MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION DEGREE
Degree Requirements
33 credit hours
Comprehensive exam
The Master of Public Administration program, which is designed for the working professional, combines rigorous instruction with a practical orientation towards public and nonprofit management and policy analysis. Students encounter this balance between the academic and the practical in the teaching faculty, course materials and classroom exercises. The program emphasizes both administrative knowledge and managerial skills related to the formulation of policy, the acquisition of human and financial resources, application of sound methods of organization and management, and the development and execution of effective implementation strategies. The curriculum allows students a significant amount of flexibility in selecting courses that meet their personal educational and professional objectives, while also assuring them of a sound foundation in all key areas of the discipline.
The M.P.A. degree requires a minimum
of 33 credit hours of graduate work. No more than six
credit hours may be taken in IIT courses numbered between 400 and 499.
A maximum of nine credits of graduate-level coursework of grade of B
or better may be transferred from another accredited university if these
have not been used toward a degree, pending departmental approval.
The normal program of study requires 24
credit hours in the administrative processes core
curriculum as follows:
PA 501 Introduction to Public Administration
PA 502 Complex Organizations
PA 503 Public Administrative Law
PA 510 Managerial Communications*
PA 522 Public Personnel Administration
PA 532 Principles and Practices of Public Finance
PA 542 Strategic Planning
PA 509 Practicum in Policy Analysis
*Can be waived with satisfactory completion of written exercise administered in course PA 501 Introduction to Public Administration or with the approval of the Academic Director. If waived, the student must take a 4th elective course.
In addition, the program requires 9 credit
hours of electives selected from either PA courses offered
by the department or from any other department at IIT such as architecture,
business, city and regional planning, civil engineering, computer science,
design, environmental engineering, humanities, psychology, social sciences
or law with approval from the Academic Director.
This flexibility of choice in electives is designed to allow the student to customize their curriculum to meet their professional needs and help further the student's career objectives.
Additionally, the program requires satisfactory
completion of a Preliminary Exam, to be taken after
completion of PA 501 and PA 502, and before student registers for fifth
course.
A thesis is not required for this degree. In its place, the student must complete a final research-based semester project, addressing a real-world administrative, organizational or operational problem in the Capstone course, PA 509 Practicum in Policy Analysis.
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