Master of Public Administration and Policy
Download the MPA Program Guide
Contemporary public management demands a wide range of analytical and communication skills. The University of Georgia MPA program is designed to develop professionals who can use their educational experiences to work productively at all levels of public sector management, as well as in research endeavors.
The MPA program is co-sponsored and supported by the UGA Carl Vinson Institute of Government (CVIOG). The CVIOG assists with student internship and job placement and provides opportunities for students to work as assistants on a variety of applied research projects. Selected faculty from the CVIOG also offer courses in the program on topics ranging from human resources management, to local government administration, and survey research methods.
In an effort to maintain the practicality of the program, the MPA faculty have established an MPA Advisory Committee. The committee, composed of working public sector professionals at the federal, state, and local levels, has helped in monitoring curriculum needs and in setting standards and goals for the core curriculum. Members of the committee also serve as important resource contacts for internship and employment opportunities and serve as mentors to MPA students.
PROGRAM GOALS
The central purpose of the MPA program at the University of Georgia is to educate students for professional careers in management and administration in government and nonprofit organizations. The program is open to students without previous public service experience as well as students employed in the public sector who are seeking to advance their careers. While normally a terminal professional degree, some graduates of the MPA program have entered PhD or other programs and have assumed academic careers.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Over the past 30 years, The University of Georgia has become a major center for academic research in public administration. For example, a Public Administration Review (1981) evaluation ranked the University of Georgia 's MPA faculty second in the nation in the area of research productivity. Replications of this study in Administration and Society (1987) and Public Administration Review (1996) ranked Georgia first in productivity for the years 1981-85 and 1986-93 respectively. A more recent study in the Journal of Public Administration Education ranked the UGA Public Administration and Policy faculty first in the nation in research published in scholarly journals associated with the American Society for Public Administration during the years 1993 to 2003. The general reputation of the MPA program at UGA has also been extremely high for many years. The most recent ranking from U.S. News and World Report (2005 edition) indicated the Georgia MPA program is ranked third in the nation. The program is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.
LOCATION
The University of Georgia is located in Athens , Georgia approximately 65 miles east of Atlanta . The MPA program is also offered, by the same UGA faculty, at the University of Georgia at Gwinnett County at 1000 University Center Lane, Lawrenceville, Georgia (at Collins Hill Road and Route 316). The program is offered at this second location to make courses accessible to those working in Gwinnett County and other suburban Atlanta governments as well as state and federal employees in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
All Gwinnett classes and most of those in Athens are taught in the evenings so students can maintain full-time employment. Click here for more information about courses in Gwinnett.
More about UGA & Athens.
RESOURCES
MPA students may utilize numerous campus resources while pursuing their programs of study. The University's library system includes the UGA Main Library, Law Library, and Science Library. The system contains vast holdings of periodicals and reference materials, is a government depository, and ranks among the leading research libraries in the country. Our department also provides a small specialized library and state-of-the art computer technology centers to assist students in their studies.
ASSISTANTSHIPS
The Department of Public Administration and Policy offers a number of teaching and research assistantships that presently carry stipends for a ten-month academic year. The Graduate School also offers assistantships. In addition, faculty members occasionally hire research assistants to work on funded research projects. Recipients of assistantships automatically receive a tuition waiver, regardless of their residency status. Finally, the Graduate School provides a limited number of waivers of out-of-state tuition for non-Georgia residents.
Students receiving assistantships and meeting departmental standards of performance in their academic work and their assistantships are eligible for up to four semesters of support for the MPA program and up to six semesters of support for the doctoral program. The deadline for applying for financial aid is February 1 for the following academic year.
Assistantship Application
PLACEMENT
Graduates of the MPA program have obtained administrative and management positions at all levels of government, in non-profit agencies, and, to a limited extent, in the private sector. The MPA program staff work to coordinate employment requests with available vacancies.
CURRICULUM OUTLINE
A total of 41 semester hours are needed for the completion of the MPA program. A socialization sequence and five core courses introduce the student to the various fields of public administration and the economic foundations of public policy. In addition, a management information and research core consisting of two courses will enable the student to develop familiarity with quantitative methods in public decision making. After completing these courses, students then select six courses from a number of available elective specializations to complete their degree.
