Doctor of Philosophy in Public Affairs
http://www.utdallas.edu/epps/public-affairs/degrees.html#phd/
Faculty
Professors: Marie Chevrier, Euel Elliott, L. Douglas Kiel, Murray
Leaf, Richard Scotch
Associate Professors: Simon Fass
Assistant Professors: Paul Battaglio, Jeremy
Hall, Young-joo Lee, Meghna Sabharwal
Clinical Professor: Donald Arbuckle, Robert Whelan
Clinical Assistant Professor: Kimberly Aaron
The mission of the Ph.D. in Public
Affairs program is to prepare students for academic careers or high-level
management positions in public and non-profit organizations by assuring that
they gain competency at an advanced level in the core subject matters and methodologies
that are central to the study of Public Affairs. Through instruction and
research, the faculty will help students obtain a firm understanding of the
broad intellectual tradition of public administration and related fields. It
will integrate both traditional and innovative methods of educational delivery
and emphasize the application of theory to practice.
Objectives
The Doctor of Philosophy in Public
Affairs degree is an interdisciplinary doctoral program that prepares graduates
to assume either positions in academe, research producing organizations or
positions of administrative authority in public (government, public school
districts), quasi-public (healthcare, insurance), and nonprofit (providers,
foundations) organizations. The degree combines innovative and traditional
methods of educational delivery and emphasizes the integration and application
of theory to practice. The guiding philosophy of the degree is that "public
affairs" involves more than mere functional administration, policy implementation
or quantitative policy analysis. Rather, doctoral education in public affairs
requires an interface between the traditions of public management, decision
science, and policy analysis and processes with a practical appreciation for
the challenges of maintaining and building institutions of governance and a
civic culture in a complex, democratic society.
The PhD program in Public Affairs is
a cohort program. The program requires 42 hours of coursework plus relevant
doctoral dissertation hours. Well-prepared students (for example, those with a
master’s degree in public administration, public affairs, public policy,
business administration, health administration, or education administration)
may be able to complete the course requirements and the dissertation within 3
years from their initial enrollment. Students in each cohort take 6 hours of
classes each fall, spring and summer semester. This allows students to complete
the core courses and elective in 7 consecutive semesters of enrollment.
Students will generally start the production of the dissertation during the
seventh semester of enrollment. Entering cohorts begin each fall semester. This
approach produces shared experiences and progress through the program that
enrich student learning and student research.
Faculty
Commitments
The faculty of the PhD program in
Public Affairs is committed to producing clear and specific results for our
students. Thus, the specific objectives for all graduates of the PhD in Public
Affairs program are:
1. To Demonstrate Comprehensive and
Deep Knowledge: Students will demonstrate their
knowledge of the interface between the traditions of public management,
decision science, and policy analysis and processes with a practical
appreciation for the challenges of maintaining and building institutions of
governance and a civic culture in a complex, democratic society.
2. To Understand and Apply Theories and Processes of Knowledge
Acquisition: Students, as executive level
administrators, will have a solid grounding in theory and in the process of
knowledge acquisition through research that is essential for institutional
maintenance and renewal.
3.
To Produce
Scholarly Manuscripts and Publications:
Students, as scholars, will have the ability to produce scholarly manuscripts
based on extensive practical experience or field-based research that are worthy
of publication in the journals of the field.
4. To Develop,
Present, and Defend Complex Ideas:
Students will have the ability to develop, present, and defend both orally and
in writing complex ideas based on in-depth scholarly research.
Facilities
Students have access to the
computing facilities in the
Admission
Procedures and Policies
Application Deadlines: The PhD
program in Public Affairs is a cohort program allowing new groups of students
to start each fall semester. Cohorts only start during fall semesters. Students
intending to start with a fall cohort must submit their applications by March 1
of that year.. Students admitted to the program, but
who do not hold one of the master’s degrees noted above, will generally be
required to take master’s level courses in public management, basic statistics,
financial management, budgeting or economics.
Application/Admission Requirements:
Prospective students must complete the University’s graduate application form
and arrange to have GRE scores and transcripts of all college coursework sent
to UTD. A graduate GPA of 3.0 or better and a minimum combined math and verbal
GRE score of 1100 are expected. Three letters of recommendation are also
required. Applicants must submit a written statement that should, at a minimum,
include: (1) the nature of the student’s current work situation and
responsibilities; (2) responsibilities for large scale/strategic issues in
their work environment; (3) the nature and frequency of interactions with
organizational stakeholders; (4) the student’s current span of control in their
work environment; and (5) their career goals upon completion of the Ph.D. All
applicants must also submit a complete professional resume.
