Twin Cities campus

This is archival data. This system was retired as of August 21, 2023 and the information on this page has not been updated since then. For current information, visit catalogs.umn.edu.

 
Twin Cities Campus

Population Studies Minor

Sociology
College of Liberal Arts
Link to a list of faculty for this program.
Contact Information
Department of Sociology, 909 Social Sciences, 267 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612-624-4300; fax: 612-624-7020)
Email: popminor@umn.edu
Website: https://pop.umn.edu/gradstudent-training/popminor
  • Program Type: Graduate free-standing minor
  • Requirements for this program are current for Spring 2018
  • Length of program in credits (master's): 6
  • Length of program in credits (doctoral): 12
  • This program does not require summer semesters for timely completion.
Population studies is a multidisciplinary research area at the intersection of the mathematical sciences, the health and social sciences, and public policy. The curriculum provides solid grounding in the theories and methods of demography, with additional specialized training across five interdisciplinary subject areas: historical demography, population geography, economic demography, public health demography, and family and life course demography.
Program Delivery
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Prerequisites for Admission
For an online application or for more information about graduate education admissions, see the General Information section of this website.
Program Requirements
Use of 4xxx courses towards program requirements is not permitted.
All courses should be from the same subject area and may not be in the student's major field. Courses must be taken A-F. SOC 8590 (Topics in Life Course Sociology; 3 credits) can be applied as an elective only if the topic is one of the following: • Sociology of Time: Age, Work and the Gendered Life Course • Work Health and Well Being
Required Courses
PA 5301 - Population Methods & Issues for the United States & Global South (3.0 cr)
or SOC 5511 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
Program Sub-plans
Students are required to complete one of the following sub-plans.
Students may not complete the program with more than one sub-plan.
Masters
Electives
Take 3 or more credit(s) from the following:
· APEC 8701 - Trade and Development I (2.0 cr)
· FW 5051 - Analysis of Populations (4.0 cr)
· GERO 5103 - Aging and Society (2.0 cr)
· HIST 5797 - Methods of Population History (3.0 cr)
· HIST 5970 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· HIST 8970 - Advanced Research in Quantitative History (3.0 cr)
· HSG 5484 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· HSG 8463 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· PA 5022 - Applications of Economics for Policy Analysis (1.5-3.0 cr)
· PA 5204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· PA 5401 - Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy (3.0 cr)
· PA 5451 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· PA 8312 - Analysis of Discrimination (4.0 cr)
· PA 8331 - Economic Demography (3.0 cr)
· PA 8461 - Global and U.S. Perspectives on Health and Mortality (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 5099 {Inactive} (1.0-4.0 cr)
· PUBH 6281 {Inactive} (3.0-4.0 cr)
· PUBH 6370 - Social Epidemiology (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6605 - Sexual, Reproductive, and Perinatal Public Health (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6607 - Adolescent Health: Issues, Programs, and Policies (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6627 - Sexuality Education: Criteria, Curricula, and Controversy (1.0 cr)
· PUBH 6845 - Using Demographic Data for Policy Analysis (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 8805 - Sociological Theory in Health Services Research (3.0 cr)
· SOC 8551 - Life Course Inequality & Health (3.0 cr)
· SOC 8890 - Advanced Topics in Research Methods (2.0-3.0 cr)
· SOC 8590 - Topics in Life Course Sociology (3.0 cr)
SOC 8590 (Topics in Life Course Sociology; 3 credits) can be applied as an elective only if the topic is one of the following: - Sociology of Time: Age, Work and the Gendered Life Course - Work Health and Well Being
· SOC 5090 - Topics in Sociology (1.0-3.0 cr)
SOC 5090 (Topics in Life Course Sociology; 3 credits) can be applied as an elective only if the topic is one of the following: - Immigration to the U.S.: Beyond Walls
Doctoral
Electives
Take 9 or more credit(s) from the following:
· APEC 8701 - Trade and Development I (2.0 cr)
· FW 5051 - Analysis of Populations (4.0 cr)
