The Gannon online Master of Public Administration (MPA) program
is a 36 credit-hour program, and includes 24 credit hours of core
courses and 12 credit hours of courses in your specialization of
choice. The online MPA offers the following specializations:
- Administrative Specialization: This
specialization emphasizes business decision-making skills such as
budgeting, marketing and the management of employee relations.
- Organizational Leadership Specialization: This
specialization focuses on skills necessary to develop and implement
a vision for public service organizations, as well as techniques
for leading and motivating individuals and teams in
organizations.
- Customized Track: Choose any three electives
from the specializations offered and customize your studies to
mirror your professional goals.
MPA Core Courses (27 Credits)
GMPA
502 Elements of Public Administration (3 credits)
This course will provide you with an overview of the field of
public administration: its origins; its evolution; differences and
similarities between public, private, and nonprofit management;
various theories of organization; policy formulation,
implementation, and evaluation; the role of law; ethics in public
policy; and the future of public administration.
GMPA
511 Administrative Decision Making Skills (3 credits)
A study of the technical aspects of the administrative
decision-making process. This course will teach you how to use
accounting and financial information to support administrative
decisions. Also included is an overview of budgeting and marketing
concepts as they relate to the offering of public services.
GMPA
522 Ethics and Public Policy (3 credits)
This course explores special problems public administrators face
in the decision-making process. We will discuss the policy cycle
and use case studies to stimulate your thoughts regarding
ethical/unethical behavior; provide you with a framework for making
tough decisions; and get you to think about where you stand on
various issues of public policy and ethics.
GMBA
525 Statistical Analysis (3 credits)
A survey of the elements of probability theory and methods of
statistical inference which are useful for decision making.
Correlation, regression, and significance testing are also
covered.
GMBA
531 Management and Marketing Concepts (3 credits)
An overview of managing the modern organization, including a
discussion of the functional areas of the organization, history of
management thought, and the structure of organizations.
Approximately half the course involves discussion of the elements
of marketing management.
GMPA
531 Administrative Law and Ethics (3 credits)
Basic legal principles and the rules and ethics affecting the
administrative process, legislative delegation of powers,
administrative investigations, rule making, discretionary powers,
adjudication, and judicial review. Legal and political contexts of
regulatory administration.
GMPA
601 Strategic Planning (3 credits)
This course will teach you how to do effective strategic
planning. Strategic planning is the art and skill of deliberately
matching the organization's resources to the environment in order
to maximize the contribution of its mission and its customers.
GMBA
631 Organizational Culture, Creativity and Change (3
credits)
The course addresses the application of the behavioral sciences
to management. The focus is on the analysis of structure and
behavior in work organizations as well as classical organizational
theory.
Prerequisite: GMBA 531
GMPA
799 Research in Public Administration (3 credits)
Through a program of directed study and seminar-type
deliberations, this course will seek to conclude and integrate your
Public Administration experience. You will apply principles and
concepts of Public Administration and develop a culminating
portfolio.
Prerequisites: Course must be taken during the last semester in
the MPA Program
Administration Track Courses (9 Credits)
GMBA
501 Financial Accounting (3 Credits)
A study of basic accounting concepts, techniques, and systems
with a focus on reporting, analysis, and interpretation of
accounting data used for decision making.
GMBA
561 Fundamentals of Financial Management (3 Credits)
A survey of financial decision making, using ratio analysis, the
time value of money, the cost of capital, and capital budgeting
concepts. Considerable time is spent outlining the environmental
(macro-finance) factors that affect financial decisions.
Prerequisite: GMBA 501
GMBA
601 Managerial Accounting (3 credits)
A study of the accounting information utilized in the control
and evaluation of managerial decision making. The focus is cost
accumulation, cost allocation and control. Critical attention is
placed upon budgeting, cost-volume-profit relationships, and
variance analysis as they relate to production, working capital
management, and marketing decisions.
Prerequisite: GMBA 501
GMBA
651 Strategic Marketing Management (3 Credits)
An examination of the marketing system and the use of various
marketing applications such as marketing research, advertising
research, and consumer behavior to assist the marketing manager in
the major decision areas of targeting, product planning, channels
of distribution, personal selling, pricing, promotion, branding,
and development of integrated marketing programs.
Prerequisites: GMBA 531
Administration Track Courses (9 credits), Organizational Leadership Track Courses (9 Credits)
GMPA
763 Leadership and Environments of Administration (3
credits)
Administration, whether it is in the public, private, or
non-profit sector, is strongly influenced by various contexts
internal and external to the bureaucracy. The major contexts are:
cultural, economic, political, governmental, legal and
administrative. This course will survey each in an effort to
understand its role and, through seminar deliberations, formulate
strategies for better performing leadership and managerial roles
within large, modern complex organizations.
Organizational Leadership Track Course (9 Credits)
GMPA
632 Nonprofit Management and Leadership (3 credits)
Through extensive reading and site visits, you will explore the
many challenges facing nonprofits and examine the functions and
roles of nonprofit staffs and boards. You will also reflect on the
similarities and differences between the business, government, and
nonprofit sectors and the effective ways in which these three
sectors collaborate.
GMPA
745 Community Development Process (3 credits)
Defining community problems and establishing priorities and
objectives for the response of the public and private sectors.
Program planning and administration, with emphasis on developing
comprehensive, coordinated and innovative approaches. Citizen
participation and community control.
Customized Track (9 Credits)
Select a combination of 9 credits of electives from the
Administrative and Organizational Leadership specializations
(courses must be approved by Program Director).