Master of Public Administration Degree Plan

The Program Curriculum

The Master of Public Administration degree program requires 36 semester credit hours of graduate level course work.

Credit Hour Breakdown

Political science core course work	24
Internship or in-service research paper	3
Electives	9

A. CORE COURSES

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6302 — American Political Process: An examination of the major institutions in the American political system. Topics include the constitutional basis of American institutions, Congress, the presidency and bureaucracy, the judiciary, and the distribution of power in the United States.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6321 — Urban Politics: An examination of legal and political characteristics of city government and their impact on urban planning.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6322 — Government and American Business: An examination of the interplay between American, national, state and local government and American business. Topics of consideration include the historical changes in the relationship of government and business, the role of private enterprise in the federal grant-in-aid process, and the effect of government spending on business. Special focus will be given to government regulation of business.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6324 — Administrative Methodology: A study of research methods used to examine decisions and policy in the public sector.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6327 — Administrative Theory and Politics: An examination of organizational and behavioral theories of bureaucracy, their implications in a democratic society and the study of resulting policy issues.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6328 — Public Personnel Management: A course focusing on the process of personnel management for public institutions. Issues such as labor relations, federal and state employment procedures and salary systems are stressed.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6329 — Governmental Finance: A course of study relating to the roles and activities associated with governmental financial planning and their impact on society.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6330 — Application of administrative methods: An application of research methods used to examine decisions and policy in the public sector.

B.THE INTERNSHIP

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6671 — Public Administration Internship: The internship is an assignment in a public agency designed to provide the student with a learning experience within an organizational environment under the supervision of a faculty member. Those with prior experience in a public organization may choose to write an in-service research paper instead. All students must complete one of these requirements prior to graduation.

C. ELECTIVE COURSES

Students will select a minimum of nine credit hours of electives that are designed to complement and supplement the student’s overall career goals. The courses listed below are suggested electives. THESE ARE INTENDED ONLY AS EXAMPLES. Other graduate level or senior level courses at ASU, besides those listed below, may be recognized as electives toward the MPA degree if deemed relevant and appropriate by the student’s advisor.

1. All electives must be approved by the student’s advisor before the student enrolls in the course.
2. With the written permission of the head of the department and the dean of the Graduate School, up to six credit hours of approved 4000 level courses may be taken for graduate credit and used toward the master’s degree.

• Accounting and Management:
• • a. Accounting
    4305 Accounting Systems
    6301 Profit Planning and Accounting
    6305 Studies in Management Accounting
  • b. Management:
    4301 Organizational Theory
    4302 Ethics and Business
    6301 Case Studies in Business Policies
    6303 Management Simulation and Business Methods
    6305 Advanced Management Problems and Trends
    6307 Labor Relations Management

• Economics and Finance:

• • a. Economics:
    4303 Intermediate Micro-Economics
    6301 Problems of Business Fluctuations
    6322 Environmental Economics
  • b. Finance:
    6361 Advanced Management of Finance
    6363 Financial Institutions Practices
• Political Science:
  6341 Comparative Government
  6351 International Relations
  6352 U.S. Foreign Policy
  6353 Topics in International Relations
  6381 Special Topics
  6391 Research
• Psychology:
  4307 Perception
  4309 Cognition
  6303 Psychology of Social Behavior
  6309 Principles of Behavior Theory
  6311 Theories of Personalities
• Computers and Statistics:
  CS 6301 Business Programming Methodology
  CS 6307 Social Implications of Information Systems
  BA 6301 Advanced Statistical Theory
• History:
  4315 Economic History of the U.S.

D. INDEPENDENT STUDY

It is expected that a student will meet all core requirements (except those that may have been waived) by completing designated curses. A student may, however, be permitted to earn some elective course credit — usually not more than a total of six of the required 36 credit hours by enrolling in Political Science 6391 (Research). Enrollment in Political Science 6391 is reserved for students who want to work in an area where no formal course is available or in an area where they have already completed one or more courses. Students who enroll in Political Science 6391 are required to describe their study plan on the appropriate registration form, to obtain the approval of the faculty member who agrees to supervise the work, and to secure the approval of the head of the political science and criminal justice department and the dean of the Graduate School. Approval by the supervising faculty member, the department head, and the dean of the Graduate School must be obtained prior to the date of registration for the semester or summer term in which the course will be conducted.