Curriculum

The undergraduate major curriculum consists of thirty-five (35) credits broken into three areas: core courses (15 credits), service-learning courses (5 credits), and electives (15 credits).

Undergraduate students must complete an eighteen (18) credit second concentration. 100% Online BA students must complete SPAA's Accelerated MPA courses as their second concentration.

The major requires 35 credits as follows (courses marked WI are writing-intensive courses):

   1. Five 3-credit public service core courses (15 credits): 40:834:200 Introduction to Public Administration (3) 40:834:203 Introduction to Nonprofit Administration (3) (previously Government and Nonprofit Sector) 40:834:301 Ethical Public Service (WI) (3) 40:834:406 Public Service Organizations (3) 40:834:408 Leadership for the Service Professions (3)

  2. Five credits in career exploration and service learning (5 credits): 40:834:429 Career Exploration in Public Service Seminar (1) 40:834:430 Service-Learning Internship I (4)

  3. Five 3-credit elective courses (minimum of 15 credits): 40:834:201 Public Service as Responsible Citizenship (3) 40:834:302 United States and Global Urban Experience (3) 40:834:304 Technology and Public Service (3) 40:834:306 Grant Writing for Organizations (WI) (3) 40:834:402 The Arts and Culture of Public Service (3) 40:834:404 Philanthropy: Volunteerism, Fundraising, and Community Engagement (3) (previously Volunteerism and Philanthropy in Public Service) (No more than 6 credits from the following): 40:834:330 Special Topics Course in Public Service (3) 40:834:331 Independent Study in Public Service (BA) (faculty approval required) 40:834:431 Service Learning Internship II (4)

  4. Second Concentration: The Accelerated MPA program allows students to complete eighteen (18) graduate credits during their senior year. SPAA has an established fully online MPA program and students are allowed to register for the online courses to complete the concentration.

The Accelerated MPA curriculum consists of: Intro to Public Administration (3) Ethical Challenges in Public Affairs (3) Human Resource Management (3) Economics for Public Administration (3) Two (2) MPA electives (6) Internships As part of the core requirements for the program, students take their classroom training and apply it to the real world in the form of a supervised, structured, service-learning internship within local, state, federal, and global governments, organizations, and agencies.