Students earn a Master of Public Policy (MPP) upon completion of a 36-credit program that includes a seminar in the spring semester of the undergraduate senior year; five core courses; a summer internship; and five electives, three of which must come from the pool of CPPA program electives.
Degree requirements:
Download a coursework time line.
The policy seminar will bring MPP students together to apply interdisciplinary tools to analyze possible solutions to a broad contemporary challenge in public policy, such as climate change.
Public Policy and Law a Decade after 9/11/01: The U.S., Europe and the Middle East is the Spring 2012 policy seminar. Students consider public policy issues that have emerged in light of the attacks on U.S.
targets 10 years ago.
CPPA core courses are designed to provide students with a strong analytical foundation, applicable to a wide variety of policy issues. The MPP degree requires the following five core courses :
- Politics of the Policy Process examines the influence of political factors on the initiation, formulation and implementation of public policy. The goal of the course is to give students the background necessary to devise strategies to develop public policy. (Comparative Public Policy can be taken instead of Politics of the Policy Process to satisfy this requirement.)
- Public Policy Analysis applies economic, political, social, organizational and other skills from previous core courses to actual and hypothetical policy issues. Students complete a client-based project as part of this course.
- Microeconomics for Public Policy and Administration provides an introduction to microeconomic theory and analysis. The course examines economic rationales for and against government policy and the economic consequences of public policy.
- Research Methods for Public Policy and Administration provides an introduction to qualitative and quantitative methodologies for analyzing and evaluating public policy. Topics include research methods, participant observation, survey research and questionnaire construction, measurement theory and practice, and framing categories.
- Introduction to Statistical Methods for Public Policy and Administration covers the use and interpretation of statistics in policy research. The course investigates such topics as probability theory, statistical methods, descriptive statistics, analysis of tabular data, correlation and regression, and multiple regression analysis. Students interested in acquiring additional methodological skills are encouraged to take advanced courses in qualitative and/or quantitative methods.
Students in the MPP program will be required to complete a three-credit summer internship, usually in the first summer after they enroll in the program. The internship will be integrated into the curriculum and will be supervised by a CPPA faculty member. Students’ interests will guide the internship placement process, and CPPA staff and faculty will help students establish internships through our alumni network and through our connections via the Five Colleges.
CPPA's program electives provide students with a deeper understanding of areas that affect professionals in the public and nonprofit sectors. MPP students are required to take three program electives, one from each of three sections: Policy, Management and Methods. CPPA currently offers the following program electives:
1. Policy
Ethics and Public Policy allows students to reflect on key issues in professional and administrative ethics, apply ethical principles to policy analysis, and articulate ethical arguments in writing and in discussion.
Comparative Public Policy examines some of the experiences, accomplishments and problems common to advanced industrial societies. Current public policy issues in the United States will be used for comparison and contrast.
Globalization examines the broader issues of economic development and the debates over different aspects of globalization, including multilateral institutions setting policy, the operative goals and agreements and the players—nations, NGOs, labor unions and corporations.
2. Management
Nonprofit Management covers a wide array of management topics. The course combines conceptual reading assignments with case studies and service learning projects to solidify theory with practice.
Information Technology in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors provides an introduction to IT for students headed for work in public or nonprofit organizations. Through computer labs, practice exercises and homework, students leave the class with confidence in the development of basic web sites and relational databases.
Personnel Management explores many of the issues confronting public personnel management in the United States. Students analyze case studies to give them an understanding of the political impact of allegedly value-neutral techniques used in the field.
3. Methods
Applied Public Sector Economics provides students with the necessary skills to formulate public policies with an understanding of their economic implications.
Advanced Qualitative Methods for Public Policy and Administration provides greater methodological depth in exploring various qualitative methods, including surveys, interviewing, focus groups, participant observation and others.
Advanced Quantitative Methods provides advanced training in one or more quantitative methods, including advanced regression analysis, qualitative choice models, decision analysis, queuing models and others.
