Policy is a set of rules, guidelines, or principles that governments, organizations, and institutions use to guide decisions and achieve goals. Policies take many forms, such as laws, regulations, budgets, and official positions. They operate at every level, from a school's code of conduct or a company’s rules on paid time off, to state and national legislation and international treaties and agreements.

What is Legible Policy?

Legible Policy is the idea that policy change should be visible and understandable to people most affected by those decisions. Instead of writing a report or arguing positions on the housing shortage, you might build a map of the neighborhoods hit hardest by these issues or design a dashboard that connects housing costs to commute times. Legible Policy means making a policy argument that anyone, not just policymakers, can see, make sense of, and take a stand on.

Whether it's tech, business, healthcare, media, or design, every industry has regulations and guidelines. With that in mind, we developed a series of courses called Policy+ to help you pair policy principles with any other Champlain program, so you graduate understanding both the technical skills of your field and the policy environment that shapes it. Studying cybersecurity? Add Policy+ and learn how data privacy laws influence the security landscape. Into business? Explore how tax policy, labor law, and environmental regulation affect corporate decision-making.

Why Study Public Policy at Champlain?

At Champlain, you'll learn to connect local action to global issues through our legible policy framework, using Vermont as a testing ground to understand how it plays out in the real world. And because Champlain builds 30 flexible credits into every program, our Public Policy BA gives you the freedom to explore and apply your degree to other disciplines, so you graduate with an understanding of how both your field works and is regulated by power systems behind it.

Curriculum for Public Policy Degree

Champlain's Upside-Down Curriculum puts hands-on experience at the center of your public policy education, so you graduate ready, not just qualified. Built for students who want to make change visible — and the why behind it.

Public Policy at Champlain trains students to work across disciplines, bridging analysis with action. Our program emphasizes the need for clearer policy communication through design-based approaches — prototypes, community projects, data visualizations, and actions that bring issues down to a human scale.

Students will develop systems thinking: the ability to trace how a single decision, like a Burlington housing policy, connects outward to regional labor markets, demographic shifts, national legislation, and global supply chains, and to identify where meaningful intervention is possible. Vermont functions as the program’s living laboratory, an ideal ground for building skills that transfer to communities and industries of similar scale anywhere. Along the way, you’ll have opportunities for internships, co-ops, and study abroad.

Learning outcomes for Public Policy.

Formative Knowledge

FRM 110 Knowledge Making in Economic Systems & Public Policy

Students will explore systems in the public, social, and economic realms with application to fields related to social sciences and human services. In this interdisciplinary class, we will examine how systems define, create, and share knowledge. We will explore the commonalities across systems as well as unique viewpoints. We will consider the impacts of implicit and explicit aspects of systems on people and institutions within society through artifacts, practices, policies, and social structures.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

FRM 120 Global Contexts: Econ. System & Pub. Policy

Students will explore intersecting policies that form and impact the global contexts from which knowledge and culture emerge in fields related to social sciences and human services. They will examine the complex relationships between power structures while applying analytical methods from these fields. Students will analyze the progression of policy development with current practices in fields related to social sciences and human services.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

FRM 130 Engaging With Complexity: Econ & Policy

Students will explore contemporary questions and challenges that practitioners face in fields related to social sciences and human services. Students will examine their positionality in relationship to contemporary and emerging challenges in their respective fields. Students will generate innovative possibilities by connecting frameworks, theories, and interdisciplinary methods.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Organizations & Systems

SWK 100 Introduction to Community Care Systems

This foundational course introduces students to the social work profession through the lens of community-based practice and social justice. Students will explore the values, ethics, and theoretical frameworks that guide practice; tracing the profession's historical development. Through community engagement experiences, students will observe organizational practices and the diverse settings and populations served by social workers, connecting theoretical knowledge to real-world contexts. Students will utilize reflective practices and experiences to shape their emerging professional identity.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

SWK 255 Economic, Racial, Environmental & Social Justice

Explore the intersection of economic, racial, and social justice in this course by engaging with the systemic structures perpetuating inequality in America. Analyze historical and contemporary issues to gain a critical understanding of the interconnected roots and impacts of economic, racial, environment, and social injustices. Gain foundational knowledge to promote and advance justice in practice settings.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

SWK 315 Working With Groups & Organizations

This skills-based course covers the dynamics of working with groups, organizations, and communities. Students will explore theories, models, and methods to develop effective engagement, evaluation, assessment, and intervention tools for larger client systems. Students will develop essential skills for facilitating group processes, managing group dynamics, and promoting positive change within organizations and communities.

Prerequisites	Take 48 credits.
Credits	3

Social Science Research Methods

RSH 3XX Quantitative Research Methods

MTH 280 Applied Statistics

Teaches the practical side of exploring, presenting, and analyzing data. Students will learn to effectively use a statistical software package to accomplish these tasks. After learning to graphically display data in meaningful ways, students will learn to analyze data, test claims, and make valid conclusions. These analyses will include hypothesis tests involving more than one sample, linear and multiple linear regressions, chi-squared tests of independence and goodness of fit, and ANOVA.

Prerequisites	MTH-180 or MTH-380
Credits	3

—OR—

RSH 3XX Digital Methods

RSH 3XX Field Methods & Qualitative Research

Urban-Rural Systems & Development

ENP 280 Spatial Analysis: GIS for Urban & Rural Systems

Geospatial communication is a fundamental element of contemporary life. Students will explore the theory, method and application of spatial analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for various applications, including environmental and social policy, public participation, cultural geography, education and public participation technology, and agent-space interaction. Through laboratory exercises and guided discussions, students will effectively ask and answer spatially-based social, environmental and technological questions to develop applied GIS and spatial analysis skills, critical geographic thinking and communication.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

POL 3XX Policy Analysis and Writing
POL 3XX Current Topics in Urban-Rural Policy Systems

Become Champlain Ready

Take the Next Step

Visit Us Request Info