Economics for Global Managers examines forces that shape international trade and economic development in the age of technology and globalization. Topics include economic growth, comparative advantage, factor endowments, tariffs, regional trading blocks and the role of institutions, corporations and government policies in promoting trade and growth. Why are some countries rich and some are poor? Does opening for international trade enable economic growth? Why do countries restrict trade? What explains why China emerged as an economic miracle whereas Brazil lagged behind despite its enormous potential? This course is designed to provide students with an analytical framework to answer these and other questions.

This course builds on a basic understanding of microeconomics and managerial economics to investigate and analyze a number of important issues related to firms, markets and competition. The topics examined include the boundaries of the firm; market structure and how it affects competition among firms; strategic interaction among firms such as entry, pricing, investment, and exit; and competitive advantage. Students will study and consider these topics using a combination of economic analysis, game theory, and case study analysis. Through this course, students will gain a better understanding of competition in markets and how firm behavior and market structure interact to influence the economic performance of firms.

The purpose of this course is to study theories in ethics and apply them to achieve an understanding of moral philosophy with regard to the social responsibility of business and specific problems and issues facing business today. These issues include, among others, the rights and obligations of employers and employees; hiring, firing and discrimination; gathering, concealing and gilding information; issues in dealing with foreign cultures. Students will consider how organizations can be guided toward fulfilling their social responsibilities.

This course will examine evidence describing how and why even good and earnest decision makers fail to do well in the face of complex problems. The course is rooted in theory and evidence drawn from recent extensive simulationsand examines a wide range of problems and cases involving both public and private sector judgments, ordinary managers, chief executives, and political leaders and their staff.

Students taking this course will be able to make sound decisions that promote the financial well-being of a healthcare organization. The course starts by introducing the basic assumptions and concepts underlying the preparation and measurement of financial data, measurement of business operations, business valuation, financial reporting, budgeting, cost allocation, service and product costing and special reports for managerial purposes. It then progresses to analyze the principles governing the health care industry, rules and regulations in collecting, preparing and presenting financial data for health care providers. As the students comprehend the accounting and financial reporting aspects of healthcare organization, they will move on to cover the financial decisions relevant to operating budget, capital budget and the right mix of cash flows and outgrows to create values for the organization. Various learning activities may include readings, research, presentations, case studies, discussion and financial market analysis.

This course focuses on opportunities to utilize technology transfer within a global business to meet the goals of the strategic plan. This course is an introduction to the multidisciplinary aspects (including operational issues such as teamwork and technology transfer) involved in the process of bringing technical developments, particularly research emanating from universities and other nonprofit organizations, into commercial use. The course considers the challenges and human capital required for transitioning new developments into capital ventures created by the sale or lease of commercially viable processes and products.

This course is required for the Global Brand Marketing Certificate. This course explores the different economic, social changes that have occurred over the past decade and their impact on marketing. As global economic growth occurs, understanding marketing in all cultures is increasingly important. The course examines global issues and describes concepts relevant to all international marketers, despite the extent of international involvement. The course will analyze marketing strategies including pricing, legal and ethical issues, regulations, integrated marketing communications, multicultural research, sales and global brand management.

This course is required for the Nonprofit Management Certificate. In this course, students will explore leadership in public and nonprofit organizations. The course begins with a consideration of the nature of leadership, the tasks of leaders and the traits of effective leadership. Next, students examine leadership theories, their particular application to the public and nonprofit sectors and the challenges facing these sectors. Finally, students will complete an independent research project dealing with leadership in public and nonprofit organizations.

This course will examine the legal environment within which the entrepreneur must operate and evolve. Consequently and more specifically this study will survey the legal field and the parameters the entrepreneur must be mindful of in order to effectively initiate and develop a new venture, including business ethics and social responsibility as reflected through rules and regulations; statutory versus common law and its impact on the entrepreneur; dispute resolution; torts, crime and international law and its effects on the entrepreneurial scene and of course constitutional law and how it permeates essentially every aspect of American commerce and enterprise. This course will also look at contract law and the UCC [Uniform Commercial Code], sales and product liability, negotiable instruments, secured transactions, bankruptcy, agency law, employment and labor law, antitrust law and securities regulations, consumer law, intellectual law and the prominent role they play for the entrepreneur. Lastly this course will also explore the legalities revolving around staring a business, the benefits of incorporating versus limited liability partnerships, and/or sole proprietorship, as well as the increasingly emerging areas of cyberlaw and environmental law.

