Journal of Public Affairs Education

Despite several scholarly inquiries, the question of whether there are critical differences between Masters of Public Administration (MPA) and Masters of Public Policy (MPP) programs continues in the minds of prospective students, potential employers, and university officials. Building on previous inquiries into this issue, we compare the core course content of selected MPA and MPP programs, and expand the study by investigating whether there is a correlation between the academic backgrounds of program faculty and the emphases in core curricula. We also surveyed departments or schools that have both MPA and MPP programs in order to determine the reasons for offering both programs and related issues — it was assumed that schools and departments offering both programs would have vetted program goals and content issues. Our study suggests that MPA and MPP program curricula differ. However, such differences seem more likely to be associated with faculty discipline differences than with a focus on providing graduates the core competencies required for job and career options/opportunities in these fields.

This paper examines factors that can influence how effective a service-learning project is at achieving learning objectives. It is based on data collected from seven Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) courses taught during one semester at a large state university. We find that the key factors of influence on how effective a service-learning project is at achieving learning objectives are (a) the extent that the project is integrated with class materials, (b) whether or not students work in groups, and (c) whether or not the participating students are full-time.

Many schools have experiential learning projects, often termed “capstones,” where students combine theory and practice for the benefit of an outside agency. New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (NYU Wagner) has devoted a great deal of thought and effort to strengthening and sustaining its Capstone program from the students’ perspective, and it has seen significant improvement. But we knew less about whether the project work our students performed was helpful to participating Capstone client organizations, as well as what factors made certain projects more successful from the clients’ point of view. In an effort to assess and understand this perspective, we undertook a post-project survey of recent Capstone clients. The results indicate very strongly that the services offered and tools created by our Capstone teams are useful to these outside agencies, and the feedback offers indications of how to increase the value of these projects going forward.

Student philanthropy is an experiential learning approach that provides students with the opportunity to study social problems and nonprofit organizations, and then make decisions about investing funds in them. The limited literature on student philanthropy has focused on the original model, called “direct giving,” which provides students with funds to make small grants to nonprofit organizations. But the literature has not addressed an emerging model, called “indirect giving,” which partners a class with a corporation or foundation, and has students evaluate “real” grant proposals and make funding recommendations. This article examines the impact of an indirect-giving program on MPA students at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). A majority of students indicated that the program helped them to become more aware of social problems (64.8%) and nonprofit organizations (77.8%), learn the curriculum (75.7%), apply the course principles (75.7%), and gain academic skills or knowledge (62.1%). The article also discusses some “lessons learned” about the indirect-giving model of student philanthropy.

This essay describes a unique approach to assigning Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) students to groups in order to enhance the value of the overall classroom team experience. The relevant mechanism of interest is the Cognitive Styles Matching (CSM) group-selection process, combined with a brief explanatory session. Many instructors utilize groups for various reasons, without considering that the selection process can be altered to maximize relevant learning and interpersonal skills development. In this approach, a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator within a CSM process is used to configure groups for semester-long course projects. The essay takes the additional step of examining the approach’s performance, by using a post-only evaluation design that considers academic performance and a survey of student perceptions regarding the CSM treatment and potential alternatives. The benefits associated with the CSM process — product consistency and learning to work with others in a collaborative public service environment — suggest a meaningful role for broader use of the CSM selection process in the MPA curriculum.

There are increasing indications that public relations is slowly returning to the public administration curriculum. This was a common topic in early public administration literature, but by the second half of the 20th century it had largely disappeared from widely used textbooks. Now, with the increased power of the news media and other rapidly growing and changing alternative communications venues that define this information age, public relations is again relevant for future public managers. This article summarizes research results about these trends, based on a survey of the literature. It presents the historical and contemporary normative case for including public relations in the MPA curriculum, and synthesizes these results to provide suggestions for pedagogic approaches.

This article explains the development and use of group field projects to analyze real-world public policy disputes in a course on conflict management. In the process of learning about the evolution of disputes, their management, and techniques for resolving them, students are assigned to groups and required to analyze a local public dispute involving multiple parties. Using Carpenter and Kennedy’s (2001) book, Managing Public Disputes, and other course material, students provide a detailed analysis of the conflict’s history, identify stakeholders, and learn about the positions and interests of the disputants. After extensive analysis, students recommend a conflict management program for the dispute. During the semester, this project provides a capstone of sorts to the MPA program. Students get a firsthand look at the complexity of policy disputes, how individuals and groups approach public problems, and why some policy solutions lead to successes and failures.