M.P.A. Courses

20:834:501 Introduction to Public Administration (3) Concepts and methods for analyzing significant factors and relationships in governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations as they function in their environments. Students identify and diagnose the principal types of problems encountered at levels of high administrative responsibility in government and the nonprofit sector. 

20:834:503,504,509 Topics in Public Administration (3,3,3) Examination of selected issues and problems in public sector administration and management. The specific area within which issues are presented varies, but it may include health, public policy, human resources, and specialized topics. Students should check with the department to determine the precise curriculum to be offered in a given semester.

20:834:505 Intergovernmental Relations and Management (3) Management issues associated with administrative relationships among the levels of government in the United States, including fiscal and regulatory relations.

20:834:507 Leadership and Diversity (3) Leadership versus management; leadership qualities and characteristics; leadership skills such as conflict management and team building; leadership tasks including vision, agenda setting, and mobilizing resources; leadership in organizational and political settings; role of followership; and impact of diversity upon leaders and leadership.

20:834:514 Administrative Transparency (3) This seminar will address historical and current issues surrounding the concepts, theories, and practices of governmental transparency and how open government relates to ethics in public administration. Topics covered include open meetings, freedom of information laws, government publicity, whistle-blowing, and illegally leaked information. Throughout the semester, we will discuss how transparency is at times in tension with personal privacy, national security, and governmental efficiency. How transparency relates to corruption and the different definitions of transparency in a transnational context are also addressed.

20:834:515 Administrative Morality (3) The primary goals of this course are to: (a) introduce students to the role that ethics and morals should play in the lives of public administrators in various capacities, and (b) provide tools and strategies for identifying and addressing ethical issues in professional life.

20:834:521 Technology and Public Administration (3) Implications of computer hardware and software issues for public sector management, with particular emphasis on applications of microprocessors. Includes a survey of database management problems, control, resource allocation, communications, and networking issues. Laboratory exercises required.

20:834:522 Public Organizations (3) Theories of organizational behavior and performance as applied to public and nonprofit sector agencies; includes organizational authority systems, relationships between public and private organizations, development and fulfillment of organizational mandates in the public sector, and use of resources within organizations.

20:834:523 Human Resources Administration (3) Human resources administration in public and nonprofit settings, including human resource planning, staffing, development, and compensation. Behavioral and environmental determinants are examined, including production technology, market factors, service delivery, and government regulations.

20:834:524 Strategic Planning (3) Strategic planning and management in the public and nonprofit sectors, including methods that facilitate achieving organizational goals in a changing environment. Attention paid to forecasting, goal and objective setting, strategy building, and resource mobilization.

20:834:525 Management Techniques (3) Problem-solving techniques that focus on effective managerial performance. Productivity and management improvement and assessment techniques, including networking, queuing, simulations, linear programming quality-control approaches, focus groups, and the delphi technique.

20:834:526 Public and Nonprofit Productivity (3)   Analysis and critique of the most recent research on productivity in public organizations, with particular attention to human factors, work processes, effective-outcome measurement, and labor-management relations.

20:834:527 Labor Relations (3) Examines the history, contexts, and processes of employer/employee relations in public and private sectors. Among the topics addressed are the purposes of negotiation-based collective bargaining, forms and processes of collective bargaining systems (unions, work rules, adjudication, mediation, arbitration), limitations of collective bargaining systems, and alternatives for balancing stakeholder rights in the workplace.

20:834:528 Information Systems and Public Administration (3) Focus on practical application of management information systems in the public sector through case studies and implementation strategies. Looks at such topics as databases, system architecture, data normalization, benefit-cost analysis; offers an introduction to programming.
Prerequisite: General familiarity with personal computers is required.

20:834:529 Performance Measurement (3) Assessment of organizational performance, with particular attention to concepts of efficiency, effectiveness, outputs, and outcomes. Examines evaluation design, data collection procedures, data analyses, and citizen involvement.

20:834:537 Citizen-Driven Performance Improvement (3) Improving government performance and facilitating citizen participation are two recurrent themes in the administration of government. However, the link between performance measurement and citizen participation has not been fully emphasized. As a result, citizens' role in measurement has been occasionally realized but not systematically investigated. The consequence is that performance measurement may fall prey to political manipulation and managerial arrogance. In other words, performance measurement without citizen input, understanding, and acceptance will not fulfill its objective--to improve democratic accountability.

