Degree Requirements

The MPA degree requires the completion of 42 semester hours of approved graduate study.  Students must take 27 semester hours of core courses (required of everyone); 3 hours of elective courses, and 12 hours within an area of concentration (see page 21-22 in the student handbook for concentration requirements) .  Other related areas may be included with advisor approval. Students who select General Public Administration as a program concentration will take their additional 12 hours from the Elective Course list for a total of 15 hours.

Required Core Courses (27 hours):

• PAD 6060 Introduction to Public Administration (3)
• PAD 6101 Organizational Theory & Behavior (3)
• PAD 6207 Public Budgeting¹ (3)
• PAD 6327 Seminar in Program Planning & Evaluation² (3)
• PAD 6365 Public Policy (3)
• PAD 6417 Public Personnel Administration (3)
• PAD 6701 Data Analysis in Public Service (3)
• PAD 6708 Research Applications in Public Administration (3)
• PAD 6961 Capstone Project³ (3)

Course Prerequisites:
¹ PAD 6060
² PAD 6701 and PAD 6708
³ Completion of all other degree requirements

Elective Coursework (3 hours)*:

• PAD 5041 Administrative Ethics (3)
• PAD 5142 Management of Nonprofit Organizations (3)
• PAD 5352 Emerging Issues in Environ Policy (3)
• PAD 5356 Environmental Policy & Ethics (3)
• PAD 5620 Environmental Law (3)
• PAD 5933 Proposal Writing & Grant Administration (3)
• PAD 6205 Public Finance (3)
• PAD 6605 Administrative Law (3)
• PAD 6812 State & Local Politics & Administration (3)
• PAD 6826 Intergovernmental Administration (3)
• PAD 6836 Comparative Public Administration (3)
• PAD 6908 Independent Study (1-6)
• PAD 6934 Special Topics (3)
• PAD 6940 Internship**(3)

*Courses outside the Division of Public Affairs may be substituted, on a case-by-case basis, with approval of the student’s MPA faculty advisor.
**Required for students with less than one year of professional experience.

Concentration Requirements (12 hours):

Following completion of 15 credit hours toward the MPA degree, students are required to declare an area of concentration from the offerings described below. If no concentration area is declared, the General Public Administration concentration is assigned.

General Public Administration

A general study of public administration, focusing principally on intergovernmental relations, comparative public administration, administrative analysis and the problems endemic to federal, state and local government administration.

• PAD 5041 Administrative Ethics (3)
• PAD 5142 Management of Nonprofit Organizations (3)
• PAD 5933 Proposal Writing & Grant Administration (3)
• PAD 6605 Administrative Law (3)
• PAD 6812 State & Local Politics & Administration (3)
• PAD 6826 Intergovernmental Administration (3)
• PAD 6836 Comparative Public Administration (3)