Poverty-Related Courses Taught by IRP Affiliates

IRP affiliates at the University of Wisconsin–Madison teach a range of undergraduate and graduate poverty-related courses. A sampling of courses is provided below. The following list is provided as an example of course offerings; not all courses are available every semester or year. Please consult the UW–Madison timetable for current course listings.

Problems of American Racial and Ethnic Minorities: Sociology 134
Ruth Lopez Turley, Assistant Professor of Sociology and IRP Affiliate

This course examines the nature of inter-group relations with an emphasis on explanations of ethnic and racial prejudice and discrimination; historical background and characteristics of black Americans, Indian Americans, Mexican Americans, and other racial and ethnic minorities; and consideration of economic, housing, political, legal, educational, familial, health and psychological problems of minority groups.

Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in American Education: Educational Policy Studies 200
Michael Olneck, Professor of Educational Policy Studies and IRP Affiliate

This course examines inequality in educational opportunity in American schools, tries to find out why it exists and what can be done to make equal educational opportunity a reality. We will look at historical and contemporary explanations for inequality in education, and at historical and contemporary policies and practices intended to help the schools work for everyone.

Gender and Work in Rural America: Sociology/Rural Sociology/Women’s Studies 215
Leann Tigges , Professor and Chair of Rural Sociology and IRP Affiliate

This course considers the sociological dimensions of men's and women's work in nonmetropolitan areas of the United States. Students will examine gender divisions of "work" in its fullest sense: paid work in formal and informal economies, self-employment, and nonmarket work such as housework.

Wages and the Labor Market: Economics 450
Rasmus Lentz, Assistant Professor of Economics and IRP Affiliate

The purpose of the course is to develop an understanding of the labor market’s role in allocating human resources and determining earned income. The effects of labor market performance on household income and welfare are also emphasized. Topics include the determinants of labor supply and demand, wage and employment determination, the distribution of labor income, occupational and educational choice, mobility, wage differentials and dispersion, unemployment. The effects of labor market policies on each of these are also studied.

Family Economics and Public Policy: Consumer Science 575
Judith Bartfeld, Associate Professor of Consumer Science

This course provides analysis of objectives of public policies specifically concerned with the economic welfare of families as expressed or proposed in federal and state legislation; appraisal of their economic and social consequences; and analysis of the issue.

Child Abuse and Neglect: Social Work 646 (two sections, undergraduate and graduate)
Lawrence Berger, Assistant Professor of Social Work and IRP Affiliate, and Kristen Shook Slack, Assistant Professor of Social Work and IRP Affiliate

The course is concerned with physical, emotional and sexual abuse of children, child neglect, and exploitation.

Quantitative Methods for Public Policy: Public Affairs 819
Carolyn Heinrich, Professor of Public Affairs and IRP Associate Director, Research and Training

This course begins with a brief review of some of the basic tools of statistical analysis that are used to describe and interpret data. It then advances to more complex methods of statistical analysis, as the complexities of human and institutional activities frequently demand a more sophisticated strategy for the production and analysis of information that can inform public policy decision-making and our understanding of policy impacts.

Public Program Evaluation: Public Affairs 871
Karen Holden, Professor of Public Affairs and IRP Affiliate

This course studies strategies for evaluating the efficacy of public programs. Classical study of statistics generally takes the data as given and focuses on inferences that can be made from a given data set. In contrast, we will spend a substantial amount of time studying how to effectively design program evaluations and how to interpret them.

There are many good books that cover the heuristics of and motivation for program evaluation. This class focuses on methods. Upon finishing this course, students you will be able to design and implement program evaluations from start to finish, even under resource constraints. Equally importantly, the course will emphasize limits to causal inference so that students can critically evaluate other work.

Introduction to Policy Analysis: Public Affairs 873
Pamela Herd, Assistant Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology and IRP Affiliate

This course provides an introduction to the study of policy and the professional practice of policy analysis. Students will consider a number of fundamental questions: What are the rationales for collective interference in private affairs? What are the limitations to collective action? What are the generic instruments of public policy? How can we measure social costs and benefits? What are the appropriate roles for policy analysts in democratic societies? The course also seeks to improve basic skills in analytical thinking, information gathering, and writing.

Policymaking Process: Public Policy 874
John F. Witte, Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs and IRP Affiliate

The object of this course is to familiarize students with perspectives on policymaking in the U.S., with both the specifically American aspects of policymaking and more general issues that arise in making policy in any modern democratic system. The course starts with issues arising from the American setting of policymaking, then explores more general issues and concludes with an exploration of some specific policies.

Social Welfare Policy and Management: Public Affairs 882
Carolyn Heinrich, Professor of Public Affairs and IRP Associate Director, Research and Training

Social Welfare Policy and Management is a seminar course for graduate students that addresses a broad array of social welfare policies—education and human capital development, employment, income support programs, family support and health care—in terms of the following focal questions:

What are the responsibilities of the State (nation-states and other units of government) in social welfare service financing and provision? Who should be targeted for publicly-funded social welfare services, and what types of criteria or conditions should governments impose in determining who gets access to services? How can need be effectively measured? What recent social welfare policy innovations and legislative reforms have had important implications for program implementation and the impacts of social welfare programs (positive or negative)?

Politics of Poverty, Inequality, and Social Policy: Public Affairs 883
Joe Soss, Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs

This seminar invites students of public affairs to explore political questions related to poverty, inequality, and social policy in the United States. The central goal of the course is to think more carefully and with more explicit analytic tools about how poverty and inequality relate to the interplay of politics and policy in the United States.

Child, Youth, and Family Policies and Services: Social Work 920
Lawrence Berger, Assistant Professor of Social Work and IRP Affiliate

The course provides an overview of the social services and policies that address the needs of children, youth, and families in the U.S. and explores the role of these policies and services in the context of the formal and informal systems that affect these populations. Students will develop skills for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of these services and policies, for identifying, analyzing, and evaluating their intersections, and for understanding their effects on children, youth, and families.

Social Welfare Policy: Social Work 944
Katherine Magnuson, Assistant Professor of Social Work and IRP Affiliate

This course offers an overview of American social policy. Key issues in social policy such as related to education, social services, and health are discussed. Among topics considered are poverty and child well-being, policies and programs in child welfare, aging, health and mental health. The course provides an analytic framework to be used to understand current policy discussions. Students are expected to conduct a policy analysis related to their dissertation problem.