POL 294 - Spring-Term Topics in Public Policy

FDR: SS2
Credits: 3-4

This course is designed to give students additional expertise and awareness of discrete policy challenges in the United States. Students learn to explain current policy systems, including political institutions and political behavior by political actors. Students also formulate policy evaluations acknowledging the strengths and the weaknesses in the policy system.

Spring 2020, POL 294-01: Spring-Term Topics in Public Policy: Food Policy (3). Prerequisite: POL 100 or instructor consent. Students with interest in or majoring in politics, economics, business, environmental studies, public health, or poverty are encouraged to take the course. An introduction to the institutions and politics of U.S. food, nutrition, and farm policy. Major considerations include farm and food-policy history, USDA policy tools, and political issues. Specific topics focus on the farm bill (economics and conservation), poverty and nutrition programs, and food-industry regulation. Students engage in a community-based research project working with Rockbridge County Extension Office on current nutrition programming. (SS2) Harris.