Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs (BSPA)
Graduates of the Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs program should have the intellectual depth, breadth, and mental agility of learning to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and solve problems in public affairs using knowledge, skills, and tools appropriate to entry-level management, civic leadership, and policy studies positions. A student who is awarded the Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs will be able to:
- Communicate effectively important information and ideas in public affairs (especially within their major), both with individuals and in group settings, and using oral, written, visual, and electronic modes.
- Recognize, characterize and analyze issues and problems in public affairs using appropriate technology to collect, collate and assess data through statistics and other quantitative tools.
- Apply knowledge and theory of the public, nonprofit and private sectors (e.g., microeconomics) to analyze, evaluate and contribute to the development of solutions for public affairs issues and problems.
- Recognize and incorporate concerns, theories, concepts and other information rooted in the broader concepts of globalization, civic engagement, sustainability, and management in working with public affairs issues and problems.
- Work effectively in a team.
- Recognize and demonstrate sensitivity to diverse points of view.
- Develop an awareness of one's personal responsibility and service to the public, and to seek principled solutions to problems in public affairs.
Students will be able to demonstrate additional learning specific to their major.
Civic Leadership Major The civic leadership major is intended to impart knowledge and skills needed to catalyze community actions. Students electing a civic leadership major will analyze the elements necessary to successful community solutions, and will learn to solve public problems in the context of shared power and authority. Students in civic leadership will be able to:- Understand and communicate the nature of civil society.
- Understand and apply theoretical and applied concepts of the political process to civic engagement.
- Understand and apply the theoretical and practical foundations of leadership.
- Engage in negotiations and conflict resolution.
The management major is concerned with the functioning of organizations, whether public, private or nonprofit. Students electing the management major will study resource allocation, organizational design, accountability, and other generally applicable principles involved in all organizational structures, with an emphasis on issues specific to public and nonprofit organizations. Students in management will be able to:
- Understand and participate in the management of public and nonprofit organizations.
- Understand the principles of finance and budgeting in the public sector, and be able to undertake basic finance and budgeting activities in that context.
- Understand the principles of finance and budgeting in the nonprofit sector, and be able to undertake basic finance and budgeting activities in that context.
- Understand the principles of human resource management, and be able to apply them in the context of a public or nonprofit organization.
- Manage diversity in a changing workforce.
- Understand the decision-making in public and nonprofit organizations, and be able to contribute to that process in those organizations.
The policy studies major is concerned with the exercise of power and the nature and wisdom of the rules that constrain the use of power. In contrast to the management student, whose focus in on the organization, and the civic leadership student, whose focus is on the community and community networks, the policy studies student will primarily be concerned with the rules we establish to govern our communal endeavors. Students in policy studies will be able to:
- Understand, explain and apply common models of the policy process to problems in public affairs.
- Understand the options for public input into public decision-making and policy implementation.
- Read, understand and evaluate program evaluations and policy analyses reported by others, and communicate those digested findings clearly and concisely.
- Understand and apply basic methods of program evaluation using common quantitative, qualitative and mixed tools.
- Understand and apply basic methods of public policy analysis using common quantitative, qualitative and mixed tools.
- Understand a policy area in depth.