Public Administration Major, MPA

The MPA program is intended to prepare students for public service careers by acquainting them with management principles, analytical tools, and the ethical dilemmas they will face as public administrators. It consists of a total of 36 hours, including a core program, an elective specialization and a recommended internship.

Admission
Applicants for admission to the program must have a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. Normally, an overall average of 3.0 and an average of 3.2 in the last two years of political science or social science courses are required. In addition, a composite score of 1100 on the verbal and quantitative parts of the GRE is desired.

Requirements
The MPA is a non-thesis program requiring 36 hours. Specific requirements include the following.
I. Foundations of public administration 12 hours
Part A
POLS 550 Public Administration  (required) and one of the following courses:
POLS 539 State and Local Government and Politics 
POLS 542 Legal Foundations of Public Administration 
POLS 558 The Politics of Administration 
POLS 566 Ethics, Values, and Morality in Public Administration 

Part B (both courses required)
POLS 512 Quantitative Political Analysis 
POLS 514 Research and Methodology in Public Administration 

II. Specialized Track
12 hours. Students must choose either a Management or a Policy track. ALL students, whether taking a management or policy track, are strongly encouraged to take POLS 560 .
The specialized track consists of three courses (nine hours) from those listed in a particular track and one course (three hours) from the other track. At least three of the four courses taken must be offered by the department of political science. Any exceptions must be approved by the MPA Coordinator.

Management Track
POLS 560 Public Financial Administration 
POLS 562 Public Management 
POLS 564 Human Resource Management in Public Organizations 
POLS 595 Readings and Special Problems in Political Science 
POLS 660 Contemporary Perspectives on Public Administration : (if a management focus)
MGT 521 Foundations of Human Resource Management 


Policy Track
POLS 548 Public Policy Process 
POLS 549 Environmental Policy 
POLS 556 Policy Analysis 
POLS 581 Fundamentals of Planning 
POLS 660 Contemporary Perspectives on Public Administration 

III. Electives
6 hours. Students choose two additional graduate courses to support their career interests. These 2 courses may be within or outside the Department of Political Science and may consist of the courses listed above not taken to satisfy Foundation or Specialized Track requirements, other courses in the Department of Political Science, or courses outside the Department that are approved by the MPA Coordinator.

IV. Internship
6 hours. An internship is strongly recommended for students without previous professional experience but one is not required. For students with previous public service experience, six hours of elective coursework are taken in lieu of an internship. Students who do not complete an internship substitute six hours of coursework. The MPA Coordinator may approve a combination of internship and academic course credit to accommodate student needs.