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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

This course will review the historical and philosophical foundations, and the evolutions of the non-profit sector. Course topics will include a broad overview of unique aspects of management, financial, leadership and/or governance issues facing the nonprofit executives today. Governance, strategy, management.

Department: Public Administration

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

This course will review revenue sources for nonprofit organizations and strategies in resource development. Course topics will include fundraising planning and fundraising methods, as well as sustainable income resources for nonprofits, including individual giving, government funding, foundation grantmaking, business support, and/or earned income. Management, philanthropy, grant writing.

Department: Public Administration

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

This course will introduce students to a range of volunteer management strategies in nonprofit and public organizations. Course topics will cover an overview of volunteering , as well as strategies for volunteer program readiness, volunteer engagement, and volunteer program impact. Volunteerism, community, civic.

Department: Public Administration

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

This course will review government contracting as an approach for delivering government services. Course topics will include an introduction to government procurement, the contracting process, proposal evaluation, emergency contracting, sole sourced and competitive selection and/or social objectives in contracting. Management, outsourcing, organization.

Department: Public Administration

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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