· GERO 5103 - Aging and Society (2.0 cr)
· HIST 5797 - Methods of Population History (3.0 cr)
· HIST 5970 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· HIST 8970 - Advanced Research in Quantitative History (3.0 cr)
· HSG 5484 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· HSG 8463 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· PA 5022 - Applications of Economics for Policy Analysis (1.5-3.0 cr)
· PA 5204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· PA 5401 - Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy (3.0 cr)
· PA 5451 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· PA 8312 - Analysis of Discrimination (4.0 cr)
· PA 8331 - Economic Demography (3.0 cr)
· PA 8461 - Global and U.S. Perspectives on Health and Mortality (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 5099 {Inactive} (1.0-4.0 cr)
· PUBH 6281 {Inactive} (3.0-4.0 cr)
· PUBH 6370 - Social Epidemiology (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6605 - Sexual, Reproductive, and Perinatal Public Health (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6607 - Adolescent Health: Issues, Programs, and Policies (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6627 - Sexuality Education: Criteria, Curricula, and Controversy (1.0 cr)
· PUBH 6845 - Using Demographic Data for Policy Analysis (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 8805 - Sociological Theory in Health Services Research (3.0 cr)
· SOC 8551 - Life Course Inequality & Health (3.0 cr)
· SOC 8890 - Advanced Topics in Research Methods (2.0-3.0 cr)
· SOC 8590 - Topics in Life Course Sociology (3.0 cr)
SOC 8590 (Topics in Life Course Sociology; 3 credits) can be applied as an elective only if the topic is one of the following: - Sociology of Time: Age, Work and the Gendered Life Course - Work Health and Well Being
· SOC 5090 - Topics in Sociology (1.0-3.0 cr)
SOC 5090 (Topics in Life Course Sociology; 3 credits) can be applied as an elective only if the topic is one of the following: - Immigration to the U.S.: Beyond Walls
 
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· College of Liberal Arts

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· Fall 2023
· Spring 2023
· Fall 2022
· Fall 2021
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· Spring 2019
· Fall 2018

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PA 5301 - Population Methods & Issues for the United States & Global South
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: PA 5301/Soc 5511
Typically offered: Every Fall
Basic demographic measures/methodology. Demographic transition, mortality, fertility. Perspectives on nonmarital fertility, marriage, divorce, cohabitation. Cultural differences in family structure, aging, migration, refugee movements, population policies. Discussion of readings. prereq: Grad student or instr consent
APEC 8701 - Trade and Development I
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
This course will analyze international trade and economic policies that affect trade. The course will consider the determinants of trade, the welfare effects of trade, and the implications of trade liberalization or protectionism. The course will use contemporary economic theory and econometric methods of analysis; and will provide an economic foundation for analyzing issues on the frontier of the academic literature and policy debate.
FW 5051 - Analysis of Populations
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: EEB/FW 5051
Typically offered: Every Spring
Regulation, growth, general dynamics of populations. Data needed to describe populations, population growth, population models, regulatory mechanisms. prereq: [4001 or STAT 3011 or ESPM 3012], [EEB 3407 or EEB 3408W or EEB 3807], Senior or grad student
GERO 5103 - Aging and Society
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Examines the broad range of topics and issues related to aging, and how the process of aging is shaped by social context and relationships in connection with individual factors, including family, the economy, health care, and the political system. Students in Master's or doctoral programs most likely to benefit. Students new to the field of aging studies are recommended to begin with GERO 5105/PubH 6883: Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Aging.
HIST 5797 - Methods of Population History
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3797/Hist 5797
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Standard methods of population analysis. Focuses on methods widely used for historical population research.
