Courses Taught
At the University of Pittsburgh
PIA 2020: Administration of Public Affairs (Graduate)
This course provides an introduction to the field of public management and administration. This field concerns how governments—both agencies and the organizations and individuals who work for them—provide services to citizens. Politicians, bureaucrats, and citizens throughout the world share a common, but often elusive quest to improve delivery of these services. In this course, we will discuss approaches to governance and management as well as learn about how governments deliver (or do not deliver) on their promises to citizens. Additionally, this course will introduce you to several theoretical and practical concepts that will help you understand how the public sector is organized and how it is managed. Although the concepts and issues we discuss in the course are generalizable to a wide range of contexts, we will take the system of government in the United States as a primary point of departure.
PIA 2022: Quantitative Methods (Graduate)
Introduction to quantitative methods is a foundation course that provides an overview of statistical methods and hands-on applications to managerial decision-making in the public sector. Understanding statistical analysis and being able to work with data are important competencies of professionals in public policy and administration. Course topics include program evaluation, data collection and measurement in public policy and administration, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, processes for selecting statistical tests and assessment of statistical assumptions, measures of association and other bivariate statistics, index variable construction, regression analysis, and an overview of selected other statistical and quantitative methods applied to problems of public administration. Students get hands-on experience through the use of a statistical analysis tool. Recognizing the social, political, and economic context of data collection, analysis, and reporting practices in the public sector, this course also discusses the ethics of data analysis and information technology policy and management.
PIA 2023: Intermediate Quantitative Methods (Graduate)
The goal of this course is to provide an introduction to econometrics for policy analysts. The focus of the class will be on applied data analysis to practical problems. We will discuss some basics of econometric theory to support your understanding of the applications of these techniques. In the first part of the semester, we will introduce regression analysis and the assumptions underlying it. In the later part of the semester, we will see extensions of this basic idea: time series and panel regression, regression with a limited dependent variable, instrumental variables regression, and experiments. After this class you should be able to: 1. Understand basic empirical research in the social sciences. 2. Understand the theory behind basic econometric techniques. 3. Perform basic empirical analysis on social and political behavior.
PIA 2028: Public Policy Analysis (Graduate)
How can we improve the ability of society to choose between alternative policies? This course provides a framework to assess alternative policies on the dimensions of efficiency, equity, and political feasibility. The comparative institutional framework requires an interdisciplinary perspective which draws on economics, political science, and political economy. Throughout the course, we will consider how insights from these disciplines provide insight into the choices confronting policymakers. The course is organized into three broad parts: an introduction to policy analysis; a framework for comparative markets and governments; and applications of the framework.
PIA 3005: Field Seminar in Public Administration (Graduate)
This is the doctoral field course in public administration. This course reviews major developments in the field of public administration, beginning with its historical origins and then focusing on its current research frontiers. The purpose of the course is to prepare students to teach and conduct research in the field of public administration. To that end, students will be expected to turn in weekly reviews of the readings (3 to 4 pages each week per assigned reading) and a research design or paper that might form the basis of a submission to an academic journal. By no means should the readings appearing in this syllabus be construed as a comprehensive listing of what might be covered on the comprehensive exam. Rather, these readings, coupled with the various assigned and listed readings in other coursework and on the reading list, should provide students with the requisite breadth and depth of public administration scholarship for both academic and professional purposes. The format of the course will revolve around class discussion. Students are expected to read thoroughly before each class and to come prepared to critically discuss the readings. This course is open to doctoral students in any field. Master’s students with sufficient background, as judged by the instructor, may enroll with the permission of the instructor.
This course provides an introduction to the field of public management and administration. This field concerns how governments—both agencies and the organizations and individuals who work for them—provide services to citizens. Politicians, bureaucrats, and citizens throughout the world share a common, but often elusive quest to improve delivery of these services. In this course, we will discuss approaches to governance and management as well as learn about how governments deliver (or do not deliver) on their promises to citizens. Additionally, this course will introduce you to several theoretical and practical concepts that will help you understand how the public sector is organized and how it is managed. Although the concepts and issues we discuss in the course are generalizable to a wide range of contexts, we will take the system of government in the United States as a primary point of departure.
PIA 2022: Quantitative Methods (Graduate)
Introduction to quantitative methods is a foundation course that provides an overview of statistical methods and hands-on applications to managerial decision-making in the public sector. Understanding statistical analysis and being able to work with data are important competencies of professionals in public policy and administration. Course topics include program evaluation, data collection and measurement in public policy and administration, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, processes for selecting statistical tests and assessment of statistical assumptions, measures of association and other bivariate statistics, index variable construction, regression analysis, and an overview of selected other statistical and quantitative methods applied to problems of public administration. Students get hands-on experience through the use of a statistical analysis tool. Recognizing the social, political, and economic context of data collection, analysis, and reporting practices in the public sector, this course also discusses the ethics of data analysis and information technology policy and management.
