Degree Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Prerequisite
PSC 130	Intro to US Government
Required Courses
PSC 500	Organization Theory Public Mgt	3
PSC 510	Intergov-Interorg Relations	3
PSC 520	Research Methods and Design	3
PSC 530	Quantitative Analysis	3
PSC 540	Human Resource Management	3
PSC 550	Public Budgeting	3
PSC 570	Administrative Law	3
PSC 580	Public Pol Analysis and Eval	3
Geographical Information Technology Concentration
Students must take an additional twelve hours of graduate electives as approved by the Director of the MPA program. These can be courses from any one of our concentrations.
GIT Concentration Courses
GIT 560	Intro to GIT	4
GIT 561	Environmental GIS	4
GIT 562	GIT Apps II-Business/Soc Sci	4
Total Hours		36

For PSC 130 credit, a minimum grade of C is required; or a score of 50 or higher in the “American Government” exam through the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). Students must satisfy this requirement no later than the end of their third semester in the program, including summer semesters. Failure to complete the requirement of PSC 130/its equivalent /satisfactory CLEP credit by the end of the third semester will prohibit registration for remaining core curriculum courses. Note that the course does not contribute credit to the required 36 graduate credit hours.

Note: The core curriculum cycle should ideally commence in the Fall Semester.

Any substitutions for the above requirements must be approved in writing by the Director of the MPA Program.

A candidate for the MPA degree must complete successfully a comprehensive written examination covering the eight core courses listed previously. To be eligible to take this examination, a student must have achieved at least a 3.00 (B) grade- point average on the core curriculum course work. Normally, the examination will be administered during the Fall and Spring Semesters. The comprehensive examination may be attempted no more than twice.

Internship

Students in the MPA Program may be allowed to enroll in PSC 596, Graduate Internship in Public Administration, for a maximum of six semester hours.

Normally, admission to the Internship Program will be dependent upon the following prerequisites:

1. Satisfactory completion of at least six of the required core courses;
2. Approval by the internship professor of the prospective intern's qualifications and proposed project; and
3. Placement of the student in an appropriate agency of the government or other public service institution.

The length of the internship and corresponding credit (at the rate of three to six hours per semester), not to exceed a total of six hours, will be determined for each student on the basis of the student's particular needs and opportunities.

Each intern will be required, in consultation with the intern professor, to develop a research design for the project to be undertaken during the internship. Each intern will also be required to write a paper showing how that research design has been carried out. Particular emphasis will be placed in the paper upon the relationship between the internship experience and academic course work. Close and continuing supervision of each intern's progress will be provided by the intern professor.