HIST 8970 - Advanced Research in Quantitative History
Credits: 3.0 [max 12.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Students carry out publishable-quality research on quantitative history topic. prereq: Grad student
PA 5022 - Applications of Economics for Policy Analysis
Credits: 1.5 -3.0 [max 9.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Application of economic reasoning to a wide range of contemporary public policy issues. The following topically-focused courses also fulfill the MPP economics requirement: PA 5431: Public Policies on Work and Pay, PA 5503: Economics of Development, PA 5521: Development Planning and Policy Analysis, PA 5722: Economics of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy, and PA 5805: Global Economics. prereq: 5021 or equiv
PA 5401 - Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Nature/extent of poverty/inequality in the United States, causes/consequences, impact of government programs/policies. Extent/causes of poverty/inequality in other developed/developing countries. prereq: Grad or instr consent
PA 8312 - Analysis of Discrimination
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Policy analysis/other applied social sciences as tools for measuring/detecting discrimination in market/nonmarket contexts. Application of modern tools of labor econometrics/race relations research to specific problems of market/nonmarket discrimination.
PA 8331 - Economic Demography
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Classical theory, advanced econometric methods, recent empirical work, and available datasets for research in economic demography. Topics include the economics of mortality, fertility, migration, marriage, women's labor supply, intra-family bargaining, and age structure. Students develop critical analysis and academic discourse skills through in-depth discussions and replications of papers, presentations, referee-style writing assignments, and a term paper. prereq: Grad-level economic theory (PA 5021 or equiv) and econometrics (PA 5033 or equiv) and instructor permission
PA 8461 - Global and U.S. Perspectives on Health and Mortality
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
The health of populations in developing and developed countries is very different. Within countries, great health disparities exist between more advantaged and more disadvantaged populations. When crafting policies that aim to improve population health, it is crucial to know how to measure health and how to think about the health needs of the specific population in question. This course will provide an overview to the factors driving health, mortality, and aging across different populations. In addition, students will learn the best sources of data and measures to use to describe the health status of a population. They will also be able to assess policy options that address the health of their population.
PUBH 6370 - Social Epidemiology
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
How a society's social interactions, past and present, yield differential exposures and differences in health outcomes between persons who make up populations. New disease-specific risk factors. How well-known exposures emerge and are maintained by social system.
PUBH 6605 - Sexual, Reproductive, and Perinatal Public Health
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Overview of perinatal, sexual, and reproductive health surveillance, programs, services, and policies in the U.S., with an emphasis on vulnerable populations and methods to assess and interpret perinatal, sexual, and reproductive health data. prereq: Public health student or grad student or instr consent
PUBH 6607 - Adolescent Health: Issues, Programs, and Policies
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
This two-credit course focuses on the major public health issues of adolescents and the programs and policies that impact the health and well-being of this population. Course readings and discussion focus primarily on adolescents in the United States, although international contexts are also considered. The course is designed to examine the prevalence and etiology of health and wellness indicators for youth, including mental health; sexual and reproductive health; physical activity and nutrition; and prevention of tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, violence involvement, and injury. In addition, the course analyzes contemporary social movements and issues that impact adolescents through a public health lens (e.g., Black Lives Matter, DACA and the DREAM Act, achievement gap, inequitable distribution of wealth and economic opportunities, gender equity, civic engagement). The course is designed for graduate public health students with professional interests in preventive interventions to reduce health inequities. Students in other related health professions (e.g., medicine, nursing) or human services professions (e.g., public affairs, social work) with an interest in health issues are also welcome. The course meets the requirement for the Health Equity Minor in the School of Public Health.
PUBH 6627 - Sexuality Education: Criteria, Curricula, and Controversy
Credits: 1.0 [max 1.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Issues and controversies affecting K-12 sexuality education. Current research and guidelines for effective, responsible education and curricula selection. Various curricula being used in the United States. Challenges in teaching sensitive issues inherent in sexuality education.
PUBH 6845 - Using Demographic Data for Policy Analysis
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Spring
How to pose researchable policy questions, locate existing data, turn data into a usable format, understand data documentation, analyze data, communicate findings according to standards of the professional policy community. Quantitative issues. prereq: [Grad level research methods course, basic statistics course] or instr consent
PUBH 8805 - Sociological Theory in Health Services Research
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Overview of sociological theories in medical sociology, occupations/professions. Emphasizes teaching students how to apply theories to health/social phenomena of their own interest/choice.
