USC Schedule of Classes

Institutions, legal context, and processes of public policy and management. Contemporary theories of public policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. Public managerial challenges and reforms.

Review of legal and ethical traditions of citizenship withemphasis on the latter; consideration of implications for currentpractice of public policy-making and management.

The urban context for planning and policy decisions. Socioeconomic, physical and spatial structure of cities; and the underlying demographic, economic and social processes that drive their ongoing transformation.

Social justice issues through the lens of public policy and urban planning with main focus on Los Angeles; critical thinking skills about the fields and their relevance to social justice

Policy, planning, and development skills for practice; internship seminar; leadership, group dynamics and presentation skills; application of management; organizational diversity; reflection on experiences.

Statistical applications applied to the real world; techniques including probability, sampling; hypothesis formation and testing; correlation, and linear regression.

Institutional foundations and analysis of public policy issues; policy formulation and implementation; application of theories; case analyses.

Understanding human behavior in public organization: motivation, roles, communication; group behavior and decision-making in public context; managing conflict; leadership and change in public complex organizational systems.

Learning the institutions of health care delivery and financing; evaluating key health policy issues; understanding and using economic, statistical and mathematical tools as ways to inform health policy issues.

Concepts and determinants of health and illness; health care delivery organizations and programs; the role of the administrator; issues in health care financing and access; quality evaluation; future trends.

Interrelated roles of business and public institutions; effects of public policies and laws on business sector; incorporates public and business perspectives.

Policy and planning as shaped by sustainability theories; sustainability indicators; topics include water resources, air quality, land use regulations, environmental design, carrying capacity, ecological footprint analysis. Duplicates credit in former PPD 461.

Theories of the voluntary nonprofit sector in society and its relationship to government and business; public policies toward the sector.

Applied analytic modeling and data manipulation; visual presentation; interpretation of data; needs assessment and market failure analysis; indexing; extrapolation and simple forecasting; simple risk analysis; benefit-cost analysis. Duplicates credit in the former PPD-473.

Definitions and measurements of development; impact of globalization; concept and practice of international development administration and planning at local, national, and global governance levels.

Seminar in cross cutting topics in public policy and urban studies that engages students with faculty and scholars in interdisciplinary research and analysis of key problems and issues in the fields.

Time value of money, risk, government bonds and tax-exempt financing, cost of capital, budgeting, financial statement analysis, and working capital management.

Urbanization and urban development and growth through an international scope; globalizing cities.

Application of design concepts, planning protocols and spatial analysis skills to a complex planning or design problem sponsored by a local public, private or not-for-profit client in a studio setting.

Historical perspectives on and the contemporary practice of community health planning; impact of culture, socioeconomics, and environment; policy dimensions; urban plannings role in enhancing and sustaining health.

Health policy analysis and challenges; price of health; structure of major sectors in health care; role of insurance in policy debates; trade-offs with policy decisions.

Introduction of the role that technology will play in facilitating shared mobility, disrupting transportation markets, and reshaping multi-modal urban transportation systems; analyses of governance issues; the interaction between private markets and regulators; changes in the nature of infrastructure and urban planning that will be required to accommodate the wired future of transportation.

Basic GIS concepts, ArcView and other GIS software, planning applications and databases, basic cartography; students select, research and prepare a planning GIS analysis project.

Application of methods in the exploration of a specific project, policy, or organization from the multiple perspectives of the five tracks in the undergraduate program.

Strategies and processes of social innovation and change; examination of social change in the market, government, and within the nonprofit sector; dynamics; civic action and activism

Individual research and readings. Not available for graduate credit. Departmental approval.

Writing of the honors capstone project in an area of interest related to the track of study; research and writing skills.

Selected topics in Public Policy, Management and Planning.

Microeconomic theory as applied to policy, planning, and development; concepts of efficiency; macroeconomic issues.

Economic theory as applied to public policy. Concepts of efficiency and equity, analysis of market failure and policy interventions.

Essential statistics for public managers and administrators; application of statistical methods in addressing public policy and management questions.

Modeling techniques used to inform decisions in public health, disease control, and hospital operations.

Accounting principles, financial reports, managerial finance, financial planning, capital investments, working capital analysis; elements of budgeting and reimbursement; performance standards; reporting; developing a management system.

Changing practices, emerging issues, strategies and innovations in financial planning, management, and regulation; federal and state policies and requirements.

Conceptual framework for data base development; relational data management; use of health statistics; health indicators; confidentiality, security, privacy.

Supervised study of health care administration, governance, professional staff relations, internal operations and controls, legal and regulatory requirements, management policy and strategy.

Relationships between economic characteristics and health status; impact of economy on health services industry; demand and resources for health services; utilization, prices, costs, health insurance.

Application of principles of health administration in several practice settings. Decision-making; strategic management; organizational performance; communication; provider comparisons.

Quality issues and complexities affecting healthcare; fundamentals of quality improvement programs; examination of quality issues and improvement programs in various health care venues; strategies

Fundamentals of urban development including role of land markets, externalities, economic analysis of market failures; regulations and stakeholders. Applications to U.S. and international contexts.

Exploration of the theories and concepts of livable communities and good city form. Introductory basics of design and city form. Case studies of historical and current best practices.

