Public Administration

School

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

School Dean

Nancy LaGreca, Ph.D.

Department

Public Administration

Program Director

Arturo Vega, Ph.D.

Program Specific Admission Requirements

Admissions is granted only to those with high promise for success in graduate study and a strong motivation for public service. Potential may be demonstrated by experience in increasingly responsible positions and previous schooling. Admission decisions take into account previous schooling, letters of recommendation, and a writing sample or GRE test performance. Writing samples consist of an essay to the question: "why public service matters?"

Program in Public Administration

PA 6000X. Continuous Graduate Enrollment. 0 Semester Hours.

PA 6300. Quantitative Meth Public Admin. 3 Semester Hours.

This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the principles of social science research design and the various statistical techniques used to manipulate social science data. Students will be introduced to various research techniques and methods utilized in all facets of the discipline from behavioral research to public policy analysis.

PA 6301. Public Admin. and Policy. 3 Semester Hours.

A survey of the field of public administration and public policy including politics and policy process, organization theory, management principles, human resource management, fiscal policy, program design and evaluation and ethics.

PA 6302. Policy Formulation and Implementation. 3 Semester Hours.

This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the processes through which public policy decisions are reached. The course integrates an understanding of the role and interaction played by the disparate variables that affect public policy decisions.

PA 6303. Urban Political Institutions and Processes. 3 Semester Hours.

A study of power, conflict, and consensus in the urban political arena. Includes a survey of the research sources and methods of research in urban politics. Trends in urban political representation, decision-making, and service delivery.

PA 6304. Public Policy Analysis. 3 Semester Hours.

Seminars examine the core component of policy making-the examination, comparison and choice of policy alternatives. The values, assumptions, and tools associated with welfare economics, as well as alternative approaches to analysis. Key issues such as information capacity, public input, rhetorical tools of argument and ethical obligations of the policy analyst may also be covered. Policy analysis is systematic thinking about public issues or decisions leading to effective, efficient and equitable responses that can be broadly communicated.

PA 6305. American Political Institutions. 3 Semester Hours.

A study of the interrelationships between the three branches of government, intergovernmental relations and major trends in state governments.

PA 6306. Urban Planning. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 6308. Special Topics Public Policies. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 6318. Principles of Public and Non-Profit Management. 3 Semester Hours.

A survey of the main body of literature in the nonprofit field. Topics may include mission design, budgeting, finance fiscal management, organizational design, human resource policies, legal issues, and ethics.

PA 6319. Non-Profit Management. 3 Semester Hours.

A survey of the main body of literature in the nonprofit field. Topics may include mission design, budgeting, finance fiscal management, organizational design, human resource policies, legal issues, and ethics.

PA 6345. Business, Government & the Public. 3 Semester Hours.

A study of business as a political actor and its relationships with governmental and other non-governmental political actors. Specific policy areas to be analyzed may include work place safety and health, economic and industrial, environmental, consumer affairs, taxing and banking. A consideration of Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. economy may be included.

PA 6355. Human Resources Mgmt. 3 Semester Hours.

This course develops students' skills in assessing and managing the contemporary public sector environment at individual, group, and organizational levels. Topics include issues such as motivation, communication, leadership, human resource policy, external business analysis, and strategy formulation and implementation. The course also explores the dynamic interaction of these levels by focusing on topics such as organizational culture, human resources management, teams, job design, organizational development, and change.

PA 6358. Gender politics. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 7300. Directed Readings. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 7302. Leadership and Organizational Culture. 3 Semester Hours.

This is a course that offers a comparative study of organizations and how different types of organizations affect the nature and style of leadership. The environment, structure and culture of public, non-profit and private sector organizations and leadership will be compared and contrasted. The purpose of this course is to give the future public leader insight and understanding into the differences and similarities of the organizations that comprise public life and affect public policy.

PA 7303. Ethics and Public Sector. 3 Semester Hours.

This course engages the student in thinking systematically about morals and conduct and making judgments about right and wrong as a public official. Three primary questions are addressed: 1) What counts? 2) What is at stake? 3) How can public officials ensure professional success and ethical survival?.

PA 7304. The Management of Public Budget. 3 Semester Hours.

This course focuses on the operational level of public budgeting and finance systems rather than the specific details of practice or theory. It is designed to train public managers to exercise control over the financial resources of their organization through an understanding of accounting, budgeting, and financial practices following the guidelines of the governmental Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAPP). This course will help public managers to understand financial language and practices so that they can interpret financial reports, control organizational resources, ensure that financial systems support each other, and maintain the financial integrity of their organization.

