Public Affairs 7990: MPAL Capstone

Upon successful completion of the course, students should have a strong understanding of the following:

• Their roles and responsibilities as leaders and managers in the public and nonprofit sectors.
• How the knowledge and skills they have acquired during their studies fit together, as well as how they might apply what they have learned to advancing their careers in the public and nonprofit sectors.

Upon successful completion of the course, student should be able to:

• Synthesize and apply knowledge, skills and values from the curriculum to a management or policy problem. The analysis completed in previous coursework will result in a recommendation that can be used in their organizations. It must include implementation details that deal with management, budget, resources required, timeline, law and relevant policy concerns.
• Develop a final set of deliverables including managerial recommendations based upon analysis and application of coursework. The goal is to have products that can be actually utilized by a client.
• Apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired as they complete a series of exercises designed effectively to communicate previous analytic results to multiple and diverse audiences in written, oral, and visual formats and be able to civilly engage in discourse.
• Develop and communicate a set of contingency plans for their organization to be used in the event of an emergency.
• Complete the portfolio of major work accomplished in the program. This will include reviewing their original plans in the beginning of the program, assembling the work done over their academic career, and a short reflection paper on what students have learned to identify their next set of lifelong learning goals.

A textbook may be required for this course. Please consult your instructor's syllabus for detail. 

The course grade is based upon the portfolio, management development plan, five assignments that help students to apply course materials to their own organization’s budget (or an organization meaningful to them) and participation. Late submissions receive a 10% penalty per day. Discussion responses count toward the course grade.

Deliverables and Percentage of Course Grade

• Portfolio, 10
• Developing a Management Recommendation ,30
• Crisis Management communication Plan ,10
• Press release and interview, 10
• Short professional presentation, 10
• Social media/electronic communication, 10
• Participation in Discussion, 20

You begin developing your portfolio early in your academic career by identifying what specific workplace problems might be applicable to the many skills and assignments covered in the various courses in the program. If you cannot identify a specific workplace problem other common managerial problems can be provided. After each major assignment is completed, you are asked to reflect on your work including what you have learned and how you may apply these skills and concepts in the future.

During the capstone, you will complete your portfolio by collecting and organizing all of the work that you have accomplished during your academic career and then writing a four-five page reflection on what you have learned in the program and your future life-learning goals.

You begin developing your portfolio early in your academic career by identifying what specific workplace problems might be applicable to the many skills and assignments covered in the various courses in the program. If you cannot identify a specific workplace problem other common managerial problems can be provided. After each major assignment is completed you are asked to reflect on your work including:

1. what you have learned; and
2. how you may apply these skills and concepts in the future.

During the capstone, you will complete your portfolio by collecting and organizing all of the work that you have accomplished during your academic career and then writing a four-five page reflection on what you have learned in the program and your future life-learning goals. You will need to answer the following questions:

1. How do you intend to apply any new awareness on-the-job or in personal relationships? (one page)
2. What do you picture for yourself as a future career path and how is that different given your participation in the program? (half page)
3. What do you regard as your three most important strengths and why? (one page)
4. What elements of this course you have found most worthwhile to your own experience and career perspective. Identify the elements and discuss each of these, elaborating how each is relevant to your job (2 pages).

As your academic portfolio accumulates throughout the program, a number of assignments will emerge as having particular relevance and utility for your workplace. You will pick one of these assignments and develop managerial recommendations using the various skills covered in the program. The goal is to develop specific recommendations that are useful and have been sufficiently developed that it can be implemented in the organization.

The final product is a one-page executive summary and a five-to-seven page report that expands on and provides context for the assignment by providing additional detail on the problem, how alternative solutions were developed, how they were evaluated, and a set of specific recommendations that include a discussion of important implementation details. The report is not a research paper but an analysis of a managerial problem and the development of recommendations that are accessible, rigorous and credible.

The final goal of the course is developing and applying communications skills to effectively communicate your professional work.

The class is designed around a number of online modules and competency-based deliverables designed to help students develop skills on the topics of written, oral, and visual communication, crisis management, and interaction with the media.

Communication Modules

1. Develop a crisis management communication plan

2. Develop a press release and related interview with a reporter
3. Professional presentation to management team or testimony before a committee
4. Social media and other electronic communication