Public Administration, MPA
36 credit hours
The Master of Public Administration (MPA) is offered online. All required and elective courses are available online, although they may not be offered every graduate session. Students and prospective students will work with an advisor who will help plan a schedule regarding courses, given the schedule of offerings.
The MPA is a professional graduate program that prepares individuals to serve as managers in the executive arm of local, state, and federal/national government; the MPA is also useful if a student is interested in employment with an international organization or agency. Working in the public sector often requires skills that cannot be confined to a single discipline: the public sector and the private sector cross paths, and public officials need the skills of both to function effectively. Public administration is a blending of business administration, human services, and additional core topics covered in the required public administration courses and the MPA degree program is designed to educate students in the applications of inter-disciplinary skills needed in government operations.
The MPA degree program operates on a five-term calendar, meeting in the Fall I, Fall II, Spring I, Spring II, and Summer terms.
Requirements
Core Curriculum
The following courses (21 credit hours) are required for all students completing the public administration degree:
| MPA 58300 | Governmental Budgeting | 3 |
| MPA 58400 | Public Administration: Principles, Applications and Ethics | 3 |
| MPA 58600 | Program-Implementation and Evaluation | 3 |
| MPA 58800 | Business-Government Environment | 3 |
| MPA 59001 | Public Finance and Taxation | 3 |
| MPA 59904 | Economic Analysis for Policy Makers | 3 |
| MPA 59990 | Capstone Course in Public Administration | 3 |
Students select five elective courses (15 credit hours) from these options:
MPA elective courses
| MPA 59000-59999 | Special Topics in Public Administration | 3 |
| MPA 59905 | Government Institutions: Performance and Accountability | 3 |
| MPA 59908 | Legal Issues in Public Administration | 3 |
| MPA 59909 | Policy Design and Analysis | 3 |
| MPA 59911 | Policy and Budgetary Forecasting | 3 |
| MPA 59912 | Data Collection and Evaluation | 3 |
| MPA 59913 | State and Local Public Finance, Taxation and Auditing | 3 |
MBA elective courses
Note: Some MBA elective options have specific prerequisites which may not be included in the list of MPA electives.
NPA elective courses
NPA courses are offered in the semester, rather than the five-term, format, with three terms per year (fall, spring, and summer).
| NPA 50000 | Fundraising and Planning | 3 |
| NPA 50300/HRM 56560 | Human Resource Management for Nonprofit Organizations | 3 |
| NPA 52000 | Program and Organizational Evaluation | 3 |
| NPA 55000 | Management of Nonprofit Organizations | 3 |
| NPA 56000 | Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations | 3 |
| NPA 57000 | Organizational Behavior for Nonprofit Organizations | 3 |
| NPA 57100 | Grantwriting | 3 |
| NPA 58000 | Nonprofit Budgeting and Financial Management | 3 |
| NPA 58100 | Strategic and Program Planning for Nonprofit Organizations | 3 |
| NPA 58500 | Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations | 3 |
Note: Some NPA elective options may have prerequisites that are not included in the list of MPA electives.