The 21st century is a period of extraordinary change. This paper presents the case of the Master of Public Affairs (MPA) program as a values-based graduate professional degree program and argues that a values-based curriculum grounds students in public service values and provides key preparation as they assume their professional roles in changing times.1 While during the 20th century many public administration scholars eschewed values in favor of positivism, as we discuss, history has demonstrated that values (expressed and unexpressed) in public organizations have real social and political consequences of profound significance.
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