PIA 2023: Intermediate Quantitative Methods (Graduate)
The goal of this course is to provide an introduction to econometrics for policy analysts. The focus of the class will be on applied data analysis to practical problems. We will discuss some basics of econometric theory to support your understanding of the applications of these techniques. In the first part of the semester, we will introduce regression analysis and the assumptions underlying it. In the later part of the semester, we will see extensions of this basic idea: time series and panel regression, regression with a limited dependent variable, instrumental variables regression, and experiments. After this class you should be able to: 1. Understand basic empirical research in the social sciences. 2. Understand the theory behind basic econometric techniques. 3. Perform basic empirical analysis on social and political behavior.
PIA 2028: Public Policy Analysis (Graduate)
How can we improve the ability of society to choose between alternative policies? This course provides a framework to assess alternative policies on the dimensions of efficiency, equity, and political feasibility. The comparative institutional framework requires an interdisciplinary perspective which draws on economics, political science, and political economy. Throughout the course, we will consider how insights from these disciplines provide insight into the choices confronting policymakers. The course is organized into three broad parts: an introduction to policy analysis; a framework for comparative markets and governments; and applications of the framework.
PIA 3005: Field Seminar in Public Administration (Graduate)
This is the doctoral field course in public administration. This course reviews major developments in the field of public administration, beginning with its historical origins and then focusing on its current research frontiers. The purpose of the course is to prepare students to teach and conduct research in the field of public administration. To that end, students will be expected to turn in weekly reviews of the readings (3 to 4 pages each week per assigned reading) and a research design or paper that might form the basis of a submission to an academic journal. By no means should the readings appearing in this syllabus be construed as a comprehensive listing of what might be covered on the comprehensive exam. Rather, these readings, coupled with the various assigned and listed readings in other coursework and on the reading list, should provide students with the requisite breadth and depth of public administration scholarship for both academic and professional purposes. The format of the course will revolve around class discussion. Students are expected to read thoroughly before each class and to come prepared to critically discuss the readings. This course is open to doctoral students in any field. Master’s students with sufficient background, as judged by the instructor, may enroll with the permission of the instructor.
At the University of Notre Dame
POLS 30003 - After the Election: The First 100 Days (Undergraduate)
It's the beginning of 2017 and a new president is getting ready to take office. This means staffing the administration, getting ready to send nominations for cabinet and other high-ranking positions (perhaps including a Supreme Court justice) to the Senate for possible confirmation, presenting his or her agenda to Congress, the bureaucracy, the American people, and the world during the inaugural address, and so much more. In this class, we will use the backdrop of the first hundred days of the new administration to examine the most powerful single office in the country. However, rather than viewing the presidency as a sequence of names and biographies, this course will analyze the American presidency as a political institution embedded in a network of often rival actors such as Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy, the electorate, and others. Students will not only be expected to acquire knowledge of substantive terms and concepts, but will also be expected to master analytical concepts and successfully apply them to applications in the realm of U.S. executive branch politics.
POLS 30005 - The United States Congress (Undergraduate)
This course is an introduction to the political and legislative process of the United States Congress. The course will focus on a semester-long legislative simulation in which students will play the role of United States Senators. Students will organize the legislature, form parties and caucuses, select their own leaders, draft their own bills, debate, and vote on legislation. The first part of the course will consist of traditional lectures to familiarize students with how Congress works; the rest of the semester will be primarily devoted to the legislative simulation.
POLS 30006: Executive Politics and the First Year of the Trump Administration (Undergraduate)
It’s the beginning of 2018 and President Trump has just completed his first year in office. Over the past year he has staffed his administration, appointed individuals to high-ranking positions and the Supreme Court, presented his agenda to Congress, the bureaucracy, and the American people, and so much more. All of this has been done in a highly polarized political environment amidst significant controversy. In this class, we will use the backdrop of the first year of the Trump administration to examine the most powerful single office in the country. However, rather than viewing the presidency as a sequence of names and biographies, this course will analyze the American presidency as a political institution embedded in a network of often rival actors such as Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy, the electorate, and others. Students will not only be expected to acquire knowledge of substantive terms and concepts, but will also be expected to master analytical concepts and successfully apply them to applications in the realm of U.S. executive branch politics.
