, historical perspectives, empirical lessons, analytical tools, and alternative proposals that are particularly relevant to sustainable international development. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
267f
Humanitarian Negotiation
Recommended prerequisite: HS 244a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
This advanced module on humanitarian diplomacy builds on, and further tests, the Responsible Negotiation methods of HS 244a. It seeks to understand frontline negotiators’ challenges and to provide a practical motivation-based framework that supports the field. This class explores past and present negotiators, historical figures and unsung heroes, who got small but crucial yesses on behalf of noncombatants in danger. It explores real-life cases and simulations involving the ICRC, MSF, UNHCR and UNOCHA, WFP, NRC, other humanitarian organizations, religious charities, and even businesses. We cover 150 years of humanitarian diplomacy’s unique contributions to saving countless lives. Usually offered every year.
Alain Lempereur
HS
269f
Food Security and Nutrition
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the interconnectedness of agricultural policy and planning, food policy, nutrition policy, and outcomes of nutritional status. Students explore definitions of "hunger” and “malnutrition." The planning and analytical process of defining nutritional problems at the village and household level are discussed, along with appropriate technologies and techniques to resolve food security problems. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
270a
Business Law and Ethics for Managers
Provides a comprehensive introduction to U.S. legal concepts and issues with which contemporary managers should be acquainted as well as the broader ramifications of legal matters on the enterprise as a whole. Examines traditional topics such as contract law, employment law, product liability and legal structures of businesses. It will also include specialized topics such as intellectual property and internet law. Provides students with an understanding of legal issues guiding them with regard to appropriate legal treatment in a variety of settings and discusses ethical dilemmas that potentially present challenges to managers dealing with business and legal issues within organizations will be explored and discussed. Usually offered every year.
Jeffrey Rudin
HS
271f
Social Psychological Approaches to Local and International Conflict
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Familiarizes the student with the current and emerging theories about the socio-psychological and bio-psychological/neurological causes of hatred and genocide, and social and identity violence. It will help students better understand the reasons for the development and the dynamics of inter-societal and international conflicts, and their management and resolution. It will address such questions as: Are conflicts between peoples and nations inevitable? Why do they erupt, and at particular times? Why do they often take so long to resolve? Why are so many people often willing to lose their lives in fighting? How do groups develop a hatred of other groups? How and why do ethnic, political, cultural, social or religious fundamentalism and divisions emerge, and how you deal with them? What social, psychological and biophysical needs, as well as contextual needs such as societal equality and inclusion, are important to address for conflict prevention, peacebuilding and post conflict reconciliation to be successful? Usually offered every year.
Mari Fitzduff
HS
272a
Responsible Leadership
Examines whether leadership is good news or bad news. It is about leading, but it might also be about misleading. It is more than just good intentions, charisma, a personal gift, or features of a person; it is about impact, serving justice, positive values and the community; it must be done right. When it is exercised properly, the good must ensue for most of all, while empowering the voiceless, the weak, the least privileged, the most at risk, the disenfranchised. That is why this course is not interested merely in a leadership that is just another word for power at any cost, just an instrument for any cause. All together, the class will be spotting responsible leadership, where the solutions of women and men of power respond to the problems of the people, to whom they are accountable for. Usually offered every year.
Alain Lempereur
HS
272f
Building Microfinance Institutions and Partnerships
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Leads students through the steps to build a large scale cost-effective microfinance program and examines design problems of existing programs, using the experience of the students and of programs the instructor has evaluated. Students examine how to build and staff microfinance institutions and explore strategies for partnerships with local NGOs and village-level organizations to expand outreach. Usually offered every year.
Jeffrey Ashe
HS
275f
Urbanization and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Develops student of knowledge, skills and tools in urban development management frameworks such as the appraisal of urban development projects, forecasting, prepare cost effectives frame work, risk analysis, qualitative checklist, project evaluation, water and sanitation interventions and be able to use these skills in preparing policy briefs and strategy papers. Usually offered every year.
Joseph Assan
HS
277f
Introduction to Planning and Implementation
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Studies analytical methods utilized in development planning. The issues and methods of project implementation are taught. Drawing on case studies the class examines the complex interactions between beneficiary communities, social mobilization, training, marketing strategies, and other factors that affect achievements.
Joseph Assan
HS
278f
Monitoring and Evaluation
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to the field of evaluation, including their purpose, design, methodologies for data collection and analysis, and utilization. The course also explores the organizational environment in which evaluations are carried out, frequent challenges and pitfalls in conducting evaluation, and some tricks of the trade drawing on written materials and experiences of the instructor and enrolled students as well. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
279a
Planning and Implementation
Focuses on concepts and methods of planning and implementation to promote sustainable development. The project cycle and project development are used to give students experience in problem-solving, logic, and organizational skills applicable to all planning, implementation, and monitoring functions. Attention is given to the context in which the project cycle takes place, identifying local problems and applying holistic solutions. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
282f
Environmental Impact Assessment
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides students with a working knowledge of the purpose and process of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). EIA is examined as a planning tool that can anticipate negative environmental and social impacts; increasing benefits, social acceptance, and durability of development projects while reducing their cost to budgets, communities, and the environment. Usually offered every year.
Eric Olson
HS
283f
Gender and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines politics and policies of international development from a gender-sensitive perspective. Concepts of "development" and “gender” are framed within historical and political contexts. Students examine how development affects women and men differently according to class, ethnicity, geography, age, and seniority. Ways in which gender asymmetries have been addressed in development and approaches to mainstreaming gender are explored. Usually offered every year.
Cristina Espinosa
HS
285a
Marketing
An overview of marketing with a focus on how to formulate marketing strategies and identify and evaluate strategy-based tactics in order to achieve organizational marketing goals. Topics include strategic market planning, market research and analysis; consumer behavior; market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; social marketing; and the marketing mix-product, price, distribution, promotion, and marketing communications. Highlights include developing a digital market strategy for a mission-driven organization. Usually offered every summer.
Xin Wang
HS
285f
Livelihoods, Enterprises and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to concepts on sustainable livelihood diversification, enterprise and how they interact to impact on the development of poor and marginalized communities. Students will learn how to develop policy interventions and programs to support and facilitate enterprise development through sustainable livelihood diversification in developing countries. This courses aims to help students acquire skills and tools for policy analysis and develop technical skills in the preparation of Policy Response Papers and Policy Briefs. Usually offered every year.
Joseph Assan
HS
286f
Multilaterals, the BRICS, and New Development Trends
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Rising powers, especially the BRICS, are now recognized as centers of development policy innovation, as well as drivers of global growth. They are actively reshaping multilateral rules and institutions underpinning global development efforts and challenging traditional practices. This course situates rising powers in the context of global development architecture and analyzes their development philosophies, funding priorities, and impacts. It examines the new China and BRICS-led multilateral development institutions including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank. It introduces the controversies of providing global public goods in various sectors including health and food security. The course also provides an overview of critical perspectives on rising powers in global development and discusses emerging development trends. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
287f
Land Poverty and Reform
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the evolution of land reform theory and practice around the world. Land inequality and land poverty pose fundamental obstacles to rural development and development more broadly. Students explore problems of land inequality and land poverty, historical and current models of land reform, tools for evaluating different approaches in different contexts, and the need to integrate land policies into larger development visions. Usually offered every year.
Laurence Simon
HS
289f
Sustainable Economic Development Strategies
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the current economic conditions of the developing countries and various development policies that are available to policy makers in these countries for achieving equitable and sustainable economic development. This course will introduce the students to the practical and applied tools of development economics, explore the policy debates around the best ways to understand and approach developing economies, and look at examples of alternative development strategies. We will review the economic problems of the underdeveloped countries to develop some understanding of the causes of economic backwardness and the process of economic development. Usually offered every year.
Can Erbil and Nader Habibi
HS
290a
Economic Analysis for Managers
Introduces fundamental economic concepts, such as opportunity cost and marginal analysis. The course then turns to the examination of markets, with analysis of supply and demand in product and factor markets, elasticity of demand and supply, and the impact of price ceilings and floors, including a minimum wage. The determinants of consumer behavior are analyzed, with a special emphasis on the role of e-commerce. Costs of production for firms and resulting supply decisions are then considered. Markets without market power and markets with market power (monopoly and oligopoly) are examined. Antitrust policy, including the proper approach to the market power of Facebook, Amazon, and Google, is considered. Two classes focus on macroeconomics since the state of the business cycle is an important part of the economic landscape all managers must consider. The economic theory of nonprofits is discussed, as well as the economics of K-12 education. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
290f
Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Reviews the history of technology transfer and new or emerging innovative technologies are assessed for their potential contribution and positive or negative consequences for sustainable economic, social and human development. Technology transfer strategies are reviewed for their approach as people-centered within an empowerment, choice framework. Usually offered every year.
Laurence Simon
HS
291f
Development in Conflict Situations
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores trends of humanitarian action in relation to conflict evolution and transformation, as well as the connections between the concepts of development and humanitarian activities. The course approach is multidisciplinary, using a mix of academic analysis and practical experience to reflect upon working in armed conflict, as well as on the wider context of international development systems. Usually offered every year.
