Course Descriptions
Core Courses
- PA 8150 - Foundations of New Governance
- Political, economic, and social context of government and public service; examines theories and models of new governance and implications for policy-making, public management, and public service delivery.
Sample Syllabus: 8150 FS09.doc - PA 8160 - Organizational Dynamics and Leadership
- Focuses on understanding human action in administrative situations and on developing personal capacities for effective action in varied and difficult organizational situations.
Sample Syllabus: 8160 FS09.doc - PA 8170 - Public Policy Processes and Strategies
- Processes through which public demands are generated, converted into public policy, and implemented. Examines the intersection of politics, policy, and management as well as the diverse strategies and tools of public action.
Sample Syllabus: 8170 FS09.pdf - PA 8180 - Research Methods & Inquiry in Public Affairs
- Introduction to research methods for graduate students in public affairs. Topics include: measurement; quantitative description; problem definition; the policy research process; basic analytical tools commonly applied in public affairs.
Sample Syllabus: 8180 FS09.pdf - PA 8181 - Research Methods and Inquiry in Public Affairs II
- Advanced topics and applications in research methods for public affairs. Topics include: multivariate analysis and other advanced quantitative techniques; evaluation of policy research products.
Sample Syllabus: 8181 SP09.pdf - PA 8185 - Research Methods & Inquiry in PA—Mid-Career
- PA 8190 - Economic Analysis for Public Policy
- Application of tools of economic analysis to understand and interpret the behavior of government, consumers and producers. Sources of economic inefficiency, including market failures and limitations, and policy solutions.
Sample Syllabus: 8190 1T09.doc - PA 8210 - Ethics, Democracy and the Public Service
- Uses the concepts of ethics and democracy to explore the historical, political, economic, organizational, professional, and interpersonal aspects of public service in American society in the context of globalization. Integrates learning from the MPA core curriculum and the specializations into a comprehensive view of the contemporary, multi-sectored public service.
Sample Syllabus: 8210 FS09.doc - PA 8211 - MPA Capstone: Applied Project
- Application of concepts and methods of public affairs to public policy or management problems. Diagnosis of problem or decision situation, collection of relevant data, development of alternative solutions, recommendation of proposed course of action.
Sample Syllabus: 8211 FS08.doc - PA 9150 - Governance and Public Affairs (PhD Program)
- This seminar examines classical and contemporary theories of governance, the role of the state and other social institutions, and the intersection of policy making and management across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Other topics include administrative reform, the new public management, and the emergence of the multi-sector public service. International comparative dimensions emphasized.
Sample Syllabus: 9150 FS09.doc - PA 9160 - Organization Studies in Public Affairs (PhD Program)
- This course examines the major issues and perspectives in organizational dynamics and leadership in the public and nonprofit sectors. Topics covered will include: history and development of organization studies; contemporary perspectives in organization theory; individual and group behavior; leadership, power, and influence; organization design and structure; organizational culture.
- PA 9170 - Policy Theory (PhD Program)
- This seminar examines the theories and current research on the policy process, institutions, and delegation of power that influence public policy. Topics covered may include agenda setting, policy design, implementation, legislative decision-making, state political institutions, and federalism.
Sample Syllabus: 9170 FS09.doc - PA 9171 - Political Economy of Public Affairs (PhD Program)
- This seminar focuses on formal theories of public decision-making, collective choice, and strategic interaction of public actors in different institutional environments. Topics may include social choice theories, game theory, median voter theories, logic of collective action, public choice, and principal agent models. The course assumes a basic understanding of microeconomics.
- PA 9182 - Logics of Inquiry in Public Affairs (PhD Program)
- This course examines the philosophical foundations of social inquiry. Topics include investigation of epistemological and methodological issues in development and use of social research, and exploration of the theoretical underpinnings of multiple paradigms in public affairs (public policy, planning, and organizational studies) and the social and behavioral sciences.
Sample Syllabus: 9182 FS09.doc - PA 9183 - Public Affairs Research and Professional Development Seminar (PhD Program)
- Research and professional development through participation in research seminars, colloquia, academic conferences, lectures, and professional workshops. Students required to register every spring semester while in residence.
Electives
- PA 7001 - Topics: Leadership for Public Service
- PA 7001 - Law and Economics (cross-listed as Econ 7367)
- PA 7330 - Scientific & Technical Aspects of Terrorism & Counterterrorism
- Terrorism has been a familiar tool of political conflict, and it has assumed greater importance during the past twenty years. This subject has been treated by political scientists in various forms, but the scientific and technological aspects of different forms of terrorism cannot be found in a single place. It is important for persons who propose counter measures to understand the basics of different types of terrorism such as for instance the nature of chemical agents, their properties such as toxicity, etc. in order to build better defense systems.
- PA 8171 - Environmental Policy
- This course is an introduction to U.S. environmental policy, focusing on important political institutions and political actors. The course provides a survey of the primary laws, regulations, and policies that comprise pollution control and natural resource management.
Sample Syllabus: PA 8171 Environmental Policy Syllabus.doc - PA 8172 - Health Policy
- This seminar will examine the health care system in the United States, including government funded programs, regulation of costs, and policies promoting healthy behaviors. The course will examine historical development, recent trends, and methods of health policy analysis.
- PA 8173 - Education Governance, Finance and Policy
- The course centers on public policy processes as applied to governance, finance and policy in public education. The administrative, political and economic dimensions of policy reform are emphasized. A special focus is placed on developing tools for analyzing and critiquing policy rationale, design and implementation.
