PA 300: Research Methods
This graduate seminar in research methods is a foundational course geared towards relevant tools and techniques that are commonly employed by public administrators to study complex public policy issues. Policy researchers have a variety of tools at their disposal that can be used to measure program outcomes, public opinion, and the effectiveness and efficiency of program intervention. The course is dedicated to familiarizing students with how social science research is conducted. The course trains students in various qualitative and quantitative social science techniques and approaches to measurement, with an emphasis on assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each.
PA 301: Policy Process & Analysis
This graduate seminar seeks to introduce students to the theory of the policy process and the practice of policy analysis. The first portion of the course surveys various theories of the policy process. The second part of the course considers policy analysis as a process of multidisciplinary inquiry that creates, critically assesses, and communicates information that is useful for understanding and improving public policies. The practice of policy analysis is based on several methodological approaches, each with its own theoretical logic and values. Studied together, students will gain a firm understand of the role of policy and the ways in which it can be professionally analyzed.
PA 302: Public Administration
This graduate seminar in public administration examines the role and scope of bureaucracy in the modern state from a variety of perspectives. The course pays particular attention to issues associated with the formulation and implementation of public policy; planning, programming, and decision-making in the bureaucratic policy-making process. To accomplish this aim, the course surveys the basic functions of government and bureaucracy, considers the historical development of the civil service, and ponders the normative implications of bureaucratic culture on public administration reform.
PA 303: Ethics & Public Policy
This graduate seminar examines the major normative issues surrounding this feature of public authority. Public officials unavoidably confront ethical controversies and questions of values in the process of making policy and exercising power. Students will first consider the question of means: what are the distinctive ethical dilemmas faced by public officials as they make policy or seek power? The second part of the course ponders the question of ends: what values should public officials attempt to realize via public policy? The goal is to think through how principles developed in political theory and philosophy may inform public officials’ understanding of practical issues and policy questions.
PA 304: Public Finance & Budgeting
This course develops a general understanding of the policy of public budgeting and finance. It presents a general overview of Western public finance and budgeting systems with an emphasis on the processes of planning, programming, appropriation, taxation, spending and managing a budget deficit. The course covers both theoretical aspects of public finance and budgeting, as well as politics, processes and institutions in government budgeting. Students also learn the peculiarities of government budgeting in different countries.
PA 305: Development Policy & Strategy
This graduate seminar adopts a multidimensional understanding of global development as both economic growth and human improvement, as a balance between the market-induced and state-led, and a confluence of individual agency and collective action. The first part of the course focuses on assessing the main theories of development. The second part of course prompts students to explore some of the key questions concerning poverty reduction and global inequality. Finally, the course reflect on what ‘sustainable’ development looks like in today’s dynamic, ever-complex world.
PA 310: Contemporary Governance
This graduate seminar examines contemporary governance as the process by which authority is exercised within a given political community or issue area. Governance is a term that incorporates the fields of politics, policy, and administration, each of which is centered on a different aspect of the exercise of public authority. Governance is, therefore, an integrative field which means that a key aim of this course is for students to articulate and communicate their own integrated view of contemporary governance, and how it relates to public decision-making. Thematically, this seminar course is divided into three parts that assess governance as theory, practice, and dilemma.
PA 311: Organizational Theory
Organizations are complex and often times problematic by nature, both producing and being produced by individuals. This graduate seminar explores the structure and design of organizations, the interaction of organizations and their environment, and the behavior of individuals within organizations. Emphasis is placed on making students assess how organizations are primary modes for accomplishing administrative tasks and how they dominate institutions in the post-modern era.
PA 312: Economics for Public Policy Decision-Making
What is the place of economic thinking in policy decision-making? This course covers concepts and principles in economics which are most relevant for public administrators. Theoretically, the course assesses the rational choice model, examines alternative decision-making models, and stresses the differences in individual and collective decision-making processes. The course then turns towards a multifaceted practical examination of the role of government in the economy.