Pierrette Quintiliani
HS
292f
Critical Thinking and Advanced Professional Writing
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Develops advanced critical thinking skills, models of logical argumentation and debate, reading comprehension and advanced writing skills geared for professionals and practitioners in foundations, NGOS, government sectors and civil society organizations. Although we will focus on needs of sustainable international development, professionals and practitioners from other fields are most welcome, namely public policy, social policy and coexistence and conflict. Usually offered every year.
Joan Dassin or Rajesh Sampath
HS
294f
Responsible Mediation
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Open only to students enrolled in the MA program in coexistence and conflict. Other students considered with permission of the instructor.
Introduces mediation as a process to engage disputing parties in a shared approach toward understanding, discussing and resolving differences. The course provides an overview of definitions, roles and questions such as: What is mediation? What makes mediation work? What is a mediator’s role? What’s involved in a mediation session? How do we deal with emotions? How to deal with cultural differences? Do we have to reach an agreement? What are the options if we don’t come to an agreement? Usually offered every year.
Theodore Johnson
HS
296b
Current Issues in Healthcare Management
May not be taken for credit by students who took HS 296f in prior years.
Focuses on strengthening health facility management in government hospitals and clinics. Managers in such facilities are often ineffective in "getting things done," and prefer to complain and shift blame for poor performance to inadequate budgets, low salaries, bad policy, and other problems. This course will examine some of the prototypical kinds of issues arising in health care delivery today, and examine the way good managers can respond to make organizations more effective. The course will use weekly situational cases to allow groups to study and resolve. Usually offered every year.
Gary Gaumer
HS
297a
Field Project
Prerequisite: Two semesters as master's student in coexistence and conflict or permission of program director.
Offers students an opportunity to apply the theories and key themes covered in the core courses in a real-life setting. Requires completion of at least three months of a paid or unpaid internship or field project approved and monitored by a faculty adviser. The project could involve a research or consulting assignment or a structured internship in the fields of coexistence and conflict. Offered every year.
Alain Lempereur
HS
297f
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
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Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
A primer for non-specialists on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and its capabilities as a tool for planning and monitoring. Students learn how to determine an organization’s GIS requirements, focus on those requirements during planning, and apply the requirements to assess the size and scope of the system needed. Includes a computer lab. Usually offered every semester.
Staff
HS
298f
Independent Study
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Staff
HS
299b
Team Consulting Project
A capstone educational experience for students nearing the end of the MBA program. Working under the supervision of a faculty adviser, teams of three to five MBA and Heller/Hornstein students provide management consulting services to nonprofit, community-based health and human services agencies. Usually offered every year.
Larry Bailis and Carole Carlson
HS
299f
NGOs: Strategic Planning
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces concepts, techniques, and skills related to organizational strategy; and strategic action, management, and planning for civil society and non-governmental development organizations Concepts considered include elements of strategic planning; assessing environmental factors; clarifying organizational values, vision, mission, and goals; and developing programs and services to achieve organizational goals. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
302f
Policy Analysis and Design in the Developing World
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to the tools of policy analysis that were originally created in and for advanced industrial societies, and explores how these tools can be modified to fit and be useful in the developing world context. We will examine quantitative, qualitative and interpretive methods of gathering information; assumptions about human motivation; causal models; generic types of policy instruments; and methods of analyzing program feasibility and impacts. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
303a
Historical and Contemporary Developments in Social Welfare
Examines the development of social welfare over time by reviewing policy arguments within a historical context and using an analytic framework centered on eligibility, benefits, administration, financing, and behavioral incentives to assess perennial issues in social welfare and analyze contemporary challenges. Usually offered every year.
Michael Doonan
HS
303f
Disaster Management and Capacity Building
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
In recent decades there has been growing attention on the need to systematically understand and manage risk, while mitigating the vulnerabilities of communities to disasters. In light of this to what extent has the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) model contributed to improving humanitarian preparedness to disaster? How have links between humanitarian and development assistance evolved? What are the professional and technical approaches needed in disaster response environments? Through readings, expert presentations, case studies, and group work, the purpose of this course is to offer graduate students legal, policy, and response frameworks for understanding and engaging in humanitarian disaster response. This course is interdisciplinary in nature, with aspects of health, law, sociology, and psychology embedded within the thematic focus areas. While this course aims to contribute to the development of students’ capacity to think critically and strategically about current challenges and approaches in disaster management, it recognizes the rich experience of the students and strongly encourages peer dialogue and group sharing. Usually offered every year.
Anaide Nahikian
HS
304f
Reproductive and Sexual Health and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
This course examines how the relationship between reproductive & sexual health and development is made clear in the Millennium Development Goals. Students explore, from a gendered perspective, development approaches beginning with family planning and moving through the shift to reproductive rights; acquiring a critical perspective to conceptualize and evaluate development initiatives in the area of reproductive & sexual health. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
305f
Advanced Dialogue and Mediation
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Designed for students wanting to develop deeper intellectual, analytical, and professional skills in the areas of domestic and international mediation. The sessions are particularly focused on disputes or conflicts that introduce the involvement of multi-party and multi-issue dynamics. This necessarily involves increased levels of complexity while still supported by many of the basic foundational principles learned in the introductory mediation course. Usually offered every year.
Theodore Johnson
HS
306f
Survey Design and Data Analysis for Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides students with an introduction to survey design and applied principles of data analysis in development. Topics include research design (hypothesis formulation, model building), data collection (principles of survey design, definition and measurement of variables, cross-sectional and panel surveys, focus groups and pilot tests), and data analysis (statistical and social significance; univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis). Usually offered every year.
Ricardo Godoy
HS
307a
Immigrant Integration in the United States: Policy, Practice and People
Immigrant integration is a new and rapidly evolving policy area concerned with the well-being and prosperity of communities in the context of demographic change. We cover efforts designed to exclude and expel as well as efforts to welcome and work toward shared power and integration. We consider the social constructions and intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender as well what it means to be “American.” We explore and critique qualitative and quantitative measures of integration in employment, education, health, and other sectors. We explore the influence of government, non-profits, social movements, philanthropy, the private sector and popular culture on policy and practice. Usually offered every year.
Susan Eaton and Jessica Santos
HS
308f
Markets and Social Justice: Classics of Political Economy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Acquaints students with classical works in political economy that they are likely to have missed in their prior academic work. These include the basic classical paradigm of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, as well as the radical and institutional challenges to the assumptions of classical economics. There will be short readings from Marx, Polanyi, Keynes, Schumpeter, Galbraith, Hirschman, with a narrative history of economic thought provided by the instructor. Not offered in 2019-2020.
Robert Kuttner
HS
310f
Introduction to Education and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the relationship between education and development, especially the pivotal question of whether education reduces poverty. Starting with a review of the state of education at the global level, the course then examines positive and negative theories about the role of education in development. It analyzes innovative policies and programs in educational policy areas, such as girls’ education, with high potential for producing positive development impacts. The course also considers the impacts of educational technology and new methods for teaching and learning, as well as the most current assessment strategies and tools to monitor and evaluate policy choices and programs in the education sector.
Joan Dassin
HS
312f
International Youth Policies and Programs
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines demographic trends that have led to the ‘youth bulge’ in the developing world, leading to the need for youth-centered development policies. After considering obstacles to young people’s growth and potential, the course maps major institutional actors and analyzes policy issues and programs in areas with high potential for positive impact on youth, such as entrepreneurship, vocational education, and civic engagement. The course also reviews assessment strategies and tools to monitor and evaluate policy choices and programs in the youth sector. Usually offered every year.
Joan Dassin
HS
313f
Ethnicity, Indigeneity and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores conflicts between development, conservation, and indigenous peoples and how this relation has evolved. Students look at fundamental dilemmas and potential synergies that exist between indigenous peoples and development agendas, how ethnic conflicts threaten sustainable development, structural and cultural roots of such conflicts, and the role of ethnic exclusion in maintaining and distributing poverty within countries. Usually offered every year.
Cristina Espinosa
HS
315f
Randomized Controlled Trials
Prerequisite: HS 278f Monitoring & Development or permission of the instructor. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
In this course monitoring and evaluation are approached from a strategic perspective. Students focus on knowledge and field methods to co-strategize how best to institutionalize good M&E practices that make a real difference in the effectiveness of development outcomes. Usually offered every year.
Ricardo Godoy
HS
316b
International Health Policy
Examines major current issues in health policy and global governance shaping our world in the 21st century. There is increasing recognition of the development threats from health problems – from emerging infectious diseases to the recognition that global climate change is contributing to new or re emerging health threats. The recent WHO Commission on Social Determinants for Health outlined an ambitious agenda for research on health determinants, systems, and financing and new global institutions are promoting greater evidence-based research for health policy making that incorporate a wider array of inputs and stakeholders. Usually offered every year.
Gary Gaumer
HS
317f
Labor Income, Labor Power, and Labor Markets
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Gives students a deeper understanding of where wage and salary income fits into the broader study of income equality, inequality and social policy; and to examine the role of trade unionism, regulation, and other factors such as globalization and technology in the worsening incomes and job security for most Americans. The module will also explore human capital theory, efficiency wage models, and other theoretical explanations for changing labor trends. And it will examine various policy and political remedies for widening income equality, with special emphasis on wage and salary income. Usually offered every year.