Sample Syllabus: 8173 FS09.pdf - PA 8174 - Social Policy
- This seminar will examine the nature and extent of poverty in the U.S., its causes and consequences, and the antipoverty effects of existing and proposed government programs and policies.
- PA 8280 - Public Affairs Internship
- Gives students an opportunity to gain experience with government operations by providing supervised work with an agency at the local, state, or federal level of government or in nonprofit agencies.
Sample Syllabus: 8280 FS09.doc - PA 8320 - Spatial Analysis for Public Affairs
- Examines theoretical and empirical issues related to the spatial analysis of economic activity and local public issues. Major topics include the role of the public sector, the economics of public services, social accounting matrices, input-output analysis, econometric models of regional economies, and geographic information systems.
Sample Syllabus: 8320 SP08.doc - PA 8340 - Regional Development Policy & Practice
- Presents an overview of historical perspectives
and current practice in regional development policy. Explores various rationales for regional collaboration. Topics include global and political context of development policy, human and intellectual capital, entrepreneurship, regional governance and community development.
Sample Syllabus: 8340 SP09.doc - PA 8350 - Regional Development Issues and Analysis
- Examines theories of regional growth and development and methods for analysis with applications to current policy issues. Topics include firm location, workforce development, migration, the role of taxes and public expenditures, distribution of benefits, and sustainable development.
Sample Syllabus: 8350 FS09.doc - PA 8410 - Public Policy Workshop
- Application of policy analysis tools and methods to a specific policy topic or problem. Topics vary depending upon interests of the instructor. Prerequisite: PA 8420 and PA 8430.
Sample Syllabus: 8410 SP09.doc - PA 8420 - Public Program Evaluation
- Integrates theoretical and analytical approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of public policies and programs. Various methods based on different evaluative criteria are employed to assess how the use of policy tools influence policy design, implementation, and evaluation.
Sample Syllabus: 8420 FS09.pdf - PA 8430 - Public Policy Analysis
- Uses economic logic and statistical techniques to design, analyze, and evaluate public policy. Applies social choice theory, cost/benefit analysis, forecasting, regression analysis, trend analysis, time series methods, and other analytic techniques to policy decisions.
Sample Syllabus: 8430 FS09.pdf - PA 8510 - Public Budgeting and Taxation
- Intensive study of the institutions, processes, politics, and social and economic impact of public taxation and expenditures.
Sample Syllabus: 8510 3T09.doc - PA 8520 - Human Resource Management and Development in the Public and Nonprofit Sector
- Examines the political, economic, and legal context of the personnel function, as well as the technical aspects of the personnel administrator’s job. Stresses the dynamics of bureaucratic organizations.
- PA 8530 - Strategic Planning and Performance Measurement
- Presents the rationale for strategic planning and techniques and processes to develop and implement strategic planning in the public sector.
Sample Syllabus: 8530 2T08.doc - PA 8540 - Local Government Management
- Organization and division of service responsibility within local governments. Problems of managing delivery of services with special emphasis upon program implementation, productivity, planning, and responsiveness.
Sample Syllabus: 8540 FS08.doc - PA 8610 - Group Dynamics and Conflict Resolution
- Focuses on the study of group psychology in the context of communities and organizations. It provides a specific examination of the emergence and resolution of conflict.
Sample Syllabus: 8610 SP09.doc - PA 8620 - Organizational Analysis and Change
- Investigates processes and methodologies of organizational diagnosis, intervention strategies, and the role of a change agent.
Sample Syllabus: 8620 FS09.doc - PA 8630 - Organizational Change in a Community and Global Context
- Examines changing organizations in their task environments, which include communities and the global economy. The phenomenon of ambiguous boundaries between public and private as well as nonprofit sectors will be investigated as these profound changes impact organizational behavior.
Sample Syllabus: 8630 SP09.doc - PA 8710 - The Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
- Provides an overview of the history, function, size, scope, development, and management of the nonprofit sector. Historical, political, economic, and social perspectives are used to examine the meaning of voluntarism, charity, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector.
Sample Syllabus: 8710 SP09.docx - PA 8720 - Financial Management in the Public and Nonprofit Sector
- Nature and environment of public and nonprofit financial administration. Principles of accountability for management of public and nonprofit funds; management and investment of cash balances; special problems related to long- and short-term debt.
Sample Syllabus: 8720 FS09.doc - PA 8830 - Grant Writing I (formerly Grant Funding Development and Application)
- Provides students with knowledge regarding the process of seeking grant funding. Students will complete the grant's development process up to the submission stage. They will experience the peer review process both as applicant and reviewer. Provides participants understanding applicable to a variety of funding settings and an information base to use for preparation of future grant applications.
Sample Syllabus: 8830 SS09.doc - PA 8850 - Policies and Institutions of the European Union
- Provides an in-depth look at the institutions, policies, and contemporary issues that shape the European Union. Develops an understanding of the institutional composition of the EU, how policies are made within this institutional framework, and how policies made at the supranational level impact on the member states. Covers the various policies which make up the three pillars upon which the EU rests.
- Other Courses
- In addition to the core and elective courses offered by the Truman School of Public Affairs, students may take courses offered by other schools and colleges on the MU campus, in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.
Sample Syllabus: 7001 SS09.doc