All M.P.A. students must successfully complete 12 graduate courses, the seven core courses listed below, and five electives. Electives may be selected from courses offered in the M.P.A. program, or from other relevant graduate courses offered by COPACE. Further options for selecting electives that suit individual interests may be discussed with the Graduate Programs staff.

The core courses below are listed in order of general recommended sequence. Though there is no specific requirement that they be taken in this order, Policy Analysis and Issues and Cases should be taken early, and the Capstone Practicum should be taken last.

MPA3400 - Policy Analysis

MPA3100 - Issues and Cases in Public Administration

MPA3080 - Management Information Systems and Technology

MPA3120 - Organizational Behavior and Leadership

MPA3620 - Public Budgeting and Accounting

or

MPA3400 - Finance & Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager

MPA3900 - Research Methods and Strategies

MPA3999 - Capstone Practicum

An internship is available to students who enter the program with less than three years of professional experience. Internship Seminar (MPA3940).

Students who feel they have extensive professional experience in any of the required core courses, or who have taken similar courses in their graduate and/or undergraduate work, may petition for the requirement to be waived. Those who feel they may qualify for such a waiver should consult with the Graduate Programs staff. If their petition is approved, they may replace the waived core course with an elective course.

Students are free to select their elective courses according to their own preference. Often, however, students prefer to concentrate their electives in one particular area (see the list of concentrations).

Please contact the Graduate Programs staff for information on these and other possible concentrations, and which courses are currently being offered under each. Graduate students are permitted to select courses offered in all COPACE graduate degree programs. They may also petition to take graduate courses offered by other departments at Clark University or, with the additional approval of the instructor, upper-level undergraduate courses for graduate credit. Such petitions are decided on a case-by-case basis, and students should consult with the Graduate Programs staff regarding all such requests.

A complete listing of M.P.A. courses, with course descriptions, is given in the following section. The list below, categorizes courses according to concentration to help students select courses of interest. This list is meant to be suggestive only, and does not indicate specific requirements for a concentration. Some courses are listed several times. Students should consult with the Graduate Programs staff regarding what courses are currently available that might match their interests and professional goals.

• MPA 3340 - Effective Local Government
• MPA 3770 - Political Communication
• MPA 3550 - Politics and Public Management
• MPA 3450 - Strategic Planning
• MPA 3820 - Arbitration, Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations

• MPA 3020 - Fundraising & Grant Writing for Non-Profit Organizations
• MPA 3880 - Cost Benefit Analysis of Public Programs
• MPA 3260 - Leadership
• MPA 3380 - Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations
• MPA 3540 - Non-Profit Management
• MPA 3450 - Strategic Management for Public and Non-Profit Organizations
• MPA 3710 - Managing Human Services Organizations
• MPA 3800 - Applied Economics
• MPA 3720 - Program Evaluation