Robert Kuttner
HS
319f
Ethics, Rights, and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores philosophical and ethical foundations of human rights as related to development studies, policy, and practice. Students look at complex political, economic, and cultural conditions to apply rights to advance sustainable development. Contemporary debates on human rights as a tool to define and realize justice and alleviate human suffering - such as poverty, hunger, and other detriments to health and environment - are examined. Usually offered every year.
Rajesh Sampath
HS
320f
The American Gay Rights Movement: Social Justice and Social Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
This course is about the last forty years (1969-2009) of social justice and social policy in the American Gay Rights Movement. It is about the development of social justice and social policy in America that is inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity. And, it is about policy development, and human behavior, in America that reflects the full civil, political, legal and moral equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Usually offered every second year.
Susan Curnan
HS
322b
Sociological Inquiry
Examines the transformation of work and its consequences for social mobility, inequality and social stratification. The course integrates race, class, and gender as critical frameworks for a contemporary understanding of how the occupational structure, the changing nature and distribution of work, and shifts in policies and practices shape inequalities and opportunity in an era of global capitalism. Usually offered every second year.
Janet Boguslaw
HS
323f
Participatory Action Research
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Participatory Action Research (PAR) with its inherent emphasis on equalizing power relationships between the researcher and the researched emphasizes the importance of respecting the situated knowledge of research participants. It is large based in Paulo Freire's pedagogical framework for liberatory education which seeks to help marginalized peoples to empower themselves through research and knowledge production for the purposes of political action. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
HS
324a
Social Experimentation in Child, Youth and Family Policymaking
Builds the skills necessary to critically assess the policy content, design, results and recommendations of (quasi) experimental research that examines the effects of social policies aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable children, youth and families. The focus is on providing a graduate-level introduction to the use of social experimentation methods in policy research. We examine four substantive policy areas as case studies: (1) early childhood education; (2) home visitation; (3) income incentives and supplements; and (4) housing. Usually offered every year.
Dolores Acevedo-Garcia
HS
324f
Globalization, Development and Governance
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores philosophical and policy debates concerning the benefits, costs, and different approaches to expanded global commerce and economic development both in economics and politics. Instruction and materials will place current debates about economic development and governance or globalization in a context that reflects both history and theory from the perspective of diverse nations, cultures and regions. Learning outcomes are an enhanced ability to assess arguments regarding development and globalization and to cogently analyze, speak, and write about them. Students are expected to actively participate in teaching and learning with written and verbal presentations. Usually offered ever year.
Robert Kuttner
HS
325f
The Right to Water
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores practical applications of the human right to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation from a science and policy perspective. It takes an interdisciplinary perspective to issues of water, focusing on geography, social arrangements, and government choices that impact access to water at the household level. Modes of decision-making with regard to water policy are examined from technical and rights perspectives. Usually offered every year.
Eric Olson
HS
326f
Introduction to Stata® Programming and Data Management
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to basic programming in Stata and provides guidance on data management strategies. The course will cover creating simple datasets and accessing existing ones, modifying and managing data, and performing simple statistical analysis. Data management strategies will be woven into each lecture and will be emphasized throughout the course itself. This course is intended for students who have little to no experience using this statistical software program. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
327f
Using Health Information for Health System Improvement
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
To achieve delivery of quality health services and subsequently sustainable health of the target populations, the World Health Organization (WHO) promotes strengthening the six major building blocks of the health system: (1) governance and policy; (2) service delivery; (3) human resources; (4) health commodities; (5) health financing; and (6) health information systems (HIS). HIS remains the backbone for providing information to track progress for improving the different health system components and monitor the achievement of the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This course will follow the structure of the Health Metrics Network Framework to review and better understand the health information systems that guide decision-making, leading to better health. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
328f
Essential Humanitarian Response Elements of the Future
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Develop skills aimed at providing principled humanitarian assistance to civilians suffering from the effect of violent conflicts. To do so, we will explore the content of humanitarian principles and the common standards agreed upon by a large number of humanitarian organizations for the provision of water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion, food security and nutrition, shelter, settlement, non-food items and education. The provision of principled humanitarian assistance along these standards ensure that civilians basic human rights are respected and re-enforce the accountability of humanitarian organizations. Usually offered every year.
Anaide Nahikian and Pierrette Quintiliani
HS
329f
Epidemiology
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces the basic concepts of epidemiology applied to public health problems. Emphasis is placed on the principles and methods of epidemiologic investigation, the use of classical statistical approaches to describe the health of populations, and the application of epidemiological approaches to policy evaluation and health services research. The key topics include the dynamics of disease; methods of measuring disease burden; and epidemiologic study designs; and criteria for evaluating causal associations between risk factors and disease outcomes. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
330f
International Health Economics
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be taken for credit by students who took HS 239b in prior years.
Prepares students with graduate-level knowledge in theories and research methods in the area of international health economics. The course aims at providing a rigorous economic framework that addresses both positive and normative issues in the economics of health in developing countries. Examples used to illustrate the economic theories have a developing country focus. Topics covered include: relationship between health outcomes and macro-economic performance; micro-economics of health care and insurance markets including demand for health care services, insurance, supply of physician services and other medical service; normative analysis for health policy and projects including market failure and public intervention. Usually offered every year.
Moaven Razavi
HS
331b
Social Policy Internship
Formerly offered as HS 789b.
Provides an opportunity for Heller graduate students (particularly MS and MPP students) to carry out a formal internship with a client organization under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The internship allows students to apply principles from their curriculum for a client organization. Usually offered every semester. Usually offered every semester.
Staff
HS
331f
Social Policy Internship
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May be repeated once for credit. Formerly offered as HS 789f.
Provides an opportunity for Heller graduate students (particularly MS and MPP students) to carry out a formal internship with a client organization under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The internship allows students to apply principles from their curriculum for a client organization. Usually offered every semester. Usually offered every semester.
Staff
HS
332a
Research Methods and Evaluation
Prepares students to (1) thoroughly understand the rigorous conduct of research methods of public policy, with a particular emphasis on program evaluation and to (2) be sophisticated consumers of empirical of public policy research. A variety of class formats will be used throughout the semester including lectures, discussions, and seminars, depending upon the topic and readings. Usually offered every year.
Marji Warfield
HS
332f
Drivers of Inequality: Global and Domestic
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
What are the several sources of widening equality within nations and between nations? This course will sort out the relative role of such factors as wage and salary income; increasing returns to capital; wealth inequality; inter-generational inequality; race, gender, taxes and transfer income; public provisions versus privatization; and globalization. This class will take a political economy perspective. It will address the role of political power in different models of how to structure economies, and the cumulative dynamics of how economic inequality translates into political inequality to structure laws and rules, as well as the role of race and gender. Usually offered every year.
Robert Kuttner
HS
334a
Child and Family Policy: U.S. and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
Draws on a number of social science disciplines and women's studies to explore the construction of public policies that shape the lives of children and families. It will focus on material from the United States and will use examples from other countries for comparative purposes. The course will explore some of the key components of family policy as they have developed in the U.S. and provide a critical examination of the ways in which "the state" may alternately facilitate, control and constrain women's choices about whether and when to have children, and the conditions surrounding the employment and care of children and other family members. It will further consider the current economic and political context and how families strategize to combine jobs and family care. Usually offered every year.
Marji Warfield
HS
335f
Perspectives on Youth Policy, Program Management, and System Design
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
This seminar is offered to both deepen student understanding of one of the great challenges facing our nation and many developing countries and to explore emerging and best practices related to policy, management and systems/program design to address those challenges and create sustainable conditions for preparing youth for college, work, and life. Usually offered every year.
Susan Curnan
HS
336a
Heller MPP Capstone Seminar
Students will demonstrate the ability to define and diagnose public policy situations, collect relevant information, perform logical analysis, develop alternative, and make compelling recommendations; and to organize and communicate information clearly to a variety of audiences through formats including verbal presentations, policy briefs, and statistical charts, graphs, and tables. Usually offered every year.
Mary Brolin
HS
337f
Advanced Planning and Implementation: Issues in the Field
Prerequisite: HS 279a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores the context of development projects and challenges faced by project managers, executing agencies, donors, partners, stakeholders, and beneficiaries. Values and priorities --including sustainability, participation, project ownership, accountability, and legitimacy – are examined in light of changing dynamics of power, procedures, and relationships in project management. Usually offered every year.
Laurence Simon
HS
338a
Sustainable International Development Master's Paper Writing Seminar
Open only to SID Advanced Study Students.
Focuses on methods to help advanced study students identify topics and research strategies for their masters papers. Class sessions focus on techniques for constructing specific sections of the paper, enabling students to produce a draft of their masters papers by the end of the Fall semester. Class methods involve peer review and extensive instructor feedback on research and writing issues. Usually offered every year.