This course is required for the Health Care Management Certificate. This course examines the various aspects of managing the complicated modern health care environment. The roles of payers, consumers, and suppliers of health care will be examined. Management and allocation of heath care resources and the impact of outcomes assessment on care delivery will be discussed. Additional topics for study will include communication in the health care environment, team building and conflict resolution.

This course is required for the Human Resource Management Certificate. Beginning with an overview of human resource's roles in addressing the strategic needs of organizations, students explore topics that include, but are not limited to: workforce planning and talent management, thinking strategically about staffing and selection issues, acquiring competencies through training and development, succession planning, employment testing, successful employment interviewing, and organizational entry and socialization (on-boarding).

This course is required for the Human Resource Management Certificate. Performance management and total rewards systems provide a value proposition to both the organization and its employees by offering a package that should result in satisfied and productive employees that deliver organizational goals and objectives. This course examines how managing individual and organizational performance coupled with a total rewards system can play a strategic role in organizational effectiveness. The study includes an examination of performance management systems, compensation structure and systems design, benefit programs, and an examination of compensation and benefits legislation. The course will also include examination of the contrast between employee and labor relations, employment law and challenges associated with managing a diverse workforce. Managing individual and organizational performance to maximize business results and risk minimization through occupational health and safety will also be explored.

This course is required for the certificate in Health Care Management. The U.S. established the most comprehensive healthcare system in the world during the twentieth century. The continuous change experienced by this system dramatically affected who has access to healthcare, the U.S. economy, and national politics. The history of the healthcare system, its dynamics, its economic character, its varied constituencies, and the prospects for systemic change serve as a backdrop for our study of strategic communication in health care. Initially, we will develop a foundation of understanding of the healthcare industry by exploring its history and current issues related to healthcare reform. We will investigate the mission and fundamental purpose of healthcare institutions and their relationship to the industry’s complex network of diverse stakeholders. The bulk of the course will focus on an examination of communication on three critical levels in healthcare: interpersonal, organizational, and mass communication. In each, we will examine relevant stakeholders’ responsibilities for managing communication. Particular attention will be devoted to the role of the manager in communicating strategic issues and goals in healthcare contexts.

This course is required for the Human Resource Management Certificate. The role of human resources in organizations today is one of strategic business partner and change agent in which HR members participate in developing the strategic direction for the human capital of the organization. Emphasis is placed on the way in which the global economy, technology, and business activities such as joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions impact traditional human resource activity such as recruitment and selection, employee training and development, performance management, and career development. Topics covered in this course include developing HR strategy, measuring HR outcomes, applying human resource information systems (HRIS), exploring the role of HR in downsizing and mergers and acquisitions, examining the role of HR in the global environment and examining HR challenges associated with technology-intensive organizations.

This course is required for the Nonprofit Management Certificate. Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations examines marketing from the perspective of nonprofits and government agencies. The course examines ethical issues, social responsibilities of marketing professionals and the impact of funding sources on program development, marketing strategies including pricing, legal and ethical issues, regulators, integrated marketing communications, multicultural research, sales and profiles of global managers.

This course is required for the Nonprofit Management Certificate. Strategic planning and management are increasingly essential in a world of rapid change and complexity, relentless competition for funding, and increasing demands for accountability. In Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, students explore the process by which organizations gain competitive advantage and optimal long-term performance in such an environment. This process is rooted in the organization's mission and values, is dynamic and changes with changing circumstances, integrates plans and actions and leverages strengths and resources to take advantage of the organization's opportunities.