Graduate Assistantships: Students
admitted to the program may receive teaching/research scholarships and/or
assistantships. Prospective students interested in receiving the
scholarship/assistantships must have submitted all application materials
including an application form for a scholarship/assistantship by March 1 of the
year they intend to start the program. Applications for the
scholarships/assistantships may be obtained from the office of programs in
public affairs. Offers of teaching/research scholarships and assistantships
will be made by May 1 of the year of fall enrollment.
Ph.D. in Public Affairs
The Ph.D. requires a minimum of 42
hours of course work and twelve hours of dissertation work beyond the master’s
degree for a total of 90 graduate hours. Students not holding a master’s degree
in public affairs, public administration, public policy or other related field
will be expected to complete additional course work. These courses will be
determined by the program director. Students must
also complete qualifying examinations and the doctoral dissertation.
Prerequisites
Prior to enrolling in core classes
in the PhD program students must show evidence of completing graduate level
course work in general public management, basic statistics, financial
management and budgeting and economics or public finance. Students admitted to
the Ph.D. program without these requirements may complete relevant courses in
the Masters of Public Affairs program at UTD prior to taking Ph.D. level
courses. Students lacking a recent graduate level statistics course may be
required to complete EPPS 5315 Introduction to Quantitative Methods..
Required
Courses (42 hours)
The Program will consist of course
work in four substantive knowledge areas. These areas are the public affairs
core that includes topics of Governance: Leadership, Change and Conflict
Resolution. The three remaining substantive knowledge areas are Social Policy
and Development, Decision Analysis and. Organizational Management and Analysis
Dissertation Research
During the dissertation research
students must also be enrolled in PA 8V99 Dissertation.
Program
Course Work
Cohort
Mapping of Courses: 42 hours of required coursework through 7 consecutive
semesters
YEAR
Fall
PA 7321 Ethics and Law in Public Affairs
PA 7325 Survey of Public Affairs
Spring
PA 6326 Decision Tools
for Managers
PA 7330 Research Design in Public Affairs
Summer
PA 7375 Non-Profit Organizations: Theory
and Practice
PA 6320 Organizational Theory
YEAR TWO (18 semester credit hours)
Fall
PA 7322 Negotiations for Effective
Management
PA 7338 Seminar in Human Resources
Spring
PA 7305 Leadership of Public and
Non-Profit Organizations
SOC 6312 Socio-Economic Theories or SOC 6340 Domestic Social Policy
Summer
PA 7311 Models and Tools of Change Management
EPPS 6352 Evaluation Research Methods in
the Economic, Political and Policy Sciences
YEAR THREE (18 semester credit hours)
Fall
PA 8340 Dissertation Seminar
Elective – (any 6000 or 7000 level PA or
EPPS course)
Spring
PA 8V99 Dissertation(6 hours)
Summer
PA 8V99 Dissertation(6 hours)
Qualifying Examinations and
Assessment of Student Performance
All students must successfully
complete qualifying examinations. Students will complete PA 7325 Survey of
Public Affairs and PA 7321LEthics and Law in Public Affairs in the first fall
semester of enrollment. Students will complete PA 7330 Research Design in
Public Affairs and PA 6326 Decision Tools for Managers in the first spring
semester of enrollment. The examinations/assessments will cover the material in
the four classes noted above. The examinations/assessments will occur
immediately after the first spring semester of enrollment.
The examinations/assessments consist
of three components. These components are an assessment of the student’s
portfolio of work in the four courses noted above, a required GPA of 3.25 in
the four courses and a written examination covering the material in the four
courses. Successful completion of these components leads to continuation in the
program. Students who do not successfully complete the examination/assessment
process are dropped from the program.
Dissertation
Students must be enrolled in PA 8V99
Dissertation as a foundation for the production of a dissertation. A faculty
mentor will be assigned to each student to guide the research activity.
Students must successfully submit a dissertation proposal abstract to the
entire Public Affairs faculty for approval of their chosen topic. Students may
take up to 18 hours of dissertation enrollment.