Public Administration (MPA

Public Administration

Director: Mengzhong Zhang, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

Public Administration involves the study of the management of governmental and not for profit entities. It is the who, when, where and how policies are formulated, implemented, and evaluated. It is where campaign promises are carried out (or not). Gannon University’s Master of Public Administration Program provides students with the tools they need to be able to be successful as a public administration professional and can be completed on a full or part time basis.

Public administration is a rapidly changing field where new ways of doing things are continually proposed and where politics and values are always in flux. Public administrators are held to high standards to be accountable, to be ethical, to be efficient and effective, and to be responsive to their constituents. Recent dramatic changes in the worlds of politics, government, international relations, not-forprofits, and the private sector have cast a new light on the importance of leadership within the public sector.

The urgency for leadership studies and development has never been greater. A commitment to instilling qualities of leadership in students lies at the heart of a Gannon University education. That long-standing focus on leadership has become even more intense through development of new academic programs and scholarships that will uniquely position Gannon graduates to take leadership roles in fields that will be most in demand in the next century. Governments, agencies, foundations, and authorities are seeking highly motivated individuals with communication, critical analysis, marketing, finance, strategic planning abilities, grant writing experience, program development capabilities, organizational skills, and the ability to solve problems creatively.

Gannon is a student-oriented, value-centered teaching university. This philosophy guides our approach to teaching, advising, and designing our curriculum. We work closely with students on an individual basis, challenging students to grow while ensuring they meet their personal objectives. Courses are rigorous and challenging by design, but we work with students to build the skills they need for the world of the new millennium. What are the origins of public administration? How has public administration evolved and changed? What motivates human behavior? What are the differences and similarities between public, private, and nonprofit management? What are the various theories of organization? What is the science of “muddling through”? How are policies formulated and implemented? What is strategic planning and how is it done? How are budgets and financial statements created? How do we evaluate programs? What role do ethical considerations play in public administration and what tools exist to help “good people make tough choices”? These are some of the questions that students will grapple with during time studying the field of public administration at Gannon.

Our central location to city, county, state, and federal government offices makes Gannon University a virtual public administration laboratory. Our close proximity allows for continuous interaction with government and agency leaders who visit classes on a regular basis and often serve as instructors themselves. This is a program in which real world case studies are often the focus of seminar deliberations and class projects. In addition, internship opportunities abound. This practical experience adds balance to academic life.

MISSION OF THE MPA PROGRAM

Gannon’s MPA program: • Prepares its graduates to be competent administrators, professionals and leaders in public and nonprofit organizations, domestically and internationally. • Educates socially responsible world citizens through civic and community engagement and innovation and develops a worldview by infusing international perspectives and activities into the curriculum. • Is dedicated to emphasizing public service values such as public interest, efficiency, effectiveness, democratic representation and participation, equity, diversity, sustainability, and accountability.

OUTCOMES OF MPA PROGRAM

As the basis for its curriculum, the program will adopt a set of required competencies related to its mission and public service values. The required competencies will include five domains: the ability • to lead and manage in public governance; • to participate in and contribute to the policy process; • utilize quantitative methods to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems and make decisions; • to articulate and apply a public service perspective; • to communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

• A Bachelor’s degree in any discipline from an accredited college or university • A completed application for admission • Transcripts from all prior institutions attended

• TOEFL or IELTS scores if English is not a first language • Students may also be offered “Provisional Acceptance” if their

GPA is a minimum of 2.7. Provisional acceptance requires students to earn a minimum of a 3.0 average in the first three

Core classes completed in the program within two consecutive semesters. If a student does not earn a minimum grade of “B” in each of the first 9 credits, they will not be permitted to register for further MPA courses. • Three letters of recommendation

While applications may be submitted at any time, Gannon reviews applications on a rolling basis. Please contact our admissions representative to discuss details about our next start date and how to apply. Students must complete the application process prior to the start date of a given session.

INTERNSHIPS AND COOPERATIVE EDUCATION

In consultation with the Director of Graduate Programs, students may accept field placements related to their interests and academic studies. Placements range from short-term assignments to fulltime positions. If students are looking for experience, internships complement book learning and classroom lectures and are also a great resume builder. If interested, students can consult the Director of Graduate Programs. In some circumstances, elective credits are awarded for these placements.

STEM DESIGNATION

Gannon University’s MPA program is a STEM designated graduate program.