This course is required for the Global Brand Marketing Certficate. This three credit elective in marketing research will examine the research process as it relates to the specific problems faced in the marketing arena. The study will enable the student to understand and apply the basic concepts of marketing research as a component of business strategic decision-making. The purpose of this contract is to introduce the student to the logic and methodology of market research. By the end of this contract, the student will be able to design a market research study, and evaluate and assess other research studies. Topics include the research process, methods of gathering primary and secondary data from both internal and external sources, designing and testing survey instruments, sample method design, interviewing techniques, and presentations of results, from tabulating and analyzing data.

Women Leaders in Global Organizations explores the fundamental issues about why women managers are not progressing to senior international management positions at the same rate as men. In the course students examine the barriers that must be overcome in their organizations to be recruited, trained, selected and developed for consideration in international positions. Students explore the unique challenges and competencies needed by women managers in multinational corporations. The course will also focus on such issues as dual careers, cultural norms, home country management, expatriate development and standards for foreign assignments. Students will also be exposed to and investigate the career progression and success of women managers in various countries. This course will broaden students’ perspectives, emphasize management competencies in global organizations and validate student experiences.

In this course students will be introduced to the field of adult literacy and explore some of the current themes and issues within the field. We will read, discuss and write about the adult student, our own and society's assumptions about literacy, educational theory, and strategies and philosophies of teaching practice. Students will be encouraged to volunteer in a community based program site as a way to gain some experience about the field. The focus of the class may move between broader issues of literacy, power, privilege and education theory and more specific questions and issues that students are encountering in their sites of practice. This class is intended to be a collaborative project where we will share, question and explore based on the work and teaching we have each done that week.

An array of content area topics will be available to enable candidates to strengthen their content area background. While learning new content, students will develop lessons, teaching methods, and materials for use with their own pupils. Students are encouraged to link their content across disciplines. This is an online course.

Content Area Study: English (EDU-660529-C201)
Content Area Study: Mathematics (EDU-660529-C101)
Content Area Study: Science (EDU-660529-C401)
Content Area Study: Social Studies (EDU-660529-C301)
Content Area Study: Spanish (EDU-660529-C501)

The collaborative potential of online tools requires instructors to consider shifts in their pedagogy - to more mindfully plan, facilitate and guide. This represents a change in the roles and relationships between teachers and learners and requires more attention to the instructional design and interactive communicative strategies of virtual learning experiences. In this study, students are introduced to instructional and digital design principles in order to apply them in a project that can be used as a component for their advanced design portfolios or final capstone projects. Consideration is given to effective visual communication in digital environments. The course explores stages of the instructional systems design (ISD) process, and strategies for designing and developing multimedia instructional materials. An important aspect of online instructional design is understanding and responding to the context in which instructional materials will be delivered, and the needs, expectations and capacities of the participants. Students will explain their thinking during the creation of a project, and demonstrate their understanding of these expectations.

Designing, developing, and learning within digital environments presents new challenges to our understanding of knowledge and skills; to the assessment of learning; and to understanding what constitutes effective participation in such environments. Using both collaborative and independent work, within this course, students will study the nascent literature on digital environment evaluation and will seek to explore and define models of interactions and their assessment that can provide direction, support and insight to designers and instructors of digital environments. Upon studying the rich, diverse and novel ways in which humans can work in these environment and the many emerging and readily-available feedback tools (such as, polling, analytics, monitoring, interaction-capturing device, video and audio tape archives), students will consider ways to value, document, capture, analyze and evaluate the complex formal and informal ways that learners are making meaning within technology-mediated learning-and-communications environments. Students will examine the ways that present systems (schools, game companies, Internet-based organizations and the like) are monitoring and tracking learning, training and progress within their organizations, gathering insight into their own instructional development and assessment needs from these studies. Emphasis will be placed on students studying, designing and evaluating the emerging landscape of digital assessment and applying these understandings to their own instructional needs.