POLS 53002: The United States Congress in a Polarized Era (Undergraduate)
Many, if not most, political observers today would argue that our current political era is dominated by partisan warfare, and that many political outcomes are determined not by the contents of policies themselves, but rather whether they are proposed by Democrats or Republicans. Why is this the case? Are we in a uniquely polarized era, or have we seen this before? This course will provide an in-depth analysis of the political and legislative process of the United States Congress, with a major focus on how it is influenced by, and influences, partisan polarization. We will spend significant time discussing recent and historical works on the topic of Congressional polarization. The class will culminate in a (potentially group-written) research project and oral presentation on some aspect of Congressional polarization.
POLS 60833 - Math for Political Scientists (Graduate)
In order to understand quantitative and game theoretic work in political science, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of a few mathematical concepts. Topics covered in this course include probability, set theory, logic, matrix algebra, logarithms, exponents, calculus, and frequently used distributions. Learning math is like learning a language, so this course emphasizes short problem sets for each class as well as larger projects designed to pull together disparate skill sets.
POLS 60837 - Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Limited Dependent Variables (Graduate)
This course presents an overview of some regression-based methods widely used in political science today. The emphasis of the course is on models where the traditional assumptions of ordinary least-squares regression are violated, primarily in a cross-sectional context and because the dependent variable is non-continuous. The course will focus on maximum likelihood estimation of models of various kinds of limited-dependent and qualitative response variables. Specific topics covered will include binary response models, ordered response models, multinomial response models, event count models, duration models, censored/truncated regression models, and selection models. Throughout, we will focus on understanding the theoretical underpinnings of the various models and developing and evaluating applications of them to substantive problems in political science. Students will be asked to do data analysis exercises, to evaluate published research relying on quantitative techniques, and to do a research project on a topic of their own choosing.
POLS 60880 - Applied Game Theory (Graduate)
This course will introduce you to the systematic study of social, political and economic interactions, where the optimal course of one person's action, depends on the options and preferences of other people involved in the interaction. You we will learn how to model strategic situations in the language of mathematics, and how to make equilibrium predictions. We will cover several basic equilibrium concepts, including Nash, Subgame Perfect Nash, and Perfect Bayesian.
It's the beginning of 2017 and a new president is getting ready to take office. This means staffing the administration, getting ready to send nominations for cabinet and other high-ranking positions (perhaps including a Supreme Court justice) to the Senate for possible confirmation, presenting his or her agenda to Congress, the bureaucracy, the American people, and the world during the inaugural address, and so much more. In this class, we will use the backdrop of the first hundred days of the new administration to examine the most powerful single office in the country. However, rather than viewing the presidency as a sequence of names and biographies, this course will analyze the American presidency as a political institution embedded in a network of often rival actors such as Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy, the electorate, and others. Students will not only be expected to acquire knowledge of substantive terms and concepts, but will also be expected to master analytical concepts and successfully apply them to applications in the realm of U.S. executive branch politics.
POLS 30005 - The United States Congress (Undergraduate)
This course is an introduction to the political and legislative process of the United States Congress. The course will focus on a semester-long legislative simulation in which students will play the role of United States Senators. Students will organize the legislature, form parties and caucuses, select their own leaders, draft their own bills, debate, and vote on legislation. The first part of the course will consist of traditional lectures to familiarize students with how Congress works; the rest of the semester will be primarily devoted to the legislative simulation.
POLS 30006: Executive Politics and the First Year of the Trump Administration (Undergraduate)
It’s the beginning of 2018 and President Trump has just completed his first year in office. Over the past year he has staffed his administration, appointed individuals to high-ranking positions and the Supreme Court, presented his agenda to Congress, the bureaucracy, and the American people, and so much more. All of this has been done in a highly polarized political environment amidst significant controversy. In this class, we will use the backdrop of the first year of the Trump administration to examine the most powerful single office in the country. However, rather than viewing the presidency as a sequence of names and biographies, this course will analyze the American presidency as a political institution embedded in a network of often rival actors such as Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy, the electorate, and others. Students will not only be expected to acquire knowledge of substantive terms and concepts, but will also be expected to master analytical concepts and successfully apply them to applications in the realm of U.S. executive branch politics.
POLS 53002: The United States Congress in a Polarized Era (Undergraduate)
Many, if not most, political observers today would argue that our current political era is dominated by partisan warfare, and that many political outcomes are determined not by the contents of policies themselves, but rather whether they are proposed by Democrats or Republicans. Why is this the case? Are we in a uniquely polarized era, or have we seen this before? This course will provide an in-depth analysis of the political and legislative process of the United States Congress, with a major focus on how it is influenced by, and influences, partisan polarization. We will spend significant time discussing recent and historical works on the topic of Congressional polarization. The class will culminate in a (potentially group-written) research project and oral presentation on some aspect of Congressional polarization.