313: Civil Society & Social Capital
This graduate seminar analyses the concepts of civil society and social capital and explains their prominence in current social science. As a first building block, the course material includes relevant works of major social theorists, sociologists and political scientists. The course then makes a transition from theoretical concepts to empirical studies of civil society and social capital. The last part of the course is dedicated to applying these concepts and approaches to the local context.
PA 314: Environmental Policy Seminar
The aim of this graduate seminar is to broadly introduce the tools, approaches and institutions that govern political decision-making in the field of environmental conservation and natural resource management. The course consists of four major topics that address global versus local environmental policy-making, environmental ethics, techniques of environmental analysis, and public participation and multi-level collaboration. Special emphasis is placed in assessing the strengths and challenges of citizen involvement in environmental issues, and the evolving role of government to meet trans-boundary challenges posed by the environment.
PA 315: Armenian Politics
This course provides an in-depth understanding of Armenian politics. It examines the major turning points of the country’s political transitions and examines questions related to the system of governance, democratic transition, institutional, political, economic, and social developments in the post-Soviet Armenia. The course will discuss topics related to Soviet legacy, elections, political parties, power relations, problems of migration, democratic consolidation, relations with the Armenian Diaspora, and the impact of the Karabakh conflict on Armenia’s political future.
PA 320: Policy & Program Evaluation
This course serves as a supplement to the broader Policy Process & Analysis course offered within the MPA. Program evaluation is the systematic use of empirical information to assess and improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of public or nonprofit programs and policy interventions. This course focuses on evaluation tools most commonly used to assess the performance of publicly funded programs. This course is particularly designed to provide a ‘roadmap’ how to match the appropriate tools to specific public programs and policies in order to evaluate their causal effects. Students in this course will become familiar with the concepts, methods, and applications of evaluation.
PA 321: Public Personnel Management
This graduate course introduces students to the theoretical framework underpinning the strategic management of an organization’s human capital for the efficient and effective delivery of public goods and services as a vital aspect of governance practices. Emphasis will be placed on surveying the history of human resource management in government, assessing the major elements of the personnel management process, and understanding the organizational functions of human resources systems. Students will be exposed to successful HR management models and practices for their learning and application to workplace environments.
PA 322: Leadership in Public Organizations
Leadership in the public sector is both unique and complex. This graduate course surveys leadership and organizational change theories, styles, and strategies in public and nonprofit organizations. Emphasis is placed on discerning what public leadership looks like, what traits and skills do leaders need to consciously practice in public organizations, and how leadership can assist in organizational change.
PA 323: Nonprofit Management
This graduate seminar provides students with the theoretical knowledge and practical tools and skills necessary to successfully manage nonprofit organizations. This course begins with a historical overview of the nonprofit sector and demonstrates its complex structure. The course then explores various aspects of nonprofit management such as organizational creation, strategic planning, performance evaluation, board governance, executive leadership, human resources, finance, advocacy, and collaboration. Students will learn to analyze and assess best practices in non-profit management, compare and contrast how similar management concepts are applied to non-profit and for-profit setting, and learn to appreciate current controversies and areas of debate.
PA 330: Topics in Public Affairs
Course content varies by semester when offered.
PA 331: Independent Study
This course is designed to permit students to design and complete a course of study under the supervision of an instructor for credit. Such courses typically address a special area of interest of the student and instructor outside the standard offerings of the program and have an interdisciplinary or research components. The course must include a co-designed syllabus and evidence of learning equivalent to 1-3 credit course. Independent study courses are subject to the instructor’s approval and Program Chair’s consent.
PA 390: Internship (1 credit)
Prerequisite: Completion of at least 24 credits
PA 399: MA Thesis Prospectus (2 credits)
Prerequisite: Completion of at least 24 credits
PA 400: MA Thesis (3 credits)
Prerequisite: PA 399
All the courses count three unless otherwise indicated.