This course explores the changing nature and function of higher education institutions in a world where the majority of students are adult learners, and as high school graduating classes shrink, institutions will need to increasingly attract adult learners to maintain their enrollments. This course will also focus on critiques of contemporary high education as well as the changing demands on post-secondary graduates. The course will also explore the internal higher education struggle between mission driven versus market driven.

How do we learn? How do those about us take in information? Application of knowledge about learning styles can make a significant difference in motivation, effectiveness, speed and depth of learning. This course exposes students to many established theories about learning styles, defined broadly as distinct modes of learning, with accompanying exercises where possible. After an introduction to both the history and potential future directions of theories of learning styles, including Kolb's Experiential Learning, Gregorc's Cognitive Learning Styles, the Myers-Brigs Type Indicator, The Enneagram, Reflective Learning Styles and others. A second focus of the course is on Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and its implications or adult learning, both for students' own learning and with respect to those whom they teach.

This course examines the specific body of knowledge that relates to organization development and change such as an historical perspective, theoretical foundations, models and areas of practice (application), its purpose and specific issues or challenges related to the function of those practicing in the field, with an emphasis on the role of adult learning. Specifically, students will study an overview of organization development and change; process of organization development; human process, techno-structural and human resource management interventions; and the future direction of organization development.

In this study, students will explore major issues related to knowledge production and learning in our digital age. Students will be introduced to pressing issues in the use of technology in various learning environments and reflect on the assumptions we make about knowledge, creativity and social dynamics based on our choices. Any one of the topics raised is suitable for more in-depth study as an elective. Topics will include: privacy and security, intellectual property rights, the nature of creative commons, access and equity, ethics and legal challenges, digital democracy. Students will consider these concerns as they move into discussions on future trends by reading a variety of current reports, such as: MIT’s Technology Review, Ray Kurzweill’s AI.net site, Jamais Casco’s Open the Future, and the New Media Consortium/Educause’s annual Horizon Report and their Top Teaching and Learning Challenges Project. In the process, they will investigate various strategies for studying futures, including: scenarios, predictions markets, the Delphi method;,environmental scanning and crowd-sourcing.

This course addresses diversity in contemporary urban schools, the ways children and families from various cultures are affected by and affect urban schools and the role of the teacher and the curriculum in creating an open and tolerant environment conducive to learning. Students will understand how to adapt instruction to the needs of diverse learners. Topics include: immigration, global issues, and education; cultural, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic diversity; related behaviors, attitudes, family structures, and expectations; community contexts of local schools; teaching, curriculum, and diversity in the student’s certification area; and equity and cultural issues in computer use. Note: The classroom observation component is not required for non-matriculated students. Individuals registering for this course will do so by location. Course includes online work with some scheduled face-to-face meetings held at Empire State College centers in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and the Hudson Valley (Hartsdale)

This course is designed to provide an overview of bargaining in the public sector. It deals with major policy issues related to public sector bargaining, with the environmental factors influencing public sector bargaining, with bargaining techniques, and with dispute resolution in the public sector. This course is required for the Public-Sector Labor and Employment Policy Certificate.

This course considers the history and principles of federal labor relations law and its relevance to both private and public sector labor relations. The text is prepared by the Labor Law Section of the American Bar Association and is the standard authority in the field. We will gain an overview of the labor law and the parameters of decision making, as established legislatively, and by the National Labor Relations Board and the Courts, which have guided the course of labor law in the United States. The student will first do a paper demonstrating an understanding of labor law principles according to this overview of the law. The student and the mentor will advise a supplementary contract which will focus on a particular aspect of labor law relevant to the student. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their understanding of the law and its principles, and the quality of their two papers. This course is required for the Public-Sector Labor and Employment Policy Advanced Certificate.

