Course descriptions for Public Administration

Introduces students to the concepts, principles and practices necessary to effectively manage public and nonprofit organizations and systems. Students will develop an understanding of organizational cultures; the importance of prioritizing services in consideration of budget constraints; and the relationships among federal, state and local governments, and not-for-profit agencies. They will gain basic knowledge and skills in budget development, reading financial statements, personnel management.

This course will augment students' knowledge, skills and attitudes in reading and understanding budgets and financial statements. Students will deepen their understanding of: the budgeting and financial reporting processes of public and nonprofit organizations; revenue-generating strategies and regulatory issues pertaining to these kinds of agencies; and the value of creating a culture of transparency and accountability in the public and nonprofit sectors.

This course introduces students to the basic methods of program planning, and design in the public and non-profit sectors. Students will critically examine, discuss and apply planning methods and models in a case study format, advance their skills in community needs assessment, and produce a data-driven program plan.

This course introduces students to program evaluation in the health and human services field. This includes needs assessments, formative research, process evaluation, monitoring of outputs and outcomes, impact assessment, and cost analysis. Students gain practical experience through exercises and a major evaluation project that will include the design of a conceptual framework, development of indicators, statistical analysis, and development of an evaluation plan to measure impact.

This course introduces students to community building, local development strategies and regional economic issues (especially focused on small and rural communities). Students will study the economic conditions that strengthen community opportunities for employment growth. Topics include community history and capacity for growth and job creation, the role of community-based organizations and public economic development agencies.

This course will explore the use of Geographic Information Systems, Social Media and other emerging to facilitate constituent engagement, fundraising, program planning and service delivery. Issues to be covered include cost-benefit analyses, data security/confidentiality, technological infrastructure development and resource management.