Master of Public Administration

A Flexible Program For All Career Stages

Established in 1973 and continuously accredited since the formation of NASPAA, the Master of Public Administration program at Stanislaus State offers a professional graduate program designed to equip professional public servants to make a difference in their communities. We seek to help students make an impact on the world by imparting a set of frameworks, skills, and analytics that prepare them for the many roles, organizations, and sectors their career will span. 

Program and Learning Objectives

Program Mission:

To educate and train administrators and policy analysts to pursue leadership and management careers at local, state, and national levels.

Modes of Program Delivery:

The MPA program has classes in different course delivery modalities; some face to face (f2f), some hybrid (partly online and party f2f) and some fully online.

Program Objectives:

• To provide education and skill acquisition for public service professionals with particular emphasis on the needs of government and not-for-profit organizations in Northern and Central California.
• To maintain and improve the capacity of local and regional governments to provide excellence in public service.
• To conduct research that will broaden the base of knowledge and skills in the field of public administration.
• To serve the regional community through faculty and student involvement in public affairs.

Learning Objectives:

• Students have sound and appropriately comprehensive knowledge of the problem-context and environment of public administration.
• Students have sound and appropriately comprehensive knowledge of organizational decision-making processes.
• Students have appropriate personal competencies in problem analysis and decision-making.

Degree Requirements

The specific curricular requirements for the Master in Public Administration degree are:

1.  All students are required to complete a minimum of 36-39 semester units of upper-division and graduate courses and seminars. A minimum of 30 of these units must be in graduate courses and seminars.

2.  Students who have not had formal study in political science, economics, statistics, and introductory computer applications are advised to complete undergraduate courses before enrolling in graduate-level courses in these subjects.

3.  All students are required to complete successfully one of the following options in partial fulfillment of the upper-division degree requirements:

a. Comprehensive case analysis

• In the culminating case analysis for their MPA program, students delve deep into real-world policy challenges, applying interdisciplinary knowledge and analytical skills.
• Required and approved elective courses, 36 units

b. Thesis

• Required and approved elective courses, 30 units
• Approved research methods courses, 3 units
• Thesis Research, 3 units minimum
• Submission of written thesis
• Passing an oral thesis defense

4.  Students must complete the MPA program with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a scale of 0.0 to 4.0) on all upper-division and graduate coursework credited toward the MPA degree.

No grade less than a B– (B minus) is acceptable for the completion of a required course.

A student who receives less than a B– in a required course must take the course again. A student who takes the same required course twice and does not receive a B– or better will be disqualified from the program. No elective course with a grade below B- may count toward completion of the required units for the MPA degree. Students who receive a grade lower than B- will have their performance reviewed by the MPA program director, put on academic probation, and may be disqualified from the program. A student who completes two or more courses with grades below B- will be disqualified from the program. No course which is to be counted toward the MPA degree may be graded credit/no credit, with the one exception of PADM 5940, Public Administration Internship.

5.  A public service internship is required for "pre-service" MPA students. Internship positions and standards of experiential internship education are coordinated with local, county, regional, state and federal administrative agencies, not-for-profit organizations, or the offices of elected officials. The internship course (PADM 5940 - Public Administration Internship) involves 300 hours of work with one or more public sector organization. The intern works on agency assignments under the supervision of agency personnel while maintaining a close liaison with the faculty internship program coordinator. Interns may be voluntary or paid by the sponsoring agency. Interns are required to have passed PADM 5000, Administration in Public Affairs. To receive academic credit, students must pass PADM 5940, Public Administration Internship. Internship experience can be a valuable start to a professional career for the pre-service public administration student. Your academic adviser or the faculty internship program coordinator will be able to provide further specific information and guidance. All paperwork, including from the faculty internship coordinator, must be completed prior to the start of the internship.

6.  The degree of Master of Public Administration will be awarded upon certification of successful completion of degree requirements by the MPA Graduate Studies Committee.

7.  All students are required to complete the following nine courses, 27 units:

• PADM 5000 - Administration of Public Affairs
• PADM 5006 - Public Finance
• PADM 5007 - State and Local Public Finance
• PADM 5010 - Quantitative Analysis
• PADM 5015 - Public Policy Analysis
• PADM 5100 - Organizational and Administrative Theory
• PADM 5110 - Public Personnel Administration
• PADM 5130 - Public Service Ethics
• PADM 5200 - Public Agency Budgeting

8.  In addition to the required courses, all students will complete a minimum of 9 elective units chosen in consultation with the adviser. Up to 6 units may be 4000–level courses. These electives permit some specialization and may be selected to meet each student’s career needs.

• ECON 4300 - Mathematical Economics
• ECON 4600 - Urban Economics
• ECON 5050 - Business and the Economic Environment
• GEOG 4750 - Geographic Information Systems
• GEOG 5350 - Urban Sustainability and Design
• MATH 4430 - Operations Research
• PADM 5106 - Organizational Development/Group Dynamics
• PADM 5120 - Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector
• PADM 5140 - Combating Political Corruption
• PADM 5203 - Local Government Budgeting Simulation
• PADM 5280 - Procurement and Contracting
• PADM 5300 - Urban/Regional Planning
• PADM 5310 - Environmental Planning, Policy, and Law
• PADM 5400 - Computer Applications in Public Administration
• PADM 5500 - Administrative Law and Public Policy
• PADM 5505 - Intergovernmental Relations
• PADM 5554 - Seminar in Case Analysis
• PADM 5600 - Political Theory in Public Management
• PADM 5654 - Bureaucracy in Novels and Plays
• PADM 5700 - Local Governance
• PADM 5715 - Health Services Administration
• PADM 5720 - Research Design/Program Evaluation
• PADM 5940 - Public Administration Internship
• PADM 5950 - Seminar in Special Topics in Public Administration
• PADM 5980 - Individual Study
• PADM 5990 - Thesis
• PSCI 4325 - Land Use Planning
• PSCI 4600 - Statistical Analysis for Politics

Other 4000- or 5000-level courses, besides those listed, may also be taken as electives toward the MPA degree if deemed relevant and approved in writing by your graduate adviser.