Joan Dassin
HS
339f
Advanced Topics in Health Care Data Analytics and Data Mining
Prerequisite: HS 256f or permission of the instructor. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Methodological course on concepts, techniques and applications of data analytics as applied to healthcare big data. Healthcare payers, providers, and government agencies around the globe have expanded their investments in all sorts of healthcare data including insurance claims, EHR, registries, surveillance, patient surveys, household surveys, and other datasets so that the healthcare industry has already entered the club of “big data” providers. In terms of techniques and methods, the course emphasizes more on the predictive analytics, certain statistical analysis on big data, and some machine learning algorithms including cluster analysis. Students will also learn about the major commercial and public episode grouper software applications as examples of supervised learning models in healthcare. Usually offered every year.
Moaven Razavi
HS
340a
Aging Policies and Programs: U.S. and Global Perspectives
Covers a wide range of social policy issues related to aging individuals and societies. It views social policy broadly to include public policies at the national, regional/state, and local levels; policies of private organizations; and informal policies of families, religions, and racial and ethnic groups. The course lays a base of the historical and ideological antecedents of current policies in aging and presents and critiques alternatives for the future. It also covers the process of policy formation, including how aging plays out in the political sphere. The readings and discussions provide a comparative analysis of aging policies in the United States, other industrial countries, and developing countries. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
HS
340f
Advanced International Health Economics
Prerequisite: HS 330f. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Prepares students to apply the theories and research methods in health economics in order to analyze the challenging real world questions and to formulate health policies that would address the most pressing challenges.
As an example the course analyzes the trends of healthcare costs in industrialized nations and offers a set of theories and evidence on the root causes of the cost increase. It will also cover the interplay between insurance, technology, and demand for health care and hence the risk of similar cost inflation in developing countries. Based on the lessons learned from industrialized world a series of evidence based advices for formulation of cost containment policies will follow. Major abnormalities of health care market are discussed in this course. They improve the knowledge of students about the prevalent market failures and how to prevent or mitigate them. Additionally it will enhance students’ knowledge in those areas that ordinary theories of microeconomics and health economics have not been able to provide convincing answers to real world phenomena. For example consumer theory of microeconomics fails to fully explain the prevalence of underutilization of preventive care when the care is fully subsidized. Students will learn how the modern theories of Behavioral Economics are applied in order to modify health seeking behavior of consumers. Usually offered every year.
Moaven Razavi
HS
341a
Public Finance and Budgeting
Utilizes facts and analytical tools to effectively make decisions about public finance and budgeting as a policymaker, policy advocate, policy analyst, scholar, reporter, and/ or citizen. Upon completion of this course, students will have a broad knowledge of why and how governments shape the economy; the extent of their intervention; and how and why government funds are currently allocated among competing uses. Usually offered every year.
Robert Tannenwald
HS
342b
Policy Advocacy, Protest, and Community Organizing
Provides students with an overview of the processes by which individuals and groups operating at the national, state, and local levels in the United States can effectively shape social policy. It will focus on two complementary sets of issues: 1) How knowledge is used to promote social justice, the barriers that face those who seek to use knowledge to change policy, and the kinds of strategies that have been and are likely to be effective in overcoming these barriers in the future, and 2) The strategies that advocacy organizations utilize in promoting policy changes that benefit different segments of society, especially those with relatively little economic or political power. Usually offered every year.
Larry Bailis
HS
343f
Health Care Entrepreneurship
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Open only to Tufts MD/MBA Students.
Enables students to master the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. It explores how entrepreneurship has become a driving force in the healthcare sector, provides tools for developing and evaluating new ventures, and explores the blurring line between for profit and non-profit social initiatives. The course is designed to provide an intellectual and practical framework for combined degree MD/MBA students interested in exercising their entrepreneurial energy to solve problems in healthcare and will explore the process of launching a new venture, particularly in the healthcare sector. Usually offered every year.
Abdullah Baaj
HS
346f
Policy Perspectives on Criminal Justice, Disparities
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides an overview of relevant policies and issues in the United States criminal justice system impacting incarceration and outcomes. It will study topics pertaining to disparities in policing and court procedural policies and practices, access to behavioral health services and diversion programs, and community re-entry and outcomes. We will examine the mechanisms by which the criminal justice and the behavioral health treatment systems interact and disparities are maintained or exacerbated. We will explore how race, ethnicity, gender, social class, sexual orientation, age and their interactions influence criminal justice involvement. We will also examine factors associated with the overrepresentation of minority and disenfranchised groups among our jail and prison population, and review program and policies implemented to increase successful community reentry and reduce recidivism. Usually offered every year.
Robert Dunigan
HS
347a
Healthcare Technology and Information Systems
Discusses the role of science and technology in health care settings. Through case studies of technology companies (pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and information technology), the class examines how firms manage the creation, development, adoption, and spread of medical innovations in the context of a cost-constrained marketplace. The class uses current academic literature and newspaper articles to discuss how hospitals, insurers, and federal agencies can affect technological progress. Usually offered every summer.
Cindy Thomas
HS
349f
Introduction to Microeconomics in Global Health
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Uses examples to illustrate the economic theories that have a developing country focus. Topics covered should prepare students to take on subjects in their more advanced courses such as microeconomics of health care and insurance markets, demand for health care services, demand for insurance, supply of physician services and other medical service. The normative analysis for international health policy and projects includes various aspects of market failure and government intervention and market regulation. Usually offered every year.
Moaven Razavi
HS
353a
Managing the Triple Bottom Line
Explores a new kind of “bottom line” developing for corporations which includes social and environmental returns as well as financial returns. How can we measure “Return on Responsibility?” What are the implications for stockholders, employees and consumers when it comes to social and environmental accountability in the corporate world? How do business decisions get made when financial considerations are not the only decisions central to continued growth and success? Through case studies and meetings with institutional decision makers, this course explores shifting strategies and developing programs in the rapidly changing landscape of the Triple Bottom Line. Usually offered every year.
Michael Appell
HS
354a
The Political Economy of the American Welfare State
Addresses the political and fiscal foundations of social outlays intended to promote opportunity, security, and equality. We will examine the tax as well as the spending side of the ledger. The course will explore the current politics of austerity as a remedy for budget imbalance and slow growth, and the impact on social spending. These welfare state programs include: retirement security, health, income-support, labor-market regulation and subsidy, the use of tax credits and incentives, and various programs to help children and their parents. Usually offered every year.
Robert Kuttner
HS
357f
Health Law and Ethics I
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to patient care and liability issues within the context of the U.S. health care delivery system. The course will cover legal and ethical aspects of: 1.) the provider/patient relationship and liability; 2.) health care quality, cost, and access; 3.) relationships between physicians and organizations; 4.) insurance, health care delivery systems, regulation, and the Affordable Care Act. Usually offered every summer.
Alice Noble
HS
358f
Health Law and Ethics II
Prerequisite: HS 357f. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to patient care and liability issues within the context of the U.S. health care delivery system. The course will cover legal and ethical aspects of: 1.) the provider/patient relationship and liability; 2.) health care quality, cost, and access; 3.) relationships between physicians and organizations; 4.) insurance, health care delivery systems, regulation, and the Affordable Care Act; 5) health care management. Usually offered every summer.
Alice Noble
HS
360f
Balance Wheel of the Social Machinery? Context and Contention in K-12 Education
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
One of public education's best-known founders, Horace Mann, told Massachusetts' educational leaders: "Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer...the balance-wheel of the social machinery." In 2011, then-U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, told graduates, "In America... education is still the great equalizer." The intertwined objectives of this course are to 1) Interrogate this dominant narrative, which casts public schools as society's "equalizers" 2) Identify and analyze major barriers that prevent schools from playing this transformative role and 3) By exploring a range of leading social-justice oriented solutions, build understanding of policies, practices and movements that aspire to push schools closer to an "equalizer" role for more people. Usually offered every year.
Susan Eaton
HS
365a
Physicians Executive Field Experience
Open only to Tufts/Heller MD/MBA students.
An introduction to the real and complex problems of management and systems changes. Teams of three or four students work under the supervision of a faculty coordinator, physician executives, and other administrative personnel on a mutually agreed upon project designed to further the mission of the specific sponsoring health care industry organization within the time and resource constraints of the course. Usually offered every summer.
Staff
HS
367a
Working with National Data Sets to Inform Policy Analysis and Recommendations
Building on the courses in Applied Regression Analysis, Econometrics, Research Methods, and concentration course work, this full semester course provides students in-depth and hands on experience using large national data sets to conduct policy analyses. The course will guide students through the each step of the process of developing and carrying out a research project. Usually offered every year.
Tatjana Meschede
HS
372b
Economic Theory and Social Policy
Prerequisite: A recent course in microeconomics.
Applies economic analysis to problems of importance to social policy. The particular applications may vary from year to year and may include such topics as unemployment and inflation, Social Security, and the economics of race and gender. Usually offered every year.