POLS 60833 - Math for Political Scientists (Graduate)
In order to understand quantitative and game theoretic work in political science, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of a few mathematical concepts. Topics covered in this course include probability, set theory, logic, matrix algebra, logarithms, exponents, calculus, and frequently used distributions. Learning math is like learning a language, so this course emphasizes short problem sets for each class as well as larger projects designed to pull together disparate skill sets.
POLS 60837 - Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Limited Dependent Variables (Graduate)
This course presents an overview of some regression-based methods widely used in political science today. The emphasis of the course is on models where the traditional assumptions of ordinary least-squares regression are violated, primarily in a cross-sectional context and because the dependent variable is non-continuous. The course will focus on maximum likelihood estimation of models of various kinds of limited-dependent and qualitative response variables. Specific topics covered will include binary response models, ordered response models, multinomial response models, event count models, duration models, censored/truncated regression models, and selection models. Throughout, we will focus on understanding the theoretical underpinnings of the various models and developing and evaluating applications of them to substantive problems in political science. Students will be asked to do data analysis exercises, to evaluate published research relying on quantitative techniques, and to do a research project on a topic of their own choosing.
POLS 60880 - Applied Game Theory (Graduate)
This course will introduce you to the systematic study of social, political and economic interactions, where the optimal course of one person's action, depends on the options and preferences of other people involved in the interaction. You we will learn how to model strategic situations in the language of mathematics, and how to make equilibrium predictions. We will cover several basic equilibrium concepts, including Nash, Subgame Perfect Nash, and Perfect Bayesian.
At the University of Georgia
PADP 6950 - Foundations of Policy Analysis (Graduate)
This is a course in microeconomic analysis that provides broad exposure to the fundamental economic tools of policy analysis. While competitive markets are often efficient, there are many barriers to perfectly functioning markets that lead to the need for public policy. Ultimately, the goal of the course is to lead students to appreciate the economic method of thought—assuming rational agents respond predictably to incentives in order to allocate the scarce resources at their disposal as seems “best” to them—and how this method can be a widely useful tool for assessing the need for, and likely impact of, public policy.
PADP 8120 - Data Analysis and Statistics (Graduate)
This course provides students an opportunity to develop quantitative analysis skills that can be applied to social science research questions. We will discuss the methods used to collect quantitative evidence and to analyze quantitative data. Topics will include sampling, descriptive statistics, probability distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, comparison of means, ordinary least squares, dealing with violations of the underlying assumptions of multiple regression, and dichotomous choice models. I will also provide an introduction to the R software for statistical analysis.
PADP 8130 - Linear Models (Graduate)
This course is an introduction to the theory and application of linear modeling to economic and policy problems. The focus of this class will be to provide you with the theoretical and practical skills necessary to conduct your own empirical research. Topics will include ordinary least squares, hypothesis testing, dealing with violations of the underlying assumptions of multiple regression, instrumental variables estimation, simultaneous equations, and panel data techniques. I will also provide an introduction to the R software package for statistical analysis.
This is a course in microeconomic analysis that provides broad exposure to the fundamental economic tools of policy analysis. While competitive markets are often efficient, there are many barriers to perfectly functioning markets that lead to the need for public policy. Ultimately, the goal of the course is to lead students to appreciate the economic method of thought—assuming rational agents respond predictably to incentives in order to allocate the scarce resources at their disposal as seems “best” to them—and how this method can be a widely useful tool for assessing the need for, and likely impact of, public policy.
PADP 8120 - Data Analysis and Statistics (Graduate)
This course provides students an opportunity to develop quantitative analysis skills that can be applied to social science research questions. We will discuss the methods used to collect quantitative evidence and to analyze quantitative data. Topics will include sampling, descriptive statistics, probability distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, comparison of means, ordinary least squares, dealing with violations of the underlying assumptions of multiple regression, and dichotomous choice models. I will also provide an introduction to the R software for statistical analysis.
PADP 8130 - Linear Models (Graduate)
This course is an introduction to the theory and application of linear modeling to economic and policy problems. The focus of this class will be to provide you with the theoretical and practical skills necessary to conduct your own empirical research. Topics will include ordinary least squares, hypothesis testing, dealing with violations of the underlying assumptions of multiple regression, instrumental variables estimation, simultaneous equations, and panel data techniques. I will also provide an introduction to the R software package for statistical analysis.
