Frequently Asked Questions

The PPEL major focuses on normative questions of law and public policy and is designed to expose students to a variety of normative theories developed in and across the disciplines of Philosophy, Economics, and Law. Normative questions concern what we ought to do.  For example, what sort of policies should we adopt to respond to climate change? How ought we to conceive of property rights in ideas? What sort of regulations should we apply to govern the use of predictive algorithms in criminal sentencing, or financial credit scoring?  PPEL students explore and subject to critical analysis normative concepts such as rationality, efficiency, justice, welfare, and virtue, and theories such as cost-benefit analysis and justice as fairness.  The PPEL Program also emphasizes the need to integrate normative claims with empirical investigation in order to defend specific policies, laws, or institutions.

The PPEL major provides excellent preparation for careers in law, public policy, politics, and business. PPEL alumni practice a wide range of law following their graduation from a wide range of law schools across the country, including Chicago, Columbia, Emory, Florida, Northeastern, Penn, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia – and the University of Richmond, of course.  Others work for federal, state and local political officeholders, either in Washington, D.C., a state capital, or an elected officials local district office.  A number of former PPEL students work in Federal and State agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health.  Still others work for consulting firms that hold government contracts, or that liaise between private actors and government officials.  Positions with think-tanks are also a popular destination for PPEL graduates, while in the business sector PPEL alumni work for firms engaged in banking, private equity investment, commercial real estate development, financial planning, public relations, film production, and human resources management. 

All PPEL majors must complete ECON 101, PPEL 261, PPEL 262, PPEL 363, and PPEL 401, area courses in ethics, political theory, and law, and a concentration in Philosophy, Politics, or Economics. The PPEL major requires fifteen units; however, students may double-count one of the five courses they take in their primary concentration field toward one of their three area requirements. For a detailed description, please see the major requirements.

Yes you can. Students interested in PPEL are strongly encouraged to take ECON 101 as soon as they can. (Please note that students must earn a minimum of a C- in ECON 101 in order to count it toward the major). Students may also begin taking courses that count toward an area requirement or a concentration within the major. Students must earn a minimum of a ‘C’ in ECON 101.

Absolutely. PPEL graduates have pursued a second major in Leadership Studies, History, French, and several other fields. The PPEL program does limit the number of courses that students may double-count for both the PPEL major and a major in one of its cognate disciplines (that is, in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Leadership Studies). For more information on this restriction, please see the major requirements.

Yes! In fact, the PPEL faculty strongly encourages you to do so. PPEL majors have studied abroad in Argentina, Australia, England, France, Nepal, and many other countries. PPEL students may earn credit toward the major while studying abroad. For additional information, including a list of foreign universities with which the University of Richmond has a relationship and that are especially well suited to PPEL majors, please see study abroad.

Unfortunately, Law School accreditation does not permit undergraduates to enroll in courses at the Law School. However, some of the faculty in the undergraduate colleges have graduate degrees in law, and departments across campus offer a wide-range of law-related courses, including Constitutional Law, Civil Right and Civil Liberties, Law and Economics, Supreme Court Cases of the 20^th Century, and Philosophy of Law.

Please see area requirements for a list of all the courses in the course catalog approved for the various area requirements, as well as a link to the courses offered next semester approved for one or another area requirement. Please note that some of the courses in the catalog are taught infrequently, and that special topics courses may sometimes be approved for an area requirement.

Students may take any course in the relevant discipline to meet their concentration requirements. For example, students pursuing a concentration in philosophy may take any course offered by the philosophy department; they are not limited to the philosophy courses approved for one or another area requirement. For more information, please see concentrations.

At this time the PPEL program does not permit students to complete more than one concentration within the major.

All PPEL majors must take PPEL 363. While there is no minimum number of overall 300-level courses, the PPEL faculty strongly advises students to take at least four or five 300 or 400 level classes while completing the major. Students that do not will likely find the later stages of their education at Richmond insufficiently challenging, while prospective employers and graduate school admissions committees may identify a student who takes few upper-level courses as lacking in ambition.

The PPEL program does offer students an opportunity to earn up to one unit toward the major by completing an internship. For details regarding the requirements for earning credit toward the PPEL major by completing an internship, including the individual internship contract, please contact the PPEL Coordinator.

Students must fulfill prerequisites for courses that count towards PPEL requirements. Majoring in PPEL is not a waiver from taking prerequisites. It’s vital to plan ahead.

The following courses toward the PPEL major must be taken at the University of Richmond: PPEL 261, PPEL 262, PPEL 363, and PPEL 401.

Requirements toward the PPEL major that students may be able to fulfill through courses taken in study abroad fall into two main categories: (1) Philosophy, Political Science, or Economics electives that count either toward your concentration or as an elective in one of the other two concentration fields (for a list of requirements for the PPEL major, please click here); or (2) one of the three Area requirements.

For the first category, electives within one of the three concentration fields: You will want to contact the Chair of the relevant department (Philosophy, Political Science, or Economics). If the relevant Chair indicates that the department would be willing to accept a particular course as a department elective, then PPEL will accept the course toward your PPEL major. Thus, if you forward by email the approval received from the relevant Chair to the PPEL Coordinator, then when you return to campus, the Coordinator will sign the form indicating that the class should count towards your PPEL major.

Regarding the second category—Area requirements—students should email the PPEL Coordinator with the following: (1) the specific Area requirement that you are seeking to fulfill; (2) the specific course that you would like to fulfill that requirement; and (3) the syllabus for that course. The PPEL Coordinator will then let you know whether PPEL will accept the course as fulfilling the requirement. (If you have a course description but not a syllabus, the PPEL Coordinator may be able to provide an idea of whether there is a possibility that the course would fulfill the requirement, but the determination will be based on a full syllabus.) If approval of the course toward a specific Area requirement is indicated, then when you return to campus from study abroad, the PPEL Coordinator will sign the form indicating that the class should count towards your PPEL major.

Yes. Once you have officially declared PPEL as your major, the PPEL Coordinator will assign one of the PPEL faculty to serve as your advisor. The PPEL Coordinator is also available to meet with students who are considering a PPEL major, but who cannot or are not yet ready to declare.

No. Given the interdisciplinary breadth of the PPEL course of study it is not possible for us to offer a PPEL minor.