LIBERAL STUDIES PROGRAM
There are 84 credit hours required in the Liberal Studies Program as part of a student’s Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Policy. Depending on math placements, 32 to 36 quarter hours in the core and 48 to 52 quarter hours distributed through six Learning Domains. The number and distribution of courses in each of the areas are as follows:
 
Core: 32 or 36 quarter hours required as follows:
First-Year Program: 16 quarter hours required as follows: 4 quarter hours in Discover Chicago or Explore Chicago, 4 quarter hours in Focal Point Seminar, 8 quarter hours in Composition and Rhetoric.
 
Mathematical and Technological Literacy:  4 or 8 quarter hours required, depending on placement.
 
Sophomore Seminar: 4 quarter hours required. Sophomore Seminar on Multiculturalism in the United States.
 
Junior Year Experiential Learning: 4 quarter hours required. If your junior year experiential learning requirement also fulfills a major field requirement, you may substitute a liberal studies domain elective (from outside your major field area) or the third course in the modern language option for this requirement.  A Public Policy Studies experiential learning course is strongly encouraged (either PPS 331 or PPS 251). 
 
Senior Capstone: 4 quarter hours required. Public Policy Studies requires that all students majoring in Public Policy Studies complete the senior capstone Public Policy. If you are double majoring and/or in the Honors program you must also follow the capstone guidelines for that area. There are no substitutions accepted for this course.
 
Learning Domains: 48 or 52 quarter hours required as follows [Students who complete 8 credits of Mathematical and Technological Literacy will replace one course from any one of the six Learning Domains with the second course in the sequence (ISP 121), as long as they take at least one course in each domain.]:
Arts and Literature: 12 quarter hours required; at most 2 courses from the same department or program.
 
Philosophical Inquiry: 8 quarter hours required.
 
Religious Dimensions: 8 quarter hours required; with 4 quarter hours in religious and ethical questions and 4 quarter hours in religious traditions.
 
Scientific Inquiry: 12 quarter hours required; including 4 quarter hours lab component and 4 quarter hours quantitative component.
 
Self, Society, and Modern World: 4 quarter hours. A Public Policy Studies course is strongly encouraged (such as PPS 250, PPS 253, PPS 254, PPS 255, PPS 256, PPS 301).

Understanding the Past: 8 quarter hours required. Courses must be drawn from two categories: (1) Africa, (2) Asia, (3) Latin America, (4) North America, (5) Europe and (6) intercontinental or comparative. 
  
Although study in Public Policy Studies contributes to a student's liberal education, courses offered by the Public Policy Studies Department do not apply to majors' liberal studies requirements. There are two exceptions: the experiential learning and capstone requirements. 
  
All Public Policy majors take the six courses constituting the core curriculum. Each student also takes six courses from either the Environmental Studies or Urban Studies track. Students should complete PPS 201, 202, and 204 before enrolling in their Environmental Studies or Urban Studies “track” courses. Each Student also enrolls in one “capstone” course after completing 204 and achieving senior status.  The Research Methods course (PPS 359/329) and the Applied Urban and Environmental Economics (PPS 359/329) course are strongly encouraged. 
 
CORE REQUIREMENTS
Public Policy: 201 Public Policy and Urban Issues; 202 Public Policy and Environmental Issues; 204 Quantitative Public Policy Analysis; 301 Public Policy and the Political Process; 302 Implementation of Environmental and Urban Policy.  There are no substitutions made for core courses. 
  
For students in Environmental Studies, one course in Data Analysis (MAT 242, PSY 240 or SOC 279). For students in Urban Studies, one course in Data Analysis (MAT 242, PSY 240 or SOC 279), or Cartography (GEO 241, GEO 242 or GEO 243).