University of Texas at El Paso Academic Catalog

Academic Catalog

Public Administration Courses

Courses

PAD 5145.  Professional Skills.  

Professional Skills (1-0) An exlploration of skills, values, and behaviors that contribute to success within the profession. Skills to be developed may include professional report writing, presentations, time management, project management, and others. Discussions of values and behaviors may include such matters as ethics and professionalism among others. May be repeated for a total of six credit hours. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

1 Credit Hour
1 Total Contact Hour
0 Lab Hours
1 Lecture Hour
0 Other Hours

PAD 5190.  Selected Topics in Pub. Admin..  

Selected Topics in Public Administration (1-0) The study of selected problems and/or current issues in public management. Course provides professional training opportunities, including the hands-on development of specialized skill sets and techniques for non-profits and public organizations. Examples of topics are: information technology and government, survey design, public marketing, strategic planning, and performance budgeting. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

1 Credit Hour
1 Total Contact Hour
0 Lab Hours
1 Lecture Hour
0 Other Hours

PAD 5245.  Professional Skills.  

Professional Skills (2-0) An exlploration of skills, values, and behaviors that contribute to success within the profession. Skills to be developed may include professional report writing, presentations, time management, project management, and others. Discussions of values and behaviors may include such matters as ethics and professionalism among others. May be repeated for a total of six credit hours. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

2 Credit Hours
2 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
2 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5300.  Intro to Research Methods.  

Introduction to methods used in public management research. Five components of research design and evaluation are covered: 1) framing public policy problems; 2) developing testable questions; 3) situating questions with regard to past research (literature reviews); 4) empiracle testing and evaluation methods; 5) presenting findings. (PAD 5300 is the same course as POLS 5300). Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

Prerequisite(s): (PAD 5302 w/D or better)

PAD 5301.  Qual Rsrch Methods for Pub Adm.  

Introduction to the use of qualitative methods in public management research. Course will focus on: (1) case analysis, both basic and applied; (2) design of qualitative assessments/evaluations; (3) interpretation of qualitative data; and (4) reporting. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5302.  The Public Adm Profession.  

Overview of public administration as an academic discipline and practitioners in public agencies, nonprofits and other organizations providing public services and goods, with emphasis on professionalism, strategic communications and information processing.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5310.  Pub. Policy Process & Institut.  

Public Policy Process and Institutions (3-0) This course covers the history of public administration and the basic issues confronted, both legal and political, the role of bureaucratic expertise in contemporary government and in solving public problems, and public participation in administration. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5311.  Econ Anal for Public Admin.  

Economic Analysis for Public Administrators (3-0) Introduction to microeconomic concepts and analysis and their application to the public sector. Topics to be covered include: Supply and demand theory, firms and markets, consumer theory, market equillibrium, welfare economics, public choice theory and the economics of planning. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5340.  Pro-Seminar-Homeland Security.  

Pro-Seminar in Homeland security (3-0) This course examines the scope and breadth of homeland and national security issues. It serves as a professional overview of the field and its intelligence sub-fields and includes the emergency management/natural disaster response aspects of the field. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5341.  Legal Issues-Homeland Security.  

Legal Issues in Homeland Security (3-0) This is a foundation course in the legal aspects, civil and criminal, of homeland security. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5342.  Risk Analysis.  

Risk Analysis (3-0) This course is designed to introduce students to the concepts and skills of risk perception, assessment, and aversion, risk management and communication, and their roles in homeland security. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5343.  Crime and Border Security.  

This graduate course focuses on the impact of globalization on crime and border security. Special emphasis will be placed on human, drug, and arms trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border, but will also provide comparative examples from border regions around the world. The role of drug cartels, criminal gangs, and corruption will be addressed. Attention will also be given to the U.S.- Canadian border. Other serious crime such as fraud, identity theft, andcybercrime will be explored. This course will also review current and past strategies for maintaining border security and limiting the flow of criminal activity into the United States. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5344.  Emergency Management.  

