The core curriculum is composed of seven required courses which focus upon subject matter that any administrator needs to master and use. Students are advised to take all core courses except POLSC 831 early in their degree programs.

Note: Each of these courses are only offered once per academic year.

These courses deal with specialized skills sets needed by 21st-century administrators. Choose any two of the following seven courses.

Each student must develop a particular emphasis. Detailed below are several areas of emphasis which we highly recommend to our students. Those who wish to propose other emphases may do so with the advice and consent of the Director of Public Administration.

PUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE

PLANNING

SECURITY STUDIES

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

PRE-SERVICE STUDENTS

Pre-service students are required to complete an internship (POLSC 897). This entails serving in a full-time administrative position for a period of at least 10 weeks (400 hours) in the public sector, or in a nonprofit agency.

Note: Internship should not be done until most of the core courses are completed.

Internship positions are coordinated by the Director of Public Administration. Ideally, the internship should occur after the second semester of full time coursework. All internships are competitive in nature and are available on a regular basis with state, county, local governments, and nonprofit agencies. A student's progress in the internship is monitored by the student's immediate supervisor and by the Director of Public Administration.

Please see links below for detailed information regarding the internship process.

IN-SERVICE STUDENTS

In-service students with significant employment experience may have the internship requirement waived. Students who wish an internship waiver, should consult the document below during their first year of study.

Internship Wavier Request Form

• Meeting with the MPA Faculty: At about the mid-point in the semester, students taking the exam will meet with the entire MPA faculty to discuss the process and the expectations. To ensure that the committee and the candidate are on the same page at the completion of this meeting the student should communicate their understanding of the issues addressed at the meeting in written form to the Director of Public Administration.

• Approval to Schedule Final Examination Form: In order to schedule the examination with the Graduate School, an “Approval to Schedule Final Examination” form must be submitted at least two weeks before your final examination. The form must be signed by the student's major professor, committee members, and the Director of Public Administration.
  

• Review Questions: Three weeks before the exam review questions will be distributed. The core course review questions will be divided into five sections reflecting our core areas of public administration - research methods, policy analysis, public personnel management, organization and public administration theory, public budgeting and finance. Each section will contain two or three review questions. The questions will be prepared by the MPA faculty member responsible for each core course.

• Consultation with Individual Faculty: Typically the student will follow-up individually and in detail with each member of the MPA faculty who is responsible for any of the core course questions.

The comprehensive examination is divided into five sections corresponding to the core public administration areas addressed in our program. A response will be required to one question, taken directly from the review questions in each of the sections, for a total of five questions. It is a "take home" exam, which students have 48 hours to complete.

1. Organization and public administration theory/issues: The question in this section will deal with material covered in POLSC 702: Public Administration and Society and POLSC 735: Public Organization Theory.
2. Research Methods: The questions in this section will deal with material covered in POLSC 700: Research Methods.
3. Policy Analysis: The question in this section will deal with material covered in POLSC 710: Policy Analysis and Evaluation.
4. Public Personnel Management: The question in this section will deal with material covered in POLSC 708: Public Personnel Administration .
5. Public Budgeting and Finance: The question in this section will deal with material covered in POLSC 737: Public Budgeting and in POLSC 738: Public Finance .

Note: Students will be required to sign an affidavit attesting to the fact that the work on the actual exam is theirs only.

A blind evaluation of the comprehensive exam will be conducted by the entire MPA faculty. Each question will be graded as “fail”, “pass” or “pass with distinction”. If a student fails one question, an immediate retake of the question area failed is allowed. This retake can involve either another take home exercise or an oral examination. If the student fails more than one question, the student fails the entire exam, must retake the exam, and the Graduate School’s rules for retakes come into play. Specifically, the Graduate School allows only one retake. The student must wait at least two months but no more than fifteen months to ratake the exam. By rule of the Graduate School, additional retakes after the first is not permitted.

NOTIFYING THE STUDENT

Students shall receive evaluation of their performance via email within two weeks after the examination.