PUBHLTH410: Making Change: Public Health Policy Advocacy in Principle and Practice
Undergraduate level
Residential
Winter term(s) for residential students;
3 credit hour(s) for residential students;
Instructor(s): Staff (Residential);
Prerequisites: PUBHLTH 200
Description: This class will provide students with skills to advocate for public health policies at all levels of government. Through lectures, class discussions, and group projects on "live" public health issues, students develop the skills to create opportunities to inform policymaking, and become more effective communicating in the policymaking environment.
Learning Objectives: 1. Appraise the political landscape and stakeholders that are important for making policy change on a given public health topic.
2. Apply principles of policy-making, policy change theory, and policy advocacy to real life public health problems.
3. Effectively advocate for public health change at the local, state and federal level.
4. Develop strong written and verbal communication skills.
5. Define and frame public health problems in such a way that inspires policy change.
6. Analyze the legislative, administrative and judicial intervention points for policymaking and identify where to effectively target advocacy efforts.
7. Identify and evaluate advocacy strategies, such as coalition building, grassroots engagement, and paid and earned media outreach, in order to create specific advocacy campaigns.
8. Develop personal and communication skills to effectively translate and advocate for public health improvements to policymakers, the press and the public.