This graduate course focuses on the fundamental concepts involved in preparing for and managing the response to a catastrophic emergency event such as a fire, earthquake, terrorist act, biological materials release, hazardous material spill, weather-related disaster, or internal sabotage. Heavy emphasis is placed on interagency communication and coordination in emergency events. The course outlines the practical steps needed to develop an effective emergency response plan, and outline how such a plan should be organized and executed. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5345.  Professional Skills.  

Professional Skills (3-0) An exlploration of skills, values, and behaviors that contribute to success within the profession. Skills to be developed may include professional report writing, presentations, time management, project management, and others. Discussions of values and behaviors may include such matters as ethics and professionalism among others. May be repeated for a total of six credit hours. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5346.  Public Hlth & Hmland Security.  

This graduate course focuses on policy responses to bioterrorism and emerging public health threats such as pandemic flu. Topics include the science of biological weapons and threats, the history of bioterrorism and weaponization, verification and monitoring, scenario building, national security decision-making as it pertains to biothreats, and public health policy and infrastructure. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5347.  Critical Infrastructure Protec.  

This graduate course examines the 11 major categories of the nation's critical infrastructure as outlined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with a particular emphasis on their dimensions, operational responsibility, and unique vulnerabilities. Strategies for critical infrastructure protection will be addressed as will the means for establishing priorities for protecting key infrastructure assets. Prerequisites: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5348.  Innovation and Problem Solving.  

An exploration of innovation, problem solving, and creativity as applied in the public sector. This course is intended to provide an overview to assist in developing creative problem solving, innovation, and leadership skills relevant to public management.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5349.  Criminal Justice Admin..  

Overview, analysis and critique of the legal, management and public interest issues characterizing the administration of criminal justice agencies including police, courts, corrections and quasi-criminal justice organization.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5350.  Public and Nonprofit Manage..  

Introduction to contemporary theories of leading and managing in public and nonprofit organizations, including diagnoses of organizational cultures and structures, employee motivation, strategic planning, and organizational transformation. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5351.  Applied Stats for Public Admin.  

Course covers the quantitative methods used by public managers in policy analysis (ANOVA; Ordinary Least Squares and variants) and prepares students to be intelligent evaluators of public sector research and evaluation studies. Students design, conduct and report on a research question of their choosing; use of SPSS required. Prerequisites: PAD 5300 with a grade of "B" or better and department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

Prerequisite(s): (PAD 5300 w/D or better)

PAD 5352.  Public Budgeting & Financ Mgmt.  

Public Budgeting and Financial Management (3-0) Introduction to the theories and practice of budgeting, financial management, tax analysis, and the role budgets play in public policy making and implemenattion. Course covers approaches and techniques of budget analysis. Prerequisite: PAD 5311 with a grade of "B" or better and department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

Prerequisite(s): (PAD 5311 w/C or better)

PAD 5353.  Human Resources Management.  

Introduction to the social, political and legal dimensions of public personnel management (history, value in the American political system, employee selection, compensation, job design, evaluation, labor relations, staff development and training, administrative ethics, affirmative action, comparable worth, sexual harassment. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5354.  Admin Law and Regulation.  

Administrative Law and Regulation (3-0) The legal problems of the administrative process, including the uses of administrative discretion, fact-finding, and hearing procedures, and the methods and scope of judicial review of administrative decisions. Prerequisite: Department approval. .

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5355.  Comparative Pub Administration.  

Comparative Public Administration (3-0) A comparative view of government administration in developed and developing countries. Examines both the effects of culture on government bureaucracy and the efforts of governments to promote socioeconomic development. May include emphasis on U.S.-Mexico border administration. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5356.  Soc Entrepren & Not/Prof Mgmt.  

Social Entrepreneurship and Not-For-Profit Management (3-0) Course examines the administrative challenges in the nonprofit sector, with special attention to social entrepreneurship, practical management and problem-solving. Includes topics such as the nature and scope of the nonprofit sector, fund-raising, volunteer management, government and public relations, and the organization of nonprofit institutions. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5358.  Admin. Ethics & Responsibility.  