WHAT IS A STEM DESIGNATED DEGREE PROGRAM?

A STEM designated degree program is an academic program that falls under one or more of the approved categories from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The DHS has a published list of programs that can be classified as STEM designated which can be viewed online.

WHAT DOES THE STEM DESIGNATION MEAN?

The programs in the STEM designated list have been recognized by the government for their focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics. The STEM designation also has special implications for international students who are studying in the United States on a student F-1 visa. For most international students, there is an opportunity to complete work experience following the completion of their degree through a program called Optional Practical Training (OPT). The standard duration for OPT is 12 months. However, if the student has completed a STEM approved program, OPT can be extended by as much as 24 months for a total of 36 months. For any clarification of the I-20 purpose, please contact Gannon University’s Office of Global Admissions and Outreach.

CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS

The MPA is a professional degree program. Each student begins studies with a wide variety of academic and work backgrounds. As such, the design of the curriculum is dependent upon your experiences and academic background.

The MPA curriculum requires 36 credits and is outlined as follows: Core Curriculum (27 credits)

This series is designed to give you the basic principles and theories of public administration along with the necessary skills to help students succeed in public administration.

The MPA program is fully face to face on ground program.

MPA Curriculum (36 credits)

GMPA 510 Introduction to Public Administration 3 GMPA 520 Administrative Ethics 3 GMPA 530 Public Personnel Administration 3 GMPA 540 Applied Statistics for Public and Nonprofit Administration 3 or GOLL 806 Fundamentals of Applied Statistics 3 GMPA 532 Public Budgeting and Finance 3 GMPA 533 Public Organizations and Management 3 GMPA 630 The Public Policy Cycles 3 GMPA 799 Research in Public Administration 3 GMPA 797 Public Administration Capstone Project 3 GMPA Electives 9

Four Concentrations

[Each concentration requires three courses (9 credits).]

1. Global Public Administration (GPA) (any of the below three courses) • GMPA 591 Global Comparative Public Administration (3) (new course) • GMPA 592 Globalization and World Politics (3) (new course) • GMPA 593 Current Issues in Global Public Administration (3) (new course) • GMPA 798 Internship (3) (existing course)

2. Organizational Learning and Leadership (OLL) (any of the below three courses) • 3 OLL classes at the recommendation of the MPA Program Director and the OLL PhD Director • GMPA 798 Internship (3) (existing course) ** In this concentration students can choose existing OLL PhD program courses if they want to pursue the PhD in the future and get a jump-start on that degree program.

3. Nonprofit Organization and Management • GMPA 512 Introduction to Nonprofit Organization and

Management (3) • GMPA 594 Nonprofit Management and Leadership (3) • GMPA 595 Resource Development for

Nonprofit Organizations (3)

4. Customized Concentration (any three graduate courses, 9 credits)

This special customized concentration is tailored to the scholarly or professional development need of the student. In this concentration, a student can take any three graduate courses (9 credits) offered by Gannon University, with the approval of the

MPA program director as well as the “home” program (where concentration courses are offered) director.

Students should consult with the Program Director to determine a systematic plan including their choice of electives and a research project given their prior course work, their areas of interest, and their future career plans.

MPA 4+1 Plus Program

Senior undergraduate students at Gannon University can join the 4+1 Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program. Undergraduate students may take up to four 3-credit MPA graduate courses in their senior year. To complete the remaining graduate coursework in one calendar year, students must enroll in the summer semester immediately following graduation. For all inquiries, please contact the MPA program director.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

500 SERIES COURSES GMPA 510 Introduction to Public Administration

3 credits Prerequisite: This course should be taken in the first 18 credits of the MPA program. This introductory course is set within the context of contemporary, political, social, and economic realities. It examines the policies and processes of governmental, nonprofit, and institution based programs from a multidisciplinary perspective. Students are introduced to the field and profession of public administration. Students also develop a broad understanding of the public sector while learning to think and act as an ethical public administration professional.

GMPA 520 Administrative Ethics

3 credits 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.

GMPA 530 Public Personnel Administration

3 credits This course covers human resources administration in public and nonprofit settings, including human resource planning, staffing, development, and compensation. Behavioral and environmental determinants are examined, including market factors, service delivery, and government regulations and policies.