The following provides an outline of the MPA curriculum:
1. MPA Socialization Sequence (2 semester hours)
PADP 6980 Law, Ethics, and Professionalism in Public Administration
PADP 6990 Communication Skills for Public Managers
2. Public Management Core (15 semester hours)
PADP 6910 Public Administration and Democracy
PADP 6920 Public Personnel Administration
PADP 6930 Public Financial Administration
PADP 6950 Economic Foundations of Policy Analysis
PADP 6960 Organizational Theory
3. Management Information and Research Core (6 semester hours)
PADP 7110 Research Methods in Public Administration
PADP 7120 Data Applications in Public Administration
4. Elective Courses (18 semester hours)
A number of elective courses are offered. A student may choose either to specialize in a single specific area of study or to complete a generalist degree. Areas of specialization include but are not limited to the following:
Higher Education Administration
Local Government Administration
Nonprofit Management
Public Budgeting and Finance Administration
Public Management - Organization Theory
Public Personnel Administration
Public Policy Analysis
Health Policy and Administration
To achieve a concentration in an area of specialization, an MPA student must take four courses in that area. To complete a generalist degree, students must choose a minimum of two courses from within at least two of the specified areas of specialization. All elective courses must be approved by the Graduate Coordinator for Public Administration.
For illustrative purposes, we include the following list of fields and courses from which MPA students may choose in completing their degree requirements. The list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only illustrative of the options available to public administration students. For a complete listing of UGA courses by semester, check the Registrar's Web site.
Local Government Administration
PADP 7500 Local Government Management
PADP 7520 Urban Policy
PADP 7540 Productivity Improvement in Local Government
PADP 8430 Public Financial Management
PADP 7840 Budget Practicum
PADP 8520 Administration of Local Government: Growth and Development Policy
PADP 8540 Administration of Local Government: Human Vitality and Quality of Life
PADP 8560 Special Topics in Urban Administration
PADP 8840 Metropolitan Fiscal Problems
POLS 8160 Urban Politics
GEOG 6630 Advanced Urban Geography
GEOG 6660 Urban and Regional Development
GEOG 8630 Seminar in Urban Geography
GEOG 6370 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
Public Budgeting and Finance
PADP 7840 Budget Practicum
PADP 8430 Public Financial Management
PADP 8830 Seminar in Public Budgeting
PADP 8840 Metropolitan Fiscal Problems
PADP 8850 Quantitative Analysis for Public Decision-Making
FINA 8000 Financial Management
ACCT 7990 Financial Accounting
Public Management - Organizational Theory
PADP 8420 Leadership in Public Service
PADP 8960 Organizational Development and Change
MGMT 9010 Management Research Methodology
MGMT 9020 Concepts of Organizations
MGMT 9500 Strategic Management Research
MGMT 9820 Seminar in Organizational Behavior
Public Personnel Administration
PADP 7900 Managing Volunteers in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors
PADP 8420 Leadership in Public Service
PADP 8720 Seminar in Selected Problems in Public Personnel Administration
MGMT 7010 Developing Leadership Skills
MGMT 9810 Seminar in Human Resource Management
PSYC 6140 Introduction to Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Public Policy
PADP 7520 Urban Policy
PADP 8670 Policy Analysis I
PADP 8680 Policy Analysis II
PADP 8620 Policy Process
PADP 8630 Policy Implementation
PADP 8640 Program Evaluation
PADP 8850 Quantitative Analysis for Public Decision-Making
SOWK 6011 Social Welfare Policy and the Social Work Profession
SOWK 7106 Evaluation of Community and Institutional Practices
SOWK 7206 Evaluation of Family-Centered Social Work Intervention
SOWK 7411 Advanced Policy Analysis
SOWK 8166 Qualitative Methods in Social Work
Higher Education Administration
PADP 7130 Information Management in the Public Sector
PADP 8420 Leadership in Public Service
PADP 8640 Program Evaluation
PADP 8670 Policy Analysis I
PADP 8680 Policy Analysis II
EDHI 8300 The Law and Higher Education
EDHI 8400 Finance of Higher Education
EDHI 9050 Organization and Governance in Higher Education
EDHI 8200 Institutional Research
EDHI 8600 Assessment in Higher Education
EDHI 9500 Policy Studies in Higher Education
Health Policy and Administration
HADM 7600 Introduction to Health Policy and Management
HADM 7700 Public Health and Healthcare Ethics
HPRB 7070 Program Planning in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
HPRB 7470 Program Evaluation in Health Promotion and Health Education
HPRB 7270 Resource Development and Implementation in Health Promotion
HPRB 6610 Health Communication
HPRB 7170 Aging and Health
EHSC 7060 Fundamentals of Environmental Health Science
THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA AB / MPA PROGRAM
The Master of Public Administration program (MPA) in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia (UGA) has joined with the UGA Honors Program to offer the AB/MPA joint degree program. Click here to open a PDF with more information.
