Course Descriptions

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Numbers in parentheses indicate lecture, laboratory and credit hours, respectively.

PA 501 Introduction to Public Administration
Analyzes what public managers actually do in relation to elected officials, agency personnel, client groups, the press and the public, including attention to the value conflicts they confront and must resolve. Considers both classical and contemporary views and emerging issues. Introduces the student to the systematic analysis of government operations. (3-0-3)

PA 502 Complex Organizations
Analyzes how large public and non-profit administrative agencies are organized, led and managed. Examines relationships between the chief executive, line management operations and support staff. Considers relations between organization and its environment, the importance of inter-organizational networks, and the role of power in organizational life. (3-0-3)

PA 503 Public Administration Law
Considers the role of statutes, case law and administrative law in the establishment, operation and control of public agencies. Examines how legislation and administrative procedures direct and constrain the exercise of discretion by public managers and how they ensure accountability and the fair treatment of the public. Prerequisite: PA 501. (3-0-3)

PA 504 Social Psychology in Practice
Surveys important insights from social psychology, which are then applied to everyday life and professional practice in different fields, such as management, science, medicine, politics, education, and business. Topics covered include social judgment, interpersonal processes, cultural misunderstandings, group phenomena, persuasion, and leadership. In addition, the course examines the role of nonverbal signals in professional interaction and the effect of settings and spatial factors on human behavior. Part of the coursework is in the form of teamwork and team self-analysis. In addition to exams, there will be a group presentation as well as group and individual exercises, some in class. (3-0-3)

PA 505 The Law and the Nonprofit Sector
Exams local, state, and Federal law as it pertains to the nonprofit sector. This includes such things as the IRS, lobbying, human resources, property, and contracts. (3-0-3)

PA 508 Seminar in Public Management
Students attend lectures and make site visits to state and local agencies and governments, learning about special problems encountered by leadership for each agency and the solutions that the agencies have devised. Course offers students an opportunity to interact with a group of agency directors, public officials and staff about their experience, and solutions to common management problems. Students compare experience of local leaders with theoretical public administration material. Prerequisite: PA 501 and permission of Program Director. (3-0-3)

PA 509 Practicum in Policy Analysis
A student project course that concludes the required core course sequence. Focuses on the analysis of a complex, real-world administrative or policy problem. Requires analyses of legal, financial, personnel, organizational and political aspects of this problem, followed by the preparation of a thorough written and oral report, including recommendations for action. Prerequisite: All other core courses. (3-0-3)

PA 510 Managerial Communications
Provides hands-on training and practice in the effective styles of writing and related communications skills needed by all public managers, including memoranda, letters and formal reports. Emphasis is placed on learning and practicing effective writing , presentation skills, and communication related to real-world administrative and managerial situations relevant to the student's particular current or chosen professional position. (3-0-3)

PA 511 Comparative Public Administration
An introduction to comparative analysis of systems of public administration in selected nations, including Great Britain, Japan, China, and major non-governmental organizations such as the European Union and the United Nations. The nations and organizations discussed will be compared to each other and to the United States. Areas explored will include: the historical antecedents of current national administrative systems (including the development of the nation-state), public administration models and structure in both developed and developing nations, the relationship between bureaucracies and political systems, the rise of the international nongovernmental organization, and the impact of corruption on public administration. (3-0-3)

PA 512 Public Advocacy
The goal of this course is to assist students' function as strong advocates in their future careers and to help them prepare for their thesis or final presentation. This is an advanced research and writing course. Public Advocacy is the study of effective argument. The course is designed to allow students to focus their prior learning experiences through problem analysis and advocacy. Using individual topics, students will address the problems of advocacy: different types of advocacy situations, requiring different information, analyses and presentations. Substantive topics of current interest and controversy will be discussed in the context of developing and advocating a particular position. (3-0-3)

PA 513 Public Policy Analysis and Evaluation
Explores techniques of policy analysis and program evaluation having practical application in such fields as transportation, education, housing, criminal justice and environmental quality. Includes those research and analytical methods most frequently applied in governmental decision-making. Prerequisite: PA 501. (3-0-3)

PA 514 Government Management and Information Systems
A practical introduction to database management programs. Demonstrates the use of a variety of other office automation software tools (including graphics, desktop publishing, telecommunications /file transfer, bibliographic text retrieval, computer-aided instruction, and expert systems). Considers issues relating to effective computer management, including computer ethics, security, needs assessment and training. Prior working knowledge of personal computer operating systems, word processing, and spreadsheet programs is needed. Prerequisite: PA 501. (3-0-3)

