The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Doctor of Philosophy in Social Policy

PhD Courses

Required Core Courses (5.5 courses - 22 credits)

The core curriculum spreads across three categories: theory, methods, and area of concentration.

First Year

Fall

  • HS 326f, Introduction to Stata® Programming and Data Management

  • HS 403b, Qualitative Research (4 credits)

  • HS 404b, Applied Regression Analysis (4 credits)

  • HS 401b, Research Methods (4 credits)

Spring

  • HS 508a, Theory of Social Policy and Change (4 credits)

  • HS 510a, Applied Design and Analysis (4 credits)

Approved PhD Selectives

  • HS 212a, Contemporary Issues in Gender and Public Policy
  • HS 236a, International Health Systems  
  • HS 273f, Law and Social Policy: Contemporary Issues-Gender Equity
  • HS 303a, Historical and Contemporary Developments in Social Welfare 
  • HS 306a, Causal Inference and Machine Learning
  • HS 307a, Immigrant Integration in the US: Policy, Practice and People
  • HS 314f, Race and Stratification in the U.S. Economy
  • HS 317f, Labor Income, Labor Power, and Labor Markets
  • HS 320, LGBTQ+ Justice: A History of Pride, Prejudice and Policy in the Unted States
  • HS 322b, Sociological Perspectives on Housing Disparities: Race and Stratification
  • HS 323f, Participatory Action Research
  • HS 324a, Social Experimentation in Child, Youth and Family Policymaking
  • HS 324f, Globalization, Development and Governance
  • HS 334a, Child, Youth and Family Policy: US and Cross Cultural Perspectives 
  • HS 334f, Disability Policy: Intersections with Health, Poverty, Education and Family Policy
  • HS 346b, Policy Perspectives on Criminal Justice Disparities
  • HS 367a, Working with National Data Sets to Inform Policy Analysis and Recommendations
  • HS 372b, Economic Theory and Social Policy
  • HS 406f, Multilevel Modeling Methods
  • HS 407b, Survey Research Methods
  • HS 409a, Advanced Econometrics
  • HS 410a, Applied Research Seminar: Quantitative
  • HS 411b, Applied Research Seminar: Qualitative
  • HS 412b, Substance Use and Societal Consequences
  • HS 412f, Social Policy and Management Through the Lens of Equity
  • HS414f, Ethical Issues in Social Science Research
  • HS 416a, Foundations in Social Theory: From the Early Twentieth Century to Critical Race Theory
  • HS419f, Labor Economics as Applied to Social Policy
  • HS 422f, Cost-Effectiveness
  • HS 426f, Advanced Techniques of Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • HS 448f, Introduction to SAS Programming and Data Management
  • HS 505f, Quality and Performance Measurement in Health Care
  • HS 507f, State Health Policy
  • HS 510a, Applied Design & Analysis
  • HS 513a, Issues in National Health Policy
  • HS 526a, Organizational Theory and Behavior
  • HS  528f, Law and Social Justice: Constructions of Race and Ethnicity and Their Consequences
  • HS 534b, Perspectives on Economic and Racial Equity
  • HS 572a,  Economics of Behavioral Health
  • HS 586a, Issues in Addiction Treatment