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Need credits? Want skills? Consider taking Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) online this summer.

GIS is much more than just making maps on a computer. By evaluating the relationship between spatial information, you can identify the best location for a new housing development, locate pollution point sources, find the easiest way to get from point A to point B, and develop a better understanding of the way the world interacts around us.

This three-credit course aims to teach students basic GIS concepts such as spatial data sources and structures, projections and coordinate systems, data editing and creation, and geospatial analysis. The course is designed with environmental applications of GIS in mind, but is relevant for students in almost any field that deals with place-based information. It involves the hands-on use of the software product ArcGIS on a Windows PC platform.

Instructor Walter Jaslanek is an environmental conservation Ph.D. candidate at UMass Amherst who has more than a decade of hands-on professional experience working with GIS and related technologies.

The course runs from May 19 to June 27. It is open to graduate and undergraduate students, as well as career professionals. Enrollment opens March 17.

Nonprofits in the Pioneer Valley are invited to submit proposals for consulting projects related to program management of nonprofit organizations. As part of this fall’s Nonprofit Program Management course, teams of students in the Master of Public Policy and Administration program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will work with the nonprofits selected on their management consulting projects.

Interested nonprofit organizations are asked to submit proposals outlining clearly defined projects for students to undertake. Applicants must demonstrate an interest in and an ability to work with student teams in the development and implementation of projects. Faculty will select proposals based upon applicability to course content and ability to complete project(s) within one semester (approximately 12 weeks).

Agencies are invited to submit proposals focused on:

• Program evaluation
• Program or product portfolio development
• Resource generation strategies

Email completed applications by Friday, August 30, 2013, to Brenda Bushouse, associate professor of political science and public policy, at nonprofitrfp@pubpol.umass.edu.

Full details about this opportunity, including the application form, are available here.

The Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) will offer three online courses this summer, open to current students and the public. Each course is three credits and is available to both graduate and undergraduate students.

“LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Issues” is designed for those who want to learn about cutting-edge research and how it’s used in the policy world. It will be taught by CPPA Director M.V. Lee Badgett (economics), an internationally recognized expert on the economics of same-sex marriage and other LGBT policy issues, and runs from May 20 to June 28.

“Intro to GIS” introduces students to the construction, manipulation, display and analysis of spatial information using Geographic Information Systems. Associate Professor Charles Schweik (environmental conservation and public policy) will teach the course, which runs from July 8 to August 16.

“Social Movements and Public Policy” will examine the dynamics of social movements and explore the role they play in the policy process. Assistant Professor Steven Boutcher (sociology and public policy) will teach the course, which runs from July 8 to August 16.

Enrollment opens March 18. For more information, please visit www.masspolicy.org/acad_online.html.

The Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is currently seeking project proposals for its Spring 2013 graduate course Policy Analysis. Through this course, small teams of students work on real-life problems affecting public and nonprofit organizations within the confines of actual constraints and opportunities that such organizations face. At the end of the semester, students prepare a final report and present the results of their project to the client. The deadline for proposal submissions is Monday, January 14, 2013.

The Master’s Program in Public Policy and Administration
The Center for Public Policy and Administration is a non-partisan interdisciplinary center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, dedicated to understanding, explaining, improving, and evaluating public policy through active teaching and research. CPPA offers professional degrees in Public Policy and Administration that are designed to prepare students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds for careers in all facets of public service.

What is the Policy Analysis course?
This course provides students in their second semester of the program with the opportunity to both develop policy analysis skills and complete a hands-on project in public policy or administration for a public sector or nonprofit client. The Policy Analysis project comes after students have had coursework in several areas, including:

• Quantitative and qualitative research methods;
• Computer applications including database, word processing, spreadsheet, statistics and Internet programs;
• Organizational development;
• Policymaking and the policy process
• Economics and statistics; and
• Report writing and presentations.

The course teaches students to use those skills to provide advice and recommendations to policymakers and other clients.