20:834:539 Egovernance (3) This online course focuses on the intellectual concept of governmental transparency. Using Blackboard, students will explore key policies in support of transparency as well as critically evaluate egovernance practices to identify some of the limitations and dangers involved with the rapidly changing role of information and information technology in today's society.

20:834:540 Citizen Surveys (3) This course explores the importance of citizen surveys and the mechanics of survey research design and implementation. Students are presented with a number of strategies for more effective data management and presentation.

20:834:541 Political Economy and Public Administration (3) Explores basic economic concepts and applies them to relevant public administration issues. Looks at microeconomic and macroeconomic problems as they impact the public and nonprofit sectors.

20:834:542 Public Budgeting Systems (3) Budget concepts and processes used by the American government and its administrative units. Provides essential skills and experience in budgetary analysis and management applicable to nonprofit as well as public-sector agencies.

20:834:543 Public Financial Management (3) Surveys all major activities that concern the allocation, investment, and control of public funds. Activities include financial analysis, cash and pension fund investing, accounting, auditing, and financial reporting. Touches upon questions of budgeting and revenues in the context of fiscal policymaking.

20:834:545 Capital Budgeting (3) All aspects of capital budgeting, including what is appropriately included in capital budgets, what governments use capital budgets and why, how to create a capital improvement plan, and how to convert a capital improvement plan into a capital budget.

20:834:546 Infrastructure Finance (3) Implementation of the financing of a capital improvement plan for infrastructure items, such as streets, parks, public utilities, and other public works. Short- and long-term methods of financing, and the mix of markets in which funds may be sought. Emphasis on the latest financial tools created among investment banks in the public finance area. Fieldwork required.

20:834:547 Accounting for Government Financial Managers (3) Covers governmental accounting principles and practices and is designed for students without a background in accounting. Topics include account classification, cash and accrual accounting, cost estimation, introduction to basic financial statements, financial information systems, and use of financial information for managerial decision making.

20:834:549 Animals Certificate Practicum (3) The practicum provides students with an opportunity to apply knowledge gained in the overview courses to a specific situation in an individual or collaborative setting. Instructors will work with students to arrange practicum placements in an area of the student's choice in the student's home or nearby community. Students will do focused reading in the topical area of the practicum, keep a reflective journal of their experience, and prepare a written paper or other applied product relevant to the practicum placement. Examples of practicum placements include working with local government officials and community groups to develop options for wildlife overpopulation in the community; designing and implementing a program to incorporate animals into a county jail rehabilitation program; conducting a survey of veterinarians to determine their views of mandatory reporting of suspected animal abuse and neglect; working with an animal control department to evaluate types of animal incidents they encounter and what additional challenges they face in their communities. Runs concurrently with each of the other courses.  Prerequisite: at least one other course in the program.

20:834:550 Animal Law in Disasters, Estates, and Litigation (3) Focuses on who represents the interest of animals in society: the state (society) or the individual (property rights)? The three topics addressed in this course focus on the nature of concerns where animals and humans coexist in shared spaces. Disaster planning, for example, became a recognized community issue after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and left hundreds of family pets abandoned and at risk of likely death. We all know of wealthy individuals who bequeath considerable resources for the care of their pets, but most people are unable to be so generous to their animals. Are these issues purely about property rights? When does the community become responsible for potential harm to animals? Under what conditions can the community rescue animals from disasters or for owner neglect? On the other hand, when can public officials be held accountable for injuries to animals in the line of duty? For example, can a police officer shoot a dog during a drug raid? Can a postal worker refuse to deliver mail to a home with a barking dog? Are states required to remove dead animals from roadways? This course examines the legal and ethical issues related to these events. The course includes conference calls among students and instructors, and in-person sessions for individuals close enough to attend (others may join via conferencing). Runs from January to April of each year.

20:834:551 Animal Cruelty and the Law (3) How animal cruelty is defined and adjudicated is examined through inquiry into animal cruelty laws and known links between cruelty to animals and humans, when individuals may intervene in instances of animal cruelty and when mandatory and/or cross-reporting of cruelty is warranted. Issues related to cruelty include actions to recover animals believed to be wrongly taken, use of animals in education and research settings, hunter harassment laws, and parental rights to refuse vaccines containing animal components. Other issues considered in the context of cruelty include farm animals, prison inmate rights to a vegetarian diet, animals in entertainment, and wildlife overpopulation in metropolitan areas. This course includes conference calls. Runs from May to July of each year.

