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COURSE
DESCRIPTIONS
PADM
6000— History, Scope and Practice of Public Administration
This course is designed to introduce the MPA student to the intellectual
tradition of the field of public administration. It focuses on theories,
concepts and methods which have become associated with the discipline
of public administration.
PADM
6010 — Communication Skills for Public and Non-profit managers
(1 credit hour)
A
skill-building course designed to prepare students to communication,
orally and in writing, professionally, concisely, and in format
typical of public and nonprofit workplaces.
PADM
6020 — GIS for Public Managers (2 credit hours)
Introduces
students to the use and application of Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) in public organizations. The principal focus is on
the use of GIS for planning and problem solving at the local government
level.
PADM
6030 — Grant Writing (1 credit hours)
Grants
are an increasingly important source of funding for public and nonprofit
organizations. This course is a skill-building course designed
to prepare students to write grants.
PADM
6050 — Seminar in American Government, with emphasis on Constitutional
law and public law/administrative law (3 credit hours)
This course aligns the public administrator’s role with the U.S.
Supreme Court ruling in Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982) which stated
that "a reasonably competent public official should know the law
governing his (or her) conduct" and must understand those constitutional
rights for which a public official can be held legally liable for
violating. The course explores the nature of administrative law
as it relates to substantive, procedural, and equal protection rights.
PADM
6100 — Public Organization Theory and Behavior
(3
credit hours)
This course is a systematic analysis of theories of organizations.
The focus is on the formal and the informal approaches to organizational
structure. Organizational membership, communications, reward systems
and leadership styles are stressed. Public sector application will
be emphasized.
PADM
6200 — Human Resources Management
(3 credit hours)
This course is designed to instill a basic understanding of the
personnel process in the public sector. The student will become
familiar with legal, political and socio-demographic issues affecting
the management of human resources. The functions of human resource
planning, recruitment, selection, placement/training and compensation
are addressed.
PADM
6240— Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations (3 credit
hours)
Identification,
analysis, and application of techniques and tools of institutional
planning appropriate for nonprofit organizations. This includes
program, personnel, facility, and institutional planning.
PADM
6250 — Planning Resources and Administration (3
credit hours)
This course is designed to identify the resources used in urban
and regional planning and to understand the political and legal
nature of land use decisions. Students undertake one or more planning
projects in the local community during the course of the term. Previous
projects have included updating a neighborhood zoning map; conducting
citizens' advisory surveys, a comparative demographic study using
U.S. Census materials and a housing stock condition survey.
PADM
6300 — Public Budgeting (3 credit hours)
This course examines the institutions and techniques of modern financial
administration in federal, state, and local government. The course
introduces the terminology and process of budgeting as well as enables
the student to gain competence in analyzing budgetary problems and
proposing solutions. The role of the budget as a tool in expressing
priorities in policy choices is emphasized.
PADM
6301 — Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations
(3
credit hours)
An
overview of the financial issues, challenges and opportunities facing
nonprofit managers. The course includes instruction in budgeting
and financial management strategies appropriate for the nonprofit
sector.
PADM 6350 — Emergency Management (3 credit hours)
Introduces students to the discipline and profession of applying science, technology, planning and management to deal with disasters. Special empahis on how local governments and agencies can mitigate, plan, respond and recover from disaster situations. Prerequisites: None. PADM
6400 — Ethics (3 credit hours)
This course focuses on the professional responsibility of the public
administrator. Included are such topics as whistle-blowing, revolving
door appointments and conflict of interest, kick-backs, campaign
financing, illegal patronage, Hatch Act requirements, acceptance
of gifts, and cover-ups. The class discovers the extent to which
ethics is institutionalized in government through law reform and
various codes of conduct.
PADM
6500 — Research Methods in Public Administration (3
credit hours)
This course is an introduction to research design, measurement,
sampling, statistical analysis and the use of computer program packages.
Attention is directed toward various methods of data collection
with an emphasis on survey research and the use of statistical computer
programs for data analysis. The course emphasizes methods and analysis
rather than the calculation of statistics. Prerequisites: an undergraduate
course in research methods and statistics; computer literacy.
PADM
6550 — Human Service Administration
(3 credit hours)
This course is an in-depth consideration of human service agencies
and organizations: staff, clients, structure, service delivery,
and administration. A strong emphasis is given to developing knowledge
and practice skills for interfacing with local and regional agencies
and resources.
PADM
6600 — Quantitative Methods for Program Evaluation
(3 credit hours)
This course is an introduction to the methods of data analysis used
in public administration. Topics include: descriptive statistics,
standard scores, variability, correlation analysis, chi-squared
tests, analysis of variance, simple and multiple regression, and
an introduction to other multivariate and non-parametric statistics.
Prerequisite: PADM 6500.
PADM
6650 — Public Policy Analysis
(3 credit hours)
This course is a study of how public policy is developed, implemented,
and evaluated in the United States. Analysis may be as simple as
a listing of the likely advantages and disadvantages of various
alternatives. Or, it may be as complex as a cost-benefit analysis
or an environmental impact study. The course describes the structured
approach which analysts use in defining problems and evaluating
solutions.
PADM
6700 — Urban Government Administration and Policy Analysis
(3 credit hours)
This course focuses on providing a comprehensive understanding of
the origin, development, and growth of urban government. Emphasis
is on alternative forms of urban governments, policy-making and
implementation, budgeting and delivery of services. Case studies
are incorporated. Can be a required course; the other choice is
State Government.
PADM
6750 — Public Program Evaluation (3
credit hours)
This course focuses on the design and implementation of program
evaluation research and on performance monitoring systems. Attention
is devoted to the conceptualization and design of an evaluation
as well as to methods of measuring performance. Prerequisite: PADM
6500 and PADM 6600.
PADM
6800 — State Government Administration and Policy Analysis
(3 credit hours)
This course is designed to familiarize the student with the operation
of state governments throughout the United States. There is an emphasis
on the forms of organization, the functions, and the political environment
of state government. Can be a required course; the other choice
is Urban Government.
PADM
6850 — Intergovernmental Relations (3 credit hours)
Public
programs are increasingly delivered by a combination of local, state
and federal agencies. This course familiarizes students with
how these various levels of government conflict, compete, and work
together in the delivery of public programs.
PADM
6900 — Internship in Public Administration
(3 credit hours)
PADM
6950 — Selected Topics in Public Administration
(variable credit hours)
This course title will be utilized as needed to create seminars
around specialized topics as these issues become prominent on the
current public policy agenda.
PADM
7000 — Directed Reading (variable credit
hours)
This course is a problematically structured, individualized research
project to be mutually designed by the instructor and student.
PADM
7050 — Capstone Project (2 credit hours)
This is a capstone paper in which the student demonstrates knowledge
of public administration principles as applied in practice. Required
course.
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