Learning Goals

Public Policy & Law is an interdisciplinary program in which students learn and practice methods and modes of thinking that help them understand and become actively engaged in legal and public policy issues. Our program introduces students to a broad range of analytical skills from the social sciences and humanities, including statistical analysis, legal argumentation, and close reading of texts. Our multidisciplinary, multi-method approach prepares students to examine every stage of the policy and law lifecycle, from historical formation and the politics of passage to the complex realities of implementation. Recognizing the inherent importance of lived experience and identity, our curriculum examines how social categories like gender, race, immigration status, religion, and sexuality shape policy and law. We further ask our students to consider the moral and ethical dimensions of significant issues, acknowledging that law and policy are always value laden. 

Our location in Connecticut’s capital city of Hartford provides students with ideal access to state and local governments, as well as to non-profit and advocacy organizations involved in the making of law and policy. Through the major, students complete an internship coupled with an academic seminar and share their insights in op-eds. These real-world experiences link academic study and practice, shaping students’ capacities as engaged participants in public life. 

The Public Policy and Law program aims to ensure that all majors:  

• Understand the policy and law lifecycle, from historical formation and the politics of passage to the complex realities of implementation.  

• Acquire depth of knowledge in a substantive area of public policy or law.  

• Become effective communicators, learning to write, listen, and convey ideas persuasively to diverse audiences.  

• Develop strong critical thinking skills, including the capacity to analyze complex texts.  

• Gain research skills in identifying questions, assessing the current state of knowledge, and evaluating hypotheses using both quantitative and qualitative data.  

• Apply their learning through independent and collaborative engagement inside and outside of the classroom.  

• Emerge as public-minded civic participants with the capacity to make informed ethical decisions, recognizing and valuing a diversity of interests, identities, and worldviews.