SPECIAL COURSE
POP 5000 - Demography & Aging Seminars and Workshops (1 Cr.)
The Minnesota Population Center and the Life Course Center’s weekly Demography and Aging Seminar exposes students to cutting-edge research from scholars based at the University of Minnesota and throughout the world. The Friday workshops focus on professional development and skills building such as learning to write a conference paper abstract, or present work in progress or give feedback in Paper Hatchlings. Enrolled graduate students must attend each Monday seminar (hybrid format) and Friday workshop (in-person only).
Monday Seminars (hybrid): https://pop.umn.edu/events/seminar-series
Friday Workshops (in-person only): https://pop.umn.edu/events/mpc-workshop.
SPRING 2026 COURSES FOR POPULATION STUDIES MINOR
POP 8551 - Life Course Inequality and Health
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.
POP 8841 - 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. Check prerequisites for this course. 3 cr.
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 5043 - Economic and Demographic Data Analysis
This course aims at developing quantitative data analysis skills in the areas of economic and demographic analysis of small geographic areas. The methods covered are used to analyze the structure of regional and local economies, such as location quotient analysis and the economic base model, and to analyze the structure of the population and project population change over time. Familiarity with Excel is assumed. 2 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 6845 - Using Demographic Data for 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. Check prerequisites for this course. 3 cr. Population studies area of concentration: all areas
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. Check for prerequisites for this course. 4 cr.