PA 515 Organizational Communications
This course is intended specifically for the Chinese students in the cohort MPA program. The course will focus on written and oral communications on topics pertinent to public administrators. The purpose of this course is to support those international students whose English skills need strengthening to help them get the maximum benefit from their graduate MPA programs of study. (3-0-3)

PA 516 Information Technology in Public Administration
The course has the learning objective of becoming aware of the general management challenges that the use of information technology presents for governments and to be able to develop appropriate policies that address these challenges. Upon completion, students should be able to apply best practices to the management of computer hardware, software, networking, and other technologies in government and appreciate how the use of "electronic government" technology can transform government and be able to help governments develop and manage effective programs of e-government use. (3-0-3)

PA 522 Public Personnel Administration
Reviews development of merit-based civil service, examining implications of political accountability, and patronage and professional responsibility. Considers personnel recruitment, examination and promotion procedures in light of collective bargaining, affirmative action, and employee productivity and performance evaluation. Prerequisite: PA 501. (3-0-3)

PA 531 Governmental Accounting and Budgeting
This class focuses on budget as policy and management control mechanism in public and nonprofit agencies. Introduces students to concepts, principles, and procedures of governmental accounting. Links budgeting to program management, accounting, financial reporting, and auditing. Prerequisite: PA 532. (3-0-3)

PA 532 Principles and Practices of Public Finance
A general review of public finance management. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the public finance environment and an opportunity to explore practical challenges in managing governmental resources. Includes basic accounting, analytical tools, budgeting, purchasing, and cash management. Examines the integrated role of the various finance functions. Prerequisite: PA 501. (3-0-3)

PA 533 Advanced Financial Management
An advanced course focusing on the application of techniques used by financial managers to evaluate government financial condition and performance. Students will conduct case studies in which they apply tools such as performance measurement, budget analysis, priority-setting and financial indicator analysis to evaluate core public financial documents including budgets, capital improvement plans and audited financial statements. Prerequisite: PA 532. (3-0-3)

PA 534 Financial Management of Nonprofit Organizations : Nonprofits are businesses organized on many of the same principles as for-profits, but there are differences including financial reporting to boards of directors, donation accounting, reporting to government funding sources, tax reporting, and even investment strategies (for example program related investing). This course will equip a nonprofit manager to responsibly guide the complex financial life of a modern nonprofit. (3-0-3)

PA 535 Resource Development in the Nonprofit Sector
Provides insight and learning into fundraising, marketing, and strategic planning in the nonprofit sector. This course offers an in-depth look into finding and securing the resources necessary to the success of nonprofit organizations. (3-0-3)

PA 536 Strategy and Structure: Homeland Security
The course introduces the student to the National Strategy for Homeland Strategy and describes the structure under which it was originally designed, the events that have affected the original concept and the various changes that it has undergone since the events of 9/11/2001. The student will become intimately acquainted with the key legal parameters affecting HS and the governmental components involved in HS operations, enforcement and intelligence. An emphasis on the overall integration of State, local, tribal and private sectors will enable the student to apply the tenets of HS to their own individual situations. Other topics will include an understanding of how to conduct Threat Assessments as well as a cursory understanding of the Intelligence Cycle. (3-0-3)

PA 537 Homeland Security/Crisis Management
This course is taught by experts from various disciplines and provides a basic overview of homeland security including a brief history of terrorism. Specifically, the course is intended to provide the audience issues related to homeland security, awareness on the types of treats (damage to buildings, processing plants, public facilities, etc.) and the type of risks involved. Other relevant aspects include types of weapons used by modern terrorists; how one goes about estimating risk and threat to a facility; how buildings and people respond when subjected to blast and fires; the role of search and rescue operations; weapon effects; building security; facility analysis to identify vulnerable areas given a threat; procedures for minimizing vulnerability; effective fire safety; contingency plans, etc. At the conclusion of this course the student will know how to estimate the risk and threat to a given facility, prepare a basic security audit; develop a basic contingency plan, develop a passive/active security system for a given facility and develop post event search and rescue operations.
(3-0-3)

PA 538 Information Systems Security/Cyber-crime
Provides an introduction to information systems security, an in depth review of topics in cyber-crime issues in the public safety field and identifies methods of preventing cyber-crime in organizations. It includes issues involved with policy and legal issues of enforcement of cyber-crime laws, as well as tools used for network security. (3-0-3)

