CURRICULUM

• Overview

• Admission Requirements
  

• Application Process
  

• MPA Course of Study
  
  
• The MPA Online
  
  
• Joint MPA-MPH Degree
  
  
• Criminal Justice
  
  
• Management of Nonprofit Organizations  
• Grad Certificate in Public Sector Labor Relations
  
  
• Doctor of Public Administration Program
   
• UIS Course Schedule
  
  
• UIS Course Descriptions
  
• UIS Catalog

Core Courses

The UIS MPA Program involves 40 credit hours of course work, a total of 10 courses, half of which are core courses.  The material covered in the core courses is designed to provide professional-level competence in each of the five basic areas of public administration.  The core courses are:

PAD 501-Introduction to the Profession     4 credits
PAD 502-Organization Dynamics                4 credits
PAD 503-Analytical Tools                            4 credits
PAD 504-Budget and Finance                     4 credits
PAD 505-Human Resource Management    4 credits

MPA students are required to complete at least 12 credit hours of core course work during the first 20 credit hours in the program.  It is to the student’s advantage to complete all core requirements before taking advanced elective work. Students are also advised to try to take the courses in order, 501 to 505, to the degree to which their schedules allow, since the later courses build on topics covered in the earlier courses. 

Closure Requirement

Most MPA majors take PAD 571-Capstone, a four-credit course to complete the degree.  This course is designed to synthesize the topics you have studied across the public administration curriculum, and is generally taken in the last semester of study. 

Electives

The elective portion of the curriculum allows the MPA student to meet his or her own career development needs through advanced professional development courses.  You should talk with your adviser before taking electives.  Your discussion with your adviser can clarify goals and allow you to strategize the most appropriate schedule.

Important elective information for all majors:

• Majors must take at least two PAD electives.
• Any combination of PAD 400-level courses may count toward the MPA degree.
• Remaining electives may be from UIS 400- and 500- level courses.  
• Four credits of PAD 461-464 Graduate Public Service Internship Seminar are considered inside elective credits.
• Only one 400-level elective from a program outside the PA Department may be counted toward the MPA. 
• 400-level courses must be taught at graduate level, or show proof that additional reading and assignments for graduate students were required.
• Courses that duplicate or cover prerequisite-level material, even at the 500 level or higher, do not count. 
• Four credits of POS 522 Internship in the Legislative Process are accepted as outside elective credits.

Please note that the courses toward the Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Labor Relations and Graduate Certificate in the Management of Nonprofit Organizations may fulfill the MPA electives.

Grading Policy

     MPA students may apply up to eight credit hours of “C” work toward the MPA degree, provided that each credit hour of such work is offset by a credit hour of “A” work earned in a 500-level PAD course.  All such course work covered by this policy must have been earned at UIS while the student is enrolled in a graduate program at UIS.