Curriculum

Core I: Foundation (12 credits/4 courses)

20:834:501  Introduction to Public Administration (3)
Explores the political, socioeconomic, legal, and democratic-constitutional context of public administration. Students learn key concepts and theories used to better understand administrative agents of government, including public agencies, contractors, intergovernmental partners, and nonprofit organizations as they operate and interact with their environments. Fundamentals of public management, organizational behavior, human resource management, and government accountability are introduced. Both organizational actors and inter-organizational relationships are considered.

20:834:515  Administrative Ethics (3)
The primary goals of this course are to: (a) introduce students to the role that ethics 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)
Explores the implications of information management technologies for public and nonprofit managers, including: the role of egovernment, citizen engagement through Web 2.0 and social media, digital service delivery, cyber security awareness, the exploration of how policy and technology intersect, and how technology can be best managed through various governance models.

20:834:541  Economics for Public Administration
Introduces students to public economics and to the economics of public administration, policy, and governance. Students will utilize the fundamentals of economic analysis to explain and understand issues and problems impacting the public and nonprofit sectors.

Core II: Research and Analysis (6 credits/2 courses)

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, hypothesis testing, correlation, cross-tabulation, mean comparison with significance testing, and an introduction to multivariate linear 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: 26:834:561 Applied Statistics]

Core III: Management (9 credits/3 courses)

20:834:522  Managing Public Organizations (3)
Explores theories of organizational behavior and performance as applied to public and nonprofit sector agencies, including legal constraints associated with leading public sector organizations, 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 market factors, service delivery, and government regulations and policies. 

20:834:524  The Public Policy Process (3)
Introduces students to the public policy process and its key institutions and actors (such as legislative bodies, chief executives, administrative agencies, courts, interest groups, advocacy coalitions, and the media). The course emphasizes key parameters of public policy formulation (agenda setting, policy formulation and design, implementation, evaluation) and theories of policy change. Students will be able to differentiate policy types and tools, effectively use evidence in shaping public policy, and will appreciate the importance of context (social, economic, political, and technological) in developing effective policies.

Core IV: Financial Management (3 credits/1 course)

20:834:542  Public Budgeting Systems (3)
Provides students with a conceptual and operational understanding of theories, policies, and processes associated with public budgeting systems. Students will also be introduced to tools and techniques for managing budgets and making financial decisions in the public sector.

Core V: Application (3 credits/1 course)

20:834:563  Capstone Project (3)
The capstone provides students with an opportunity to integrate learning from various courses with applied analysis of real-world issues. Students work individually under the guidance of a faculty member to develop a research design, carry out data collection and analysis, evaluate their findings, and provide conclusions and recommendations. The outputs are a project report and presentation to fellow students, faculty members, and invited guests. The capstone seminar serves as a culminating experience in the M.P.A. program. The course allows students to draw on material presented throughout the curriculum to develop and conduct an applied research project on a topic salient to public or nonprofit administration. This seminar will prepare students to use the skills they have developed throughout the program to analyze and solve key public management and policy problems. Students will complete practical analytic papers suitable for publication or public consumption as their key graded assignment. These papers demonstrate each student's abilities and their collective body of skills and knowledge acquired throughout the M.P.A. curriculum. The capstone project challenges students to clearly articulate a research question, identify best practices in the field through a literature review, and develop and execute a research protocol, in which the student:

• Defines a research question that addresses an existing public or nonprofit problem
• Identifies a theoretical model through which to approach the issue
• Selects appropriate data collection methods
• Collects data
• Analyzes and interprets the data
• Develops a written report and oral presentation of the findings and recommendations

Final projects are presented at a public policy and management forum. At the conclusion of the course, students will have demonstrated effective research skills, excellent oral and written communication skills, and will have displayed the level of knowledge necessary for effectively managing a public or nonprofit organization as a competent leader. [Prerequisites: 26:834:561 Applied Statistics and 26:834:562  Applied Research Design in order]

M.P.A. Concentrations (9 credits/3 courses)

Budgeting and Financial Management

20:834:543  Public Financial Management (3)
Introduces students to basic financial and managerial accounting principles, techniques and concepts that relate to the allocation, investment, and control of public funds. Students will learn how to use financial information to make decisions in public, health, and not-for-profit organizations. Some of the topics covered in this class include financial condition analysis, cash and pension fund investing, time value of money, accounting and financial reporting.

20:834:545  Capital Budgeting and Debt Management (3)
Examines the reasons why state and local governments use capital budgets and explains why both capital planning and budgeting are central to economic development and essential service delivery. Students will learn how to create a capital improvement plan, and how to convert a capital improvement plan into a capital budget. In addition, students will be introduced to debt management networks and practices, debt structure, and the debt issuance process in the primary and secondary municipal bond market.

20:834:568  Government Revenue Theory and Administration (3)
Examines the basic objectives including the political and economic aspects of revenue systems at the federal, state, and local levels of government. With a focus on taxes, fee for services, intergovernmental aid, and interest income this course examines the interrelationships between policy, laws, and administration within a revenue system and reviews the major economic issues raised by different sources of revenue.

Nonprofit Management

20:834:571  Nonprofit Budgeting (3)
Introduces budget concepts and processes used by nonprofits. This course focuses on developing, monitoring, and evaluating operating budgets for nonprofit agencies and organizations.

20:834:575  Grant Writing and Grants Management (3)
Learn how to seek, solicit, and manage grant awards from foundation and government sources to support public and nonprofit programs and projects. The course emphasizes managing grants effectively to provide the greatest value to the recipient as well as the granting agency. Students learn how to become responsible and ethical specialists who understand the grant enterprise, its purpose, and the effects it can bring to bear on recipient organizations. Topics include the funding search, budget development, proposal writing, indirect costs, reporting, and evaluation.

20:834:576  Resource Development for Nonprofit Organizations (3)
Emphasizes best practices and provides practical experience in resource development, including fundraising. Students will learn essential resource management skills, including: strategic planning for annual giving, major gifts, and planned giving. Special attention is given to the following specific aspects of the fundraising process: prospect research, donor stewardship and retention, crowdfunding, case statements, direct mail, telephone solicitation, special events, lapsed donors, taxation and bequests, and capital campaigns.

Public and Nonprofit Performance Management

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.

20:834:578  Results-Driven Strategic Management (3)
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.

20:834:526  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 be 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.

Health Care Administration

20:834:581  Health Systems and Policy (3)
Introduces the student to the history, organization, financing, and regulation of medical and public health services in the United States.

20:834:582  Health Care Management (3)
Introduces students to the major administrative challenges associated with managing public and private health care service organizations. Topics include legal constraints, budgeting, human capital management, strategic management, and organizational accountability and performance facing health care organizations.

20:834:584  Health Care Finance (3)
Describes the fiscal challenges that face health care organizations, including insurance, reimbursement systems, managed care, Medicare and Medicaid, DRG Prospective Payment, the Affordable Care Act, budgeting, and planning.