Public Policy - Minors and Certificates

Established in 1990
Location: 107 D. M. Smith Building
685 Cherry Street
Telephone: 404.894.6822
Fax: 404.385.0504
Web site: www.spp.gatech.edu

There are many interfaces between the realm of public policy and nearly every program of study at Georgia Tech. Engineering, the sciences, management, architecture, computing, and the liberal arts are impacted by – and affect – the decisions made by governments. The minor and certificate in Public Policy allow Georgia Tech students to develop the multidisciplinary thinking skills that are needed fo strategic decision making in business and technical professions as well as law and public policy.

The minor consists of 15 hours of coursework (at least 12 semester hours at the 3000 level or higher). The certificate program consists of 12 hours of coursework.

Students pursuing the minor should have their program of study approved in writing by the public policy minor supervisor before enrolling in a course they intend to count toward the minor. A student may seek prior permission from the School of Public Policy to allow 3 hours of upper-division coursework in public policy taught outside the School to count toward the completion of the minor. Contact the School for the current public policy minor supervisor.

  1. No more than 6 semester hours of Special Topics courses may be included in a minor program. No more than 3 semester hours of pre-approved public policy internship credit may be applied to the public policy minor.
  2. Courses required by name and number and/or used to satisfy Core Areas A through E in a student's major degree program may not be used in satisfying the course requirements for a minor. If a student is using a course to fulfill the social science requirement in the student’s major, that course cannot be counted toward the Public Policy minor. However, courses used in a minor also may be used to fulfill other elective requirements (free electives, technical electives, etc.) in the student's major degree program.
  3. A course may not be counted toward more than one minor.
  4. All courses counting toward the minor must be completed in residence at Georgia Tech, be taken on a letter-grade basis, and be completed with an overall grade point average of at least 2.00.