Master of Public Affairs
http://www.utdallas.edu/epps/public-affairs/degrees.html
Faculty
Professors: Euel Elliott, L. Douglas Kiel, Richard Scotch
Associate Professors: Paul Battaglio, Simon Fass,
Doug Goodman, and Jeremy L. Hall
Assistant Professors: Young-Joo Lee and Meghna Sabharwal
Clinical Professors: Donald Arbuckle, Calvin Jamison, Robert Whelan
Clinical Associate Professor: Wendy Hassett
Clinical Assistant Professor: Kimberly Aaron, Karen Jarrell, Nick Valcik
Senior Lecturers: Ted Benavides
Mission
The Master of Public Affairs program
advances excellence in public service. The program accomplishes this mission
through three sets of activities aimed at preparing its students to serve as
capable and ethical stewards of the common good. It imparts essential
knowledge, competencies and perspectives to a diverse array of future and
current professionals in government and nonprofit organizations. It supports
the wider community though in-service professional and leadership training, and
through policy and management analysis services. And it produces new knowledge
through practice-centered research.
Objectives
The Master’s degree in Public
Affairs is a professional diploma that focuses on skills of management and
analysis that contribute to successful carrying out of administrative and
leadership responsibilities in government and nonprofit settings. The specific
outcome objectives for students who graduate with the MPA degree are:
•
Firm understanding of the
philosophical, theoretical and legal foundations of public management, policy
making, and leadership in government and nonprofit settings;
•
Proficiency in organizational and
decision analysis, research and evaluation practice, and quantitative and
qualitative techniques;
•
Sound preparation for advanced study
aimed at research centers; and
•
Mastery of persuasive written and
oral communication.
Facilities
Students
have access to the computing facilities in the School of Economic, Political
and Policy Sciences and the University’s Computing Center. The School has two
computing laboratories which have over 50 computers that are network linked and
equipped with major social science software packages, including E-Views, R,
Rats, SPSS and STATA. A computerized geographic information system, the Lexis Nexis Database, and WestLaw are
also available for student use. The University’s Computing Center provides
personal computers and UNIX Workstations. Many important data and reference
materials are also available online via the McDermott Library and School’s
memberships in numerous organizations.
Admission Requirements
The University’s general admission
requirements are discussed here.
The Master of Public Affairs program
seeks to attract and admit highly motivated students with strong records of
academic performance from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. The
program draws from mid-career professionals and from the pool of recent college
graduates alike to create a diverse and capable pool of students with a desire
to contribute to public service. The minimum requirement for admission to the
MPA program is a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university.
Students’ records are evaluated across several performance dimensions in making
admission decisions. In accord with Chapter 51, of the Texas Education Code, decisions
on admission to degree-granting graduate programs at U. T. Dallas are based on
holistic considerations of all information contained in the application
material submitted, including academic, career and personal histories.
Standardized test scores and GPA levels cited in the catalog descriptions of
some degree programs are listed for advisory purposes only, to indicate the
typical achievement levels of students enrolled and succeeding in the various
programs. No single quantitative or qualitative measure or any specific
combination thereof, constitutes a definitive standard for admission. Rather,
each application will be considered individually and each applicant’s complete
profile of strengths and prospects for successful completion of the program will
be evaluated.
In general, students who have a 3.0
undergraduate grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) and a combined verbal and
quantitative score of at least 1000 on the Graduate Records Examination (GRE)
or equivalent score on the Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT), are preferred. Students may submit the score from the
writing component of the GRE test as additional evidence of their writing
skills. An analytical writing score of at least 4.5 in the GRE is considered
desirable. Standardized test scores are only one of the factors taken into
account in determining admission. Students also submit transcripts, three
letters of recommendation and a one-page essay outlining the applicant’s
background, education, and professional objectives. Students who fail to meet
these standards may be admitted on a probationary basis until they demonstrate
their capabilities in graduate level course work.
To be guaranteed consideration for
admission, fall applications must be received by August 1. Applications for
spring admission must be received by December 1. Any incomplete application
received after these dates will not be considered for admission during the
designated semester. Students who do not meet this deadline must reapply for
the following semester.
Prerequisites
While there are no specific
prerequisites required for any MPA course, students who lack background in
particular areas may be advised or required to take preparatory courses. In
particular, students who lack background or experience in mathematics and micro
computing may be required to develop proficiency in these areas before being
admitted into certain courses. Students meet with the Assistant Program Head
for Advising and Enrollment to determine these requirements.
Degree Requirements
The University’s general degree
requirements are discussed here.