What types of projects are appropriate for the Policy Analysis course?
The sponsoring agency or organization should develop a clearly articulated project related to public policy and/or management. This project must be developed prior to the start of the semester and approved by CPPA. Students must be able to report to a supervisor within the sponsoring agency or organization. In addition students will have a CPPA faculty adviser who teaches the Policy Analysis course, Prof. Lee Badgett.

The project should present students with a problem that the sponsor wants to address or a decision that must be made. Ideally, there would be several possible courses of action that should be analyzed to see which best addresses the problem or situation. The project deliverable will be a report that provides the sponsor with a recommendation of a course of action.

When does the Policy Analysis Project take place?
Students will begin working on projects in February 2013 and are expected to complete and present a final product in late April.

How can this benefit your organization?
Agencies and organizations often have ideas for research or projects that they are unable to carry out. Sponsoring a student project through the Policy Analysis course can provide your organization with the opportunity to meet additional needs.

What is the Cost?
There is no charge; however, organizations are expected to cover student expenses related to the project.

How can my agency apply?
Applications can be completed and submitted directly online. If you are unable to complete the application online and would like a hard copy, please email Satu Zoller. The deadline for receiving proposals is Monday, January 14, 2013.

For more information:
If you have questions, please email Prof. Lee Badgett, CPPA Director.

Charlie Schweik, associate professor of environmental conservation and public policy, will speak Monday about his research in a talk titled “Understanding Collaboration in the Internet Era: A Study of Open Source Software Commons.” This talk is open to the public, and will be given at noon in Thompson 620.

Professor Schweik is also associate director of the National Center for Digital Government, and founder and co-director of the UMass Amherst Open Source Laboratory. His research has been supported by a five-year NSF Early CAREER Development Grant. His forthcoming book, “Understanding Collaboration in the Internet Era: A Study of Open Source Software Commons,” will be published by MIT Press in Spring 2012.

Prof. David Mednicoff (Center for Public Policy and Administration and Social Thought and Political Economy) will teach a new course this spring, Public Policy and Law a Decade after 9/11/01 (CPPA 613).

This course analyzes topical issues of U.S. and global policy under a common theme. Its goal is to allow highly qualified graduating seniors and public policy graduate students to learn and apply theories of public policy formulation and law. The course is both an intensive practical exercise in interdisciplinary policy analysis for students, and a means of bringing diverse members of the university and broader community together around policy and legal analysis. Taught as a seminar, the course is required by seniors entering the new UMass accelerated Master of Public Policy program, which awards a recognized professional policy degree in one additional year after the bachelor’s to a select group of outstanding, highly motivated area students.

The theme of this year’s seminar is “Public Policy a Decade after 9/11/01.” We consider three different and timely issues of public policy, each of which has emerged as cogent in light of the attacks on U.S. targets 10 years ago. The issues are (1) the relationship between law, national security, civil liberties and surveillance in the U.S., (2) Islam, national identity and migration policy in Europe and the U.S., and (3) the 2011 Arab uprisings and their implications for U.S. policy.

The Center for Public Policy and Administration will be offering a new course during spring semester. Gretchen Gano will be teaching Global Governance and Biodiversity Wednesdays from 9:05AM-11:35 AM. This course will explore the role of citizen deliberation in science and technology policy by analyzing the global governance of biodiversity. It also examines the new tools needed to include and engage citizens as policymaking becomes global in scale. The course is open to both UMass and Five College students (with permission of instructor).

Adopting a studio approach to balance theory with practice, students will plan a Massachusetts site for the international citizen deliberation called World Wide Views on Biodiversity coordinated at global sites by the Danish Board of Technology in which citizens will make recommendations on issues relevant to policy discussions at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity planned for September 2012. Select students may elect to extend the work of the course and implement project plans as a summer independent study and participate in the global citizen consultation on Sept. 15, 2012 to be hosted at the Museum of Science, Boston.