Public Policy, MPP

Students explore agriculture, environmental sustainability, and policy development to gain a comprehensive understanding of the policy frameworks that shape sustainable practices in the agricultural and environmental sectors. Through case studies and policy analysis, students acquire the skills needed to navigate the complexities of policymaking related to environmentally responsible agricultural policies.

HBS 503 Administrative Law and Regulatory Policymaking: Legal foundations of the administrative state. Agency implementation of legislation through rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication. Legislative oversight, executive control, and judicial review of agency actions. 

AREC 530 Agricultural Policy Analysis: Evaluation of public policy as related to agricultural industry and rural areas.

HBS 541 Environmental Policy: Overview of contemporary environmental policy and its evolution. Examines the roles of values in the environmental arena. Provides a framework for policy analysis and analytical tools for selection and choosing among policy options.

To earn optional Agricultural and Environmental Policy Certificate, select one course below.

HBS 545 Sustainable Development: Creation and implementation of sustainable development approaches and strategies for local communities.

LAW 866 Environmental Law: Administrative Regulation and Policy: Study, through methods of public policy analysis, of responses of legal system to environmental problems: environmental regulation and its alternatives; Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; National Environmental Policy Act; Endangered Species Act; Superfund; and selected regulatory issues.

A partnership with the Department of Economics, the Economic and Community Development concentration provides students with the tools to evaluate decisions by local, state, and federal governments in managing economic growth and in providing goods and services for the public interest. Students are well-equipped to work at the intersection of public policy and private industry, helping make public policy more effective and individuals and private entities more successful.

HBS 503 Administrative Law and Regulatory Policymaking: Legal foundations of the administrative state. Agency implementation of legislation through rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication. Legislative oversight, executive control, and judicial review of agency actions.

HBS 523 Regional Economics (with UTIA/AREC): Sources of regional economic growth and development and the spatial distribution of people (including migration) and business. Effects of policy on regional economic activity, urban/rural land use and the role of public infrastructure. Regional spillovers and policy coordination. Prerequisite HBS 521 or equivalent.

HBS 544 Planning and Land Use: Regional planning within a legal, regulatory, social and political context. Environmental and sustainable development. Role for public, private and non-profit entities in affecting regional performance. Project evaluation, economic impact analysis, economic development incentives, including tax-increment financing and development impact fees and taxes. Community engagement. Land use regulation and zoning.

HBS 545 Sustainable Development: Creation and implementation of sustainable development approaches and strategies for local communicaties.

To earn optional International Economic and Community Development Certificate, select one course:

IAC 504 The Art of the Possible: Conflict, communication, consensus building, and compromise in public policymaking. Emphasis on case studies.

Students may may want to complete the Tennessee Certified Economic Developer program with the Institute for Public Service.

Energy Policy Concentration students are prepared to evaluate the strategies and tradeoffs in energy policy decisions and to understand their impacts. Students are grounded in Baker core coursework on government, economics, and public policy, while the concentration combines the technologies, markets, economics, and real-world considerations of energy policy decisions. Students are prepared to assess how energy policies will impact the environment, energy reliability, energy costs, and various stakeholders in the policy process.

HBS 503 Administrative Law and Regulatory Policymaking: Legal foundations of the administrative state. Agency implementation of legislation through rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication. Legislative oversight, executive control, and judicial review of agency actions.

HBS 524 Energy Markets and Economics: Theoretical and empirical perspectives on individual and industrial demand for energy, energy supply, energy markets, and public policies affecting energy markets.

HBS 541 Environmental Policy: Overview of contemporary environmental policy and its evolution. Examines the roles of values in the environmental arena. Provides a framework for policy analysis and analytical tools for selection and choosing among policy options.

HBS 542 Energy Policy: Analysis of current policy problems involving production, distribution, consumption, and conservation energy.

To earn optional Energy Policy Certificate, select one course:

HBS 543 Energy Transitions: Energy technology and policy solutions for a growing population, increasingly industrialized world, expanding quality of life, limits of fossil fuel energy sources, and the increasing realization that renewable energy must be integrated into an energy system built around fossil fuels.

HBS 545 Sustainable Development: Creation and implementation of sustainable development approaches and strategies for local communities.

LAW 990 Special Topics – Issues in the Law*: *The approved special topic course for Energy Policy is Energy, Regulation, and Sustainability. This course is offered intermittently at the discretion of the Winston College of Law.

Students in the Health Policy concentration learn about the key issues, institutions, and actors in America’s healthcare system and provides a toolkit for evaluating the system’s performance, efficiency, and equity. This concentration prepares students to work in health policy within the public sector, for nonprofits seeking to affect health policy, or for healthcare companies in the private sector. This concentration is a collaboration with the Haslam College of Business and the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.

HBS 503 Administrative Law and Regulatory Policymaking: Legal foundations of the administrative state. Agency implementation of legislation through rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication. Legislative oversight, executive control, and judicial review of agency actions.

PUBH 520 Health Systems, Policy, and Leadership: Exploration of public health and healthcare systems, health policy formulation, and associated implications for management and leadership.

NURS 612 Health and Health Care Policy: Interdisciplinary evaluation of contemporary health, health problems, and policy responses.