Christine Bishop
HS
390a
Independent Study
Open to SID students only.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
390f
Independent Study
Open to SID students only. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
391a
Independent Study
Open to COEX students only.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
391f
Independent Study
Open to COEX students only. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
392a
Independent Study
Open to MPP students only.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
392f
Independent Study
Open to MPP students only. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
393a
Independent Study
Open to MS students only.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
393f
Independent Study
Open to MS students only. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
394a
Independent Study
Open to MBA students only.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
394f
Independent Study
Open to MBA students only. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
400a
Great Debates on Social Policy
Engages the philosophical debates underlying the major questions of social policy by reading both classic and contemporary authors. Content-wise, the main objective is to reflect on the deeper value questions and philosophical assumptions that shape social policy. Usually offered every year.
Deborah Stone
HS
401b
Research Methods
Prerequisite: Open only to PhD students who have completion of, or current enrollment in, a graduate-level statistics course.
Provides doctoral students in social policy with a basic orientation to social science research methods. Students will develop an understanding of the theoretical and practical issues that guide the creation, conduct and interpretation of research. The course focuses on the conduct and evaluation of applied and policy-oriented research. This course is designed to prepare students in the Heller PhD program to be able to understand and interpret empirical research and to design their own studies. Usually offered every year.
Jody Gittell
HS
402f
Research Methods
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Prepares students (1) to understand the fundamentals of the rigorous conduct of health policy research methods and (2) to be sophisticated consumers of empirical health policy research. A variety of class formats will be used throughout the semester including lectures, discussions, and seminars, depending upon the topic and readings. Every student is expected to come to each class prepared to raise questions from the readings, respond to questions raised by other students and the instructor, discuss issues, and point out implications of the readings for policy and planning research. Usually offered every year.
Diana Bowser and Moaven Razavi
HS
403b
Qualitative Research
Open to PhD students only.
Acquaints students with the theory and practice of qualitative research. Readings and discussions focus on epistemological and theoretical foundations of qualitative research, how to conduct qualitative research, and its relevance for social policy. Provides students with experience in direct observation, participant observation, and interviewing, as well as in writing field notes, memoing, and transcribing. Qualitative research from study design to analysis and presentation is approached as an iterative and interconnected process. Ethical issues are addressed, with emphasis on requirements for institutional review board applications for projects involving qualitative research methods. Students planning to go on to HS 411b typically prepare an IRB application for a project of their own design Usually offered every year.
Nina Kammerer
HS
404b
Applied Regression Analysis
An applied course in multiple regression analysis. Emphasis placed on the assumptions underlying the regression model, how to test for violations, and corrections that can be made when violations are found. Usually offered every year.
Stephen Fournier
HS
405a
Applied Econometrics
Prerequisite: HS 404b.
Focuses on applications of regression analysis and extensions to areas where the standard assumptions do not hold. Introduces applications of logit and its extensions, probit, corrections for censoring and sample selection bias, and simultaneous equations. Each student designs and carries out a research project. Usually offered every year.
Stephen Fournier
HS
406f
Multilevel Modeling Methods
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides a basic introduction to a class of statistical models falling under the general category of “multilevel modeling,” (MLM) also sometimes referred to as “hierarchical linear modeling” (HLM). MLM and HLM are methods of regression analysis used to analyze data where observations are “clustered” or “nested” either within groups (e.g. students clustered in school) or longitudinally (e.g. observations at different time points clustered within individuals). Usually offered every year.
Graham Wright
HS
407b
Survey Research Methods
Prerequisite: HS 404b or equivalent.
Focuses on processes and techniques of survey research methods. Special attention is devoted to different modes of questionnaire design, development, and administration. Implementation issues considered include interviewing strategies and other data collection procedures, field supervision, code book development, and documentation data management. Data analysis issues include scale and index construction, reliability and validity assessments, and general analysis strategies. Usually offered every second year.
Len Saxe
HS
408f
AHRQ Practicum III: Introduction to the Theory and Application of Bundles
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the fundamental question of how policy makers, managers, and researchers can evaluate the performance of health care systems including hospitals, physician groups, medical supplier, post-acute providers and more. This instructed research practicum has been established to meet the requirements of the AHRQ pre-doctoral program renewal 2013-2018. Usually offered every year.
Jennifer Perloff
HS
409a
Advanced Econometrics
Prerequisites: HS 404b and HS 405a.
Builds on the econometrics course to further develop students' skills in using multivariate statistical techniques, particularly for time-series and longitudinal data. Based on examples from human service and health care research. Students read/critique papers using each technique studied and learn to apply it in the computer lab. Usually offered every year.
Dominic Hodgkin
HS
410a
Applied Research Seminar: Quantitative
Prerequisites: HS 404b and HS 405a. Open only to PhD students.
Designed to provide students with a series of formal exercises simulating the major steps in the dissertation process. Students gain competency in manipulating data from a large, complex data set; summarizing the methodology of findings from previous studies; and synthesizing and communicating the results of data analysis-placing study objectives and results in the context of prior research. Usually offered every year.
Grant Ritter
HS
411b
Advanced Topics in Qualitative Research
Prerequisite: HS 403b or permission of instructor. Open only to PhD students.
Explores study designs used in policy research that rely on qualitative approaches, including mixed methods, interview-based, case, and ethnographic studies, and examines the role of theorizing throughout all stages of the research process. Seminar format with readings tailored to students’ policy interests. Exercises on analyzing and interpreting data and on writing research findings. Usually offered every year.
Nina Kammerer
HS
412b
Substance Use and Societal Consequences
Provides an overview of the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Examines the consequences of abuse from a societal perspective and reviews types of policy approaches to dealing with the problems associated with substance abuse. Specific topics include an overview of biological and clinical aspects, theories of addictive behavior, epidemiology, medical and economic consequences, prevention and education, and policy approaches including taxation and regulation. Usually offered every second year.
Constance Horgan
HS
413f
Introduction to Demography for Policy Planning, Implementation and Evaluation
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides students across all concentrations with an understanding of core concepts, analytical methods, and social consequences of population dynamics. The module will apply these to thematic and policy areas from domestic to global including health, aging, disability, poverty, and inequality. Students will analyze demographic data within specific populations such as children and youth, family, migrants and immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and as they reflect or challenge existing social structures and norms including class and caste, upward mobility, occupational preferences, and social security. Every week of the course, comparisons will be made between United States data (national and state) and an overseas country (especially Japan, Germany, China, India). Usually offered every year.
Laurence Simon
HS
414f
Ethical Issues in Social Science Research
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides students an opportunity to explore the ethical dimensions of social science research. Ethical considerations are an integral part of social science research because such research often involves the use of human participants from vulnerable populations. Although social science researchers are expected to have an understanding of the ethical issues associated with their discipline, few have the opportunity to develop this knowledge. In this course students examine different topics associated with research design, data collection, data interpretation, and publication of study findings. Usually offered every second year.
Sharon Reif
HS
416a
Foundations of Social Theory: From the Early Twentieth Century to Critical Race Theory
Explores the theoretical, philosophical and epistemological foundations of social policy formation by examining major paradigms and conceptual frameworks that underpin contemporary social science and social theory. Our goal is to examine various theoretical perspectives on social change and question their assumptions. We will divide the course in to major, topical sections exploring the following fields and sub-fields of social theory: race and inequality; gender and sexuality; disability studies; intersectionality; and critical race theory. Our goal is to examine those interdisciplinary domains and how that impacts the construction and formalization of theories and methods germane to various concentrations in contemporary academic and scholarly social, public, and health policy. Usually offered every year.
Raj Sampath
HS
419f
Introduction to Economics of Labor as Applied to Social Policy Issues
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Introduces theory of the economics of labor markets and uses theory to analyze current policy topics. We will work through the basics of economists' theory of demand for labor (derived demand based on producer choices); supply of labor (individual decisions to work); human capital investment by individuals (education and training) and firms (on-the-job training); and labor market segmentation and discrimination. Theoretical models based in labor economics should be useful to students studying income distribution and inequality, especially because policy in these arenas has been heavily influenced by economists. Usually offered every year.
Christine Bishop
HS
422f
Cost-Effectiveness
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Addresses the application of the technique of cost-effectiveness analysis to evaluate health and other types of programs in the United States and in developing countries. Presents the theoretical foundations and applications of cost-effectiveness analysis. Uses interactive discussions and computer exercises where students learn to perform cost-effectiveness analyses and apply the technique to a problem of their choice. Usually offered every year.
Donald Shepard
HS
424f
Housing in the US: From Building Wealth to Homelessness
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Open to PhD and MPP students only.
An essential human need, few things intersect and influence as many aspects of our lives as housing does. At its minimal meaning, a home provides shelter from the elements. Housing provides a private space for family life, relaxation. The location of where the home sits matters, determining access to quality schools, parks, transportation, shopping and much more. And housing can be a major component of building financial wealth. As this incomplete list of various aspects of housing indicates, housing impacts people in many different ways, and this course will provide a general introduction on some of the dominant themes: Homeownership, renters, housing instability and homelessness, neighborhoods and segregation, as well as the impact of housing on health and mental health. This module will present an introduction to a range of these separate and connected topics. Usually offered every year.
Tatjana Meschede
HS
425f
Case Study Methodologies
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides students with the preliminary tools to conduct and critique case studies. Begins with an examination of the appropriateness, strengths, and weaknesses of this method. Threats to internal and external validity are examined along with techniques to properly collect and document data from multiple sources. Techniques are reviewed for case selection, data analysis, and study presentation. The final class is spent critiquing actual case studies. Usually offered every second year.