20:834:552 The Companion Animal and the Law (3) Companion animals of many kinds become members of families in communities throughout the country, and their presence creates a variety of issues for municipalities, which must consider the relationships among humans and animals as they affect public safety and individual rights. This course uses literature and cases to examine the many issues that arise in communities, including noise, nuisance, odor, limit laws, hoarding, and antifeeding. The course includes conference calls among students and the instructors and two in-person sessions among those in the geographic vicinity. These issues involve law, regulation, enforcement, and community values, and affect the quality of life of both community members and animals. The course provides an opportunity to recognize and evaluate the broader public policy issues that derive from the management of relationships between animals and people in communities. Runs from September to November of each year.

20:834:553 Urban Education Policy and School Performance (3) Through a historical, sociological, and political analysis of educational problems, this course explores a variety of policy initiatives and reforms, including curriculum and learning standards, school choice, tuition vouchers, charter schools, privatization, and whole school reform.

20:834:556 Urban School Administration and Supervision (3) Drawing upon the literature on school administration and leadership, theories and practices are applied to the specifics of urban schools and urban school reform. Within this context, students explore how school administrators can be at the center of school restructuring and revitalization.

20:834:559 Public School Finance (3) The course covers the educational decision-making process in the political and economic systems in which it exists. Particular attention is given to the tax structures which yield the resources directly supporting education, especially the property tax, as well as nontax resources and the federated governmental structure through which they pass.

20:834:560 Public Education Law (3) Deals with the basic legal structure of the public education system and explores a range of current legal and educational policy issues confronting the public schools.

20:834:561 Analytical Methods (3) Quantitative methods in the analysis of planning and management problems. Includes descriptive statistics, statistical distributions, probability, hypothesis development, significance testing, correlation, contingency table analysis, and regression.

20:834:562 Research Design (3) Comprehensive literature review, methodology, and data collection strategies. Students develop full research proposals including a research question; those who are writing a paper as their capstone requirement use this proposal as the basis for their paper. Prerequisite: 26:834:561.

20:834:563 Capstone (3) Provides students with an opportunity to integrate learning from various courses in analysis of real-world issues. Making use of the classroom setting and encouraging teamwork, the capstone project consists of a project design, action plan, and implementation. Students, under guidance of a faculty member, carry out data collection and analysis, evaluate their findings, and provide conclusions and recommendations. The outputs are a project report and PowerPoint presentation before fellow students, faculty members, and invited guests.

20:834:568 Government Revenue Systems (3) Creation and management of the revenue systems of a state or local government. Focus on taxes, fee for services, intergovernmental aid, and interest income. Laboratory application and fieldwork required.

20:834:570 Theory and Practice of Nonprofit Management (3) Introduces theory, history, structure, and management of nonprofit organizations. Emphasis is given to critical functions such as fundraising and grantsmanship, financial management and budgeting, marketing and communications, leadership styles, and monitoring and evaluation.

20:834:571 Nonprofit Budgeting (3) Introduces budget concepts and processes used by nonprofits; provides essential skills and experience in budgetary analysis and management for nonprofit agencies and organizations.

20:834:574 Management Control in Nonprofit Management (3) Presents the most common accounting and control programs in nonprofit organizations. The course is heavily case oriented in order to get students to consider accounting and control problems in specific nonprofit organizations including hospitals, governmental units, colleges and universities, and federal and state agencies. The course covers general-purpose financial statements, cost accounting, measurement of differential costs, pricing decisions, budgeting, performance budgeting, and performance reporting.

20:834:575 Grant Writing and Grants Management (3) Grant writing and management for public and nonprofit agencies: proposal writing, promotional and support materials, budget development, fundraising sources, and grants-management systems.

20:834:576 Resource Development for Nonprofit Organizations (Fundraising) (3) Emphasizes best practices and provides practical experience in the methods that nonprofits use to ensure that their objectives are financed by means other than grants. The study of fundraising encompasses strategic planning for annual giving, major gifts, and planned giving. Attention given to specific fundraising techniques: stewardship training, case statements, direct mail, telephone solicitation, special events, lapsed donors, taxation and bequests, and capital campaigns.

20:834:577 Human Resource Management for Nonprofits (3) Explores concepts, practices, and strategies of human resource planning; analyzes staff development, compensation, and evaluation. Emphasizes volunteer management, staff-board, and trustee relationships.

20:834:578 Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations (3) An integrated overview of theory, processes, and practices emphasizing methods and techniques for achieving nonprofit organizational long-term goals and customer satisfaction.

20:834:581 Introduction to Health Care Systems (3) Provides an overview of the health care system in the United States, including a survey of health care uses, providers, financing, and quality-of-care issues.

