Courses

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.

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 non-experimental strategies for evaluating programs, and the ethical and political issues involved in producing and using evidence to inform policy and practice.

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.

This course 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.

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 MPA 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 MPA 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 non-profit organization as a competent leader.

Capstone Orientation

• Capstone Orientation Session [video]
• Capstone Orientation PowerPoint Presentation [pdf]

Career Explorations in Public Service helps students develop a strong foundation for career decision planning through career inventories, research on careers, and personal reflection. The course provides opportunities and resources for students to seek career information related to academic and occupational interests which form the foundation for sound career decision-making. Students will receive career management skills to effectively identify, compete, and secure professional career opportunities.  Students are guided through individual and group exercises that assist in identifying needs, values, wants, interest, and abilities. Students also learn job search, networking, and interview skills in preparation for an internship or career search.

This course analyzes various approaches to the relationship between citizen participation and productive public management. It explores factors influencing citizen involvement and examines potential benefits and dysfunctions of an active citizenry. An important focus is on the role of public administrators in creating structures and networks to encourage citizens to work with officials in policy development and implementation.

The course introduces student to the design and management of data systems. Students will learn to design simple databases, understand the use of different data types and formats, download data from external sites, report and extract data. They will be introduced to the use of complex data queries as a form of data analysis. They will learn to use common database software for both relational and object-oriented database management. They will also learn essential principles for making data secure, accessible, and easily maintained.

The dissertation proposal committee normally consists of three to five members, one of whom should be a member of a graduate faculty outside the School of Public Affairs and Administration. Prior to the defense of the proposal, the composition of the dissertation committee must be approved by the PhD program director.

This course examines the latest trends and best practices in digital service delivery (government to government, citizen to government, and government to citizen services). Students will learn key technologies, how websites and mobile apps support digital services and citizen engagement, how technology adoption is affected by regulation, how to assess performance of digital service delivery systems, and how transparency and open data is likely to affect government operations. Opportunities and barriers confronting the use of technology to promote social change will be presented.