The Master of Public Affairs (MPA) requires 42 semester hours. As an interdisciplinary program, courses are offered by the School of Planning and Public Affairs and the Department of Political Science, as well as from other units such as Management and Organizations in the Tippie College of Business, Strategic Communications in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and the Larned Waterman Nonprofit Resource Center in the College of Law.

Required curriculum

The semester hour breakdown for students pursing a combined masters degree will differ.

*Completing an internship is optional but strongly encouraged. Course credit for an approved internship will count as elective credits (1, 2, or 3 s.h.) towards the total semester hours required for the degree. 

Other requirements

The following requirements must also be met in order to obtain the master's degree:

• All core, capstone, and concentration area courses must be completed with a grade of B- or better
• Students must attain an overall graduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 or better
• Students must pass a final comprehensive exam. 

Core curriculum

Areas of concentration

Students may select from concentrations in Public and Nonprofit Management or Public Policy. For a full list of concentration courses with course numbers, students should refer to the Public Affairs Student Manual section on Areas of Concentration.

Capstone

In the Public Affairs Capstone I and II courses, students engage in analysis of a contemporary public policy problem in an Iowa community and develop recommended action steps. This is done in tandem with the University’s Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) which has been providing public consultation to communities in Iowa for over a decade and is a national model for community engagement and learning.

Typical schedule for full-time students

Students with sufficient previous coursework may request a waiver of a core course.