This class was mediocre at best. This past Spring, it was Co-Taught by both Melanie Egorin and Craig Volden, but I am writing it under Egorin since I know she is teaching it alone next year. The class basically is a combination of providing a broad overview of different Public Policy spaces along with a wide range of guest speakers. Personally I do not like having too many guest speakers as I want consistency in teaching style, but some of them were absolutely awesome. We had this weird guest speaker who was super conservative and discussed traditional marriage come in, and everyone hated him but honest to god he was a hoot! I didn’t even agree with many things he said but found him insightful of learning the crazy far right’s perspective. The class consisted of 2 short policy memos, a 10 page term paper, midterm, final graded section debate, and attendance. My biggest gripe with the class is some of the assignments were so not necessary. The final was ridiculously long and honestly stupid. Furthermore the midterm was annoying since it was an exam in class and a vocab quiz during your discussion section. The graded debate was also pointless. It really felt like the course could have ended right at the 10 page term paper. I did however appreciate how organized the class was, and it really allowed for you to gain a deeper understanding of different potential Policy areas you may want to pursue. However with that, it was very broad and really felt like Intro to Public Policy part 2. With that said I almost feel this class would be better as a Pre-Req rather than part of the batten core curriculum. In general this course was more annoying than anything. Egorin is super sweet and knowledgeable about health policy, but the class did not rock my world or anything. Go to your TA’s office hours to get good grades on your paper. If you have to take it because you are in batten, you will totally be fine and this feels like so much less work compared to having RMDA and EPC this past fall. If you are not in batten I would probably skip on this class as it was just meh!