Jeffrey Prottas
HS
426f
Advanced Techniques of Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit Analysis
Prerequisite: HS 422f or permission of the instructor. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides students with advanced techniques to conduct or critically review cost-effective studies, both in the United States and internationally. Students learn how to present a research question, design a study, obtain and analyze relevant date, and analyze results. Usually offered every year.
Wu Zeng
HS
429f
Ethnography of and for Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Broadly understood, ethnography encompasses direct and participant observation, informal and formal ethnographic interviews, document review, and virtual ethnography. Ethnography of policy examines its development, implementation, and impact, and ethnography for policy investigates social issues that policies and programs address. This seminar explores two approaches relevant to social policy researchers, Michael Burawoy’s extended case method (ECM) and Dorothy E. Smith’s institutional ethnography (IE), both of which focus on social life as shaped by and as shaping structural forces. This seminar requires each student to conduct a small ethnographic research project of or for policy, with written work tied to that. Usually offered every year.
Nina Kammerer
HS
441a
Corporate Finance I
Yields half-course credit.
Provide an analysis of the major issues affecting the financial policy of a modem corporation and to develop greater depth of financial skills and logical thought processes necessary to formulate and implement business decisions. This module will first review some foundational theoretical and analytical concepts related to security valuation, firm valuation, and capital structure. These issues are central to the investment, financing, and strategic policy decisions facing financial managers. Participants will analyze how firm valuation fluctuates in a world characterized by information asymmetry and uncertainty, which makes the corporate decision-making process challenging. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Debarshi Nandy
HS
442a
Corporate Finance II
Yields half-course credit.
Provides an analysis of the major issues affecting the financial policy of a modem corporation and to develop greater depth of financial skills and logical thought processes necessary to formulate and implement business decisions. This course apploes some of the concepts covered in the first course related to firm valuation, and capital structure. In this course, we start with a firm's payout policies and security issuance decisions, followed by developing an understanding of options and derivatives, which is then applied to demonstrate aspects of financial engineering and use of real options in addressing corporate valuation and decision making. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Debarshi Nandy
HS
443b
Healthcare Entrepreneurship
Yields half-course credit.
Enables students to master the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. It explores how entrepreneurship has become a driving force in the healthcare sector, provides tools for developing and evaluating new ventures, and explores the blurring line between for profit and non-profit social initiatives. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
444a
Discrimination Analytics and Policy
Focuses on the analytical frameworks aimed at dismantling discrimination. By discrimination we mean the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people especially marginalized populations in such protected classes as race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, criminal status, and immigration status. This course foci include I. Defining discriminatory categories within intersectionality and race, for example, through a biological, anthropological and sociological lens. II. Assessing the hierarchy of evidence of analytical methods; issues of internal and external validity and how various methods and theories have been used to support or dispute discriminatory claims, including our ability to break the prejudice habit. III. Debating the foundation of relevant policies and assumptions about diversity as a benefit to individuals, groups, and society as a whole, and whether we should strive towards inclusive and equity. IV. Exploring methods and strategies that create democratic spaces for participants to exercise their power. Usually offered every year.
Alexandra Pineros Shields and Maria Madison
HS
447a
Healthcare Technology and Information Systems
Discusses the role of science and technology in health care settings. Through case studies of technology companies (pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and information technology), the class examines how firms manage the creation, development, adoption, and spread of medical innovations in the context of a cost-constrained marketplace. The class uses current academic literature and newspaper articles to discuss how hospitals, insurers, and federal agencies can affect technological progress. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
448f
Introduction to SAS® Programming and Data Management
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
The purpose of this module is to introduce students to basic programming in SAS® and to provide guidance on data management strategies. The course will cover creating simple datasets and accessing existing ones, modifying and managing data, and performing simple statistical analysis in both software packages. Data management strategies will be woven into each lecture and will emphasized throughout the course itself. This course is intended for students who have no, or minimal, experience using these statistical software programs. Usually offered every year.
David Tybor
HS
450a
Financial Accounting
Develops a fundamental understanding of financial accounting and reporting issues as they apply to nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Students will learn about the importance of fiscal responsibility and integrity in the efficient utilization of an organization's resources relative to organizational goals. Accounting practices that are unique to nonprofit organizations will be introduced, discussed, and differentiated from those practices employed by for-profit entities. Emphasis will be placed on interpreting financial statements to understand how accounting information, in a variety of settings, can be utilized by decision makers. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
451b
Managerial Accounting
Provides general introduction to the concepts, problems, and issues related to managerial accounting. Managerial accounting predominantly addresses the internal use of economic information regarding the resources used in the process of producing goods and providing services. Fundamental aspects of cost behavior and cost accounting will be discussed, but always from the perspective of the manager who must make decisions rather than the accountant who prepares the information. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
452b
Strategic Management
Provides students with the theoretical constructs and practical tools necessary to create and manage organizations strategically. Includes strategic process, organizational design, and development of planning tools and cycles. All students perform an applied strategic analysis for an actual organization. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
453b
Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Focuses on leadership and managing organizations. Uses cases on a variety of organizations to expose students to problems and to improve their effectiveness in analyzing, diagnosing, and leading people in organizations. Students learn organizational concepts, analytic frameworks, and models, and practice their leadership skills in class. Uses case discussions, simulations, role-playing, mini-lecturing, and experimental exercises. Provides an opportunity to develop leadership skills through group work and reflection. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
457a
Healthcare Law and Ethics
Yields half-course credit.
Introduces students to patient care and liability issues within the context of the U.S. health care delivery system. The course will cover legal and ethical aspects of: 1.) the provider/patient relationship and liability; 2.) health care quality, cost, and access; 3.) relationships between physicians and organizations; 4.) insurance, health care delivery systems, regulation, and the Affordable Care Act. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
458a
Operations Management
Explores how operations management skills can help organizations to deliver high-quality services, while using resources efficiently. Students develop skills including quality assessment, process mapping, productivity analysis, wait-time analysis, process improvement, and supply chain analysis. A field project involves assessing social and technical aspects of operations. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
462b
Systems Thinking for a Complex World
Yields half-course credit.
Studies how people make decisions. When people make decisions, they draw on data, models (mental or formal), and goals that are shaped by their own experiences and the contexts—political, organizational, and otherwise—in which they are immersed. Decision making often suffers when situations include uncertainty, dynamically complex problems, high stakes, and time and performance pressures. We will look for connections between how people make decisions and the organizational outcomes we experience. The course will include a mix of some basic tools, such as linear programming and causal loop diagramming, and some more macro level reflection on decision processes in health care environments. To assist this reflection, the course introduces the tools of systems thinking for modeling and analyzing organizational policy and strategy. Using role playing games, simulation models, case studies, and management flight simulators, we develop insights essential to managing in a world characterized by dynamic complexity. You will apply these tools to examples from your own institutions and experience. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Brad Morrison
HS
463a
National Health Policy
An overview of the U.S. health care system is followed by a critical analysis of the major issues and trends in the health care field. Concentrates on the activities of federal and state governments and the private sector. Also explores likely future issues affecting our health system. Of special concern is the issue of the large number of Americans with no or inadequate health insurance. A related problem is the rising cost of medical care, which results in increases in the number of uninsured. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
465a
Healthcare Marketing
Yields half-course credit.
An overview of healthcare marketing with a focus on how to formulate marketing strategies and identify and evaluate strategy-based tactics in order to achieve organizational marketing goals. Topics include strategic market planning, market research and analysis; consumer behavior; market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; social marketing; and the marketing mix-product, price, distribution, promotion, and marketing communications. Highlights include developing a digital market strategy for a mission-driven organization. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
467b
State Health Policy
Yields half-course credit.
Examines the role of the states in the U.S. health care system. Provides an overview of state activities in health, including state responsibilities for managing health programs and institutions. Models to understand the nature of policy making and politics in states are presented and discussed. Examines major state health programs such as Medicaid. Outlines and explores the policy and legislative processes. States' efforts to reform their health care systems are discussed with special attention to implementation issues, barriers, limits of state action, and prospects for the future of state health reform. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
468a
Management of Healthcare Organizations
Introduces students to the concepts, theories, and practical problems of managing people in health care organizations. Case material is drawn from hospital, HMO, group practice, public health agency, and for-profit company settings. Students gain a better understanding of the range of strategic and operational problems faced by managers, some of the analytic tools to diagnose problems, and the role of leadership (and management) in improving performance. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
472b
Policy to Action: Understanding Implementation
Provides students with frameworks of use for the study of the implementation of public policies. Considers the implementation process in the United States from a broad perspective, ranging from the context of legislation and the role of courts to how the role of street-level bureaucrats can be studied. Political science, organizational theory, and sociological perspectives are used to develop frameworks for understanding the process through which public policy is realized and how it has an impact on institutions and individuals. Usually offered every year.
Jeffrey Prottas
HS
475a
Quality and Performance Measurement in Healthcare
Yields half-course credit.