PA 7305. Municipal Law. 3 Semester Hours.

This course examines how cities in the states of Texas function. This course will explore the jurisdiction of cities and their powers. Special attention will be paid to the common issues public officials must face on a daily basis; land use regulations, how to purchase materials and build city facilities; conducting open meetings and public disclosure requirements and much more. This course will discuss the reasons why a city, as a public entity, cannot be run like a business enterprise and vice-versa.

PA 7306. Urban Economic Development. 3 Semester Hours.

This course is designed to introduce the student to the rationale behind the development and growth of cities. The course will begin with a discussion of the origin of cities and what function they play in society and culminate with an exploration of the intricacies of the politics underlying why cities take the physical forms that they do.

PA 7307. Local Politics and Public Conflict Resolution. 3 Semester Hours.

How disputes over public plicy choices and outcomes are either resolved constructively or eveolve into chronic community conflicts is the focus of this course. Conflict is viewed as an opportunity for positive growth and change in local communities if and when leaders in these communities demonstrate the will and point the way to constructively resolve conflict. This course examines the sources of public policy conflicts, ways of resolving and transforming the conflict into constructive change, and the leadership competencies associated with effectively meeting this challenge.

PA 7385. Seminar in Regional and Urban Economics (same as EC 7385). 3 Semester Hours.

A study of the factors affecting regional and urban growth, stagnation, or decline. Organization of urban and regional economics and relation to aggregated economies.

PA 7386. Public Policy Evaluation. 3 Semester Hours.

The methods of critical thinking and microeconomic analyses are used to evaluate policy proposals and programs. The values underlying the policy and the likely consequences are analyzed, and, criteria for program evaluation are examined and applied.

PA 7390. Special Topics in Public Admin. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 8300. Special Topics. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 8301. Public Service Internship. 3 Semester Hours.

This course is designed for students to receive three required credit hours toward the MPA degree by completing an internship or applied public service, in other words, by participating in experiential learning. The PA graduate program director will coordinate the Internship with the student’s internship supervisor.

PA 8302. Public Service Internship. 3 Semester Hours.

Credit will be awarded upon completion of two consecutive regular academic semesters or one regular academic semester and two summer semesters work with an elected or appointed official at the national state, or local levels. The PAgraduate program director will coordinate the Internship with the public official under whom the Intern will serve. The Intern will keep a weekly log of his or her activities and will prepare at least one paper based upon special projects assigned during the Internship.

PA 8310. Applied Public Service Management. 3 Semester Hours.

Limited to in-service students (graduate students with one or more years of full-time employment in the public or non-profit sector). Students will be required to undertake an advanced organizational and strategic analysis of a public or non-profit organization under the supervision of a designed faculty member.

PA 8320. Applied Public Management. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 8325. Business in an Interdependent World (same as BA 8325). 3 Semester Hours.

A survey of the effects that differences in the cultural, economic, legal, political, social, and technological environments of countries have on the way business is conducted throughout the world. Also explored are the effects that regional economic and political arrangements, and international institutions are having on firms involved in business activities that cross national borders. The course concludes with an examination of some of the contemporary issues and challenges confronting U.S. business people at home and overseas as a consequence of the growing globalization of economic activities.

PA 8365. Human Resources Management. 3 Semester Hours.

Emphasizes the application of the latest human resource theory in the operation of the modern organization. Special attention is given to the role of strategic thinking in human resource management applications, the initiation of missioning and visioning in the implementation of a quality philosophy in the organization, and to the application of the latest quantitative and qualitative programs in the field of human resource management.

PA 8390. Organizational Behavior. 3 Semester Hours.

Comparative analysis of the major bodies of theory and empirical facts generated by the study of individuals and groups within various organizational settings. Special attention to the psychological and sociological variables crucial in interpreting and predicting behavior of individuals and groups within the organization, noting comparative aspects of management as related to service and governmental organizations and institutions.

PA 8395. Applied Research. 3 Semester Hours.

PA 8601. Public Service Internship. 6 Semester Hours.

Credit will be awarded upon completion of two consecutive regular academic semesters or one regular academic semester and two summer semesters work with an elected or appointed official at the national state, or local levels. The PA graduate program director will coordinate the Internship with the public official under whom the Intern will serve. The Intern will keep a weekly log of his or her activities and will prepare at least one paper based upon special projects assigned during the Internship.