PA 539 Local Government Management and Public Safety
Examines the governmental structure in which public safety administrators work and studies the interrelationship of public safety administrators with the rest of the organization. The leadership and management roles of public safety officials, finances and budgeting in local government, and ethics in the profession will be examined. (3-0-3)

PA 540 Dispute Resolution
Reviews development of merit-based civil service, examining implications of political accountability, and patronage and professional responsibility. Considers personnel recruitment, examination and promotion procedures in light of collective bargaining, affirmative action, and employee productivity and performance evaluation. Prerequisite: PA 501. (3-0-3)

PA 541 Performance Management in Nonprofit and Public Management
How can you prove that you are accomplishing what you say you are? Performance measurement is the answer. It is essential to public and nonprofit success and sustainability. It allows an organization to specifically determine what they want to achieve, how specially to achieve it, and how to determine progress towards the stated goals. Governments at all levels, as well as foundations, trusts and other funders now require performance measurement systems to improve management and gain the power to demonstrate results to officials, taxpayers, donors and decisions makers. This is an applied course which will help students understand performance measurement concepts, develop specific performance measures, and apply performance measurement techniques to solve real world problems in both the nonprofit and public sectors. (3-0-3)

PA 542 Strategic Planning
Designed to present practical, cost-effective techniques that can be used to make better decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources. Includes problem identification, goal development, data needs and collection, generation of alternative solutions, projecting impacts, goals-oriented evaluation and strategies for implementation. Prerequisite: PA 501. (3-0-3)

PA 543 Public Policy, Nonprofits, and Philanthropy
Examines the long history of charitable giving across the globe, with special emphasis on the United States. In particular this course will focus on the philosophical roots of philanthropy, organized giving, and the role philanthropy has played in the development of modern public policy, as it pertains to health and human services. (3-0-3)

PA 551 Public Infrastructure Management
Considers the status and operation of public infrastructure facilities in the United States generally and in the Chicago metropolitan area, with particular attention to the responsibilities and roles of the public works manager. Explores the relationships between the engineering, administrative and political aspects of public works management. Focuses on critical infrastructure issues through case studies. (3-0-3)

PA 552 Human Services Policy and Administration
Examines the major issue associated with the administration and operation of social welfare and health services in the United States by governments and nonprofit organizations. Designed for students who work in such agencies and for those who have regular contact with them or their clientele. Structure, funding, staffing and other operating characteristics are examined. (3-0-3)

PA 553 Public Safety Administration
Deals with contemporary public safety and security management in communities for public safety professionals, public administrators and law enforcement officials who deal with public safety issues, existing in post-9/11 American society. Examines the relationship between police/public safety policy, operations and administration. Addresses various current problems and issues through case studies. Focuses mainly on the City of Chicago and surrounding metropolitan area. (3-0-3)

PA 555 Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning
Governmental and private sector activites that influence the maintenance and development of the built environment. Students learn both quantitative and qualitative analysis and are introduced to planning systems incorporating fiscal analysis, social analysis, transportation analysis, demographic and economic analysis. They will also learn about various processes providing participation and citizen input to the development of plans for the built environment. Regulatory tools covered include zoning, comprehensive plans, neighborhood planning and subdivision regulation. (3-0-3)

PA 556 Tools of Government
In the United States, an increasing proportion of the goods and services traditionally provided by governmental employees in the context of a governmental bureaucracy are now provided by outside contractors, or through indirect means such as social, economic regulation, tax policy, loan guarantees, vouchers, and manipulation of incentives for the private sector. This course is intended to provide students with an understanding of various tools used by governments throughout the West as the traditional rule based bureaucracy is replaced by other types of institutions and other means to provide goods and services traditionally provided by government. (3-0-3)

PA 557 Urban and Regional Development
Covers materials on infrastructure management, and the interrelationship of infrastructure management to urban and regional development. The course acquaints students with the increasing role of the private sector in infrastructure maintenance, development, and management. Students learn various analytic techniques useful for officials responsible for urban and regional development (including development of new infrastructure) and for the continuing maintenance and management of existing infrastructure. Students learn analytic techniques relating to management and planning. (3-0-3)

PA 558 Energy and Environmental Policy
Places energy and environmental policy in domestic and global contexts. Traces the economic and political implications of dependence on fossil fuels and the attempt to develop alternate energy sources and promote conservation. Assesses the environmental effects of resource consumption and the effort to control these effects by increased efficiency and regulation of pollution. Explores such problems such as nuclear waste, acid rain, global warming, and deforestation. Examines national and international attempts at economic, political, and technological solutions. (3-0-3)

