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MPA Curriculum and Advising Sheet

News Type College News

Total Required Credit Hours: 52

For current course listings and syllabi, please visit the Graduate Advising page.

Core Courses (32 credits – complete all courses)

  • PUBAFRS 6000: Public Policy Formulation and Implementation, 4 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 6010: Legal Environment of Public Organizations, 4 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 6030: Public Sector Economics, 4 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 6040: Public Budgeting and Finance (Prerequisite: 6030), 4 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 6050: Managing Public Sector Organizations or PUBAFRS 7553: Nonprofit Management and Governance, 4 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 6060: Managerial Leadership in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 4 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 6070: Public Affairs Statistics, 4 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 6080: Public Affairs Program Evaluation (Prerequisite: 6070), 4 credit hours

Skills Courses (5 credits total required, 3 beyond required course noted below)

  • PUBAFRS 6500: Written and Oral Communication (Required), 2 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5513: Excel Basic Skills (session 1), 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 5514: Excel Advanced Skills (session 2), 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 5515: Conversing with Confidence Across Differences, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6055: Judgement in Managerial Decision-Making, 2 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 6505: Governmental Accounting, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6510: Conveying Quantitative Data in Public Affairs, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6515: Database Management, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6525: Survey Design, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6530: Negotiation, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6541: Professional Development Skills for Public Affairs, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6565: Coaching as a Leadership Skill, 1 credit hour
  • PUBAFRS 6890: Special Topics Skills (Topics vary by semester), 1 credit hour

Elective Courses (12 credit hours from the following list)

Courses are separated by general area of relevance for the purposes of transparency for students. Not all courses are offered regularly. Students need not take courses from each subcategory and may take multiple courses from any category. Specific courses are not repeatable.

The lists of skills and elective courses are fluid, as new courses are routinely developed. The Glenn College cannot guarantee that a specific elective will be offered in any given term. For the most up to date list of electives, please consult the course offerings list on Buckeyelink.

 

  • PUBAFRS 5110: Higher Education and Workforce Development, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5120: Social Change Advocacy: Organization, Mobilization and Activism, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5240: Race and Public Policy in the United States, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5250: Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5600: Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5610: Innovation and Policy in a Global Economy, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5700: Rebuilding Failed and Weak States, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5750: Public Policy: The Business-Government Relationship, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5890: US Food Policy, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5895: Food Insecurity, Food Assistance Programming and Policy in the U.S., 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7503: Higher Education Policy for Public Leaders, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7505: Wicked Policy Problems, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7507: Criminal Justice Policy, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7508: Juvenile Justice Policy, 3 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 5531: Economic Development Policy and Practice, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5900: Food System Planning and the Economy, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 5506: Administration of Criminal Justice Policy, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 5770: Risk and Decision Analysis, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 5591: Lobbying and Government Relations, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 7550: Contract Management, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 7554: Performance Measurement and Management in the Public Sector, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 7555/: Project Management, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 7557: Strategy for Public Organizations, 3 credit hours

PUBAFRS 7650: Public Management in a Hybrid World, 3 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 5590: Fundraising and Philanthropy for Nonprofit Orgs, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5592: Marketing for Nonprofit and Public Orgs, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 5595: Social Enterprise, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7501: Grant Writing in the Public Sector, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7533: Nonprofit Financial Management, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7553: Nonprofit Management and Governance (if not used for core curriculum), 4 credit hours

  • PUBAFRS 5773: Qualitative Methods, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7571: Multivariate Data Analysis for Public Policy and Management, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7572: Policy Simulation and Modeling, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7573: Public Affairs Qualitative Methods, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7574: Mixed Methods Approaches for Policy-Related Research, 3 credit hours

The lists of skills and elective courses are fluid, as new courses are routinely developed. Additionally, not every course is offered each semester. The Glenn College cannot guarantee that a specific elective will be offered in any given term. For the most up to date list of electives, please consult the course offerings list on Buckeyelink.

Capstone Course (3 credits required)

Not all capstone courses are offered regularly. Please be sure to consult the master schedule via BuckeyeLink to make sure you have the pre-requisites in place in order to take a specific course. Consult with your advisor to plan out a program that will best suit your interests and prepare you to meet requirements.

  • PUBAFRS 7900: Capstone: Research Paper in Public Affairs, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7910: Capstone: Public Policy Issues, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7930: Capstone: Public Budgeting and Finance, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7940: Capstone: Public Management, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7950: Capstone: Nonprofit Topics, 3 credit hours
  • PUBAFRS 7960: Capstone: Information Management, 3 credit hours

Capstone Notes:

The prerequisites for capstone are PUBAFRS 6000, PUBAFRS 6040, PUBAFRS 6050 or 7553 and PUBAFRS 6080.  It is advised that all core courses are completed prior to enrollment in a capstone course to best prepare students for success in the class. Please see Appendix K for more information on the capstone requirement.

Students interested in PUBAFRS 7950: Capstone: Nonprofit Topics should also have PUBAFRS 7553 completed prior to enrollment in that capstone course.

MPA Exit Requirements:

  • Fulfillment of credit hour requirements
  • Fulfillment of course requirements
  • Achievement of a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 in all courses taken for graduate credit
  • Registration during the final semester of the degree program for a minimum of three graduate credit hours
  • Submission of the Application to Graduate to the Graduate School, via the GradForms system, by the deadline communicated by the Glenn College
  • Please review the Graduate School Handbook for more detail on these requirements
  • Successful completion of the capstone course with grade “B” or higher

Important Notes:

  • MPA students are not permitted to take PUBAFRS 5060, 5062, 6045, 6051, or 6075.
  • The MPA is offered in-person or online.
    • For students in the in-person modality, students must complete a majority of their coursework in-person to align with accreditation standards. The in-person MPA students are highly recommended to take no more than one core or elective course online per term, and availability of online coursework is not guaranteed.
    • For students in the online modality, students must complete a majority of their coursework online to align with accreditation standards. The online MPA students are not permitted to take core courses in-person.
  • With the permission of the Glenn College Graduate Studies Chair, students may count graduate-level graded coursework from outside the college to apply toward their total required elective hour total of 3 credits (e.g. one 3-credit course in most cases).
    To obtain permission, a student must fill out Petition to Count Outside Coursework found at the Graduate Advising webpage submit it to their advisor for approval PRIOR to enrolling in the course. You must submit a syllabus from the course you are seeking to take. Please consult with your advisor for ideas and suggestions for coursework that matches your areas of interest.
  • Additional capstone courses may count toward the fulfillment of elective degree requirements. A grade of “C” or higher is required for a capstone course to count as an elective substitution. A grade of “B” or higher is required for the capstone course to count as your MPA exit requirement.