Design for Social Innovation
Instructor permission required. Join the waitlist in Vergil to request registration.
This project-based course equips students with the tools of human-centered design to address real-world challenges in the social sector. Working in interdisciplinary teams, students act as “intrapreneurs,” designing solutions on behalf of nonprofit, government, and social enterprise clients. Through a structured 12-week innovation cycle, students move through four design phases:
Explore
(stakeholder research and mapping),
Reframe
(synthesis and insight development),
Generate
(ideation and concept creation), and
Prototype
(building and testing solutions).
Students develop key competencies in design thinking, project and client management, stakeholder interviewing, problem framing, prototyping, and storytelling. The course culminates in a final presentation and deliverables that include an implementation blueprint and pitch materials for client use.
Client organizations span sectors such as education, food systems, sustainability, and civic engagement. Class meetings include workshops, presentations, feedback sessions, and one-on-one team advising. Deliverables are team-based, and participation is evaluated through both class engagement and weekly reflections.
This course is designed for students seeking hands-on experience in social innovation and a creative, collaborative approach to systems-level change.
- Department: Tech Policy and Innovation
-
Instructor:
Sarah M Holloway
CULPA: 1 Info - 3 points
The Politics of Defense in the United St
Politics of U.S. Defense
This course examines how national security and defense policy are developed and implemented in the U.S., focusing on political processes and institutional dynamics. Topics include military strategy, budgeting, force structure, acquisition, personnel policy, and the use of force. Students explore five key dimensions: partisan politics, Congress–Executive relations, civil-military relations, inter-service dynamics, and coordination across federal agencies. While grounded in U.S. policy, the course addresses global contexts and current debates, including defense reform, great-power competition, and the sustainability of the all-volunteer force. Readings span historical and contemporary sources.
- Department: International Security & Diplomacy
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Instructor:
Michael O'Hanlon
Wikipedia Info - 3 points
International Political Economy
Int'l Political Economy
IFEP Concentration Registration Priority.
This course examines the intersection of international politics and international economics. It covers an analysis of the historical background to and contemporary reality of the political economy of international trade, finance, monetary relations, foreign investment, and climate policy; problems of economic development; and globalization.
- Department: International Finance & Economic Policy
-
Instructor:
Markus H Jaeger
Info - 3 points
RESEARCH METHS GLOBAL & POP HEALTH
RSRH METH GLOB & POP HLTH
- Department: Medicine
- 0-2 points
INDEP STUDY IN GLOB & POP HEALTH
INDP STUD GLOB & POP HLTH
- Department: Medicine
- 0-3 points
Writing About War: Seeking Narratives in
In Writing about War, seminar participants engage with a pressing matter of our age: how to evaluate facts and context and create compelling and precise narratives from the fog of war. This intensive writing seminar explores the special challenges of creating narrative and assessing truth claims in the context of violent conflict. In this course you will grow as a writer through extensive practice reporting, writing, revising, and editing your own work and that of your peers.
We will read accounts produced as journalism, policy analysis, advocacy, literature, and philosophy. We will discuss ongoing conflicts as well as historical cases, and grapple with questions of policy and ethics. Students will produce original reported narrative writing about conflict, which they may try to place for publication. Students should expect to write or revise an original piece most weeks of the semester.
This course cultivates useful skills for any writer, whether they plan to write about conflict as a journalist, advocate, aid worker, policy analyst, or other field. The instructor places a premium on critical thinking and clear writing; grades reflect participation, effort, clarity of thought, reporting initiative, and narrative craft.
- Department: International Security & Diplomacy
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Instructor:
Athanasios Cambanis
Info - 3 points
International Trade and Financial Market
Intl Trade & Financial Ma
This half-course examines the intersection of international trade and financial markets, exploring how global commerce both shapes and is shaped by macroeconomic policy, financial conditions, and firm-level strategic behavior. The course aims to bridge two traditionally distinct analytical lenses — international macroeconomics and micro-level trade and corporate dynamics — to provide students with an integrated understanding of how trade policies, capital flows, and multinational production networks interact in a financially interconnected world.
The first half of the course (Macro) focuses on the policy dimensions of international trade. It investigates how trade policies influence growth, inflation, and monetary policy in advanced economies, and how these same dynamics play out in emerging markets with more volatile macro-financial linkages. Students will analyze theoretical frameworks for tariffs and trade balances alongside empirical evidence from historical and contemporary policy shifts. Case studies will explore the commodity–currency nexus, crisis transmission through trade channels, and how financial markets price trade risk.
The second half (Micro) transitions to the firm and industry level, examining global supply chains and multinational corporations. The discussions will explore how geopolitical tensions, industrial policies, and technological change are reshaping global production networks. Students will assess the evolving role of multinational enterprises as both transmitters and mitigators of global shocks. Case studies will focus on critical materials and the technology sector, highlighting the strategic and policy implications of concentrated global value chains.
