Programs of Study

Apply to the JMU MPA program

Master of Public Administration Degree

JMU Graduate Catalog Entry for Public Administration

Core Curriculum (24 Credits)

  • Decision Making and Research Methods
    • PUAD 605: Research Design for Policy Evaluation
    • PUAD 606. Program Evaluation in Public Administration
  • Foundations
    • PUAD 625. Public Organizational Behavior
    • PUAD 615. Legal Environment of Public Administration
    • PUAD 620. Politics of the Administrative Process
  • Skills
    • PUAD 571: Public Financial Management
    • PUAD 630. Public Personnel Management
    • PUAD 641. Public Budgeting

Concentrations (9 Credits)

Choose one Concentration

Management in International Nongovernmental Organizations

  • Choose three of the following:
    • PUAD 650: Management in International Nongovernmental Organizations
    • MBA/PUAD 651: The International Nonprofit Sector
    • PUAD 652: The Politics of International NGO Management
    • PUAD 653: Ethics and International NGOs

Public and Nonprofit Management

  • Choose three of the following:
    • PUAD 512: Seminar in Intergovernmental Relations
    • PUAD 560: Regionalism and Urban Policy
    • PUAD 561: Education and Social Policy
    • PUAD 562: Social Welfare and Local Government Policy
    • PUAD 573: Economic and Community Development
    • PUAD 574: Tools for Public Management
    • PUAD 584: Environmental Regulatory Policy and Politics
    • PUAD 661: Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector
    • PUAD 662: Governance and Nonprofit Organizations
    • PUAD 663: Resource Development and Philanthropy

Strategic Planning for International Stabilization and Recovery

  • Choose three of the following:
    • POSC 660: Strategic Planning in World Affairs
    • POSC 665: Governance and Stabilization
    • SCOM 610: Strategic Communication
    • PUAD 573: Economic and Community Development

Public Sector Communication Concentration

  • WRTC 510: Seminar in Technical and Scientific Communication
  • WRTC 530: Research Methods in Technical and Scientific Communitcation
  • Choose one of the following:
    • WRTC 540: Professional Editing
    • WRTC 625: Government Writing
    • WRTC 640: Proposal and Grant Writing
    • WRTC 650: Electronic and Online Publication

Individualized Concentration

  • Three graduate-level courses selected in consultation with the MPA Director.

Professional Experience and Assessment (3 or 9 Credits)

Capstone Requirement (3 Credits)

  • PUAD 692. Public Administration Capstone

Internship Requirement (6 Credits)

  • PUAD 696 or PUAD 697: Internship (Required for Pre-Service students only)

Total Credits

  • 36 Credits for In Service Students
  • 42 Credits for Pre-Service Students

Five Year Program

The five-year plan offers a program for the JMU undergraduate that, if the student performs satisfactorily, leads to the MPA in five years - four undergraduate years and one graduate year of study. The five-year MPA requires 30 graduate credits in academic course work.

Freshman/Sophomore Year

  • GPOSCS 225: U.S. Government (4 Credits, UG)
  • PPA 265: Public Administration (3 Credit, UG)
  • POSC 295: Political Science Research Methods (4 Credits, UG)
A student interested in the five-year MPA should meet with the MPA Director early in the sophomore year and complete a Five-Year Degree Application. Students are not enrolled in the five-year program until they are accepted by the JMU Graduate School.

Junior Year

  • PPA 415: Legal Environment of Public Administration (3 Credits, UG)*
Student should plan to take the GRE during their first semester of their junior year.  Completed applications to the MPA program should be submitted by the end of the first semester of the junior year.

Senior Year

  • PUAD 620: Seminar in the Politics of Public Administration (3 Credits, G)
  • PUAD 625: Seminar in Public Management Issues (3 Credits, G)
  • MPA Core or Concentration Course (selected in consultation with MPA Director) (3 Credits, G)

Summer after Senior Year (Post-Baccalaureate)

  • PUAD 696: Internship (6 Credits, G)*

5th Year (Post-Baccalaureate)

  • Remaining MPA Core Courses (12-15 Credits, G)
  • Remaining Concentration Courses (6-9 Credits, G)
  • PUAD 692: Public Administration Capstone (3 Credits, G)

Total Credits

  • 14 Credits toward undergraduate degree
  • 39 Credits toward graduate degree

(UG) - Courses that can count toward the 120 credit hours required for the undergraduate degree.
(G) - Courses that cannot count toward the undergraduate degree.
* Undergraduate courses that earn a waiver for an equivalent graduate-level class