Welcome to the MPA Program website.

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact: Deborah Snider (dsnider@ou.edu)

Degree Requirements

1. Admission Process
2. Degree Requirements
3. Concentrations within the MPA degree
4. Transfer Credit Coursework
5. MPA Comprehensive Exam Guidelines
6. Forms
7. Recent Graduates
8. Academic Integrity

Admission Process

If you have an undergraduate GPA of a 3.00 or better, or if you have at least 12 hours of letter- graded, graduate-level work from another school, you are usually considered to be fully admissible. 

If your undergraduate GPA falls within the range of 2.75-2.99, then you may be admitted on Conditional status.  You must complete a certain number of credit hours within a specified time- frame, usually 12 credit hours of specific course requirements within one year.  In your Conditional status, you must earn a "B" or "A" grade in each course. Once you have satisfied the requirements for Conditional admission, your status will be changed to Full admission and coursework taken while in Conditional status will be counted toward your degree. 

If your undergraduate GPA falls below 2.75, normally you cannot be admitted unless you meet the alternate admission policy conditions and have been out of school a minimum of 5 years. Evidence must be provided of extenuating circumstances or additional evidence of ability to do graduate work.  Evidence may include a resume, a writing example describing the student's career interests and how the public administration degree supports such goals, or letters of recommendation.  The GRE is required of all students with GPAs below 2.75. 

Link to the Graduate College

Area Requirements:  One course in each of the following areas:

Other University of Oklahoma Political Sciences courses
Maximum of 9 hours of approved transfer credit from other universities
Maximum of 12 hours of OU coursework outside the department of Political Science
 

36 hour degree program

Concentrations within the MPA Degree

If you satisfy the requirements of nine hours in any one area, you will have a concentration in that area. After graduation, you will receive a letter signed by the Graduate Dean and the Program Director recognizing the concentration. All of the courses will not be available at every location. It is up to the student to take the initiative to identify and take applicable courses. Students may have to travel to different locations to get the courses needed.

Must have 9 hours in any one area with at least 3 of those hours being within the political science department:

Budgeting and Financial Management:

PSC 5183 - Public Budgeting and Finance
PSC 5363 - Public Financial Management
PSC/RCPL 5353 - State and Local Public Finance
ECON 4353 - Public Finance

Public Management:

PSC 5133 - Strategic Planning and Performance Management
PSC 5183 - Public Budgeting and Finance
PSC 5243 - Managing Public Programs
PSC 5253 - Human Resource Administration
PSC 5363 - Public Financial Management
PSC 5193 - Comparative Administration

Public Policy:

PSC 5043 - Public Policy Implementation
PSC 5143 - Program Evaluation
PSC 5223 - Public Policy Analysis
PSC 5233 - Health Policy
PSC 5323 - Problems in Public Policy
PSC 5333 - Environmental Policy
PSC 5343 - Public Policy and Inequality
PSC 5373 - Education Policy
PSC 5393 - Regulatory Policy

Health Policy:

PSC 5223 - Public Policy Analysis or PSC 5043 - Public Policy Implementation
PSC 5233 - Health Policy
HAP 5453 - U.S. Health Care Systems
HAP 5203 - Health Economics
HAP 5483 - Health Care Law and Ethics

International Relations:

PSC 5123 - the Making of American Foreign Policy
PSC 5193 - Comparative Administration
PSC 5513 - International Relations Theory
PSC 5550 - Problems in International Relations
PSC 5563 - International Political Economics
PSC 5600 - Problems in Comparative Politics
PSC 5643 - Politics of Western Europe
PSC 5683 - Politics of Latin America
PSC 6603 - Comparative Political Analysis

Organizational Leadership:

PSC 5103 - Organizations: Design, Structure and Process
PSC 6143 - Public Organizational Behavior
PSC 6173 - Leading Public Organizations
PSC 6173 - Organizational Change and Development
PSC 6173 - Organizational Culture and Ethics
LSTD 5623 - Theories of Management and Leadership
LSTD 5633 - Cultures of Organizations
LSTD 5643 - The Individual and Leadership
LSTD 5654 - Ethics and Leadership
LSTD 5663 - Perspectives on Leadership
LSTD 5673 - Special Problems in Leadership
PSY 5783 - General Sem. in Organizational & Industrial Psychology
SWK 5333 - Human Diversity and Societal Oppression
COMM 5373 - Communication and Leadership
ODYN 5113 - The Psychology of Leadership
ODYN 5253 - Organizational Development

