MPA Program Requirements

Program Requirements

General Requirements

To graduate students must complete 36 semester hours of coursework, and at least 18 hours must be graduate level courses at the 6000 level or above.

Students must take a minimum of 33 semester hours of course work and complete either…

• three thesis credit hours, an oral defense, and a thesis OR

• three credit hours for the MPA Capstone course and an internship.

No more than 9 credits may be taken as independent study and/or workshops. All courses numbered 5000 and above are graduate courses. If a 5000-level course is cross-listed with a 4000-level undergraduate course, graduate students must register for the 5000-level section of the course.

Core Courses (15 hours)

There are five required courses in the MPA “core,” each worth 3 credit hours:

• POLS 6210 Public Administration Theory and Behavior (Fall)

• POLS 6260 Public Management I: Personnel Management and Leadership (Fall)

• POLS 6280 Public Management II: Budgeting, Fiscal Policy, and Decision-making (Spring)

• POLS 6200 Public Administration and Public Policy (Spring)

• POLS 6750 Research Methods (Fall)

Students must receive at least a 'B' grade in all core classes.

Public Administration Electives (18 hours)

Students must complete 18 hours of elective coursework chosen in consultation with the graduate coordinator. The department offers a variety of electives each semester, such as nonprofit management, program evaluation, economic development, administrative law, and international development.

Students are encouraged to explore relevant course offerings outside of the department to support their interests and career goals in consultation with the graduate coordinator. Students can choose from a variety of courses offered by other graduate programs at BGSU, including public health, criminal justice, economics, business administration, and communications.

Students with specialized interests in a topic may do an independent study course with a faculty member to supplement their regular MPA coursework. No more than 9 hours of independent study can be counted towards the degree.


Capstone/Internship OR Thesis (3 hours)

Students have the option to take the capstone course along with completing an internship OR writing a masters thesis.

Capstone

The MPA Capstone is the culmination of the Bowling Green State University Master of Public Administration program.  This capstone course is designed to provide graduating students with a summative experience that allows them to synthesize and apply their cumulative learning throughout the MPA program while completing a service-learning project of value for a community partner. Students will develop a professional portfolio that provides evidence of their learning relating to the program’s core learning competencies.  They will reflect on the body of their academic and professional work to construct a document that provides evidence of their mastery of the core competencies.

Internship

Internships are required of who lack substantial prior administrative experience. We believe that the internship is one of the most valuable educational experiences the student will have in the MPA program if it is appropriately structured and supervised. The MPA program works with the BGSU Michael and Sarah Huklin Hub for Career Design and Connections to help students find and coordinate internships. Students must register for COOP 50 which is a 0 credit course with no tuition/fees.

Thesis

Students may pursue the thesis option instead of the internship and capstone course. The thesis is a significant undertaking that typically requires 2-3 semesters of work to complete, so please consult with the MPA coordinator by the end of your first semester of coursework. An MPA Thesis will demonstrate a student's mastery of a substantive body of scholarly or practice literature as well as using appropriate and academically defensible methodologies to analyze research questions, test hypotheses, or contribute new theoretical knowledge. An oral defense of the thesis is required. You can read more about graduate college thesis requirements here.