20:834:582 Health Care Management (3) Focus on major social and political issues involved in the organization, delivery, and management of health care systems.

20:834:584 Health Care Finance (3) Processes and methods of financial management in the health care industry. Patterns of health care expenditures, methods of financing health care, financial planning and development, third-party reimbursement, and controls in health institutions management.

20:834:585 Health Care Policy (3) Analysis, development, implementation, and evaluation of policies and programs affecting health. Focuses on health care institutions, with some attention to managing health problems with nonmedical interventions at the community level. Uses the case method applied to realistic situations in which specific decisions must be made by health managers or officials.

20:834:586 Violence in the United States (3) Life-cycle approach to violence, including violence against children, juvenile, domestic, male-male, and cultural violence. With each type of violence, examination of historical and empirical dimensions of the problem; current theories about dynamics and causality; and the likely efficacy of current and proposed interventions. Emphasis placed on class, racial, and gender inequalities.

20:834:590 Internship I (3) Participation in activities of an agency or institution under supervision of a faculty member and supervisor in the agency. Requires reports and analyses of activities.

20:834:591 Internship II (3) Participation in activities of an agency or institution under supervision of a faculty member and supervisor in the agency. Requires reports and analyses of activities.

20:834:598 Independent Study (3) Available as an elective for students who opt to explore a specific topic or issue under the guidance of a faculty member.
Prerequisite: Advance approval of M.P.A. program director prior to enrollment.

20:834:597 Advanced Study (3) Final required course of self-directed study. Students who opt for a capstone paper will write their paper. Students sitting for the comprehensive exams will prepare for their exams. Substitute capstone 20:834:563.  Prerequisite: 20:834:562.

Courses offered by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy

34:833:520 Legislative Policymaking (3) Exploration of legislatures as political institutions responsible for policymaking in the American states. Consideration of the role of legislators, lobbyists, governors, and the media.

34:833:524 Ethics in Public Policy (3) Examines issues in the ethics of policy professionals, focusing on the normative and conceptual aspects of problems that arise for individuals and institutions within a constitutional democracy.

34:833:525 Decision Making for Public Policy (3) Changes in policymaking over the last several decades. Examples include the environment, welfare reform, law enforcement, and health care. The budget as a policymaking engine at both the federal and state levels.

34:833:540 State and Local Public Finance (3) Theory and practice of state-local public finance; link between regional economy and subnational governments; fiscal federalism; major state-local spending programs; revenues, including property, sales, income taxes, and gambling; intergovernmental grants.

34:833:543 Economics and Public Policy (3) Basic microeconomic analysis with applications to current policy issues. Models of consumer and firm behavior applied to issues such as assistance programs for low-income individuals, tax incentives for firms and workers, and environmental regulation. Public goods, externalities, and the role of government in economic markets.

34:833:610 Macroeconomics for Public Policy (3) How the macro economy operates, and how public policies affect it and are affected by it. The theory and the measurement of the macro economy in the United States and the world.

34:833:628 Advanced Qualitative Methods (3) Students apply techniques of qualitative research including interviewing, ethnography, and phenomenology to help them gain an understanding of which techniques are appropriate for what specific research needs. Required course for Ph.D. program.

34:833:635 Survey Research (3) How to conduct, analyze, and evaluate surveys. Topics covered include problem formation, sample design and selection, questionnaire wording and layout, modes of survey administration, field procedures, data reduction, and data analysis.

34:970:529 Principles of Housing (3) Housing and development policy as it has evolved historically and as it is being practiced currently on the federal, state, and local levels. Basic economic factors affecting housing, political context, and social outcomes.

34:970:585 Tourism Planning (3) Analysis of the largest industry by value globally. Rise of mass tourism and marketing tourism destinations. Economic, environmental, social, and political impacts of tourism nationally and internationally.

Courses offered by New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)

EnE 662 Site Remediation (3) Examines site remediation from start to finish. Includes regulations, cleanup standards, remedial investigations, feasibility studies, risk assessment, and safety. Examines established and innovative cleanup technologies such as incineration, containment, bioremediation, vapor extraction, and ground water recovery. Prerequisite: EM 631. Can be taken concurrently with EM 631.

EnE 671 Environmental Impact Analysis (3) A graduate course dealing with physical aspects of the environment. Overview of environmental problems, federal and state standards, methodology for developing impact statements, case studies based on recent experience, basis for assessment and decision making. Pre- or corequisite: EnE 663.