To earn optional Health Policy Certificate:

LAW 963 Health Law Finance and Organization: Course gives students an understanding of the organization and financing of health care entities and services within the United States. The major issues explored are (1) the structure of the health care system, including professional relationships, governance issues, and organizational models, (2) the financing of medical care through private insurance and public programs, and (3) access to care in the United States. Topics of coverage will likely include Medicare and Medicaid, private insurance, the Affordable Care Act, ERISA, institutional relationships between entities and providers, antitrust issues, organizational governance and structure, tax issues, and an introduction to fraud and abuse compliance.

The National Security concentration focuses on policy decisions surrounding U.S. national security and foreign policy. Students examine the role of the United States in the world through various lenses and can evaluate the impact of national security policy decisions and strategies on domestic priorities and global affairs.

HBS 551 Application of U.S. Foreign Policy: The study of how the U.S. government and other actors pursue US national interests in foreign affairs. Topics include decision making procedures and institutions involved in U.S. foreign policy, the application of diplomacy, economics, foreign aid, trade, deterrence, and force from 1945 to the present.

HBS 552 U.S. National Security Policy: Overview of U.S. national security policies and strategies, grand strategy, diplomacy, use of force, military budgeting, acquisition, and modernization, and economic security.

HBS 556 Nuclear Deterrence: How governments use nuclear weapons as tools of national security policy and strategy and how nuclear weapons affect the policies and strategies of governments of other countries. Emphasis on deterrence theory, U.S. nuclear strategy, nuclear weapons design and modernization, extended deterrence, strategic stability, missile defense, and escalation management.

The Nuclear Policy course specialization is designed to equip students with the knowledge necessary to address the unique challenges associated with the security and management of nuclear weapons, materials, and facilities. Students are engaged in topics such as U.S. nuclear security policies, deterrence strategy, nuclear proliferation, arms control, export control, safeguards, and potential threats.

Required Courses

HBS 554 Nuclear Security: How governments manage and maintain nuclear materials for civilian military purposes, including nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Emphasis on nuclear safety and security, risk reduction, forensics and attribution, nuclear latency, near misses, nuclear terrorism, and insider threats.

HBS 556 Nuclear Deterrence: How governments use nuclear weapons as tools of national security policy and strategy and how nuclear weapons affect the policies and strategies of governments of other countries. Emphasis on deterrence theory, U.S. nuclear strategy, nuclear weapons design and modernization, extended deterrence, strategic stability, missile defense, and escalation management.

Select One of These Courses

HBS 552 U.S. National Security Policy: Overview of U.S. national security policies and strategies, grand strategy, diplomacy, use of force, military budgeting, acquisition, and modernization, and economic security.

HBS 558 Nuclear Nonproliferation and Safeguards: How countries engage in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and safeguarding nuclear materials and facilities used primarily for energy sources. Emphasis on U.S. nonproliferation strategy, international nonproliferation regime, pathways to proliferation, counterproliferation, nuclear disarmament, and case studies.

NE 530 Nuclear Security Science and Analysis: Understanding nuclear threats and the evolution of nuclear threats to present day. Issues and strategies in detecting nuclear threats. Issues and approaches for nuclear security concerns, both state-level (e.g., nonproliferation and deterrence) and asymmetric concerns (e.g., nuclear smuggling and nuclear terrorism). Exercises in applied nuclear security scenarios.

NE 531 Global Nuclear Security Culture: Principles and best practices in nuclear security, nuclear safety, and nuclear materials safeguards (“3S”) culture with an emphasis on developing and expanding nuclear power-producing states. Introduction to relevant international conventions and agreements such as the Nonproliferation Treaty, the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the key milestones for nations seeking to develop a peaceful nuclear power program.

NE 536 Export Control and Nonproliferation: Principles and regulatory frameworks for controlling sensitive nuclear technology. US and European export control regulations and governance, international export control and nonproliferation considerations for nuclear technology trade in the global context. Best practices resources such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Supplier Group, and other organizations. Case studies in export control violations relevant to nuclear proliferation.

NE 597 Special Topics in Nuclear Engineering: Lectures and recitation on recent advances in nuclear engineering.

LAW 990 – Special Topics – Issues in the Law*: *The approved special topic course for Nuclear Security and Strategy is Nuclear Law. This course is offered intermittently at the discretion of the Winston College of Law.

This course specialization is designed to provide students with knowledge and skills in managing public resources and agencies and creating public values in a complex governance system. Students explore topics such as public finance and budgeting, public human resource management, public management, and nonprofit management.

HBS 503 Administrative Law and Regulatory Policymaking: Legal foundations of the administrative state. Agency implementation of legislation through rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication. Legislative oversight, executive control, and judicial review of agency actions.

HBS 531 Public Management: Interpersonal and leadership skills, techniques and methods for planning, decision making, and implementation of management strategies in the public sector.

HBS 532 Public Financial Administration: Principles and techniques of public finance at state and local levels: budget preparation, execution and audit, risk management, capital planning, major tax structures, economic forecasting, cash management, and debt administration.

To earn optional Public Management Certificate:

HBS 533 HR Management in Public Organizations: Contemporary issues, challenges, methods, and strategies related to effective management of human resources in the public sector.

Students may want to complete the Tennessee Certified Public Manager or Certified Municipal Finance Officer or Certified County Finance Officer program with the Institute for Public Service.