I. The Division of Public and Nonprofit Administration is a unit within the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy. Its Master of Public Administration degree program educates students for careers in public service and for employment with government, private, nonprofit, and publicly-oriented organizations. The program combines interdisciplinary academic preparation with governmental and nonprofit field experience. The program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.

Program objectives are: development of generalist public management and leadership knowledge, skills and competencies including an emphasis on public values and ethical actions and consequences; (2) ability to apply public management and leadership knowledge and skills; and (3) ability to integrate public administration concepts, theories, and applications.

II. Master of Public Administration (MPA) Degree Program

A. Program Admission

Applicants must satisfy admission requirements of the Graduate School and receive favorable endorsement from the public administration faculty. Admission will be based on applicable test scores (Graduate Record Examination [GRE] or Graduate Management Aptitude Test [GMAT]); undergraduate grade point average; previous education and/or experience demonstrated via a résumé and two letters of reference; and ability to articulate career goals and education objectives via a personal statement. Applicants with six or more years of progressive management/administrative/analytical experience at the professional level in the public sector (government, military, or nonprofit) may request permission to substitute their exemplary career record for the entrance exam requirement. Top performing graduates with an American Humanics certificate may also apply for their high quality performance to substitute for the entrance exam. Please see the MPA website for more details.

B. Program Prerequisites

Students are accepted from all undergraduate disciplines and professional areas; however, the program determines if students must complete up to six hours of prerequisites before being fully admitted into the program, specifically PADM 6101, Statistics, and/or PADM 3601, Introduction to Public Administration.

C. Program Requirements

1. Students are required to complete a minimum of forty-two (42) semester hours. Thirty (30) hours are taken in the core curriculum, including two (2) approved MPA electives (PADM 76006, 7608, 7609, 7635 are recommended); twelve (12) hours are required in each concentration. An individual course plan is designed for each student and approved by the Coordinator of Graduate Studies. The concentrations allow students to extend the basic knowledge gained in the core curriculum to more focused public service fields, including nonprofit administration, human resources administration, urban management and planning, and health services administration. The general public administration concentration allows students to focus on governmental or nonprofit management and administration or on a specific public policy area.
2. Students must complete a minimum of 21 semester hours prior to enrollment in PADM 7610. Candidates for the MPA degree who have administrative experience in the governmental or nonprofit sectors may request a waiver of the internship field experience requirement (PADM 7610) and request substituting one 3-hour course or the practicum (PADM 7611).
3. The comprehensive examination must be successfully completed during the calendar year in which the student expects to graduate.

If a student has taken graduate courses at The University of Memphis as a non-degree-seeking student, the student may apply a maximum of 9 credit hours toward his/her degree requirements. The grade in each course applied must be at least a “3.00.” The Coordinator of Graduate Studies must approve all course work taken as a non-degree-seeking student.

Prerequisites

3601. Introduction to Public Administration. (3). (Same as POLS 3601). Concepts and practices of organization and management in executive departments, national, state, and local; analysis of bureaucracy, administrative theory, budgeting, personnel, and administrative leadership.

6101. Political Statistics. (3). (Same as POLS 6101). Introduction to analysis of quantitative data used to test, statistically, hypotheses in fields of political science and public and health administration.

Core Curriculum

7213-8213. Seminar in Public Policy Analysis. (3). (POLS 7213-8213). Empirical and normative analysis of public policy at the local, state, national, and international levels, emphasizing the theories, literature, and methodologies current to this field. PREREQUISITE: POLS 6101 or equivalent or permission of instructor.

7600-8600. Seminar in Administrative Theory. (3). (POLS 7600-8600). Significance of public administration in American government; includes an introduction to formal organization theory and bureaucracy, decision-making theory, leadership and motivational theory, and current trends and problems in the study of public administration.

