Center for Education & Public Policy
As OBU prepares students for service in a variety of professional areas, students can also be prepared for public service in full or part-time public policy positions. By selecting a minor in education and public policy, students majoring in diverse academic areas can learn how to use their talents and creative abilities to serve in the public policy arena, whether serving on a local school board or the State Legislature. Students will learn how to research and create effective public policies through coursework and actual field experience. The minor in education and public policy is designed to help students understand how to knowledgeably participate in the policy making process regardless of their chosen career.
We are especially pleased to announce the creation of a new scholarship for education and public policy. To find out more about the scholarship click on this link.
Minor in Education and Public Policy
Program Description
Students will be required to complete 6 credit hours in education courses (specified below), 6 credit hours in political science courses (specified below), 6 hours in a concentration area (options specified below), and 3 hours in a field experience/seminar course (new course listed above) for a total of 21 credit hours.
REQUIRED COURSES FOR MINOR:
Education: (6 hours)
EDFN 2003 Foundations in Education (fall; spring)
EDFN 2053 Child and Adolescent Development (fall, spring)
Political Science: (6 hours)
PSCI 2013 American National Gov’t (fall, spring)
OR
PSCI 2033 Arkansas Government and Politics (spring; odd-numbered years)
AND (one of the two below)
PSCI 4033 Public Policy (fall: even-numbered years)
OR
PSCI 4043 Public Administration (fall odd-numbered years)
Education and Public Policy Field Experience (3 hours)
EDFN 4103 Education and Public Policy Field Experience (on demand)
ELECTIVES FOR MINOR—CONCENTRATION AREAS
Complete 6 hours in your choice of a concentration area for the minor: Business, Education, Political Science, Mass Communications, Speech Communication, or Sociology
If one of these areas is your major field of study, a different area for concentration must be selected.
Business Administration: (Choose 2: ACCT 2013 required)
ACCT 2013 Principles of Accounting I (fall; spring)
AND (one of the two below)
ECON 2013 Principles of Macroeconomics (fall; spring)
OR
ECON 2023 Principles of Microeconomics (fall; spring)
Communications: (Choose 2; one must be an upper level course)
COMM or SPCM 1003 Fundamentals of Public Speaking (fall; spring) or SPCM 3003 Advanced Public Speaking (fall)
COMM 1033 Introduction to Mass Communications
SPCM 2053 Speaking for Special Occasions (May of even-numbered years)
COMM or SPCM 2043 Small Group Communication (spring)
SPCM 3023 Communication and Culture (fall; spring)
COMM 3073 Public relations principles and problems (spring)
Education: (Choose 2)
SCED 4953 Contemporary Problems in American Education (on demand)
LST 3013 Program Design and Management (fall) (prerequisites may be waived or permission granted by the department chair)
ECED 4893 Special Studies in Education (on demand)
Political Science: (Choose 2)
PSCI 1013 Introduction to Politics (fall, spring)
PSCI 2003 State and Local Government and Politics (on demand)
PSCI 2023 Philosophy and Methods of Political Science (fall)
PSCI 3033 Constitutional Law (spring odd-numbered years)
PSCI 4013 American Political Thought (on demand)
Sociology: (Choose 2; SOCI 2023 required)
SOCI 2023 Introduction to Social Services (fall)
AND (one of the courses below)
SOCI 1013 Social Problems (spring)
SOCI 3013 Social Psychology (also listed as PSYC 3013) (fall)
SOCI 3023 Crime and Delinquency (fall)
SOCI 3043 The Urban Community (spring)
SOCI 4063 Multicultural Relations (fall)
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