Unique dual degree offered by Glenn School and Fisher College

Dual Master of Public Administration and Master of Business Administration degree program starting next fall

With news of federal bailouts of businesses and private firms vying for government contracts filling the headlines, it can be hard to tell where the public sector ends and the private sector begins. To help students navigate the increasingly complex world of government-business relations, the John Glenn School of Public Affairs is teaming up with the Fisher College of Business to offer a rare new degree program.

Starting next fall, students at the two schools will be able to earn a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Business Administration in three years. “It’s rare in the higher education landscape,” said Trevor Brown, professor and associate director of academic affairs and research at the Glenn School.

The schools hope to begin recruiting students early next year for the Autumn 2010 quarter.

Brown said the MPA-MBA program will reflect the “increasingly blended nature of the public and private sectors,” which is often seen in areas like workforce management and business-government contracts.

“There’s no longer just one big federal agency or public agency that’s the street-level provider of a public service,” he said.

Administrators at the Glenn School and Fisher College began planning a curriculum for the joint degree program last spring. Brown said integrating the two degrees was made easier by the fact that both schools already cover common themes of management, leadership and finance, although students still need to understand them in public and private contexts.

School officials also asked current students to weigh in on the program’s design. One of those students was Jamie Levine, a doctoral student at the Glenn School who recently received an MBA from Fisher College.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for both schools. It’s a great selling point,” she said.

As a student at Fisher College, Levine sought out opportunities to enhance her private-sector studies with a public-sector perspective. She enrolled in an organizational management course at the Glenn School, where she learned more about the potential benefits and challenges of government-business interactions.

One day the students were asked to imagine themselves at the helm of a government agency that needed to outsource a project. Would they rather sign a contract with a nonprofit organization, or a private firm?

“About 97 percent of the class said nonprofit because they understand mission-driven [objectives],” she recalled. “I said I’d go where the talent is. … You can’t automatically rule out an entire sector.”

Levine, who worked in the nonprofit sector for six years before enrolling at Fisher College, said managers at public and nonprofit agencies can learn a lot from private-sector business practices.

“Corporate isn’t a dirty word,” she said. “You can’t rely on the tug-at-your-heartstrings mission. You have to know how to market yourself.”

Understanding both public and private organizations can appeal to a variety of people, Levine said. Whether you’re a public manager working with private businesses, or a business leaders sitting on board of a public or nonprofit agency, it helps to understand the similarities and the unique contexts of all kinds of organizations.

“And again it makes you more marketable, especially if you’re looking at companies that are emphasizing corporate responsibility,” she said.

The partnership with Fisher College is the eighth dual-degree program offered by the Glenn School. The school also has programs with the Knowlton School of Architecture, the Department of Arts Education, the Moritz College of Law, the School of Environment and Natural Resources, the College of Public Health, the College of Social Work and the Center for Slavic and East European Studies.