Junior Summer Institute Course Descriptions

Statistics
Professor: Angela Reynolds
The purpose of this introductory course is to familiarize students with introductory statistical terms and techniques and to prepare them for graduate level statistics. Students learn how to perform basic statistical analysis and to use the statistical analysis capabilities of Microsoft Excel.

Conflict, Development and Human Rights
Professor: Silvia Borzutzky
In the words of Paul Collier, “Seventy-three percent of people in the societies of the bottom billion have recently been in a civil war or are still in one." The words of Collier summarize very effectively the purpose of this course because what we will try to do in the next 6 weeks is to study the impact that human rights abuses and conflict have on development. Conversely, we will also discuss why civil wars and the ensuing abuses happen largely in societies suffering from development problems. The course is geared to highlight the limitations of human rights policies, the connections between development problems and civil war, the destructive societal and economic effects of human rights abuses, and policies and actions geared to reverse those detrimental effects.

Economics
Professor: Yaa Owusua D. Akosa Antwi
Microeconomics is the study of how individuals and firms make choices, and how these choices interact in society. Economics shares with other behavioral sciences the general goal of explaining and predicting human behavior. The distinguishing feature of the economic approach is the emphasis on rational decision making under conditions of scarcity. Because of the central role of markets and the price system in describing the outcome of individual and firm decision-making, microeconomics is often called “price theory.” This course is an introduction to the basic concepts and tools of microeconomics. We will study how markets work, with an emphasis on analysis of the effects of public policy on the welfare of society. At the end this course you should be able to:

• apply core concepts of microeconomics that are essential to good managerial decision making and informed analysis of any economic issue.
• evaluate public policies using use key economic ideas.
• Critically analyze and discuss economic arguments put forth in public policy debates. For instance, you should be able to read and evaluate general material in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or the Economist.

Strategic Presentation Skills
Professor: Julia Deems
Effective public speakers present a clear message, develop a deep understanding of audience values and expectations, hone their skills through practice, and constantly search for effective strategies. This course is designed to help you to acquire strategies and experience to make you a better public speaker. In this course, you will be expected to become proficient in a number of areas:

• evaluating public speaking,
• evaluating your own abilities,
• providing feedback to others on their public speaking, and
• employing principles and strategies for effective public speaking.

The course is structured to move from more presentational (and therefore less interactive) public speeches to more interactive public speeches. Additionally, the course is structured to provide practice in several important building blocks of public speaking: building credibility, sharing your vision, defining a problem (i.e., structuring background information to ensure audience acceptance and agreement), assessing audience needs and concerns, and developing an action plan.

Organizational Leadership
Professor: David Krackhardt
This course is designed to improve your effectiveness as a leader in an organization by introducing you to frameworks for understanding organizations and organizational processes. We will focus on topics such as power, influence, decision making, and the problems inherent in getting things done in bureaucratic organizations of all types (public sector and private sector). The field on which this course is based, organizational behavior, draws from a variety of social science disciplines and applies the insights derived from the pertinent research. This course will introduce you to this research and ways to apply the knowledge to particular situations through class discussion of cases.