MPA Curriculum
Class scheduling
The MPA curriculum is delivered through traditional classroom courses, online courses, and hybrid courses (half online, half in classroom). Classes are scheduled to meet the needs of students working during the day. Traditional classroom courses meet once per week, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m., on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays; hybrid courses meet on these evenings, but every other week.
Courses are scheduled on a predictable rotation so that full-time students can complete the degree in two academic years. Full-time students typically take three courses per semester (fall and spring), plus their professional development requirement (see below) at any time during the course of study, including summer semesters. Part-time students usually complete the program within three or four years.
MPA courses and optional concentrations
MPA students complete 36 credits: (A) eight core courses for 23 credits, (B) four elective courses for 12 credits, and (C) a 1-credit professional development experience.
(A) The eight core courses (and their modes of delivery) are:
- Public Administration Foundations (classroom)
- Organizational Theory and Administrative Behavior (hybrid)
- Public Administration Research and Analysis (classroom)
- Program Planning and Evaluation (hybrid)
- Budgeting and Finance in Public Agencies (classroom)
- Human Resources Management in Public Agencies (hybrid)
- Public Policy (classroom)
- Applications in Public Administration, our capstone course (hybrid)
(B) Students choose how to make the most of their four elective courses from three options:
- Local Government Management concentration
- Nonprofit Management concentration
- Students pursuing the generalist MPA degree select elective courses to meet their professional development goals in consultation with the MPA program coordinator. In addition to the MPA courses, these elective courses may include options from other UTC graduate programs with permission of their program directors. MPA students often craft their own unofficial concentrations in public health, criminal justice, human resource management, data analytics, social work, and higher education leadership. Students in the generalist track may simultaneously pursue the MPA degree and the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Leadership and Decision-Making.
(C) Options for the 1-credit professional development requirement depend on whether the student is pre-service of in-service. In-service students have had at least two years of full-time management or analytic experience in a public or nonprofit agency. Pre-service students do not yet have this level of experience. To fulfill this requirement ...
- Pre-service students complete a 300-hour internship in a public or nonprofit agency;
- In-service students complete 1 credit of professional development coursework. Options include a reflective practitioner course, skills-based workshops, independent study, research experience, and a conventional 3-credit course aligned with the student's professional development goals.
Descriptions of MPA courses are available in the graduate catalog. Please note that the website may include minor changes to the curriculum that are not yet reflected in the catalog.