爱荷华大学

Learning Outcomes

The general goals of the major in ethics and public policy (EPP) are to:

give students familiarity with the subject matter and methods of four closely related, but distinct disciplines—philosophy, economics, sociology, and political science—acquaintance with which is particularly important for those entering law, government and public service, and related fields;
teach students to think critically, understand important distinctions, and present and defend positions;
allow students to see the connections between problems that arise in the four fields that make up the cross-disciplinary major;
encourage students to solve problems by drawing insights from different fields; and
prepare students for postgraduate work in one or more of the fields, law school, or any of the indefinitely many careers where the skills fostered in the major will be invaluable.

Ethics and Public Policy Initiatives

Increase interactions among majors through events such as clubs and movie nights cosponsored by the Department of Philosophy and EPP.
Encourage promising students to work individually with faculty on honors projects.
Continue to improve advising.
Continue to offer a 1 s.h. course that gives credit to students for participation in some of the programmed lectures, clubs, film screenings, among others.
Advertise and encourage students to enroll in a 2-3 s.h. course that involves relevant internships.
Review the department's current survey that can provide more useful and fine-grained advice to improve the ethics and public policy major.

The Bachelor of Arts with a major in ethics and public policy requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including at least 37 s.h. of work for the major. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in all courses for the major and in all UI courses for the major. They also must complete the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences GE CLAS Core.

The ethics and public policy major provides an ideal background for law school. It brings an important background to legal studies in fields that will both explicitly and implicitly arise in the context of pursuing a J.D. degree. The study of reasoning, an important component of the major, is useful in preparing for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), and the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The major also prepares students to bring a sophisticated, cross-disciplinary perspective to diverse fields such as government, urban and regional planning, social work, and business.