The study will provide the student with an overview of some of the main topics associated with the social organization of work. We will begin by exploring the historical foundations of the contemporary workplace and draw on the theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber, Frederick Taylor and Harry Braverman, who will provide a conceptual understanding of workplace relations. In the second part of the study, we will look at the question of social class and how this structures one's opportunities in the workplace and outside it. We will also explore the question of the global economy, types of work and the routinization of work. In the third part of the study, we will then turn our attention to exploring contemporary research on the workplace as it affects family life and think about the ways in which inequality is perpetuated through contemporary arrangements of paid and unpaid labor, as well as more generally, the question of balancing work and family life. A guiding question throughout the study will be to ask what is the impact of work on human relationships, and in particular, how forms of social inequality are produced and perpetuated in the workplace and how human relations are structured in these workplace settings.

This course will examine the rise of modernism in American history with particular attention to issues of art and culture. The student will explore the critical developments of urbanization, technology, political reform and the expanding role of the United States internationally. Special attention will be given to issues of American identity and aspects of race, gender and ethnicity as Americans embraced or reacted against the currents of modernism and modern social transformation. By focusing on specific key issues in American history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and engaging a broad variety of primary and secondary sources, the student will gain an understanding of the complexities of U.S. culture and society, achieve a deeper appreciation of art and culture and develop the skills of a practicing historian.

The goal of the course is to gain a current understanding of modern, postmodern and contemporary theatrical dance studies from cultural theory, embodiment and a chronology of social and aesthetic shifts from the 20th century through recent decades. Readings address modernism, postmodernism, difference and cross-cultural issues of movement in performance. Students write two critical review essays from directed reading sources, also choosing a third project making and analyzing a performance piece,or doing a multiple critical review of several performances with an integral theme. Alternately, they write a research project approved by the instructor.

Through the activities of this course students will consider the image, experience, and embodiment of disability through the arts as well as the contemporary making of art from a disability point of view. We will examine issues of identification, access and performance as well as the subject and object positions and content of art that depicts, refers to or is made by people with a disability. Study activities will afford the opportunity to demonstrate growth in critical theory and thinking and the development of scholarly writing at the graduate level.

This course assesses the often neglected histories of children and youth in the United States since the colonial era. Among other issues covered in the course, students will evaluate the ways that children have experienced the process of growing up in a variety of social, regional and demographic contexts; how cultural understandings of childhood have been shaped by science, religion, literary and visual arts; and how children have been incorporated as political subjects in a democracy managed by adults.

What does a wooden bowl say about a particular society? How can a photograph be read? In this course, students will examine the manner in which objects and images are used as cultural creations and primary source materials. The theoretical and methodological underpinnings of Material and Visual Culture Studies will be considered, as will the traditions of culture studies more generally. Among the texts to be considered are those by John Berger, Arjun Appadurai, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton, Marianne Hirsch, Kristin Hass, Mike Wallace and Jules Prown. Students will be expected to submit a paper reviewing the research and scholarship of the field midway through the term and a final paper analyzing a particular object or image.

Epics, long poetic or prose poems, have formed part of the traditions of cultures from very early times up into the modern era. This course will focus on the early and traditional examples ranging from the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh from the eighteenth century BCE up into the Greco-Roman era in the first centuries CE, along with the possibility of exploring traditional epics from the Celtic, Norse, Indian and/or African worlds. The content of the course will involve both reading the epics themselves (in translation) as well as exploring the structure, purpose, literary composition and cultural aspects of the epics chosen for study. Among the theoretical concerns will be the epics’ intertextuality, audience and their fictionality as well as their function within the culture and other narrative issues such as orality. The student and the course instructor will consult and determine the exact content of the course in accordance with the goals and objectives for engaging in it. Student demonstrations of learning will be determined by mutual agreement with the course instructor.

The student needs to contact the course instructor, as soon as possible after registering; even better, make such to contact prior to completing the registration.

This course will assist students in designing a research strategy appropriate for a variety of social science questions. The student will examine issues of social inquiry, operationalization of social theory, as well as procedures for gathering and organizing data including surveys, interviewing, focus groups and participant observation. The student will then examine procedures to analyze their data such as hypothesis testing, analysis of data, techniques for generalizing from samples to populations and finally pursue strategies for reporting their results.