PA 559 Issues in Globalization
Globalization has become a powerful buzzword in social science and in popular discourse. This course utilizes a sociological perspective to examine the economic, socio-political, and cultural aspects of globalization within the context of contemporary debates about the phenomenon. (3-0-3)

PA 560 Political Economy
An introduction to political economy exploring the relationship between economy and government or political system. Role of the state, role of the market, impact of the economic ideologies on political and economic systems will be examined. Structure of political and economic interests and the mediating effects of institutions on political and economic outcomes will be examined. Normative issues connected to ideal political and economic institutions and appropriate political and economic institutions and outcomes will be examined. (3-0-3)

PA 561 The Political Process and Administration
Addresses the relation between democratic institutions and processes of American politics and the administrative agencies of government. Examines obligations of citizenship, influence of private interests on public purposes, and effects of demographic, economic and technological change on self-government. (3-0-3)

PA 562 Urban and Metropolitan Government
Analyzes the decision-making process in urban and metropolitan governments. Emphasizes the role of elected and appointed officials, business, organized labor, community organizations and the electorate. Also focuses on the major problems of city-suburban relations. (3-0-3)

PA 565 The Nonprofit Sector
Considers the role-played by the nonprofit sector in the larger American society and economy. Topics include major organizational forms, financial management, human resource policies, leadership, board-executive relations, and private-public connections. (3-0-3)

PA 566 Nonprofits and the Public Sector
Provides an overview of the complex and important relationship between government and non-profits. This course includes a review of the history, funding schemes, the differences between grant and contract funding, recent trends, and much more. (3-0-3)

PA 567 Regulatory Policy and Politics
Examines the changing role of government regulation of private and public activities from a political and administrative perspective. Explores the reasons for growth and reform of economic and social regulation. Investigates the regulatory process, including standards for rule-making and the involvement of organized groups and the courts. (3-0-3)

PA 568 Seminar on International Business and Government
The course provides public sector managers a foundation for understanding key marketing and strategy topics from a private sector managers' perspective, so that public sector managers gain perspective into the private sector decision-making process in a globalizing environment. The course traces and compares the evolution of industrial systems in different countries, and the role of public policy in emerging industrial clusters in an international context. The underlying forces driving the development and internationalization of business systems will be explored, and the implications for corporate and public policy makers will be emphasized. (3-0-3)

PA 570 Social Capital and the Community
The 21st century confronts the public sector with new challenges and opportunities. Many of these challenges and opportunities will take place on the community level; and many of those challenges and opportunities will be centered on the notion of social capital and the community. Social Capital means the building of and use of community assets, those resources available to the community through its residents or citizens, associations, institutions, and its economic life. Using an Asset Based Community Development Approach the objective of this course is to help the student understand and use the concepts of asset based approaches to social capital and community as it relates to public administration. (3-0-3)

PA 577 Topics in Public Management
A reading and seminar course on a contemporary topic in public administration or policy. Subject matter will change in successive offerings of the course. May be taken more than once (Credit: Variable)

PA 579 Ethics & Professional Responsibility in Public Service
Focuses on the ethical problems and issues faced by individuals in public service organizations. Examines questions related to corruption, abuse of power, financial impropriety, ethics codes and standards in government and professional fields, whistle-blowing, and many other topics related to front-page concerns and individual problems of conscience and judgment. Traces the growth of concern about the standards of ethical behavior in government in the U.S. (3-0-3)

PA 588 Incident Response, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
In this course, students learn to design and manage key business information security functions including incident response plans and incident response teams; disaster recovery plans; business continuity plans; and crisis management teams and plans. Reporting, response planning and budgeting are all addressed. Students working in teams will prepare an incident response, disaster recovery, business continuity, or crisis management plan for a real world organization such as a business or a governmental body or agency. (3-0-3)

PA 590 Internship in Public Administration
Supervised practical experience in public administration. May be taken only by students lacking extensive work experience in governmental administration. Prerequisites: PA 501 and departmental permission. (Credit: Variable)

PA 592 Directed Readings in Public Administration
Consists of independent reading and analysis centered on particular problems and supervised by a member of the public administration faculty. Prerequisite: Instructor's consent. (Credit: Variable)

PA 597 Special Problems
Subject matter will vary with the interests and background of the students and the instructor. May be taken more than once. (Credit: Maximum of six hours)

PA 600 Continuation of Residence (Credit: 0-0-1)