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MPA Program Office Dr. Kendra Stewart Margaret Bonifay Janet Key Matthew Irwin
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About the Program Program Mission Our mission is to prepare public service leaders. Upon graduation our students will have the ability to think critically and creatively about public issues, the dedication and capacity to serve a diverse community and the skills to enter a professional position in a public organization. To accomplish our mission, our program provides the following:
Program Description The joint Master of Public Administration degree is conferred by both The Graduate School of the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina. We are fully accredited by the National Association of the Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). Program faculty includes six professors and, in any given year, three faculty members from the University of South Carolina and several highly qualified adjunct faculty. Program governance and admissions decisions are made jointly by Joint Program Coordinating Committee, made up of faculty from both institutions. The M.P.A. program at The Graduate School of the College of Charleston is designed to provide the following:
Core Curriculum The program’s core curriculum is designed to explore the essential elements of public management and public policy and to prepare students for increasingly complex public responsibilities in local and state government, nonprofit organizations, public/private partnerships and regional and federal agencies. The core curriculum emphasizes both the skills and knowledge required to effectively manage and develop organizational resources and to understand the larger constitutional and political setting in which policy is developed and administrative tasks are defined and assessed. The core curriculum consists of 21 semester hours of coursework and a three-hour internship: Specialized Study Elective courses are available in four areas of specialized study: Opportunities to develop higher levels of skill and specialized study include a thesis project (PUBA 710), directed independent studies (PUBA 710A) and special topics seminars (PUBA 502). In addition, with the permission of the director, courses are often available through other graduate programs on campus and through the Medical University of South Carolina’s Health Administration Program and The Citadel’s Master of Business Administration Program. Credit earned at The Citadel or the Medical University of South Carolina is not considered transfer credit provided the student registers for the coursework using the cross-registration process. All transfer credits (no more than twelve [12] hours) completed at other institutions must be approved by the director. Applied Focus Students are introduced to practical administrative and analytic skills in a variety of ways. The joint program regularly uses adjunct faculty to teach elective courses. These practitioners instruct students in their particular specialty, providing them with a valuable, hands-on perspective useful in supplementing their broader training. In addition, the program fosters contacts with professional mentors. A variety of workshops, training sessions, and speakers are sponsored by the program and by the M.P.A.S.A. (The Master of Public Administration Student Association). Finally, students gain practical experience in the internship component of the program by working with practitioners on a daily basis. Internships The internship should augment the student’s area of study. To satisfy the requirement, students will be required to work no fewer than 300 hours over the course of the semester for three hours of internship credit. A contract is required between the supervisor, student and program director. The student will be expected to satisfactorily meet the expectations of the agency. To that end, the M.P.A. director and the internship coordinator will periodically evaluate the student’s performance, and consult the on-site internship supervisor. Finally, the student must submit a paper on the duties, responsibilities and experience provided by the internship. Those who are in-service or who have significant experience in public administration may formally request to have the internship requirement waived. Students granted a waiver will take an additional elective course (3 hours) in order to satisfy the hourly requirements for the degree. Assistantships Graduate assistantships are available on a competitive basis for full-time students. Individuals receiving assistantships must enroll in nine hours of coursework per semester. Research assistants work 20 hours a week on research projects or may be assigned to individual faculty for research assistance. A variety of assistantships are also available with the Arts Management Program, the Riley Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Studies, the Graduate School and other offices on campus. Application Procedures and Admission Requirements Students from diverse undergraduate backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. In certain cases, students with no prior training in American administrative institutions or the the social and behavioral sciences may be required to enroll in undergraduate courses to properly prepare themselves for graduate study in the M.P.A. program. Additional Application Information Degree Requirements The MPA degree requires a combination of core and elective classes intended to provide the student with a good founding in public administration theory as well as allow for more specialized knowledge in one of the four cognate areas. An internship is also required to reinforce these concepts in a 'real world' setting. |
