Public Administration, MPA

The MPA degree prepares students to take leadership roles in the public and nonprofit sectors. The Master of Public Administration degree is multidisciplinary and designed to provide graduate professional education for individuals who wish to prepare themselves for administrative and/or policy careers in government, the nonprofit sector, or organizations that are concerned with public affairs. The program also provides education and training for those already employed in the public and nonprofit sectors to enhance their skills and advance their careers. The MPA curriculum integrates theory and practice to give public and nonprofit managers and policy makers the knowledge and skills necessary to manage organizations, to formulate and implement policies, and to analyze policies and make recommendations for improvement.

The School of Public Affairs’ MPA degree is distinctive in that students can acquire the degree entirely online, entirely in the classroom, or seamlessly in combination.

MPA Mission

The Master of Public Administration program provides high quality graduate education for current and prospective practitioners in public and nonprofit organizations, here and abroad, to prepare them for excellence in public service.

To accomplish this mission, we strive to

Advance public service through improving the quality of public, nonprofit, national security, and criminal justice systems.
Teach students from diverse backgrounds to work collaboratively to meet societal challenges ethically, with compassion, vision, analytic rigor, and practicality.
Foster strategic leadership skills: critical thinking and decision-making, effective communication, creative problem-solving, knowledge management, multi-sector understanding, and global citizenship.
Support and model civil public discourse, citizenship, responsibility, and respect.
Facilitate a process of lifelong learning that evolves and adapts to the changing nature of the field and continuous development of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required.

MPA Core Competencies

Graduates of the MPA program will have the following competencies, as enumerated by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), the program’s accrediting body:

Lead and manage in public governance;
Participate effectively in the public policy process;
Analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, and make decisions;
Articulate and apply a public service perspective;
Communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry.

General Requirements

Complete a minimum of 36 semester hours of graduate coursework with a total grade point average of B (3.0) or better;
Complete an additional 3 semester hours of internship/field study (if required); and
Receive a grade of B- (2.7) or better in all required courses, including the final capstone or thesis course(s).

Course Requirements

Six Core Courses

PAD 5001 - Introduction to Public Administration and Public Service
Note: Students are expected to complete PAD 5001 within their first two semesters of enrollment.
PAD 5002 - Organizational Management and Behavior
PAD 5003 - Research and Analytic Methods
Note: PAD 5003 should be taken the semester before Capstone/Thesis.
PAD 5004 - Economics and Public Finance
PAD 5005 - The Policy Process and Democracy
PAD 5006 - Ethics and Leadership

Fifteen Semester Hours of Electives

Elective courses include a mixture of specialized courses, workshops, and other formats. Students may choose to focus these elective hours around a particular area based on their interests and career goals. Where appropriate, students may include specialized courses offered by other departments and schools of the University, with prior written approval of the program director.

Capstone Requirements: Capstone Seminar or Thesis

All MPA students, except those pursuing the thesis option, are required to complete PAD 5361, Capstone Seminar, in which they conduct, write, and present a client-based project. The Capstone Seminar is taken during the last semester of the student’s degree program. All core courses must be completed with a grade of B- or better before taking the capstone seminar.

In the Capstone Seminar, students work with a client in a public or nonprofit agency to identify a problem and then, using the knowledge and skills they have gained in the program, carry out a project and write a paper to address the problem. Projects take many different forms including business plans, marketing plans, surveys and interviews, salary studies, etc. The principle of the course is that it provides students with an opportunity to integrate what they have learned and apply their knowledge and skills to a real-world problem. Further, it provides the faculty with an opportunity to judge the student’s achievement of MPA core competencies.

The thesis option is available in lieu of PAD 5361 for MPA students who have an interest in pursuing a topic in-depth or who are planning to pursue a career in research or academia. Students must receive approval from their faculty advisor to pursue the thesis option. The thesis requires six semester hours of credit that normally spans two semesters.

Minimum eligibility requirements for pursuing a thesis include:

Matriculation in the MPA program
Successful completion of all core courses
Overall GPA of 3.5 or higher
Preliminary identification of a thesis topic or area of interest
Agreement of two SPA faculty members to serve on the thesis committee (one as thesis advisor)

A student wishing to undertake the thesis option applies formally through her/his faculty academic advisor, first, to establish eligibility with respect to the above criteria, and second, to identify appropriate faculty members to serve on the student’s thesis committee. The thesis committee consists of three people: a major advisor who is a full-time SPA faculty member, and two others. One of these must be a SPA faculty member, though the person can be an adjunct faculty member, and the other is a reader who has expertise in the area, but is either from the community or another school or department. (NOTE: Although the formal procedures entail application through the academic advisor, the student is encouraged to make informal contacts with appropriate subject-matter faculty to determine interest and availability.)

Field Study in Public Administration

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program at the UCCS School of Public Affairs includes professional experience among the requirements for degree completion. Students who do not have at least one year of professional experience in the field of public administration or nonprofit management, or the equivalent, are classified as pre-service. Pre-service students are required to complete a 3-credit internship course, PAD 6910 Field Study in Public Administration, which brings their total required course hours to 24 and the total hours required for the degree to 39.

In-service students may also enroll in PAD 6910 and complete an internship to obtain additional experience that differs from or is more specialized than previous experience. In this instance, the internship may be counted as an elective toward degree completion.

The MPA program director examines each student’s application and determines whether an internship is required or should be waived; each student is notified of this decision in his/her admission letter.

Additional information regarding internships may be found in the MPA Handbook, available on the School of Public Affairs website.