MPA-JD JOINT DEGREE PROGRAM
The University of Georgia offers a joint MPA-JD degree through the Department of Public Administration and Policy and the School of Law. This program allows a student to earn both degrees in four years, eliminating approximately one year of academic work.
Applicants must apply separately to both programs, preferably at the same time, and meet the admissions requirements for each. It is required to take both the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) to be considered for admission. Admissions decisions are made by faculty committees in both programs, and approved by the Graduate School in the case of the MPA.
Once accepted, the student can choose to begin studies in either discipline. For instance, MPA/JD students who choose to start with law dedicate the first year exclusively to legal study and the second year to the Public Administration and Policy curriculum. Courses in both subject areas are taken in the third and fourth years.
A first-year student in one of the degree programs who did not initially apply to the other program may apply for the joint degree by making a timely application for admission to the new program during the first year of MPA or law study. Joint degree programs are not open to transfer students.
INTERNSHIPS
Before graduating, the student must complete a public service internship and submit a paper on the experience. This requirement helps to ensure that the degree candidate can perform responsibly and proficiently at a professional or managerial level. Additionally, the internship provides students with an experiential basis for linking their course work to their future careers as public service professionals. Either a full-time three-month internship or a part-time six-month internship is required.
Examples of recent internship opportunities include positions at the Centers for Disease Control and the General Accounting Office at the federal level of government. Within Georgia , internship sites have included the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, the Georgia Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia , and in the Georgia local governments of DeKalb County , Forsyth County , Gwinnett County and Oconee County as well as the cities of Athens , Atlanta , Duluth , and Rome . Outside of Georgia, students have interned at the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (Florida), the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, City of Alexandria (Virginia), and City of Renton (Washington). Nonprofits that have employed our students as interns include Project Safe (Georgia), Athens Regional Medical Center Foundation, Court Appointed Special Advocate Program, Inc. (Georgia), The Alliance for Quality Education (South Carolina), and Families and Schools Together International (Wisconsin).
Students with prior successful experience in a position at a professional or managerial level may seek exemption from the internship requirement. Students desiring such an exemption should submit a request in writing to the MPA Program Director, justifying the allowance. The Program Director will decide whether the applicant's experience meets departmental requirements. Exemption from the internship does not, however, eliminate the requirement of an internship paper. Students who must complete an internship should consult with the MPA Program Director or MPA Program Specialist, who will assist the student in arranging to satisfy the requirement. The Program Director and Program Specialist will also provide academic advisement during the internship.
INTERNSHIP PAPER
After the internship work requirement has been completed, students must submit a paper describing their internship experience and relating their course work to that experience. The internship paper provides an opportunity for the student to demonstrate both analytical ability and writing skills, and should consist of three parts:
1. Description of the student's duties as an intern, including tasks performed, responsibilities assigned, and projects attempted;
2. Comparison of what the student learned from his or her work as an intern with what was learned in regular course work;
3. Statement of the student's conclusions about the efficacy of the MPA program, and any recommendations to improve it.
The paper should be approximately 15-25 pages in length and delivered to the MPA Program Director at least three weeks prior to the end of their last semester/term in the program.
COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
A comprehensive examination, administered during the student's last semester, tests the student on four general areas of public administration: Public Administration and Democracy, Public Personnel Administration, Public Financial Administration, and Public Management-Organization Theory. This examination is designed to provide students with an opportunity to display a comprehensive understanding of the discipline of Public Administration. Students must be able to integrate all course work – including methodology and electives – into their responses to the questions. The comprehensive examination may not be taken prior to the last semester of course work.
The MPA comprehensive examination is given once each semester and during the summer. Students should apply to take the examination in advance, normally during the first two weeks of the semester/term in which they desire to take the examination. Each exam will be graded by two professors, and the student's answers will be assigned one of three grades: pass with distinction, pass, or fail. Students failing the MPA comprehensive examination on the first attempt may retake it a second and final time. The examination, which is three hours in length (9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon), is usually given on the tenth Friday of each semester, counting from the first full week of classes, and on the fourth Friday of the Summer through-session.
Click here to view sample exam questions.
DEADLINES
Departmental application deadlines coincide with Graduate School deadlines. |
