Curriculum - Core and Elective Courses

Core Courses

PA 5301 Population Methods and Issues in the U.S. and the Third World

This course surveys population trends and issues and teaches basic demographic methods. Topics include fertility, mortality, and the demographic transition; population growth and the environment; infant mortality; sexuality and the control of fertility; US trends in family structure; and aging. 3 cr.

Soc 5090 World Population Issues

Population trends, population dynamics, and the various factors that influence the volume and distribution of populations across the globe. Exposes students to key theories and central methodologies in social demography. Examines key policy questions in the management and engineering of population dynamics across the globe. 3 cr.

Elective Courses

ApEc 8701 International Economic Development, Growth and Trade

Economics of research/development. Technical change, productivity growth. Impact of technology on institutions. Science/technology policy.  3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  economic demography.

DHA 5484 Rural Housing Issues

Housing issues for non-metropolitan places, small towns, and rural areas are explored in this course. Emphasis is on the housing needs and policy implications for targeted rural populations including Native American Indians, immigrants, migrant farm workers, and those living in areas of persistent poverty. Impacts of various rural economic development strategies and public policies on housing availability, adequacy, and affordability will be discussed. 3cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  population geography.

DHA 8463 Housing:  Race and Class

Roles of difference (race, gender, class) in shaping distribution of housing, particularly in cities. Role of housing in patterns of social differentiation. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  population geography.

FSoS 8106 Family Research from Economic Perspectives

Seminar integrates conceptual and methodological perspectives of family social science with economic approaches to studying families. Family investments in human and social capital. Diversities in families; interface of public policies and family economic well-being. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  economic demography, and family and life course demography.

FW 5051 Analysis of Populations

Factors involved in regulation, growth, general dynamics of populations. Data needed to describe populations, population growth, population models, regulatory mechanisms.  4 cr.

Geog 5371/PA 5201 American Cities I: Population and Housing

Emergence of North American cities; residential building cycles, density patterns; metropolitan housing stocks, supply of housing services; population and household types; neighborhood-level patterns of housing use; housing prices; intraurban migration; housing submarkets inside metro areas; emphasis on linking theory, method, case studies. 4 cr.
Population studies area of concentration:  population geography.

Hist 5797 Methods of Population History

Standard methods of population analysis with a special focus on methods widely used for historical population research. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  historical demography.

PA 5037 Regional Demographic Analysis

Data analysis techniques for practitioners in fields of planning, management, and policy analysis who work at community and regional levels. Population analysis and forecasting techniques relevant for small geographic areas. Techniques for regional and local economic analysis, such as shift-share analysis, economic base, and location quotient analysis. 1.5 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  population geography.

PA 5401 Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy

Nature/extent of poverty/inequality in the United States, causes/consequences, impact of government programs/policies. Extent/causes of poverty/inequality in other developed/developing countries. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  economic demography.

PA 5451/PubH 6281 Immigrant Health Issues

Web-based course. Research skills to access demographic, health, and background information on immigrants in the United States; determine major character/health needs of immigrants; design “culturally competent” health programs; and advocate for changes to promote immigrant health. 3-4 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies.

PA 5452 Immigration and Public Policy

Issues of international migration and the integration of immigrants and refugees are among the most important public policy questions of our age. The purpose of this course is to teach students to employ an analytical framework to the analysis of immigration policy proposals in Europe and the United States. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  economic demography.

PA 5690 Race, Gender, and Health Policy

We will discuss how race and gender (as well as class and sexuality) intersect with and shape health policies. We will begin with an analysis of feminist scholarship that theorizes the intersectionality of race, gender, class and sexuality in the production and reproduction of discrimination. Then, we will examine texts that provide concrete examples of how discrimination operates in the realm of health policy-making. Special attention will be given to the impacts of public policies on black women's reproductive health. 3 cr.  Population Studies area: public health population studies.

PA 8312 Analysis of Discrimination

Introduces students of policy analysis and other applied social sciences to tools for measuring and detecting discrimination in market and nonmarket contexts. Application of modern tools of labor econometrics and race relations research to specific problems of market and nonmarket discrimination. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  economic demography.

PubH 5628/6628 Race, Class, and Family Formation

Impact of race/class on family formation, family dynamics, and family resiliency/maintenance. Explores whether traditional approaches in family intervention are effective among individuals who are not engaged in traditional social institutions. 1 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies, and family and life course demography.

PubH 6390 Social Epidemiology

This course aims to introduce public health and other interested graduate students to the sub-discipline of social epidemiology, including theory and methods. Social epidemiology is the branch of epidemiology that consider s how social interaction and purposive human activity affect health. 2 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies, and family and life course demography.

PH 6605 Reproductive and Perinatal Health

Epidemiology, programs, services, and policies. Social, cultural, psychological, physiologic, environmental, economic, and political factors that affect reproductive health, pregnancy, and childbearing.  3 cr.
Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies, and family and life course demography.

PH 6607 Adolescent Health: Issues, Programs and Policies

Major public health issues of adolescents in the United States. Emphasizes prevention and health promotion strategies and effectiveness of programs/policies. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies, and family and life course demography.

PubH 6645 Families and Health: An Ecosystems Approach

Interrelationships between individual, family, and community health. Family theories/research, effect of sociocultural context, public policies, and community structures on health. Primary/secondary prevention strategies for promoting family health. 2 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies, and family and life course demography.

PubH 6845 Using U.S. Demographic Data in Policy Analysis

Practical instruction in posing researchable policy questions, locating existing demographic data, converting data into usable file format, understanding documentation, analyzing data, and communicating findings according to standards of the professional policy community.       3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  all areas

PubH 8805 Sociological Theory in Health Services Research

Effect of social structure on health outcomes/behaviors. Current/historical events/issues from perspective of sociological/social psychological theories. Students apply theories to a topic they identify. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies.

SOC 8090 Fertility, Family Planning and Sexual Health

This course explores the issues of fertility, family planning, and sexual health from three literatures: demography, family sociology, and public health. Among other topics, will explore such issues as: the transition from high to low fertility across the globe; marital, non-marital and stepfamily childbearing; race/ethnic, class and age differences in childbearing; the social and programmatic context of HIV/AIDS; and policies and debates about sex education. The program will draw from literature and examples in developed and developing nations. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration:  public health population studies, and family and life course demography.

SOC 8551 Social Structure and the Life Course

Central concepts and premises of life course analysis as applied to intersocietal (comparative), intrasocietal (socioeconomic status, race, and gender), and historical variability; institutional patterning of life course (family, education, work, the polity); deviance and criminal careers; changes in the self; and methodological strategies. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration: family and life course demography.

SOC 8590 Sociology of Time: Age, Work and the Gendered Life Course

We are all living in, affected by, using, strategizing around, and moving through multiple layers of time.  For the most part, time remains invisible to scholars as well as to other individuals. This course offers a sociological approach to time, demonstrating that it is not simply a “given” but, rather, socially constructed:  as subjective experience and expectations over the life course; in the form of cultural beliefs about human development, biological aging, health and the ordering of events; and as a series of age-graded, socially-expected role entries, exits, boundaries, behaviors, and durations. 3 cr.  Population studies area of concentration: family and life course demography.