- Department: International Finance & Economic Policy
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Instructor:
Benjamin R Mandel
Info - 1.5 points
Scale Up Ventures: Growing a Business Ou
Scale-Up Ventures & Polic
This course explores the strategies, tools, and policy environments required to scale ventures beyond the startup phase, particularly in regions outside traditional tech hubs such as Silicon Valley. Students examine the entrepreneurial journey from early traction to sustained growth, considering both bottom-up approaches focused on talent, capital, and customer acquisition, and top-down approaches focused on policy and ecosystem design. Emphasis is placed on high-impact sectors including AI, blockchain, fintech, and edtech, as well as opportunities in underserved markets. Through guest lectures, written assignments, and a team-based final project, students gain practical insight into entrepreneurship, venture capital, and leadership strategies that support scale. The course is designed for students interested in launching ventures, supporting innovation ecosystems, or shaping policies that foster economic growth.
- Department: Tech Policy and Innovation
-
Instructor:
Fernando Fabre
Info - 3 points
Firms, Governments & the Global Trading
Firms Govs & Global Trade
Given the dramatic changes in US Trade Policy, businesses and governments are having to navigate a patchwork of “managed trade” agreements and myriad tariff rates and non-tariff barriers. This short course will equip students with a solid grasp of the fundamentals of the current world trading system – both the “multilateral” system centered on the WTO and still practiced among most countries, as well as the US-centered multiplex system created by the Trump II Administration. The impact on businesses and governments will be examined through a series of interactive classes, business case studies, and executive guest speakers. The course will also explore “Stakeholder Engagement” techniques used by Multinational Corporations seeking to secure competitive advantage in this new environment.
- Department: International Finance & Economic Policy
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Instructor:
Michael R McAdoo
Info - 1.5 points
Building & Scaling Social Impact Program
Build/Scale Social Impact
This course examines how public, private, and nonprofit organizations attempt to address complex social problems through programs, partnerships, and philanthropic investment. The first half explores historical and contemporary interventions across sectors, with attention to trade-offs, incentives, and consequences. Through case studies and critical readings, students analyze how trust, governance, and accountability shape outcomes. The second half focuses on the practice of designing and scaling social impact programs, emphasizing theory of change, evaluation, and strategic alignment. Assignments include strategy and fundraising memos, a final impact plan, and a presentation. This seminar equips students with analytical, writing, and communication skills relevant to leadership roles in the social impact field.
- Department: Tech Policy and Innovation
-
Instructor:
Thomas Ogletree
Info - 3 points
Storytelling and The Art of Creating Soc
Storytelling & Social Imp
- Department: Tech Policy and Innovation
-
Instructor:
Stephen Friedman
Wikipedia Info - 3 points
Human Rights and the Politics of Inequal
Human Rights & Inequality
This course examines the intersection of human rights and economic inequality, exploring how political and economic governance influence access to rights and justice. Students will assess how human rights principles are integrated into economic policy frameworks, including trade, labor, development, and environmental regulation, and how these frameworks shape both public accountability and corporate responsibility.
Through case studies and policy analysis, the course introduces practical tools for advancing human rights in multilateral institutions, national governments, and private-sector operations. Topics include the role of grievance mechanisms tied to trade agreements and development finance, global supply chains, labor standards, and the impact of environmental policy on marginalized populations. Students will analyze pathways to embed human rights criteria into decision-making, and consider the limits and opportunities of current governance structures in addressing inequality.
- Department: Human Rights, Gender, and Equity
- 3 points
Rethinking Human Rights and Humanitarian
Rethinking Rights & Aid
This advanced seminar critically examines the evolving challenges, limitations, and potential of human rights and humanitarianism as frameworks for justice and global governance. Centering human rights discourse, the course invites students to examine foundational concepts such as universality, accountability, sovereignty, and identity, while addressing complex topics and challenging cases. Through case studies, normative debates, and applied advocacy tools, students explore the responsibilities of state and non-state actors, the contested definition of the “human” in rights claims, and strategies for persuasion, enforcement, and reform in both policy and practice. Course themes include: The political limits and promise of human rights in global and national contexts; Accountability gaps across governments, corporations, and armed groups; The status of refugees, displaced persons, and marginalized groups; Humanitarian dilemmas, transitional justice, and foreign policy advocacy; The rise and fall of doctrines such as Responsibility to Protect (R2P); and Pragmatism, realism, and human rights under states of exception.
- Department: Human Rights, Gender, and Equity
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Instructor:
Andrew C Heinrich
Info - 3 points
Intro to American Civil-Military Relatio
How does, and how should, the United States manage the relationship between elected leadership, the military, and society? This course will examine the history and current state of American civil-military relations, helping students place current challenges and debates within historical and theoretical context while also providing a better understanding of the relationship between elected political leadership, the military, and the people they both serve. This course places a special focus on the unique challenges the US faces in maintaining healthy civil-military relations in an era of heightened partisan polarization and political change.
- Department: International Security & Diplomacy
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Instructor:
Jason K Dempsey
Info - 3 points