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) Covers the constitutional basis for division of powers among the levels of government in the United States. Cooperation and conflict in managing the delivery of public services such as education, public safety, and health care are explored. Examines the roles of federal, state, and local governments, as well as private for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

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.

20:834:515 Administrative Ethics (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 for public managers to fully comprehend the skills and tools necessary for information management technologies, the course explores the role of egovernment, citizen engagement through Web 2.0 and social media, the exploration of how policy and technology intersect, and how technology can be best managed through various governance models.

20:834:522 Managing 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.

20:834:526 Evidence-Based Public Management and Policy (3) Focusing on "best practice" and "evidence-based practice" and distinctions between them, this course offers an introduction to those wishing to craft more effective policies and programs in public and nonprofit organizations. It explores the linkages between public policy and management, including understanding the process of policy formulation and change in the U.S. context and beyond. The meaning of "evidence-based" is considered in applied policy and management contexts, and the implication of differences in evidence type and quality are considered. The conflicting role of values and evidence in shaping program and policy choices will be conceptualized, in order to appreciate the effect of context in applying evidence to a local policy/management problem. Students will b e better equipped to identify best practices and to develop evidence-based practices to improve organizational effectiveness in management settings. Adaptation of programs or policies to their adoptive local context is presented as a mechanism for better aligning organizations with their environment. Pitfalls of the rational approach are reviewed to caution the strictly symbolic use of such approaches. The relationship between evidence-based practice and its counterpart, performance management, is explored.

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.

20:834:529 Performance Measurement and Reporting for Public and Nonprofit Organizations (3) The processes of public and nonprofit performance measurement and management are explored in depth. Theories of public and nonprofit performance are reviewed with a clear focus on application in the management setting. Types of measures are reviewed and their relationships are explored through program logic models. Selection of key performance indicators and proximate measures is discussed. Tools and methods of performance measurement, including benchmarking and trend analysis, are introduced. Data collection, analysis, and reporting are reviewed. Students learn how to align performance measurement with strategic organizational goals and objectives in order to facilitate learning and improved effectiveness.

20:834:541 Economic Issues in Public Administration (3) Explores economic aspects of current public administration and policy issues and approaches to the public sector. The course employs various perspectives including economic analysis, case studies, and critiques to explain and understand issues and problems impacting 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.

20:834:561 Applied Statistics (3) Statistical tools and techniques used to inform policy analysis and management decision making. Covers descriptive statistics, graphing data, confidence intervals, significance testing, correlation, cross-tabulation, and regression, including an introduction to multiple regression. Encourages hands-on work with real data, use of statistical software, and the effective presentation of statistical information.

20:834:562 Applied Research Design (3) Covers issues central to understanding and conducting applied policy and management research. These issues include identifying research questions, developing logic models, selection of appropriate quantitative or qualitative methods, measuring outcomes, survey research and other sources of primary and secondary data, experimental and nonexperimental strategies for evaluating programs, and the ethical and political issues involved in producing and using evidence to inform policy and practice. Prerequisite: 20:834:561.

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.

20:834:571 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.

20:834:575 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 system.

20:834:576 Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations (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.

20:834:578 Results-Driven Strategic Management (3) This course examines the linkages among strategic planning, performance management, and evidence-based decision making as they interface with more traditional management functions such as budgeting and human resource management in the quest for maximum effectiveness and efficiency in public and nonprofit organizations. Core management theories are reviewed and applied to present a holistic approach to results-oriented public management. Students will understand the process by which organizations create public value, including identification of strategic goals and objectives, development and implementation of timely strategies, and integration of performance information into management decisions. Key modern management challenges are identified and explored, including managing third-party intergovernmental and contractual relationships, utilization of networked and collaborative solutions to shared problems, citizen involvement, and capacity building for improved organization effectiveness.

20:834:581 Health Care Systems and Policy (3) This course introduces the history, organization, financing, and regulation of medical and public health services in the United States.Special emphasis is placed on the social and behavioral factors that shape health, and inequalities in health and health services.A central theme in this course is the tension between the need for health care organizations to position themselves for success in the changing economic environment and the basic public health principles of access, equity, quality care, health promotion, and prevention.

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

20:834:584 Health Care Finance (3) This course discusses the processes and methods of financial management in the health care industry. The course covers patterns of health care expenditures, methods of financing health care, financial planning and development, third-party reimbursement, and controls in health institutions management.

20:834:590 Internship (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. Prerequisite: Advance approval of the associate dean prior to enrollment.

20:834:598 Independent Study (3) Available as a concentration course for students who opt to explore a specific topic or issue under the guidance of a faculty member. Prerequisite: Advance approval of the associate dean prior to enrollment.