Educational Administration:

PSC 5170 - Problems in Public Administration
PSC 5323 - Problems in Public Policy
PSC 5343 - Public Policy and Inequality
PSC 5373 - Education Policy
PSC 6123 - Seminar in American Politics and Bureaucracy
PSC 5173 - Bureaucracy and Politics
EDAH 5253 - Institutional Research in Higher Education
EDAH 5263 - Planning in Higher Education
EDAH 5373 - Assessment in Adult and Higher Education
EDAH 5940 - Statewide Coordination and Government
EDAH 6023 - Higher Education Finance
EACS 6023 - Applied Quant. Research Methods
EACS 6123 - Administration and Organizational Theory
EACS 6223 - Policy Planning and Development
EACS 6243 - Education and the Law
EACS 6253 - Financing Education
EACS 6263 - Education and Community Relations
EACS 6323 - Politics in Educational Administration

Non-Profit Management:

PSC 5033 - Foundations in Nonprofit Management
PSC 5063 - Nonprofits & the Public Sector Relations
PSC 5133 - STrategic Planning & Performance Management
PSC 5253 - Human Resource Administration
PSC 5363 - Public Financial Management
PSC 6173 - Leading Public Organizations
PSC 6173 - Organizational Change & Development
HR 5373 - Grant Writing

 

Transfer Credit Coursework

Some transfer work from other schools and/or other OU departments will be accepted if the content of the course(s) has some reasonable relationship to the fields of public administration or public policy. For the Advanced Programs students, certain pre-approved courses at various sties can be taken without prior approval.

MPA Comprehensive Exam Guidelines
 

Effective fall 2000, an approved prospectus will satisfy the requirement for the comprehensive exam.  This must be done within the semester that is declared the exam semester and the final version of the prospectus must be submitted by the last day of the semester for main campus.

• Students will enroll in PSC 5950 Prospectus/Research Paper. 
• A student can submit a draft prospectus prior to enrolling for credit.
• The requirements and schedule for the MPA research paper prospectus are as follows:

A. The first draft of the prospectus must be submitted to the PA office by the following schedule:
   Fall: September 1
   Spring: February 1
   Summer: May 15

B. The prospectus will be assigned to a member of the OU Political Science Department's faculty for evaluation and supervision.  Prospectus/Research papers will normally be assigned for supervision to members of the Department's Public Administration Committee. Other members of the OU Political Science faculty may request to participate in the grading of research papers.  The Public Administration office will assign prospectuses and papers to faculty for supervision so as to ensure an equitable distribution of the work load.

C. The faculty member will evaluate the prospectus and return it to the student for needed revisions on the following schedule:
  No later than:
   Fall: October 1
   Spring: March 1
   Summer: June 15

  For students submitting a draft prospectus prior to their exam semester, the faculty will make every effort to return it to the student with comments within thirty days.

  Final submission of the prospectus will be by the last day of classes on the main campus.  Faculty must submit final grades according to the deadlines specified by the University.   Incompletes will not be given for the prospectus; incompletes may be given for the final paper.

D. Outline of  Prospectus as stated in MPA Student Guide:
  1. Statement of the Research Problem
  2. Theoretical Framework of the Research Problem
  3. Review of the Literature
  4. Description of Research Methods
  5. Reference List
  6. Chapter Outline

  (Note: The MPA Student Guide provides more specific outlines for prospectuses for some types of research papers, e.g. policy analysis papers.  Students will be expected to follow the outline for the relevant type of paper where it may differ from this general outline.)

E. Expectations.  It is expected that the prospectus will draw upon the knowledge that the student has learned in the MPA program.  Specifically, it is expected that the prospectus will demonstrate a grasp of relevant theories and concepts in public administration that are relevant to the research paper topic, and will relate the topic to the broader fields of public administration, public policy, and American government, as appropriate. 

F.  If the student's prospectus is not approved by the last day of the semester, the student will have failed the comprehensive exam.  He/she will then have to re-enroll in a minimum of two hours credit, either PSc 5960 or other eligible credit the following semester and redo the prospectus.

G. To be eligible to take the comprehensive exam, the student must have recorded grades for 27 hours toward their MPA degree requirements, and must have recorded grades for all required MPA courses and courses satisfying distributional requirements.