A conceptual and analytic framework of the field of quality of health care, which includes quality improvement and performance measurement; understanding of the contemporary research and policy initiatives that relate to quality of health care; and insights into the ways that quality relates to issues of provider payment, organization of health care facilities, and costs and access to health care. By the end of the module, students should have an understanding of the centrality of quality of care issues in contemporary health services research, health care policy, and management of health care organizations. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
477b
Conflict Resolution by Negotiation
Yields half-course credit.
Develops in students an understanding of the nature, advantages, and limitations of negotiations as a conflict resolution tool. Provides a normative and practical framework for pursuing a negotiation strategy as a method of resolving disputes. Provides students with opportunities to apply this knowledge in a variety of simulated negotiation contexts. Finally, exposes students to feedback regarding their negotiation approaches via explicit instructor evaluation and via the impact of their actions on their teammates and opponents. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
480b
Economic Analysis for Physicians as Managers
Yields half-course credit.
Introduces tools of economics that can be used for managerial decision making in the health sector. A framework based on optimization of objectives will enable us to organize information concerning input costs, the market for your output, and technology. For clear managerial decisions, it is important to know what your organization is maximizing, what aspects of a situation you can affect, and what constraints you cannot change. We will apply these ideas as we consider the economics of supply and production, consumer demand, and market power. Along the way, we will examine health policy initiatives that attempt to change managerial and consumer incentives to change market outcomes. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Christine Bishop
HS
481b
Relational Coordination Master Class
Yields half-course credit.
Students will learn about relational coordination—and its impact on quality, safety, efficiency, employee well-being, learning, and innovation. Students will learn how to analyze work processes that pose a coordination challenge, mapping out the current state of relational coordination, and assessing areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. Students will learn how to diagnose these structures that weaken or strengthen relational coordination. Students will be introduced to the Relational Model of Organizational Change as a guiding framework for designing interventions. Moving from analysis to action, you will engage with key stakeholders regarding the coordination challenge you have identified in your PFE Project and use tools from this Master Class to refine the scope of your PFE Project and to carry it out successfully. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Jody Gittel
HS
489b
Executive Team Consulting Project
Yields half-course credit.
A capstone educational experience for students nearing the end of the eMBA program. Working under the supervision of a faculty adviser, teams of three to five students provide management consulting services to nonprofit, community-based health and human services agencies. Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
490g
360 Leadership Coaching
Yields quarter course credit. May be repeated for credit, as the seminar topic varies.
Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
491g
Physicians Field Experience
Yields quarter course credit. May be repeated for credit, as the seminar topic varies.
Offered as part of the Heller Executive MBA for Physicians.
Staff
HS
492f
PhD Internship
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Offered with permission of the program director.
Provides an opportunity for PhD students to carry out a formal internship with a client organization under the supervision of a faculty advisor. Allows students to apply principles from the PhD curriculum for a client organization. Usually offered every summer.
Staff
HS
501a
Innovations in Health and Human Service Systems
Open to doctoral students throughout The Heller School, and to other students with permission from the instructor.
Explores system change in the health and human service sector, considering experiences from both the U.S. and other areas of the world. Each week we will explore a different topic, supported by background readings and a panel of outside experts joining us by webinar. We will explore delivery systems and payment systems, considering investments in healthcare as well as human services more broadly, including job readiness, education funding, child and youth care, substance abuse treatment, housing support, and income support. The framework for this course will include a range of scientific approaches to understanding health and human service organizations, and real-world applications of delivery system innovations. Building on The Heller School’s initiatives in health policy; behavioral health; assets and inequalities; children, youth and families; and organizational management, this course offers students didactic and experiential opportunities in transformational change concepts and activities supporting system redesign. Usually offered every second year.
Jody Gittell
HS
503f
Global Mental Health: Policy, Programs and Country Plans
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Global mental health (GMH) is a dynamic, emerging discipline founded on a body of distinguished interdisciplinary research and practice. The need for policy and program practitioners that are well-trained in GMH (inclusive of alcohol and drug abuse, dementia, and certain congenital conditions) is urgent. This class will introduce the student to important definitions, concepts, research practices, and policy and programmatic responses related to addressing mental health disorders using examples and theory important in a global context. Usually offered every year.
Mary Jo Larson
HS
504f
Introduction to the Theory and Application of Performance Measurement with Data Envelopment Analysis
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
How can policymakers, managers, and researchers evaluate the performance of organizations such as schools, government agencies, hospitals, social welfare institutions, and the like? The performance multi-output organizations are difficult to measure because the production functions are unknown or indeterminate. This course introduces students to Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a method of comparative performance measurement for policy, management, and organizational studies. DEA utilizes mathematical programming techniques that can handle thousands of decision making units and a large number of variables. The extant DEA literature reports thousands of applications of DEA to address these critical policy and research questions regarding the measurement and identification of the best results observed in practice. Usually offered every second year.
Jon Chilingerian
HS
505f
Quality and Performance Measurement in Health Care
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
A conceptual and analytic framework of the field of quality of health care, which includes quality improvement and performance measurement; understanding of the contemporary research and policy initiatives that relate to quality of health care; and insights into the ways that quality relates to issues of provider payment, organization of health care facilities, and costs and access to health care. By the end of the module, students should have an understanding of the centrality of quality of care issues in contemporary health services research, health care policy, and management of health care organizations. Usually offered every year.
Deborah Garnick
HS
506f
Advanced Topics in Quality and Performance Measurement in Health Care
Prerequisite: HS 505f. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Builds on HS 505f which is focused on the centrality of quality of care issues in contemporary health services research, health care policy, and management of healthcare organizations. The first module, offered as an elective every year, introduces basic concepts and offers an overview of the field. This module is offered as an elective every other year.
Deborah Garnick
HS
507f
State Health Policy
Prerequisite: HS 513a or permission of instructor. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines the role of the states in the U.S. health care system. Provides an overview of state activities in health, including state responsibilities for managing health programs and institutions. Models to understand the nature of policy making and politics in states are presented and discussed. Examines major state health programs such as Medicaid. Outlines and explores the policy and legislative processes. States' efforts to reform their health care systems are discussed with special attention to implementation issues, barriers, limits of state action, and prospects for the future of state health reform. Usually offered every year.
Michael Doonan
HS
508a
Theory of Social Policy and Change
Takes a broad view of social policy considering the subject from a number of perspectives. This course concentrates on goals and issues. The seminar aims to enhance awareness of: the range of goals of social policy and the conflicts that arise between them; developments in social policies; differences in the interpretation of the nature of social problems; challenges to current social policies. The seminar recognizes, as far as possible, that people will bring different knowledge, intellectual concerns, experience and interests. It is not about the United States, although many of the readings are drawn from the United States and Britain. Usually offered ever year.
Rajesh Sampath
HS
509f
AHRQ Practicum III: Relational Coordination Research and Analysis
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Open to PhD students.
Introduces relational coordination research and analytics, presuming that you have already been introduced to relational coordination theory in the doctoral seminar Organizational Theory. Relational coordination is communicating and relating for the purpose of task integration (Gittell, 2002a) within and across organizational boundaries (Gittell and Weiss, 2004). It is a form of social capital that enables task integration across interdependent roles (Adler and Kwon, 2002). According to the theory, relational coordination is shaped by organizational structures for better or worse, and in turn, it shapes performance outcomes for better or worse. Usually offered every second year.
Jody Gittell
HS
510a
Applied Design and Analysis
Focuses on the experiment designs in research and the basics of model building in linear or logistic regression. The goal of the design portion of the class will be to recognize the relative strengths of various designs and identify properties with stronger claims of internal validity and causal inference. The regression portion of the class will touch on variable selection, interpreting coefficients, interactions, model fit statics, and determination of best models. Additional analytic topics, including difference-in-difference modeling, moderation and mediation, matching and propensity score methods, will also be covered. Usually offered every year.
Grant Ritter
HS
511b
Contemporary Issues in the Management of Child, Youth, and Family Services
Managing human service systems and programs to benefit children, youth, and families in America today means managing people in a time of fiscal constraint and dramatic social, economic, and political change, and, on the other hand, in a time of great organizational and civic innovation. Builds on the analytic tools students have begun to hone in the master's program and helps them learn how to apply these tools to effectively implement policies and programs in the not-for-profit sector. Usually offered every year.
Susan Curnan
HS
513a
Issues in National Health Policy
An overview of the U.S. health care system is followed by a critical analysis of the major issues and trends in the health care field. Concentrates on the activities of federal and state governments and the private sector. Also explores likely future issues affecting our health system. Of special concern is the issue of the large number of Americans with no or inadequate health insurance. A related problem is the rising cost of medical care, which results in increases in the number of uninsured. Usually offered every year.
Stuart Altman
HS
515a
Race/Ethnicity and Gender in Health and Human Services Research
Explores theoretical and empirical approaches to race/ethnicity and gender as factors in health and human services practices, programs, and policies in the United States. Begins by examining current data on racial/ethnic and gender differences in health, mental health, functional status, and lifestyle. Attention then turns to alternative accounts of the causes of these differences. Although primary focus is on patterns of race/ethnicity and gender differences in health outcomes and services that have received the most comprehensive attention, the course offers perspectives on research methods and analytic frameworks that can be applied to other issues. Usually offered every year.