SOC 8551 - Life Course Inequality & Health
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Seminar examines the changing life course in its social and historical context, including theoretical principles, methodologies, and policy implications. Focus on key societal institutions that offer unequal opportunities and constraints, depending on social class, race/ethnicity, and gender. Unequal access to age-graded social roles and resources shape the course of development, and in doing so, they have profound impacts on health. We will consider how inequality in the family, education, work, the military, and in the health care & criminal justice systems influence health behaviors and outcomes at different ages and life stages. prereq: grad student or instr consent
SOC 8890 - Advanced Topics in Research Methods
Credits: 2.0 -3.0 [max 6.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Advanced Research Methods (e.g., multilevel models), historical/comparative, field, survey research. Topics specified in Class Schedule. prereq: 8801, 8811, or instr consent. Cr will not be granted if cr has been received for the same topics title
SOC 8590 - Topics in Life Course Sociology
Credits: 3.0 [max 12.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Sociology of aging, sociology of youth, and mental health and adjustment in early life course. Topics specified in [Class Schedule].
SOC 5090 - Topics in Sociology
Credits: 1.0 -3.0 [max 9.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Topics specified in Class Schedule. prereq: Undergrad soc majors/minors must register A-F
APEC 8701 - Trade and Development I
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
This course will analyze international trade and economic policies that affect trade. The course will consider the determinants of trade, the welfare effects of trade, and the implications of trade liberalization or protectionism. The course will use contemporary economic theory and econometric methods of analysis; and will provide an economic foundation for analyzing issues on the frontier of the academic literature and policy debate.
FW 5051 - Analysis of Populations
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: EEB/FW 5051
Typically offered: Every Spring
Regulation, growth, general dynamics of populations. Data needed to describe populations, population growth, population models, regulatory mechanisms. prereq: [4001 or STAT 3011 or ESPM 3012], [EEB 3407 or EEB 3408W or EEB 3807], Senior or grad student
GERO 5103 - Aging and Society
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Examines the broad range of topics and issues related to aging, and how the process of aging is shaped by social context and relationships in connection with individual factors, including family, the economy, health care, and the political system. Students in Master's or doctoral programs most likely to benefit. Students new to the field of aging studies are recommended to begin with GERO 5105/PubH 6883: Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Aging.
HIST 5797 - Methods of Population History
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3797/Hist 5797
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Standard methods of population analysis. Focuses on methods widely used for historical population research.
HIST 8970 - Advanced Research in Quantitative History
Credits: 3.0 [max 12.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Students carry out publishable-quality research on quantitative history topic. prereq: Grad student
PA 5022 - Applications of Economics for Policy Analysis
Credits: 1.5 -3.0 [max 9.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Application of economic reasoning to a wide range of contemporary public policy issues. The following topically-focused courses also fulfill the MPP economics requirement: PA 5431: Public Policies on Work and Pay, PA 5503: Economics of Development, PA 5521: Development Planning and Policy Analysis, PA 5722: Economics of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy, and PA 5805: Global Economics. prereq: 5021 or equiv
PA 5401 - Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Nature/extent of poverty/inequality in the United States, causes/consequences, impact of government programs/policies. Extent/causes of poverty/inequality in other developed/developing countries. prereq: Grad or instr consent
PA 8312 - Analysis of Discrimination
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Policy analysis/other applied social sciences as tools for measuring/detecting discrimination in market/nonmarket contexts. Application of modern tools of labor econometrics/race relations research to specific problems of market/nonmarket discrimination.
PA 8331 - Economic Demography
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Classical theory, advanced econometric methods, recent empirical work, and available datasets for research in economic demography. Topics include the economics of mortality, fertility, migration, marriage, women's labor supply, intra-family bargaining, and age structure. Students develop critical analysis and academic discourse skills through in-depth discussions and replications of papers, presentations, referee-style writing assignments, and a term paper. prereq: Grad-level economic theory (PA 5021 or equiv) and econometrics (PA 5033 or equiv) and instructor permission
PA 8461 - Global and U.S. Perspectives on Health and Mortality
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
The health of populations in developing and developed countries is very different. Within countries, great health disparities exist between more advantaged and more disadvantaged populations. When crafting policies that aim to improve population health, it is crucial to know how to measure health and how to think about the health needs of the specific population in question. This course will provide an overview to the factors driving health, mortality, and aging across different populations. In addition, students will learn the best sources of data and measures to use to describe the health status of a population. They will also be able to assess policy options that address the health of their population.
