The Master's of Public Administration Program, Courses, and Faculty

The MPA program has as its purpose the preparation of professionals for professional careers in the public sector or continued study at the graduate level. The program’s greatest single asset lies in its potential to alleviate the shortage of professionally educated individuals, especially those from minority groups, at local, state, national and international levels of public service.

The program is designed to prepare students to resolve the increasingly complex problems of managing urban growth. It is a response to the increasing importance of planning and management as major instruments in developing solutions to problems of cities and metropolitan regions. Students leave the program with an array of conceptual, quantitative and professional skills. To achieve its vision, the program has adopted the following curricular goals:

1. Educate students on analytical approaches to decision-making in the managerial sciences
2. Provide students with problem solving skills and analytical competencies that are relevant to management positions
3. Emphasize to students a knowledge of the workings of governmental and non-governmental organizations
4. Develop the student’s ability to make use of academic research
5. Provide students a foundation in computer and information technology
6. Sharpen students’ writing and oral communication skills
7. Emphasize to students a knowledge of basic management processes and techniques

Core Course Requirements (24 Hours)

Specialization Courses (12 hours)

Students must take 12 hours of coursework in one of the following specialization areas: public policy, human resources, or international and development administration.

Electives (6 hours)

Electives in other departments may be counted toward the 6 required hours given the approval of the student’s faculty advisor and program coordinator. Common MPA elective areas include business administration, urban planning and environmental policy, law and transportation management.

Internship (6 hours) - PAD 700 Internship in Public Administration

Dual Degree Program

JD/MPA Program: A combined degree program with Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law enables students to acquire a JD and a MPA with a reduction in the total credit hours. To be eligible, the student must apply to and be accepted by both programs.

Course Descriptions

PAD 500 - Public Administration Theory and Practice (3)
A general survey of public sector management and administration. This class addresses administrative theory, policy, decision-making, and the concepts and practices of organizational management.

PAD 501 - Administrative Decision Making (3)
The techniques of decision analysis and methodology for making decisions are discussed. There is a focus on the risk and uncertainty of choice among policy alternatives.

PAD 502 - Research Methods in Public Administration (3)
Examines the concepts and methods employed in administrative research and analysis with an emphasis on methodological assumptions. The problems and issues in research design are also analyzed.

PAD 503 - Quantitative Methods I (3)
A modeling course that introduces classical deterministic optimization models. Topics include linear programming, probabilistic and statistical models.

PAD 504 - Quantitative Methods II (3)
An applied course in regression analysis, hypothesis testing, estimation and time series analysis. Strong emphasis will be on forecasting techniques. Mini-taps, SAS and SPSS will be utilized. (prerequisite PAD 503)

PAD 506 - Program Evaluation (3)
An analysis of alternative designs for evaluating the performance of programs. There is an emphasis on designing an evaluation study through application principles and problems encountered in evaluation research. (prerequisites PAD 502 & 503)

PAD 507 - Seminar In Organizational Theory (3)
An exploration of the various relationships between organization and management in both the public and private sphere. The live-case method will be used.

PAD 508 – Administration Regulations (3)
Focuses on legal context and the statutory, regulatory and adjudicative functions of public agencies. Reviews interpretations of administrative orders, rules, regulations, contracts and documents.

PAD 509 – Computer Applications In Public Administration (3)
Focuses on current practices for gathering data and analysis with the use of computers.

PAD 620 – The Policy Making Process (3)
An examination of the process by which policy is formulated and implemented. This class emphasizes the relationships between the political process and policy outcomes in illustrative policy areas.

PAD 621 – Social Research and Social Policy (3)
Discusses the implications of social science research for social policy. Experimental and research designs will be useful for deciding which program features to examine systematically. (prerequisites PAD 502 & 503)

PAD 622 – Science, Technology and Public Policy (3)
An examination of the impact of science and technology on governmental policy in the United States.

