About the Program

The Frank J. Rooney School of Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) of Barry University, in cooperation with the School of Arts and Sciences (A&S), offers a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree program.  The degree program is designed as a professional development program for adult learners with a focus on the administration of public, non-profit, and other organizations which serve a public purpose.  The MPA is generally considered to be the terminal professional degree for practitioners in public service.  Its philosophical background and explicit content are grounded in an assessment of how the modern public sector workplace has evolved and the factors responsible for this evolution. The curriculum is designed to address the critical administrative competencies in this evolving environment through skills development in the context of a theoretical foundation. The degree program also incorporates adult learner principles and strategies.

 The program consists of thirty semester credit hours of approved course work and is arranged in a common core of twenty-one semester credit hours (seven courses).  In addition, nine semester credit hours of elective courses (three courses) may be taken from courses offered as public administration (PUB), general administration (ADM), human resources development (HRD), or information technology (IT).  Students may be required to take one or more of the following prerequisite courses, if the subjects have not been covered in their previous coursework:  POS 303 Public Policy and Administration, PUB 402 Values and Ethics in Public Administration, PUB 403 Public Budgeting and Finance, and PUB 406 Human Resources in the Public Sector. 

The program places an emphasis on developing critical administrative competencies via course content which contains theory, application, and practice throughout the curriculum.  Also, in addition to developing a core body of administrative knowledge and skills, the degree program will provide an effective grounding in applied public policy, policy analysis, and program evaluation.  Upon completion of their course work, students will be able to:

Understand and apply the knowledge and skills critical to public administrative effectiveness in today’s public and non-profit organizations
Assess the various administrative and managerial theories/perspectives as they relate to problem solving within a wide range of organizational structures
Evaluate various public administration theories, applications, and approaches within the broad social, economic, technological, and political environments of public and not-for-profit organizations
Synthesize the degree’s knowledge and skills in order to develop public administrative competencies and applications
Apply the degree program's knowledge and skills to analyze competently and to evaluate effectively public policy as applied in the operations of public or non-profit organizations.