In this course, students will examine the history, meaning and function of folktales, looking at them as cultural artifacts, as educational tools, as entertainment and as cultural markers. They will consider various approaches to understanding and interpreting such tales such as feminist, structuralist, psychoanalytical and more. The tales to be considered can range from ancient exemplars to traditional from indigenous cultures to those of modern cultures in Europe, Asia, India, etc., the choices to be determined by each student in consultation with the mentor. The study will involve gaining an understanding of oral transmission as well as how such tales have been used in other materials. Students may want to consider how numerous traditional tales have been presented in forms other than their original narrative form such as in film, television, plays, novellas, novels, poetry and such. Students may also wish to look at variants of one or more tales across cultures, place and time as part of the course. This course is an appropriate one to take for those interested in traditional societies, folklore and folklife, communication, early childhood, psychology/sociology, history of cultures, literature, education and much more.

To design an appropriate course, the student should contact the course instructor at his/her earliest convenience.

This course allows you to become acquainted with perspectives on material culture and a theoretical and methodological repertoire to realize new learning through investigation of particular subjects and issues related to your program. We begin with common readings and media, followed by choices among such focus areas as museum studies, consumption theories and patterns, the concept of cultural property or a closer focus on a specialty topic, such as a particular type of material or artifact and its history, use and interpretation. Two substantial reading and writing projects (perhaps also with some observing or making) comprise the scholarly activities, requiring at least one revision each, and at least two informal discussions take place, whether by email with the course instructor or on the supporting website with class members.

This course is designed to develop understanding of the implications of race, class and gender for U.S. public policy. We will consider both social structural and cultural dimensions of this question and we will examine a range of policy areas from domestic policy and civil rights to international affairs and foreign policy.

Over time, children have gained many legal rights in this country. This course will introduce the student to an overview of these various rights and of the many legal, sociological, psychological and political issues involved in their development. In addition to an overview of these fundamental legal rights, students will become familiarized with the basics of the court system and the statutes and judicial decisions affecting children's rights today. Some specific topics to be explored in this course are neglect and abuse of children, the legal, ethical and sociological effects of prenatal maternal substance abuse and children's right to the effective assistance of counsel. This is a required course in the Child and Family Advocacy Certificate.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the theoretical and practical tools required for the provision of advocacy services for mentally disabled populations residing within mental health facilities in New York state, as well as for the provision of advocacy services for those mentally disabled populations residing in the community. Students will be introduced to general information regarding the legal rights and entitlements due mentally disabled persons in New York state. Students will also become familiar with information regarding advocacy groups which provide community based support for this population. Students will gain familiarity with reading legal cases, statutes, regulations and items of mental health policy. Students will receive a packet of course readings, which will be sent to students by the instructor. There are also two required books for this course.

Citizen and State explores the political ideas that have affected and continue to affect American society, politics and public policy from the end of World War II to the present. The emphasis will be on the fundamental changes that have occurred in the way key social groups have come to view their relations to the state and the role that the state should play in their private and public lives. Through an examination of historical events, movements and leaders, students will explore the development of the deep social, cultural and ideological cleavages that have come to divide American society and politics and affect domestic and foreign policies. The emphasis will be on the post WWII evolution of liberalism and conservatism. This course is required for the Public-Sector Labor & Employment Policy Certificate.

Effective civic engagement often challenges us to work with others at the grassroots level to meet a wide variety of human needs. This course uses a simulation model to enable students to experience community organizing first hand. By the end of the course students will be able to apply key political science and sociological theories to community organizing, use qualitative and quantitative research techniques to discern community needs, work with community volunteers to make important decisions and take the necessary steps to initiate community building. The class will work with real situations in real communities.

The aim of this course is to explore and compare the American and European health and human services systems. The study will provide students with a historical perspective and will focus on contemporary social welfare policy. The course will take into consideration economic, political and social factors, special characteristics of various systems and an analysis of these concerns. Students will build upon their knowledge of experience with the American health and human service system.