Understanding of the legal system and its processes and laws applicable to land use and development and the legal nature of powers of public and private entities.

Financial management applied to public and nonprofit organizations; financial valuation, financial markets, budgeting, tax administration, debt financing, cost-benefit analysis and financial analysis. Duplicates credit in PPDE 645.

Methods and models for policy and program evaluation; methods for collecting and analyzing evaluation data; processes for linking evaluation to policy formulation and program management.

Supervised study of management, analytical, or other professional activities in government; integration of theory, practice and relevant literature.

Behavior in organizations; focus on personal, interpersonal, and group level factors that influence such behavior.

Constitutionally accountable and ethical practice, individually and organizationally; applications of core competencies; practical inquiry, analysis, systems; comparative frameworks; citizenship and public service. Prerequisite: PPD 540 and PPD 545 and PPD 542 or PPD 557. Open only to master and doctoral students.

Tools for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public engineering works, taking into account the political and policy context. Graduate standing. Recommended preparation: microeconomic theory

Political and organizational perspectives on policy making process; agenda setting, policy design, adoption, implementation, evaluation, modification or termination. Policy leadership skills: negotiation and strategic mapping.

Management science methods that support decision making in policy, management, and planning settings. Includes linear programming, queuing theory, decision analysis, and forecasting.

Applied multivariate statistics in support of policy, management, and planning problem solving. Includes regression analysis, logit models, and an introduction to time-series models and multi-equation estimation.

Examination of methods used in the analysis of policy methods, including cost benefit analysis, decision and risk analysis, and applied social science methods.

Application and integration of the knowledge and techniques of analytic, quantitative, managerial, political, and ethical analyses to specific public policy problems.

Enables students to integrate theory, research and practice into an applied project of their own choosing. The output of this course is a professional report in a selected public policy or management area.

Current international public policy on issues such as governmental reform, regulation, social welfare, poverty alleviation and international aid. Policy framework and in-depth analysis of specific topics of relevance to government agencies and international organizations.

Multimodal transportation resilience with emphasis on transit systems. Principles of emergency management, preparedness, vulnerability assessment, countermeasures. Related topics in policy and economics.

Concepts of risk analysis, risk in engineered systems, environmental risk, security risks; fault trees, event trees, risk simulations; risks and decision-making.

Research leading to the master's degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of thesis.

Part-time or full-time, practical work experience in the students field of study. The internship must be located at an off-campus facility. Students are individually supervised by faculty. May not be taken until the student has completed at least one semester of enrollment in the graduate program with a cumulative 3.0 GPA.

Selected topics in Public Policy, Management and Planning.

Managed care arrangements, interorganizational relations, management practices and controls, medical staff relations, strategic planning, marketing, utilization review, quality assurance, outcomes measures. Recommended preparation: PPD 516x, PPD 510a or HMGT 565.

Hospital systems and functions; managerial processes, theory, and practice; governance structures; legal, regulatory, administrative, and professional requirements; medical and professional staff; multi-institutional arrangements; controls. Recommended preparation: PPD 516x.

Assessment of a recently adopted general plan, analysis of the general plan process, and detailed review of each major element and issues.

Fundamentals for economic development professionals and policy makers including feasibility analysis and the financing of facilities, social services, and community-based enterprises.

Develop observation, description, analysis, and conceptualization skills related to urban spatial conditions; advance professional communication proficiencies.

Successful completion of a comprehensive written and oral project-oriented assessment; analysis, interpretation, and solution of a real-world planning problem.

Introduction to GIS systems and usage in the public sector; spatial data; understanding software and the application of technology; analysis of data using GIS.

Background applications of established urban travel forecasting procedures; land use; trip-generation, trip-distribution, modal-choice, trip-assignment; evaluation; criticisms.

Leadership styles in various settings; team demographics, and dynamics; problem-solving; decision-making; diversity and critical thinking skills; effect of culture on small groups communication; managing conflict. Open only to Executive Master in Leadership students.

Intensive consideration of the functions of the municipal executive and his environment. Research preparation and discussion of cases.

Theory and practice of collaborative policy and planning processes involving stakeholders from public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Leadership skills in the design and facilitation of multi-party negotiations and consensus-building.

Analysis/field application of action research models for strategic planning in public agencies; design of effective public systems; citizens/administrators' roles in strategic decision-making.

Issues in nonprofit management and leadership including: the role of boards; strategic planning; marketing and fundraising; financial management; and volunteer and human resource management. Recommended preparation: PPD 689.

Development of theories; role of international institutions in resource exchanges; foreign investment and trade policies; national planning and allocation systems; development and modernization strategies and implementation.

Overall understanding of contemporary U.S. immigration policy.

Nonprofit organizations and their relation to government and business; the role of philanthropy, social enterprise, and public support and implications for policy, strategy and management.

Theory and methods of conflict analysis, negotiation, facilitation and mediation in the public sector.

Provides an understanding of what social factors contribute to racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender disparities in health and the culturally proficient provision of health care.

Pedagogy: learning objectives, curriculum design, teaching methods, evaluation. Graded CR/NC. (Duplicates credit in former PPD-700ab)

Research fields and design; literature reviews; critical reading and critiquing; project development

Research leading to the doctorate. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.