Curriculum

The Master of Public Affairs (MPAff) 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

8 core courses
1 internship
6 electives (including 3 taken within a concentration)
a one-semester capstone project

For the capstone project students will engage in analysis of a contemporary public policy problem plus development of recommended action steps. This will be done in tandem with the University’s Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) which for has been providing public consultation to communities in Iowa for over a decade.

Core Curriculum

PBAF:5111 American Public Policy 3 s.h.
PBAF:5117 Bureaucratic Politics and Public Administration 3 s.h.
PBAF:6200 Analytic Methods I 3 s.h.
PBAF:6205 Economics for Policy Analysis 3 s.h.
PBAF:6208 Program Seminar 1 s.h.
PBAF:6225 Applied GIS for Planning and Policy Making 1 s.h.
PBAF:6233 Public Finance and Budgeting 3 s.h.
PBAF:6240             Public Management                             3 s.h.               

 

Typical Schedule for Full-Time Students

First Semester      
PBAF:5117 Bureaucratic Politics and Public Administration core 3 s.h.
PBAF:6200 Analytic Methods I core 3 s.h.
PBAF:6205 Economics for Policy Analysis core 3 s.h.
PBAF:6208 Program Seminar core 1 s.h.
  Concentration or Elective elective 2-3 s.h.
       
Second Semester      
PBAF:5111 American Public Policy core 3 s.h.
PBAF:6225 Applied GIS for Planning and Policy Making core 1 s.h.
PBAF:6233 Public Finance and Budgeting     core 3 s.h.
PBAF:6240 Public Management core 3 s.h.
  Concentration or Elective elective 3 s.h.
       
Third Semester      
PBAF:6335 Internship core 3 s.h.
  Concentration or Elective elective 3 s.h.
  Concentration or Elective elective 3 s.h.
       
Fourth Semester      
PBAF:6210 Public Affairs Capstone capstone 3 s.h.
  Concentration or Elective elective 3 s.h.
  Concentration or Elective elective 3 s h