SPEA
Graduate
Student Learning Outcomes
Master of Public Affairs (MPA)
General Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the MPA degree program, students shall:
- Demonstrate the ability to lead and manage public and nonprofit organizations.
- Demonstrate the ability to participate in and contribute to the policy process.
- Demonstrate the ability to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems and make decisions.
- Demonstrate the ability to articulate and apply a public service perspective.
- Demonstrate the ability to communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry.
Concentrations will have the above general outcomes plus the additional ones listed below.
Criminal Justice Concentration
Upon completion of this concentration, students will:
- Identify and critically analyze current criminal justice policies, using available research, and discuss the strengths and limitations of various approaches.
- Communicate effectively within a complex and diverse criminal justice or public safety environment.
- Rigorously analyze criminal justice and public safety policies using a variety of tools, including quantitative research methods and statistical techniques.
- Define crime, discuss and evaluate major theories of crime, and critically discuss criminal justice system and non-criminal justice programs and policies that respond to crime.
Policy Analysis Concentration
Upon completion of this concentration, students shall:
- Demonstrate the ability to rigorously analyze public policies using a variety of tools, including microeconomics, institutional analysis, and other common public affairs models of policy development, implementation and evaluation using quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches.
- Demonstrate experience in the practical conduct and communication of results of policy analysis.
Public Management Concentration
Upon completion of this concentration, students should:
- Demonstrate the ability to evaluate management practices, using a variety of outcome measurements to assess efficacy, efficiency and economic costs and benefits.
- Demonstrate experience in the conduct of management tasks, and the ability to communicate effectively with the appropriate constituencies.
Nonprofit Management Concentration
Upon completion of this concentration, students will:
- Demonstrate the managerial and policy skills to effectively undertake leadership roles in the nonprofit sector.
- Demonstrate the managerial and policy skills to effectively undertake leadership roles in the public or private sectors as they apply to working with organizations in the nonprofit sector.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the philanthropic tradition in the broadest sense (voluntary action for the public good).