Students seeking a Master of Public
Affairs (MPA) degree must complete at least 42 semester credit hours of work in
the program. The program has three components: a 24 hour core, 12 hours of
directed electives within a chosen specialization and the 3 hour Capstone
seminar (Policy Research Workshop in Public Affairs: CAPSTONE). For students
without evidence of at least 12 months full time managerial experience in the
public or nonprofit sectors, 3 hours of internship credit are also mandatory.
Students for whom the internship requirement is waived must complete an
additional 3 hours of approved elective coursework.
Grade Point Requirements
Students must maintain at least a
3.0 grade point average in the core courses and an overall grade point average
of 3.0 to graduate. If a student’s GPA does not meet these standards University policy concerning academic probation and removal
from the program are in effect.
Core Courses (24 hours)
All MPA students should complete the
core courses as soon as possible. A full-time student entering the program will
normally take three core courses and one additional course each semester. The
workshop or internship is usually undertaken when the student has completed
most of the other degree requirements.
Required core courses for the MPA
(24 hours)
PA 6313 Public Policymaking and
Institutions
PA 7317 Economics for Public Policy or PA 6342 Local Economic Development
PA 7318 Ethics, Culture and Public Responsibility
EPPS 6313 Descriptive and Inferential Statistics for the Economic, Political
and Policy Sciences
PA 6311 Public Management
PA 6321 Government Financial Management and Budgeting
PA 6320 Organizational Theory
PA 6345 Human Resource Management
Elective Courses (12 hours)
Students not wishing to complete a
professional specialization must complete 12 hours of elective coursework in
addition to the core courses, capstone and internship. These courses
will be determined in consultation with the MPA advisor. Other courses,
including online offerings, may be authorized for all tracks at the discretion
of the MPA Program Director.
Professional Specialization Core
Courses
Specialization
tracks include: Public Management, Local Government Management, Nonprofit
Management, and Policy Analysis.
Students who specialize in Public
Management take 15 hours from: PA 6300 Quality and Productivity Improvement in
Government, PA 6326 Decision Tools for Managers, PA 6328 Management Process and
Analysis, POEC 6336 Bureaucracy and Public Policy, PA 7322 Negotiation
Strategies for Effective Management, PA 6344 Local Government Management, or
other appropriate courses approved by the MPA Director.
Students who select the Local
Government Management Track take 15 hours from: PA 6344 Local Government
Management, PA 6345 Human Resources Management, PA 6342 Local Economic
Development, SOC 6341 Urban Development and PA 6321 Government Financial
Management and Budgeting.
Students who choose Policy Analysis
complete 15 hours from: PA 7317 Economics for Public Policy, ECO 6361 Public
Sector Economics, EPPS 6316 Advanced Regression Analysis, EPPS 6352 Evaluation
Research Methods in the Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, EPPS 7304
Cost-Benefit Analysis.
Students who wish to focus on the
Non-profit Management Track take 15 hours from: PA 6380 Non-profit
Organizations, PA 6381 Non-profit Management, PA 6374
Financial Management for Non-profit Organizations, EPPS 6352 Evaluation
Research Methods and an additional elective course approved by the MPA
Director.
Other courses may substitute for
those listed in any specialization with the approval of the Associate Dean for
Graduate Education or the Director of the MPA degree.
Capstone
(3 hours)
The capstone in public affairs is
the culminating experience for graduating MPA students. Students integrate
knowledge from across the MPA curriculum in a faculty-directed semester-long
applied research project (PA 7v62 Policy Research Workshop in Public Affairs:
CAPSTONE). This required 3 hour seminar should be taken in the semester in
which the student intends to graduate.
Internship
(3 hours)
3 hours of internship credit (PA
8v97) are required for completion of the MPA. The internship involves work in a
professional capacity in an organization, under the joint supervision of an
experienced professional mentor at the internship site and a member of the
faculty. The standard three hour internship requires approximately a 20-hour
per week time commitment to the work experience for a total of 300 internship
contact hours during the semester. The objective of the internship is to
provide an introduction to professional life and to establish sound approaches
to the practice of public affairs. For students with evidence of at least 12
months full time managerial experience in the public or nonprofit sectors, 3
hours of internship credit may be waived at the discretion of the MPA director.
Students who wish to seek the internship waiver must submit a formal written
request to the MPA Director that includes a letter documenting the duration of
their experience and its relevance to public or nonprofit management. This
request must be approved no later than the student’s penultimate semester in
the program. Students for whom the internship requirement is waived must
complete an additional 3 hours of approved elective coursework in lieu of the
internship.