7601-8601. Research Methods in Public Administration. (3). (POLS 7601-8601). Issues and techniques in data collection for design and implementation of independent research projects; logic of conducting research in public administration, measurement, and sampling; introduction to program evaluation and specific quantitative decision-making techniques. PREREQUISITE: POLS 6101 or permission of the instructor.

7602-8602. Public Budgeting and Finance Administration. (3). (POLS 7602-8602). Detailed study of administrative and political problems of fiscal policy, the budgetary process, and fiscal controls.

7605-8605. Human Resources Administration. (3). (POLS 7605-8605). Policies, methods, and techniques utilized in public and health organizations; special attention is given to problems reflecting contemporary demands upon human resource systems, capacity to diagnose problems, select the most effective means of addressing them, and plan appropriate courses of action developed through case studies.

7607-8607. Public Management Leadership. (3). (POLS 7607-8607). Theoretical and applied aspects of public and nonprofit leadership addressed in a holistic approach; focus on the most current literature and public debate; leadership examined from various perspectives reflected across the curriculum: administrative theory, public law, finance, ethics, research methods, and public policy. PREREQUISITE: Satifactory completion of 24 hours of core MPA courses or permission of the division director.

†7610. Internship in Public Administration. (3-6). (POLS 7610). Participation in some type of field experience, including a written report critically describing the student’s responsibilities. Field experience may result from a supervised internship in cooperating public or nonprofit organizations or from appropriate administrative experience if the student is employed in a public or nonprofit organization. PREREQUISITE: Permission of the Coordinator of Graduate Studies.

7614-8614. Interagency Collaboration and Administration. (3). Theoretical and applied aspects of public sector administrative innovation focusing on changing intergovernmental relationships and the growing number and types of partnerships between the public and nonprofit sectors; topics include designing innovative public service programs/structures, potentials for conflict, ethical dilemmas, performance monitoring, and accountability requirements. PREREQUISITE: PADM 7600 or permission of instructor.

Electives

6207. Health Politics and Policy. (3). Introduction to political, economic, and social forces affecting the health care system in the United States; emphasizes development and comparison of health policies within the context of American politics; analysis of health policies within the context of the stages of American public policy-making.

6208. Mental Health Policy and Law. (3). Mental Health systems, including voluntary and involuntary hospitalization, incompetency and guardianship, and mental health issues in criminal process; legal and policy concerns for mental health professionals, including regulation, malpractice, informed consent, and record confidentiality.

6209. Aging Policy and Law. (3). Social control and social justice considerations in such policy areas as protective services, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, long-term care, age discrimination, and death with dignity.

6221. Issues in Urban Administration. (3). Examination of politics, administration, and public policy in an urban context; focus on the administrative aspects of selected governmental policy-making processes; interrelationships of governments at various levels, urban challenges facing modern public administration.

6225. Applications in Urban Administration. (3). Study of the tools and strategies of public and nonprofit administration to accomplish collective purposes, develop communities, and enhance civic capacity toward improved quality of life in urban settings.

6401. Comparative Public Administration. (3). Comparative examination of differing concepts and perspectives of public administration, addressing variability in administrative systems, political power and control over public bureaucracies, education and recruitment of public bureaucrats, and the bureaucratic concept of public interest and responsiveness to the public.

6710-19. Special Topics in Public Administration. (1-3). In-depth study of selected topics and issues related to public and nonprofit administration. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours.

6227. Issues in Nonprofit Administration. (3). Introduction to principles and practices of managerial and financial accounting in nonprofit organizations, including examining performance and financial condition; emphasis on making program choices and decisions using financial management concepts to further effective and accountable nonprofit administration. PREREQUISITE: PADM 4226 or 7641.

7224-8224. Seminar in Urban Problems. (3). (POLS 7224-8224). Problems inherent in the growing urban developments in the United States; the governmental organization of metropolitan areas and the difficulties of coordination of government functions; proposed remedies and the reception of new approaches in selected metropolitan areas.

†7503. Reading for Comprehensives. (3). Arranged on an individual basis for graduate students in public administration only. PREREQUISITE: Completion of degree requirements or in last two semesters of program.