Administrative Ethics and Responsibility (3-0) Course deals with ethical issues that face public administrators: responsibilities, accountability, discretion, the public interest, professionalism, codes of ethics, and corruption. It focuses on applied ethics and the reasoning process administrators can use to analyze and evaluate ethical dilemmas. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5359.  Regional and Urban Planning.  

Regional and Urban Planning (3-0) Covers planning topics associated with satisfying area-wide service needs in urban and regional environments. Topics may include land-use regulations, capital facilities siting, and transportation planning. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5360.  Urban Administration.  

Urban Administration (3-0) Public administration at the level of service delivery with emphasis upon the management of and policy problems facing local agencies. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5361.  Political Economy of Borders.  

Political Economy of Borders (3-0) This course provides an introduction to the field of international border economics with special emphasis on topics dealing with the border zone between Mexico and the United States. We will intensely examine the role of public policy on economic issues of the border. This includes, but is not limited to the following topics: international trade agreements, monetary policy, environmental and natural resource policy, immigration (legal and illegal), the underground economy, and economic development. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5363.  Intergovernmental Relations.  

Intergovernmental Relations (3-0) Covers the interrelationships among international, national, state, and/or local governmental institutions in the policy making, executive, and/or administrative processes. The special issue of states and communities situated on international borders is also discussed. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5364.  Pub Part & Democratic Process.  

Public Participation and Democratic Process (3-0) This course addresses public policy formation, implementation, and evaluation as a democratic process. Surveys issues and best practices for public participation: roles of experts and publics, opening the full policy cycle public participation, involving stakeholders, communicating effectively, working with complex and conflictive communities, and the ethics of democratic participation. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5365.  Pol Anal & Decision Making.  

Policy Analysis and Decision Making (3-0) Course covers the use of quantitative decision tools and formal modeling in the evaluation of policy outcomes: cost-benefit analysis, decision-tree analysis, logistic modeling of categorical choice decisions, etc., with examples from legislative, executive and judicial decision-making environments. Use of SPSS required. Prerequisites: PAD 5300 and PAD 5351 each with a grade of "B" or better and department approval. .

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

Prerequisite(s): (PAD 5300 w/D or better AND PAD 5351 w/D or better)

PAD 5366.  Internship in Public Admin.  

Internship in Public Administration (3-0) Practical internship experience with a public or non-profit sector agency, selected in consultation with the MPA program advisor. The experience consists of at least twenty hours of work per week with the selected agency. The internship will be under close supervision by the agency and the MPA program advisor. Prereauisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5367.  Comprehen Integration/Pub Adm.  

Comprehensive Integration of Public Administration (3-0) MPA Studio course and capstone experience in the MPA program. Requires students to integrate and apply core knowledge and research skills to the analysis of a major administrative or policy problem. Students must complete 33 semester hours in the program before enrolling in this course. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5380.  Selected Problems in Pub Adm.  

Selected Problems in Public Administration (3-0) Independent study, research, and writing on a topic agreed upon by the student and professor. May be repeated for credit up to three times when the topic varies. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5381.  Pub & Nonprofit Program Eval.  

This course offers an introduction to the theory and practice of program evaluation, as well as an introduction to the profession of evaluation. You will learn logic modeling, and data collection and analysis procedures for measuring program impacts in social and human service- oriented programs.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

PAD 5398.  Thesis.  

Thesis (0-0-3) As part of this course, the student will successfully prepare and defend a proposal for the MPA thesis. The proposal must be approved by the student's thesis committee, and failure to meet this requirement within two long semesters will preclude continuation of the student in the MPA program. Prerequisite: Department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
0 Lecture Hours
3 Other Hours

PAD 5399.  Thesis.  

Thesis (0-0-3) Continuous enrollment required while work on the thesis continues. Prerequisites: PAD 5398 with a grade of "B" or better and department approval.

Department: Public Administration

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
0 Lecture Hours
3 Other Hours