PUBH 6370 - Social Epidemiology
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
How a society's social interactions, past and present, yield differential exposures and differences in health outcomes between persons who make up populations. New disease-specific risk factors. How well-known exposures emerge and are maintained by social system.
PUBH 6605 - Sexual, Reproductive, and Perinatal Public Health
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Overview of perinatal, sexual, and reproductive health surveillance, programs, services, and policies in the U.S., with an emphasis on vulnerable populations and methods to assess and interpret perinatal, sexual, and reproductive health data. prereq: Public health student or grad student or instr consent
PUBH 6607 - Adolescent Health: Issues, Programs, and Policies
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
This two-credit course focuses on the major public health issues of adolescents and the programs and policies that impact the health and well-being of this population. Course readings and discussion focus primarily on adolescents in the United States, although international contexts are also considered. The course is designed to examine the prevalence and etiology of health and wellness indicators for youth, including mental health; sexual and reproductive health; physical activity and nutrition; and prevention of tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, violence involvement, and injury. In addition, the course analyzes contemporary social movements and issues that impact adolescents through a public health lens (e.g., Black Lives Matter, DACA and the DREAM Act, achievement gap, inequitable distribution of wealth and economic opportunities, gender equity, civic engagement). The course is designed for graduate public health students with professional interests in preventive interventions to reduce health inequities. Students in other related health professions (e.g., medicine, nursing) or human services professions (e.g., public affairs, social work) with an interest in health issues are also welcome. The course meets the requirement for the Health Equity Minor in the School of Public Health.
PUBH 6627 - Sexuality Education: Criteria, Curricula, and Controversy
Credits: 1.0 [max 1.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Issues and controversies affecting K-12 sexuality education. Current research and guidelines for effective, responsible education and curricula selection. Various curricula being used in the United States. Challenges in teaching sensitive issues inherent in sexuality education.
PUBH 6845 - Using Demographic Data for Policy Analysis
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Spring
How to pose researchable policy questions, locate existing data, turn data into a usable format, understand data documentation, analyze data, communicate findings according to standards of the professional policy community. Quantitative issues. prereq: [Grad level research methods course, basic statistics course] or instr consent
PUBH 8805 - Sociological Theory in Health Services Research
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Overview of sociological theories in medical sociology, occupations/professions. Emphasizes teaching students how to apply theories to health/social phenomena of their own interest/choice.
SOC 8551 - Life Course Inequality & Health
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Seminar examines the changing life course in its social and historical context, including theoretical principles, methodologies, and policy implications. Focus on key societal institutions that offer unequal opportunities and constraints, depending on social class, race/ethnicity, and gender. Unequal access to age-graded social roles and resources shape the course of development, and in doing so, they have profound impacts on health. We will consider how inequality in the family, education, work, the military, and in the health care & criminal justice systems influence health behaviors and outcomes at different ages and life stages. prereq: grad student or instr consent
SOC 8890 - Advanced Topics in Research Methods
Credits: 2.0 -3.0 [max 6.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Advanced Research Methods (e.g., multilevel models), historical/comparative, field, survey research. Topics specified in Class Schedule. prereq: 8801, 8811, or instr consent. Cr will not be granted if cr has been received for the same topics title
SOC 8590 - Topics in Life Course Sociology
Credits: 3.0 [max 12.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Sociology of aging, sociology of youth, and mental health and adjustment in early life course. Topics specified in [Class Schedule].
SOC 5090 - Topics in Sociology
Credits: 1.0 -3.0 [max 9.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Topics specified in Class Schedule. prereq: Undergrad soc majors/minors must register A-F