Rajesh Sampath
HS
516f
Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and Applications
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Begins with the precursors to CRT, twentieth century critical theory and poststructuralist thought, origins of feminist and black feminist thought, critical legal studies, and the official separation from mainstream, predominantly white critical legal studies, which informed the first decades of the CRT theoretical framework. We will explore various concepts within CRT starting with its roots in the African-American experience and pioneered by African-American legal scholars, intersectionality, LatCrit, FemCrit, disability, various ethnic groups developing CRT in the recent past, such as Asian American studies, indigenous studies, and LGBTQ critical theory. We will also explore critiques of CRT before we move to Part II of the course that looks at applications of CRT and extensions in new directions. Usually offered every year.
Rajesh Sampath
HS
518a
Management of Health Care Organizations
Introduces students to the concepts, theories, and practical problems of managing people in health care organizations. Case material is drawn from hospital, HMO, group practice, public health agency, and for-profit company settings. Students gain a better understanding of the range of strategic and operational problems faced by managers, some of the analytic tools to diagnose problems, and the role of leadership (and management) in improving performance. Usually offered every year.
Jon Chilingerian
HS
519a
Health Economics
Prerequisite: An introductory microeconomics course.
Economic models of demand, production, and markets for goods and services can be used to analyze the key resource allocation questions in health care. Applies economic models to questions of demand concerning the utilization and distribution of health care and to questions of supply, encompassing issues of cost, efficiency, and accessibility of care. The incentives and behavior of consumers and producers of health care are considered using these models. Usually offered every second year.
Christine Bishop
HS
520a
Payment and Financing of Health Care
Examines current payment practices to health care providers, the problems with current methods, and possible modifications. Focuses only upon hospital care, physician services, and managed care. Covers the different ways that managed care organizations are structured. The payment and performance of managed care organizations and how performance is related to organizational strategies are included. Usually offered every second year.
Maureen Stewart
HS
521a
Political and Organizational Analysis
Focuses on refining the analytical skills useful to students for understanding the political and organizational factors influencing public policy. Most readings were selected because they represent an innovative, interesting, or challenging piece of analysis. The goal of each class is to identify and critique the core arguments of the work, the conceptual categories and assumptions on which the argument is based, and the data presented in its support. There is a focus on the differences in making arguments from the point of view of science, policy-making and political choices. Usually offered every year.
Jeffrey Prottas
HS
526a
Organizational Theory and Behavior
An introduction to organizational theory and behavior from a policy and management perspective. Examines a number of major perspectives on the nature and process of organization. The course objectives are: to develop an awareness of what organizational theory is and why it is important in providing analytical lenses to see (or ignore) phenomena which might be overlooked; to review how some theorists have analyzed organizations; to develop a critical attitude toward the literature; and to encourage the development of an integrative (and creative) point of view. Usually offered every year.
Jody Gittell and Jon Chilingerian
HS
527a
Race, Ethnicity and Gender in Public Policy
Students will examine framing in public policy in general, and its relationship to challenges faced by communities of color. Further, we will address the topics of race and gender in health and health care; education, welfare policy, immigration, housing, and other issues. Students will hone their skills in policy analysis, political advocacy, communication, coalition building and networking as they relate to the policy process. Class discussion, essays/case studies, and in-class assignments are used. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
528f
Law and Social Justice: Constructions of Race and Ethnicity and Their Consequences
Meets for one-half semester and yields one-half course credit.
Explores race in American society from the framework of civil rights law. Using the case method, it attempts to facilitate a multicultural inquiry into antidiscrimination law by presenting civil rights issues as integrated social problems. Though the cases are organized around the traditional civil rights categories of education and housing, it also offers exploration of emerging areas such as the rights of language minorities and people with disabilities. Usually offered every year.
Anita Hill
HS
529a
Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Social Policy
Examines how social scientists and policymakers define “vulnerable” or “disadvantaged” population groups, how these constructions can shift or change over time, and how policies and programs address inequalities and serve the needs of diverse groups. We explore the causes, correlates, and consequences of inequalities across the lifespan, and consider how race, ethnicity, gender, disability, social class, sexual orientation, age, and their intersections shape lived experiences and well-being. The potential of social movements, institutional restructuring, and policy initiatives to reduce inequalities and promote inclusion, equality, and social justice are analyzed. Usually offered every year.
Alexandra Pineros-Shields
HS
532b
Social Policy Analysis: Technique and Application
Examines approaches to policy analysis and assesses strength and limitations of various methods. Exposes students to a range of methods and theoretical frameworks for exploring and understanding contemporary social problems and policy challenges. Begins with an overview of the stages of policy process, including policy formulation, rule making, and implementation. Policy analysis will be defined and a distinction made with policy research. The course also focuses on the criteria for evaluating policy options, including efficiency, equity, security, and liberty. Ethics and the role of values in shaping analysis will be explored. Actual policy analysis is evaluated in the areas of children and family policy, health, and welfare policy. Students have the opportunity to write and present a policy analysis critique. Usually offered every year.
Michael Doonan
HS
533f
Behavioral Economics for Social Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides an introduction to behavioral economics for doctoral students. This is an important emerging field of economics which applies insights from psychology to understand economic behavior and design policies accordingly. The course will explain the key concepts, illustrate their application to social policy, and discuss their implications and usefulness. Usually offered every year.
Dominic Hodgkin
HS
534b
Assets and Social Policy
The class conducts a thorough and rigorous examination of the central features, assumptions, and implications of asset-based policy, focusing on four central aspects of asset-based policy. Explores the analytic features of an asset perspective, and determines whether such policies could make a significant difference. Reviews evidence regarding the impact of asset-based policies from demonstration projects just now becoming available. Also examines in detail the implications for social policy. Usually offered every year.
Jessica Santos
HS
572a
Economics of Behavioral Health
Applies economic analysis to policy and research issues in the mental health sector, including cost-effectiveness, managed care, benefit design, and adverse selection. Studies the impact of different approaches to financing treatment and paying providers in the public and private sectors. Usually offered every second year.
Dominic Hodgkin
HS
586a
Issues in Substance Abuse Treatment
Provides an overview of issues related to clinical prevention and treatment services for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse. Examines the organization, delivery, and financing of abuse services. Specific topics include the structure of the treatment system, access to service, the process of treatment, and the effectiveness, cost, cost-effectiveness, and quality of treatment. Examines the impact of managed care on the way services are organized and delivered and on clinical outcome. Usually offered every second year.
Constance Horgan
HS
602c
Children, Youth, and Families Doctoral Seminar
Dolores Acevedo-Garcia
HS
603c
Health Policy Doctoral Seminar
Jon Chilingerian
HS
604c
Assets and Inequalities Doctoral Seminar
Tatjana Meschede
HS
605c
Behavioral Health Doctoral Seminar
Constance Horgan and Sharon Reif
HS
606c
Global Development and Sustainability Doctoral Seminar
Joseph Assan
HS
607c
Disability, Health and Disparities Research Doctoral Seminar
Monika Mitra
HS
613f
Responsible E-Negotiation Across Cultures
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
We negotiate continuously, and as globalization settles in, we do it increasingly across cultures through Internet-based modes of communication, like Email, Skype or FaceTime, but how can we make sure we e-negotiate responsibly? This online course is about yourself and others as global e-negotiators in projects, contracts, conflicts or crises. This class will give to you the skills and abilities to master e-negotiation by identifying and overcoming the unique challenges of negotiating in an online or remote environment. You will learn how to be part of a strong team when working at distance and negotiate across cross-cultural contexts that may include a diversity of values, norms, attitudes, and behaviors. In a nutshell, the purpose of this online class is to embark you on a personal journey of self-discovery and accountability towards others to make you a more responsible e-negotiator. Usually offered every year.
Alain Lempereur
HS
777a
Social Welfare Tutorial
Open to PhD students only. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HS
777f
Social Welfare Tutorial
Open to PhD students only.
Staff
HS
800g
Proseminar
Priority given to Heller students; other students may enroll with permission of the instructor. Yields one-quarter course credit (one credit). May be repeated for credit, as the seminar topic varies.
Usually offered every fall.
Staff
HS
801g
Proseminar
Open only to Heller students. Yields one-quarter course credit (one credit). May be repeated for credit, as the seminar topic varies.
Usually offered every spring.
Staff
HS
802g
Proseminar
Open only to Heller students. Yields one-quarter course credit (one credit). May be repeated for credit, as the seminar topic varies.
Usually offered every spring.
Staff
HS/POL
220a
Social Justice and Democracy Seminar
This joint GSAS-Heller graduate level course brings together graduate students from these schools in the engaged analysis of, and in an experience planning and executing, a collaborative campaign for political change. It include presentations by specialized scholars and practitioners from across Brandeis and from outside the university. It will combine the methods of analysis, and the political advantages of three approaches: the values revealed in personal narrative, the rules and authority structures of law and the analytical strategies of the social sciences. Usually offered every year.
Anita Hill and Dan Kryder