While most people associate the term domestic violence with spouse abuse and battered women, this course will examine this disturbing social problem in all of its forms: spouse abuse, child abuse, elder abuse and the newly recognized area of human trafficking that may involve abuse of persons who work in domestic households. Readings and assignments will emphasize current research that examines various forms of violence and the policies devised to address them. This study is appropriate for students interested in criminal justice, social services and health care.

In this course, students examine the institution of family through the lens of cultural values and as an area for policy decisions. Topics raised in the course consider how the family unit has evolved over time, the cultural values that shape not only how family is viewed, but also how that view shapes policy decisions that affect the family and the impact that these policy decisions have upon both families and the larger society. Students who previously enrolled in Cultural Values and Social Institutions should not take this course as the content is essentially similar.

This course is highly recommended for students, such as social workers, with prior background and/or training in human services but with no previous experience working with military or veteran populations. Topics include: the reasons for enlisting in the military, the effects of military training, formal and informal military structures, military hierarchy, military terminology, active duty military and veterans in work and educational environments and the effects of military service on later life. This course is required for the Veterans Services Certificate.

This course explores the structure and function of political institutions in New York state government and political activity at the state and local levels, including the state legislature, the governor, state agencies, the court system and intergovernmental/federalism relationships with particular focus on the policy making process. This course satisfies the elective requirement of the Public-Sector Labor & Employment Policy Certificate.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the methods and techniques of analyzing, developing and evaluating public policies and programs. Emphasis will be given to benefit-cost and cost-effectiveness analysis and concepts of economic efficiency, equity and distribution. Methods will include problem solving, decision making and case studies. Examples will come from human resource, environmental and regulatory policy.

The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of urban areas and the problems they confront. The study will explore the advantages and challenges that cities face and the ways that various municipalities have devised to provide good places for people to live, work and play in localities with dense populations. Particular attention will be paid to crime, policing and safety; economic development; education; government; housing; and transportation. The study will be conducted in a seminar format over the Internet. In addition to the assigned readings, each student will become familiar with a specific urban area. He or she will share information on the urban area selected as the study looks at each of the six topics — crime, policing and safety; economic development and transportation; education; government and government services; housing; and poverty and discrimination. The final project will deal with the city chosen by the student and will demonstrate appropriate graduate-level analytical and writing skills. Each student will be evaluated on his/her contributions to the Internet discussion and his/her written work. All contributions are expected to demonstrate graduate-level competence in research, critical thinking, writing and documentation.

This course provides grounding in the psychosocial landscape within which veteran services are offered and puts veteran services within the broad context of the experience of war and the challenge of coming home. It identifies the challenges facing returning veterans, including re-integrating into the community, reconnecting with family, reorienting to the less structured character of civilian life and, in some cases, adjusting to life with a disability. Special attention is also paid to the family system and to the challenges facing the families of veterans, to the effects of multiple and extended deployments, to the specific issues facing women veterans, to generational differences among veterans and to veterans as they age. Finally, the course identifies strategies for reaching out to veterans, explores existing models for such outreach and service delivery and addresses the question of how to advocate for veterans across multiple communities and multiple political and social perspectives. This course is required for the Veterans Services Certificate.

This course provides students with broad knowledge of specific veteran benefits and programs, including health care, education, employment, criminal justice and housing. Topics include: needs assessment, the mesh of services and service providers, and case- and claims- management, review and appeal. Students will gain practice in identifying the benefits available to specific veterans and groups of veterans, explore issues concerning access and eligibility and consider both the functional and the challenging aspects of the system of benefits. Following a broad overview of these topics, students have the opportunity to do further work in a topic of particular interest. This course is required for the Veterans Services Certificate.

This course provides a holistic overview of the policy framework within which federal, state, community-based and other veteran services are offered. Following an exploration of the figure of the warrior in society and culture, students will examine the evolution of public policy concerning veterans, critique current gaps and problems in the system and develop an understanding of how policy frameworks and service-delivery interface. The course includes a historical perspective on veterans’ issues and public policy as well as addressing the need for continued advocacy regarding new policies, benefits and technologies. This course is required for the Veterans Services Certificate.