Master of Public Administration
Managers in high performing organizations today need to be able to analyze and interpret data and then use those insights as they implement policies and programs.
Combining academic rigor with a practical orientation toward management and policy analysis, the Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) program is designed to develop the knowledge and skills students need to become effective public and nonprofit managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs.
The program’s applied approach and unique position in a business school focuses on cultivating mastery of policy evaluation, analytics, and administrative best practices to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public and nonprofit organizations in a wide range of fields.
Business and public administration at Illinois Tech have a prestigious history that dates back to the late 1800s, with some of the nation’s first courses in "Family and Consumer Science" (including “Home Economics” and “Household Management”) being offered by the Lewis Institute, Stuart’s original home, and the Institute’s subsequent formation of the Department of Business and Economics in 1926.
Over a period of more than 125 years, building on curricular innovations by Julia A. Beveridge and George N. Carman, and on foundational scholarly works by trailblazing Illinois Tech scholars Herb A. Simon (author of Administrative Behavior, later awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics), Karl Menger (developer of the St. Petersburg paradox in economics) and Abe Sklar (developer of the Copula in financial modeling), the Stuart School of Business has refined education in business disciplines.
A long-standing leader in curricular innovation, in 1990, building on the foundational works of numerous Illinois Tech scholars, and Harold L. Stuart’s own contributions to finance and the broader business community, the Stuart School of Business established quantitative finance as an academic discipline, with a world’s first postgraduate Master’s program in Financial Markets and Trading – a program that highlighted a new model for embedding into a postgraduate academic program the emphases on career readiness and connectedness with the business community, and transformed business school education.
Today, the Stuart School of Business continues to be a frontier innovator in accredited education, offering academic programs and co-curricular opportunities that place students on the path to self-actualization and career success. Leadership, entrepreneurship, experiential learning, positive societal impact, and connectedness to the business community, combined with a human-centered approach to student development, and an unyielding focus on student success, continue to be core pillars at Stuart. Stuart is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) – an accreditation achieved by fewer than 6% of business schools worldwide.
The Master of Public Administration program both enables students to gain the coveted MPA credential as well as benefit from an innovative program that highlights contemporary tools for strategic administration, administering public policy, and achieving success in non-profit management. The program exposes students to subject matter experts from across the Stuart School of Business, as well as gain from Stuart's prestigious history and interdisciplinary faculty expertise.
Curriculum
The Master of Public Administration degree requires a minimum of 30 credit hours (10 courses) of graduate work, including seven core courses.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | (21) | |
| PA 501 | Introduction to Public Administration | 3 |
| PA 502 | Organizational Behavior | 3 |
| PA 522 | Human Resource Management | 3 |
| PA 532 | Public Financial Optimization and Management | 3 |
| PA 568 | Optimization in Policy and Administration | 3 |
| PA 580 | Policy Forecasting and Evaluation | 3 |
| PA 581 | Policy Economic Modeling and Design | 3 |
| Elective Courses | (9) | |
| Select nine credit hours. Students may select courses to fulfill a desired specialization. See Specializations tab on this page for more details. | 9 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 30 | |
Elective courses may be selected from courses in public administration or other fields such as architecture, business, city and regional planning, civil engineering, computer science, design, environmental engineering, humanities, psychology, social sciences, or law. Taking a course outside the MPA program requires the permission of the student’s adviser and the program director. No more than six credit hours may be taken in university courses numbered between 400 and 499. A maximum of nine credit hours of graduate-level coursework may be transferred from another accredited university if these have not been used toward a degree and upon approval of the student’s adviser and the MPA program director.
MPA with Nonprofit and Mission-Driven Management Specialization
This specialization is designed for professionals who want to become leaders and managers of nonprofit and other mission driven enterprises. It provides students with the skills needed to enter the nonprofit field, advance their current nonprofit career, or become a nonprofit or mission-driven enterprise entrepreneur. Students take the regular MPA core curriculum and three electives from the nonprofit courses offered in the program. This program combines rigorous instruction with a practical orientation toward mission-driven organizational management.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | (9) | |
| Select a minimum of nine credit hours from the following: | 9 | |
| The Law and the Nonprofit Sector | 3 | |
| Advanced Financial Management for Public and Nonprofit Sectors | 3 | |
| Resource Development in the Nonprofit Sector | 3 | |
| Alternative Dispute Resolution | 3 | |
| Performance Measurement in Nonprofit and Public Management | 3 | |
| Public Policy, Nonprofits, and Philanthropy | 3 | |
| The Nonprofit Sector | 3 | |
| Nonprofits and the Public Sector | 3 | |
| Social Capital and the Community | 3 | |
| Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Public Service | 3 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 9 | |
MPA with Security, Safety, and Risk Management Specialization
The Security, Safety, and Risk Management specialization is intended for professionals who want to acquire cutting edge security strategies and leadership techniques to successfully manage public safety and public or private sector emergency preparedness programs. Students take the regular MPA core curriculum and three electives from the security, safety, and risk management courses offered in the program. This program combines rigorous instruction with a practical orientation.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | (9) | |
| Select a minimum of nine credit hours from the following: | 9 | |
| Administration Law | 3 | |
| Strategy and Structure: Homeland Security | 3 | |
| Crisis Management and Homeland Security | 3 | |
| Information Systems Security and Cyber Crime | 3 | |
| Local Government Management | 3 | |
| Alternative Dispute Resolution | 3 | |
| Performance Measurement in Nonprofit and Public Management | 3 | |
| Public Safety Administration | 3 | |
| Public Management Strategies for the 21st Century | 3 | |
| Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Public Service | 3 | |
| Incident Response, Disaster Recovery, and Business Continuity | 3 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 9 | |
MPA with Economic Development and Social Entrepreneurship Specialization
The specialization in Economic Development and Social Entrepreneurship is designed for professionals who want to become economic development leaders of social entrepreneurs. They will become managers and entrepreneurs who drive socially responsible economic change in a rapidly changing global environment. These professionals may work in the public sector specializing in developing cutting edge economic development strategies and programs at the local, state, or federal level or they may want to be mission-driven entrepreneurs who organize, manage, or create ventures that utilize social capital to foster local or regional economic development. Students take the regular MPA core curriculum and three electives from the economic development and social entrepreneurship courses offered in the program.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | (9) | |
| Select a minimum of nine credit hours from the following: | 9 | |
| Advanced Financial Management for Public and Nonprofit Sectors | 3 | |
| Local Government Management | 3 | |
| Social Entrepreneurship | 3 | |
| Public Infrastructure Management and Financing | 3 | |
| Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning | 3 | |
| Public Management Strategies for the 21st Century | 3 | |
| Urban and Regional Development | 3 | |
| Political Economy | 3 | |
| Social Capital and the Community | 3 | |
| Planning, Policy-Making, and the Built Environment | 3 | |
| Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Public Service | 3 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 9 | |