GMPA 532 Public Budgeting and Finance

3 credits This course provides an introduction to public budgeting and finance. The budgetary process is, perhaps, the most important and fundamental component of the public policy process and democratic governance. Funding for public programs is inseparable from their operation (and existence). Furthermore, the sources of revenue for public programs can play an important role in the design of government spending. Since the budgetary process is inherently political we can understand it as both a political document and a management tool. Simply put, budgets are an expression of societal values. It is necessary, therefore, for public managers to possess the knowledge and skills required to understand the key principles of public budgeting and finance.

GMPA 533 Public Organizations and Management

3 credits This course explores theories of organizational behavior and performance as applied to public and nonprofit sector agencies, including legal constraints associated with leading public sector organizations, organizational authority systems, relationships between public and private organizations, development and fulfillment of organizational mandates in the public sector, and use of resources within organizations.

GMPA 540 Applied Statistics for Public and Nonprofit Administration

3 credits 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. The course encourages hands-on work with real data, use of statistical software, and the effective presentation of statistical information.

GMPA 591 Global Comparative Public Administration

3 credits Global Comparative Public Administration is an elective course in the Gannon University’s MPA program. This 3-credit course focuses on providing an introduction to the field of global comparative public administration, with primary focus on national administrative systems including reforms and capacity building efforts. This course covers contents of scope and history of global comparative public administration, focus for comparison, global public administration, concepts of system transformation, historical antecedents of national

administrative systems, bureaucracy, comparative research and methods, administration in developed and less developed nations and an overview of bureaucracies.

GMPA 592 Globalization and World Politics

3 credits How do the leaders of sovereign nation-states formulate their foreign policies and advance their nation’s interests in a world characterized by increasing globalization? How much policy-making freedom to they have when faced with global constraints beyond their control? How do they respond to their domestic constituents while advancing multilateral efforts to address global issues? Does the nation-state still matter? Do policy choices reflect national identities? Does culture determine who one perceives as friends or enemies? Is there a difference in the behavior and policies of dictatorships compared to democracies? These are some of the questions that will be investigated in this course.

GMPA 593 Current Issues in Global Public Administration

3 credits This course explores the global contours of economic, political, technological, security, cultural, migration, language, and environmental aspects of globalization. It will also look at the history of globalization by tracing the flows of commodities, people and ideas across geographic and ideological boundaries. An overarching theme will be the various ways in which globalization is supported by political and extra-political institutions and coordinated between different groups and cultures in a dynamic environment. In addition, the course will examine the often overlooked cultural dimensions of globalization, as well as its many counter-narratives of critique and discontent. Finally, we will consider the political backlash, at both the domestic and international levels, engendered by these globalizing processes and the future of the nation-state.

GMPA 594 Nonprofit Management and Leadership

3 credits Through extensive reading and site visits, you will explore the many challenges facing nonprofits and examine the functions and roles of nonprofit staffs and boards. You will also reflect on the similarities and differences between the business, government, and nonprofit sectors and the effective ways in which these three sectors collaborate.

600 SERIES COURSES GMPA 630 The Public Policy Cycles

3 credits This course introduces students to the public policy process and its key institutions and actors (such as legislative bodies, chief executives, administrative agencies, courts, interest groups, advocacy coalitions, and the media). The course emphasizes key parameters of public policy formulation (agenda setting, policy formulation and design, implementation, evaluation) and theories of policy change. Students will be able to differentiate policy types and tools, effectively use evidence in shaping public policy, and will appreciate the importance of context (social, economic, political, and technological) in developing effective policies.

700 SERIES ELECTIVES GMPA 798 Internship

3 credits Prerequisite: Permission of the Director of Graduate Programs Students are placed in work roles that are related to their professional interests and supervised by both a faculty member and a field coordinator.

GMPA 799 Research in Public Administration

3 credits Prerequisites: GMPA 540 Applied Statistics for Public and Nonprofit Administration or GOLL 806 Fundamentals of Applied Statistics This course discusses theory and limits of scientific inquiry, focusing on quantitative methods compared to qualitative methods of analysis, and research design and implementation. The class will encourage critical analysis of the research underlying policy recommendations and introduce students to a wide variety of social science research techniques and assists them in developing their own research projects.

GMPA 797 Public Administration Capstone Project

3 credits Prerequisite: This course can only be taken in the last semester of the student’s study in the MPA program. 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 MPAprogram.

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