MPA Degree Requirements

The Master's of Public Administration (MPA) degree requires 36 credit hours of graduate-level work for in-service (employed) students and 37 credit hours for pre-service students, allocated as seen below.

Coursework

Core Courses Electives Courses Area of Emphasis Internship	21 credit hours 9 credit hours 6 credit hours 1 credit hour [pre-career students only]
Total	37 credit hours [36 for mid-career students]

All core and elective courses, and most area of emphasis courses, are taught on a regular basis - once per academic year or every other academic year.

Core Coures (21 credit hours)

The core curriculum is composed of seven required courses which focus upon subject matter that any administrator needs to master and use. Students are advised to take all core courses except POLSC 831 early in their degree programs.

Note: Each of these courses are only offered once per academic year.

Course	Course Title	Semester
POLSC 700	Research Methods in Political Science	Fall
POLSC 702	Public Administration and Society	Fall
POLSC 708	Public Personnel Administration	Fall
POLSC 710	Policy Analysis and Evaluation	Spring
POLSC 735	Public Organization Theory	Spring
POLSC 737	Public Budgeting	Spring
POLSC 831	Capstone Seminar in Public Administration	Spring

Elective Courses (9 credit hours)

These courses deal with specialized skills sets needed by 21st-century administrators. Choose any three of the following seven courses.

Course	Course Title
POLSC 607	Administrative Law
POLSC 610	Local Government Law
POLSC 711	Administrative Ethics
POLSC 736	Strategic Management of Public Organizations
POLSC 739	Intergovernmental Relations
POLSC 740	Nonprofit Financial Management
POLSC 799	Pro-Seminar: Executive Leadership Problems

Areas of Emphasis (6 credit hours)

Each student must develop a particular emphasis. Detailed below are several areas of emphasis which we highly recommend to our students. Those who wish to propose other emphases may do so with the advice and consent of the Director of Public Administration.

 

PUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE

Course	Course Title
MANGT 596	Business, Government & Society
ECON 633	Public Finance
POLSC 739	Intergovernmental Relations
POLSC 740	Non-Profit Financial Management

 

PLANNING

Course	Course Title
POLSC 618	Urban Politics
PLAN 720	Infrastructure Plan Implementation
PLAN 730	Planing Administration
PLAN 815	Planning Theory, Ethics and Practice

 

SECURITY STUDIES

Course	Course Title
POLSC 812	Fundamentals of Security
POLSC 813	International Security
POLSC 814	Transnational Security

 

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Course	Course Title
POLSC 618	Urban Politics
POLSC 620	State and Local Government
POLSC 739	Intergovernmental Relations
POLSC 799	Pro-Seminar: Executive Leadership Problems

Nonprofit Leadership Graduate Certificate

MPA students interested in concentrating their learning on leadership in the nonprofit industry can do so through a concurrent multidisciplinary Nonprofit Leadership graduate certificate.

This optional graduate certificate is a flexible program for those who desire to pursue continuing education in the principles of nonprofit leadership. Graduates of the certificate program will understand the theoretical foundation and general principles of nonprofit leadership. They will also be trained in practical skills related to strategically managing an organization and the unique financial management of nonprofit organizations.

Core Courses	Course Title
LEAD 700	Nonprofit Leadership Concepts
LEAD 701	Foundations of Leadership
POLSC 736	Strategic Management of Public and Nonprofit Organizations
POLSC 740	Non-Profit Financial Management
POLSC Electives	Course Title
POLSC 702	Public Administration and Society
POLSC 708	Public Personnel Administration
POLSC 737	Public Budgeting
POLSC 739	Intergovernmental Relations

Internship

PRE-SERVICE STUDENTS

Pre-service students are required to complete an internship (POLSC 897). This entails serving in a full-time administrative position for a period of at least 10 weeks (400 hours) in the public sector, or in a nonprofit agency.

Note: Internship should not be done until most of the core courses are completed.

Internship positions are coordinated by the Director of Public Administration. Ideally, the internship should occur after the second semester of full time coursework. All internships are competitive in nature and are available on a regular basis with state, county, local governments, and nonprofit agencies. A student's progress in the internship is monitored by the student's immediate supervisor and by the Director of Public Administration.

Please see links below for detailed information regarding the internship process.

Internship Guidelines (Student)	Internship Guidelines (Agency)
Intern Skills and Knowledge	Internship Responsibilities
Internship Evaluation Form (Intern)	Internship Evaluation Form (Supervisor)

 

IN-SERVICE STUDENTS

In-service students with significant employment experience may have the internship requirement waived. Students who wish an internship waiver, should consult the document below during their first year of study.

Internship Wavier Request Form

 

Transfer Credits

Graduate credit transferred from another institution may not exceed 10 credit hours for the master's degree, and then only for courses graded B or better.

Credits that were earned more than seven years prior to the semester in which the program of study is approved cannot be transferred except for approved credit from earned degrees and as noted in Chapter 2 Section D.6 of the Graduate Handbook.

Research credit earned at other institutions cannot be transferred for credit as part of a program of study.

 

Program of Study

Upon completing nine hours of coursework students should fill out a Program of Study. This document performs two functions:

1. Indicates faculty members who will serve on a student's graduate supervisory committee. The committee should be composed of at least three members (with two or more being MPA faculty), and their major professor/advisor. The student's major professor/advisor and at least one of the other members of their committee should also align with your Area of Emphasis. A particular emphasis is needed because the committee’s principle responsibility is to prepare and grade the student's written comprehensive exam on which two of the three questions are taken from courses under their Area of Emphasis. Before starting the process of filling out the Program of Study, students should consult with the Director of Public Administration, as well as with faculty they wish to include on their committee to determine their willingness to serve.
2. Plans out the courses students have completed and will be completing in order to obtain their degree. This requires students to think a couple of semesters into the future.

PROGRAM AND COMMITTEE CHANGES

For any changes a student makes, either to their committee or the courses they plan to take, they must fill out a Program/Committee Changes form. This form should be submitted as soon as changes are made and approved by the student's graduate supervisory committee.

Capstone Portfolio

All students of the program are required to prepare a professional portfolio as part of the Public Administration Capstone course. The capstone course is intended to provide students the opportunity to synthesize, integrate, and apply the diverse components of the MPA curriculum. Capstone course assignments help students prepare to seek or advance employment opportunities in the public or non-profit sectors.

The capstone course is taken in the student’s final semester.