308.620.81
Graduate Seminar in Racism and Measurement in Public Policy & Analysis
Location
Internet
Term
3rd Term
Department
Health Policy and Management
Credit(s)
3
Academic Year
2025 - 2026
Instruction Method
Asynchronous Online with Some Synchronous Online
Auditors Allowed
No
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Odis Johnson
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Resources
Prerequisite
Enrollment Restriction
This course is not restricted.
Are you wondering how society could address racism’s impact on health and its social determinants through public policy, or how racism should be defined and measured for actionable and scalable policymaking? In this course, we critically assess the definitions and measurement of racism in policy analysis and research that informs public policies. A primary investment of this course will be in advancing the measurement of systemic and structural racism (as experienced and perpetrated), and exploring whether emergent measures of racism will enable policy to address disparities in social determinants of health at scale.
Prepares researchers and health leaders (governments, businesses, non-profit organizations, and social reformers) to conceptualize and analyze the development, design, validity, and outcomes of measures of structural and systemic racism in research and policy analysis. Uses lectures, group exercises, information-gathering tasks and their own interests, to teach existing racism measures and their limitations, enhances their skill to examine and apply measurement concepts to the definition and impact of structural and systemic racism, and develops tools of policy analysis as they propose how measures of structural and systemic racism may be incorporated at specific stages of the public policy process.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Identify theories and/or definitions of systemic and structural racism and the factors that complicate their measurement
- Identify and assess how structural and systemic racism are linked to health disparities and disparities in the social determinants of health
- Apply concepts and methods of measurement to the development, design, and/or testing of measures of structural and systemic racism
- Identify where in the public policy process or its arenas (legislative, administrative, and judicial) could specific measures of structural and systemic racism be employed to address health disparities and the social determinants of health
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
Methods of Assessment
This course is evaluated as follows:
- 20% Participation
- 20% Quizzes
- 30% Written Assignment(s)
- 10% Group Work
- 20% Oral Presentation