Catalog

Master of Public Administration

Jordan Holtzman
Program Director
(510) 375-1348
jholtzman@ndnu.edu

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) prepares students to meet modern-day demands for accountability and effectiveness in public and nonprofit organizations. The MPA curriculum develops theoretical and practical foundations for the practice of effective public management in a wide range of public service functional areas.  Students gain relevant knowledge and skills in public policy, administration, program evaluation and decision-making in order to be effective advocates for change. This degree program emphasizes close involvement with leaders from a wide variety of public sector organizations, enabling graduates to make contributions to various levels and functions of administration.

Learning Outcomes

  • Students will develop competencies for dealing with individual differences in skills and behavior and will gain a thorough understanding of the basics of personality development as they relate to the management and behavior of people employed and served by community organizations.
  • Students will develop communication skills necessary for writing reports, explaining issues and policies, persuasively presenting initiatives, and corresponding with colleagues and public contingents.
  • Students gain experiential knowledge about the challenges and model practices of contemporary public sector administration and learn to effectively assess the value and performance of public sector organizations, community partners, and delivery of community services.
  • Students will be able to quantitatively assess public policy programs from program formulation through program evaluation.
  • Students will develop knowledge of economic, political, legal and social institutions and learn to problem solve within the cultural and operational contexts of these macro-environmental institutions.

Admission Information

Fully admitted students will need to meet the following requirements:

1. A four-year bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
2. A cumulative grade point average of 2.5 or better.
3. Two academic and/or professional recommendations.
4. Work experience is preferred.
5. A personal interview with the Program Director may be required.
6. The satisfactory completion of undergraduate coursework in financial accounting, political science, psychology, and sociology.
International students should also refer to the general graduate admission requirements.

Program Requirements

The MPA program requires 36 semester units of graduate course credit:

  • Core — 24 units;
  • Concentration — 12 units;
  • Foundation — no credit.

Foundational Knowledge

Students in the MPA program are required to have foundational knowledge that will facilitate learning advanced concepts. Foundation course(s) may have been taken in an undergraduate degree program, or subsequent to the completion of the bachelor‘s degree. Foundation course(s) must be completed with a grade of C or better. If the course(s) have not been completed prior to admission, students can still be admitted conditionally but must complete the undergraduate equivalent of these requirement(s) early in their program of study. The following are the required MPA foundation courses:

  • Introduction to Financial Accounting
  • Introduction to Political Science
  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Introduction to Sociology

MPA Core Courses

These courses are designed to prepare students in the functional areas traditionally comprising the field of Public Administration. Students must complete all of the Core Courses.

See Course Descriptions for more information.

Core Courses    Units
   
BUS4000                     Organizational and Management Theory      3
BUS4010                     Introduction to Public Administration       3
BUS4020                     Community Based Research and Analysis 3
BUS4124                     Government, Budget, and Finance    3
BUS4440                     Spatial Analysis for Policymakers        3
BUS4500                     Leadership Concepts       3
BUS4508                     Human Resource Management     3
BUS4981                     Public Policy and Administration (Capstone)   3
   
Total Core Units       24
   

Areas of Concentration

In addition to Core courses, all MPA students are required to take an additional twelve (12) graduate units. Students may concentrate in Human Resource Management or Public Affairs Administration by taking at least three courses (9 units) from one of the concentration areas listed. The fourth course can be any three (3) unit BUS graduate elective approved by the graduate program advisor. Students desiring a broader study can elect to pursue a general concentration and take any electives approved by the graduate program advisor.

Human Resource Management
BUS4516                     Managing Diversity
BUS4524                     Labor Management Relations
BUS4532                     Conflict Management
BUS4540                     Recruitment, Training, and Development
BUS------                     Elective  
                                     
Public Affairs Administration
BUS4016                     Contemporary Issues in Administration
BUS4048                     Administrative Law
BUS4516                     Managing Diversity
BUS------                     Elective
                                                                                                                   
General Concentration                                                                                                        

Any 12 units of electives approved by the graduate program advisor.