PAD 623 – Public Policy Analytical Methods (3)
Looks at the application of theories and techniques of policy analysis to current public problems. There is a focus on design and execution of policy research.

PAD 624 - Issues on Aging (3)
Addresses issues such as employment, health care, housing, income security, social services, social security and Medicare programs.

PAD 630 - Public Financial Management (3)
An introduction to capital budgeting, financial decision-making and valuation. Discusses sources of finance and financing problems associated with public projects.

PAD 631 - Government Budgeting & Financial Management (3)
Examines the design and use of planning, budgeting and other information systems in the control and evaluation of programs. Multi-project valuation techniques will be emphasized. (prerequisite PAD 630)

PAD 633 - Managerial Finance: Analytical Methods (3)
The study of decision-making models involving the major components of financial management. An emphasis is on the application of analytical methods to portfolio management. (prerequisites PAD 503 & 630)

PAD 640 - Public Personnel Administration (3)
Examines the fundamentals of personnel employment and placement, staff and evaluation, wage and salary administration, employment benefits and services, and labor relations.

PAD 641 - Human Resources & Organizational Planning (3)
Involves the critical analysis of personnel and organizational structure and function. Emphasizes research, planning, staffing and budget preparation.

PAD 642 - Labor Relations & Collective Bargaining (3)
Discusses the rise of labor unions in the public sector and reviews the collective bargaining process and the legal framework of collective bargaining.

PAD 650 -Intergovernmental Relations (3)
Examines the relationships and cooperative functions among federal, state and local governmental units. There is an emphasis on the urban administrator’s role in changing patterns of cooperation and coordination.

PAD 651 - Urban Administrative System (3)
An overview of the position of cities in the American governmental system, highlighting relationships between administrative, political, social and economic features of urban life.

PAD 652 - Human Services Administration (3)
A focus on the various approaches to the planning, delivery and administration of human services through public, private and non-profit organizations.

PAD 660 – Introduction to International Development (3)
Introduces theories of development, roles of international institutions in resource exchanges, foreign investment and trade, and the development of modernization.

PAD 662 - Comparative Public Administration: Developing Nations (3)
Looks at the role of the administrative process of political development emphasizing bureaucracy and political change in emerging nations.

PAD 663 – Seminar on Developing Societies (3)
An analysis of traditional and transitional societies, theories and practices of developmental change, and the role of bureaucracies in development, institutional buildings, public enterprises, technology assessment and transfer.

PAD 700 – Internship (6)
Work and independent research in a public or governmental agency under the direction of an agency supervisor and internship coordinator. Students who have had three or more years of experience in the public sector, or who are currently employed in the public sector, may be permitted to substitute 6 semester hours of course work for the internship requirement. (prerequisite 24 credit hours).

PAD 705 – Topical Seminar (3)
Selected topics emphasizing contemporary issues in the public sector and public policy.

Public Administration Faculty

		Dr. Michael Adams Program Director and Professor - Public Administration Ph.D., Atlanta University Hannah Hall, Room 326 Phone: (713) 313-7760 E-mail: Adams_MO@tsu.edu
		Dr. Eugene Barrington, Ph.D. Associate Professor - Public Administration Ph.D., Syracuse University Hannah Hall, Room 320B Phone: (713) 313-7385 E-mail: Barrington_EL@tsu.edu
		Dr. Walter J. McCoy Professor - Public Administration Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh Hannah Hall, Room 322A Phone: (713) 313-7312 E-mail: Mccoy_WJ@tsu.edu
		Dr. Zuberi Mwamba Professor - Public Administration Ph.D., Howard University Hannah Hall, Room 320A Phone: (713) 313-7332 E-mail: Mwambazi@TSU.EDU
		Dr. Don Anthony Woods Professor - Public Administration Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh Hannah Hall, Room 328A Phone: (713) 313-6843 E-mail: Woods_DA@TSU.EDU