7603-8603. Public Sector Collective Bargaining. (3). (POLS 7603-8603). Employee organizations and the development of collective relations in the public and hospital sectors; topics include unions and management wage policies, collective negotiation and bargaining, and the evaluation of the impact of unionization on public policy and union relations in the nonprofit sector.

7604. Social Science and the Law. (3). (Same as POLS 7604). Applications of social science to such public policy questions as discrimination, obscenity, parole, trademarks, death penalty, child custody, and criminal offender profiles.

7606-8606. Seminar in Administrative Law. (3). (POLS 7606-8606). Role and nature of administrative law, including procedural requirements and judicial review of administrative actions and liability of government for torts and breach of contract.

7608-8608. Public Management Information Systems. (3). (POLS 7608-8608). Analysis and application of responsibilities of public organization managers; focus on technological strategies and skills for meeting those responsibilities including budget processes, information systems and dissemination, decision-making, citizen participation, and program development and evaluation.

7609-8609. Seminar in Administrative Ethics. (3). (POLS 7609-8609). Introduction to ethical theories and principles as they apply to the practice of public administration, basic legal constraints such as conflict of interest laws, and more subtle ethical dilemmas that arise in the exercise of discretion of public administrators.

‡7611. Practicum. (3-6). (POLS 7611). Application of knowledge, concepts, analytical tools to contemporary issues challenging modern managers; individuals pursue special projects in local public and nonprofit organizations, conducting research under the guidance of a faculty committee, or work with the Institute of Governmental Studies and Research on current problems in public administration. May be repeated for a total of 6 credits. PREREQUISITE: Permission of the Coordinator of Graduate Studies.

7612-8612. Program and Policy Evaluation. (3). (POLS 7612-8612; 6605). Models, theories, and techniques of program and policy evaluation in public administration; evaluation research design, data collection and analysis, dissemination of results, and possible applications of evaluations to policy-making and administration; organizational and political contexts of evaluation.

†7613. Proseminar in Professional Development. (3). (POLS 7613). Introduction to public and health administration professions with emphasis on career development; employment opportunities, computer resources, professional associations, submission and publication of articles. Faculty and student presentations.

7634-8634. Developing Public Human Resources. (3). (POLS 7634-8634). Organizational, group, and individual development processes and philosophy for public, nonprofit, and health care agencies; special emphasis on application of knowledge and skills.

7635-8635. Issues in Public Human Resources. (3). (POLS 7635-8635). Special issues of current interest that relate to management, planning, and development of human resources in nonprofit and public agencies.

7641-8641. Theory and Practice of Nonprofit Administration. (3). (POLS 7641-8641). Introduction to theoretical foundations, structures, and processes of nonprofit organizations; historical development and impact, social, political, legal, and economic environment in which nonprofit organizations exist; complexities of organizational governance shared by volunteer and professional staff decision-makers.

7642-8642. Resource Development in Nonprofit Organizations. (3). (POLS 7642-8642). Introduction to various resources important to nonprofit organizations including financial support, volunteers, and community awareness, and to wide range of organization activities utilized for acquisition and maintenance of these resources. PREREQUISITE: PADM 7641 or permission of instructor.

7651. Comparative Public Administration. (3). Comparative examination of differing concepts and perspectives of public administration, addressing variability in administrative systems, political power and control over public bureaucracies, education and recruitment of public bureaucrats, and the bureaucratic concept of public interest and responsiveness to the public.

‡7702-8702. Independent Study. (1-3). Independent investigation of research problems or directed readings in selected areas of public administration. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7710-19–8710-19. Special Topics in Public Administration. (1-3). Intensive study of selected topics in public administration. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours.

†7996. Thesis. (1-6). The student must write and defend satisfactorily a thesis on a subject approved by the major professor and the committee.

†Grades of S, U, or IP will be given.
‡ Grades of A-F, or IP will be given.