EvSc 611 Hazardous Waste Management (3) An overview of hazardous waste management; case histories; legislation and regulations; treatment, disposal and cleanup technologies; sampling and analysis methodology; persistence and fate in the environment; emergency response procedures. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

EvSc 614 Quantitative Environmental Risk Assessment (3) Applications of quantitative risk assessment concepts to the management of environmental problems. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Courses offered by the Graduate School–Newark

26:120:534 Biological Invasions (3) Biological invasions by nonnative species have become one of the major environmental problems and an emerging focus of biological research. The course will primarily address the ecological and evolutionary aspects of this ever-growing problem. After describing patterns of invasion and linking them into a scientific framework, applied aspects will be addressed focusing on aspects of societal concern and workable counterstrategies. Prerequisite: Background in ecology or evolution.

26:120:551 Biology of Pollution (3) Survey of major environmental pollutants, their occurrence in the environment, their effect on biota at the cellular and physiological levels, as well as their effects at the population, community, and ecosystem levels. Emphasis on aquatic pollution. Prerequisite: Background in ecology or permission of instructor.

26:375:560 Air Pollution Management (3) This course will focus on the principles of air pollution and techniques of in situ measurements of pollutants in the ambient air. Topics will include the sources of selected air pollutants, major chemical transformation and removal processes, characteristics of particulate matter, measurement techniques of concentrations, particle-size distributions, and deposition. Regulations on air pollution and techniques on emission reduction will be discussed. Influence of air pollution on the environments locally and globally will also be discussed through case studies. Prerequisite: Completion of one year of college chemistry, or at least one graduate-level course in one of these areas: atmospheric chemistry, environmental chemistry, geochemistry, environmental chemical science, or air resource management.

26:375:602 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (3) The principal focus of this course is to give an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS) along with extensive hands-on experience with the ESRI ArcGIS software. Topics in this course include: data formats and sources; map design and visualization techniques; map projection, metadata, basic spatial analysis techniques, and web-GIS applications. In weekly lab sessions, students will also learn how to work with Arcmap to visualize geographic data, create maps, geocode, query a GIS database, and perform spatial analysis using common analysis tools. During final weeks of the semester students will apply their acquired techniques to solve geographic problems using a systematic approach to specific projects. Application of GIS, locally and globally, will also be discussed through case studies. Prerequisite: Students should know how to use Windows-based software for file management and browsing.

26:380:511 Geologic Site Characterization in New Jersey (3) Team-taught course focusing on the regional geologic characteristics of New Jersey and adjacent parts of Pennsylvania and New York for application at the environmental engineering site scale. Regional and site characterization provides understanding of geologic conditions that affect site suitability, design, and performance. It also offers the framework for evaluating groundwater hydrology and geochemical, engineering, and seismological characteristics of the site. Prerequisite: Bachelor's degree in geology or environmental science.

26:380:521 Analytical Methods in Urban Environment Pollution (3) Principles and application of modern instrumental methods to evaluate environmental samples of contemporary relevance. The course is structured for students with varied research backgrounds and goals so that they may apply both specific tools (where applicable) and more generally the concepts toward their own graduate-level research. The importance of experimental error, standards, statistics, and quality assurance will be emphasized. Specific analytical methods to be discussed and/or implemented in lab exercises include redox and acid base titrations, spectroscopy (UV-Vis and flame/graphite furnace atomic absorption), CHN elemental analysis, HPLC, and mass spectrometry. In addition, molecular methods to detect and quantify environmentally significant biological entities (enteric bacteria, harmful viruses) will also be discussed and/or implemented. During the second portion of the course, students will participate in group-based, hands-on field and lab research involving environmental sample collection, processing, and analysis, culminating in a written report and oral presentation. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.

26:380:576 Environmental Geology (3) Investigation of the processes and cycles that control the global composition and functioning of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and surficial lithosphere. Topics address the interrelationships among the natural cycles and anthropogenic perturbations, including the fate of contaminants in various near-surface environments and methods of characterization and remediation. Prerequisites: Bachelor's degree in geology and permission of instructor.

26:380:606 Electrical Environmental Issues (3) Application of geophysical methods in the characterization of near-surface features, with emphasis on environmental and engineering problems; utility of the various methods (seismic, potential field, electrical, and electromagnetic) in providing solution. Prerequisites: Applied geophysics and permission of instructor.

26:790:538 Global Environmental Issues (3) Focuses on the global environmental problematique in a variety of political and policy arenas. Includes attention to environmental governance; civil society and transnational actors; critical debates on justice; development and economic issues; and environmental security.