Current Students: Course Descriptions
Core Courses (27 hours):
PAPA 5014: Concepts and Approaches in Public Administration
This course is designed to complement the materials in PAPA 5315, Behavioral Skills for Managers, and PAPA 5316, System Skills for Public Managers. The premise is that in order to understand and apply the skills of public administration and the systems within which administrators work, it is essential to understand the dynamics of public administration and democracy. The course covers the origins and development of the administrative state and surveys major theoretical approaches to public administration. The problem of values in administration, the political environment of bureaucracy, and questions of ethical behavior in administration are discussed.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 5315: Governmental Administration I; Behavioral Skills for Managers
The first of a sequence of two; provides theoretically grounded but practical knowledge on behavioral skills necessary for the public manager. These include the ability to lead, to supervise, to organize, and to communicate in public settings and in agencies serving the community and society.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 5316: Governmental Administration II; System Skills for Managers
The second of a sequence of two, teaches the techniques and technology necessary to manage public organizations efficiently and effectively and to be held accountable for administrative actions and programs. The general objective of this course is to develop an understanding of the organization as a complex system and develop skills in tools and processes used to manage the system and deal with the complexity. Topics include systems methods and approaches, program and project management, strategic planning, and tools to support decision-making.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6214: Public Policy Processes and Analytical Approaches
This course is one of the core requirements in public policy for both the Ph.D. and MPA programs in the Center for Public Administration and Policy. It provides an introduction to the traditions, assumptions, and diverse perspectives of the field of public policy inquiry. Explores the processes of policy-making and techniques of policy analysis in and for government, critiques the literature, and examines relationships with other fields and topics of public administration.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6224: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Public Policy Programs
This course examines the theory and practice of public policy design and decision-making. The course combines an introduction to the basic tools of policy analysis – cost-benefit and multi-attribute analysis, decision-trees, and other analytical techniques – with consideration of the conflicting values and limitations on rationality that define policy decision-making in the real world. Prerequisites for entry in this course: Completion of PAPA 6214, 6514, and of an undergraduate or graduate Introductory Statistics course, as well as have a working familiarity with and routine access to a Microsoft Windows-compatible personal computer, equipped for email, along with the following computer software applications: MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power Point.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6314: Public Budgeting Processes and Their Policy Implications
This course surveys the public budgeting processes of public organizations and their relationship to the political and organizational contexts of public management. Examines the strategic role budgeting plays in planning, decision making and resource allocation and explores contrasting norms and behaviors of participants, their impacts on policy, and their implications for democracy. Processes studied include the work of budget analysts, decision making processes, control and financial accounting, and intergovernmental interaction.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6324: Public Personnel Processes and Their Policy Implications
This course surveys the assumptions, history, processes, policies, and programs of public personnel administration. Relationships of human resource management to political, managerial, and behavioral phenomena are explored. The objectives of the course are to identify major issues, to understand the purposes and functions of personnel techniques and instruments, and to develop capacity for competent analysis of current trends and developments.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6414: Normative Foundations of Public Administration
Roberts, Fall (Alexandria)
Provides a critical analysis of claims to justice and surveys major perspectives on ethics and public life. The course places a particular emphasis on the role of public managers and the ethical challenges of public administration in a constitutional democracy. The course combines readings of moral and political philosophy with examination of present-day cases, and invites students to subject their own views to critical examination.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6514: Public Administration and Policy Inquiry
This course is intended to introduce students to (1) the multiple relationships that exist between theory and evidence in the pursuit of knowledge about public administration and public policy and (2) useful tools needed to make practical application of that knowledge at the strategic level of decision making in large, networked public organizations. Prerequisite: Statistics
The core focus of this course is to help you develop a mindset about what might be termed "strategic methodology," a personal sensitivity for the use of theoretical perspectives, evidence and systematic inquiry to help you contribute to strategic decision making at the policy level.
Credit Hours: 3
The Doctor of Public Administration/Public Affairs
Core Courses (27 hours):
PAPA 6014: Public Administration Theory
This course is a three way conversation between our individual growth and identity as scholars, the dynamic field of public administration and policy, and our broader efforts to understand scholarly work in the pursuit of knowledge. The interaction of these three topics is represented in the three broad divisions of the course, and in the weekly readings. Open to Doctoral students or by permission of the instructor.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6024: The Context of Public Administration
Using an institutional perspective, this course examines the history of public administration as a field of study; the politico-economic context of public administration as an element of governance; and international comparisons of public administrative behavior.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6114: Complex Public Organizations
Examines the principal conceptual and theoretical bases for understanding the structure and environment of complex organizations, and explores the challenges that bureaucracy poses for democratic theory and for vigorous economy.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6124: Behavior and Change in Organizations
Dynamics of behavior and change process in public sector organizations are examined for: (1) their implications for individuals, groups, and society; and (2) their impact upon organizational productivity and public policy. Critical dimensions of leadership as a socio-psychological process in management are emphasized with special reference to the public sector and public executives. The course also surveys the various types and strategies for planned change in public sector organizations.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6214: Public Policy Processes and Analytical Approaches
This course is one of the core requirements in public policy for both the Ph.D. and MPA programs in the Center for Public Administration and Policy. The course explores the processes of policy-making and techniques of policy analysis in and for government. Covers the traditions, assumptions, and diverse perspectives of the field, notes and critiques the literature, and examines relationships with other fields and topics of public administration.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6224: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Public Policy and Programs
The course examines the theory and practice of public policy design and decision-making. The course combines an introduction to the basic tools of policy analysis – cost-benefit and multi-attribute analysis, decision-trees, and other analytical techniques – with consideration of the conflicting values and limitations on rationality that define policy decision-making in the real world. Prerequisites for entry in this course: Completion of PAPA 6214, 6514, and of an undergraduate or graduate Introductory Statistics course, as well as have a working familiarity with and routine access to a Microsoft Windows-compatible personal computer, equipped for email, along with the following computer software applications: MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power Point.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6314: Public Budgeting Processes and Their Policy Implementations
This course surveys the public budgeting processes of public organizations and their relationship to the political and organizational contexts of public management. Examines the strategic role budgeting plays in planning, decision making and resource allocation and explores contrasting norms and behaviors of participants, their impacts on policy, and their implications for democracy. Processes studied include the work of budget analysts, decision making processes, control and financial accounting, and intergovernmental interaction.
Credit Hours: 3
PAPA 6324: Public Personnel Processes and Their Policy Implementations
This course surveys the assumptions, history, processes, policies, and programs of public personnel administration. Relationships of human resource management to political, managerial, and behavioral phenomena are explored. The objectives of the course are to identify major issues, to understand the purposes and functions of personnel techniques and instruments, and to develop capacity for competent analysis of current trends and developments.
PAPA 6414: Normative Foundations in Public Administration
Provides a critical analysis of claims to justice and surveys major perspectives on ethics and public life. The course places a particular emphasis on the role of public managers and the ethical challenges of public administration in a constitutional democracy. The course combines readings of moral and political philosophy with examination of present-day cases, and invites students to subject their own views to critical examination.
Credit Hours: 3