Curriculum - Core and Elective Courses

Required Core Course

PA 5301 Population Methods & Issues for the United States & Global South
Basic demographic measures/methodology. Demographic transition, mortality, fertility. Diverse perspectives on nonmarital fertility, marriage, divorce, and cohabitation. Cultural differences in family structure, aging, migration, refugee movements, population policies. Discussion of readings on population growth and environment. 3 cr.

 

Elective Courses

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. 3 cr.

GERO 5103 Aging and Society
An examination of the broad range of topics and issues related to aging. Consideration of how the processes of aging affect individuals, groups, cohorts, and societies by drawing from research in sociology, psychology, gerontology, and health sciences. Comparisons are made of the processes of aging in U.S. and other countries. 2 cr.

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.

HIST 5970 Advanced Research in Quantitative History: Fertility and the Family
The first part of this course examines trends, differentials and transitions in human fertility, focusing on historical and contemporary fertility transitions in developed and developing countries and economic, social, and biological factors affecting fertility. The second part of the course examines issues related to marriage and other romantic partnerships, family, and family change. 4cr.

HIST 8970 Advanced Research in Quantitative History: Demographic Transition
This course focuses on the transition from high birth and death rates in the United States and Europe in the late nineteenth century to low birth and death rates in the early twentieth century. We will examine early demographic transition theory, recent criticisms, and new and classic studies of the transition and its causes. Although theories of demographic transition have not fared well, the fact remains: life expectancy nearly doubled between 1870 and 1930 while fertility fell from almost 6 children per woman to less than 3. Approximately half of the course will be dedicated to the mortality transition (and the related epidemiological and health transitions) and half dedicated to the fertility transition. Topics will include the public health movement, medicine, contraception, and abortion. A few weeks will be dedicated to comparing demographic transitions in Asia and elsewhere to those in the United States and Europe and the possibility of an on-going "second demographic transition." 4 cr.

PA 5022- Janna Johnson's section only: Economics for Policy Analysis and Planning II- Population Economics
This section of PA 5022 will apply economic theories and techniques to the study of population. An important aim is to familiarize students with historical and contemporary trends in fertility, mortality, migration, and family composition, and the implications of these trends for the economy. The course demonstrates the application of microeconomic theory to demographic behavior, including fertility, marriage, and migration. Students are introduced to basic techniques of demographic measurement and mathematical demography. Selected potential topics include the economic consequences of population growth in developing countries, the economics of fertility and female labor force participation, the effects of an older age structure on the social security system, and the relationship between population growth and natural resources. 1.5-3cr.

PA 5204 Urban Spatial and Social Dynamics
Behavioral theories of internal spatial arrangement, functioning, and characteristics of cities at macro level and how they produce a system of cities. Factors influencing urban spatial structure over time. Urban form, land use/rent. Spatial expression of economic, social, and political forces. 3 cr. Population studies area of concentration: population geography.

PA 5281 Immigrants, Urban Planning and Policymaking in the U.S.
Social, political, economic experiences of contemporary U.S. immigrants. Draws from sociology, economics, demography, political science, public affairs. Local government policies/plans. Cities/suburbs as contexts for immigrants. Interactions between immigrant communities/urban planners/policymakers. 3 cr.

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 Immigration, Health and Public Policy/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 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.

PA 8331 Economic Demography
Classical theory, advanced econometric methods, recent empirical work, and available datasets for research in economic demography. Topics include the economics of mortality, fertility, migration, marriage, women's labor supply, intra-family bargaining, and age structure. Students develop critical analysis and academic discourse skills through in-depth discussions and replications of papers, presentations, referee-style writing assignments, and a term paper. prereq: Grad-level economic theory (PA 5021 or equiv) and econometrics (PA 5033 or equiv) and instructor permission. 3 cr. Population studies area of concentration: economic demography.

PA 8461 Global & U.S. Perspectives on Health & Mortality
The health of populations in developing and developed countries is very different. Within countries, great health disparities exist between more advantaged and more disadvantaged populations. When crafting policies that aim to improve population health, it is crucial to know how to measure health and how to think about the health needs of the specific population in question. This course will provide an overview to the factors driving health, mortality, and aging across different populations. In addition, students will learn the best sources of data and measures to use to describe the health status of a population. Furthermore, students will be able to assess policy options that address the health of their population. 3 cr.

PubH 6370 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.

PubH 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. 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

SOC 5246 Diseases, Disasters and Other Killers
This class is about the past, present, and future of why people die. Why did infectious diseases rapidly seem to disappear--and will they come back? How have historical changes in social organization and interaction with the natural environment changed when and how we die, and what do medical advances, climate change, and persistent inequalities imply for what we might die of in the future?
We will:
* Explore the causes and consequences of a historic worldwide transformation in death and disease
* Analyze how that transformation occurred differently in different parts of the world, and why it matters
* Consider to what extent mortality can--or can't--be further eradicated.

SOC 8090 Migration and Migrants in Demographic Perspective 
This course provides a demographic point of entry into major theoretical, methodological, empirical, and substantive debates on international and internal migration (as a type of transition) and migrants (as a status or type of actor) drawing from such disciplines as economics, geography, public policy, sociology, and statistics. 3 cr.

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 8890 Advanced Topics in Research Methods- Advanced Demographic Methods: Sex, Death & Mobility: Population Modeling
Populations are made up of people whose lives are changing all the time. This course covers population modeling techniques from the demographic tradition, organized around life transitions. These techniques excel at describing social and epidemiological changes occurring along multiple time scales simultaneously; identifying the inequalities lurking beneath population averages; relating multiple dimensions of population structure; and figuring out what population a research question is really about. 3 cr.