MPA Degree Requirements

To qualify for the degree of Master of Public Administration, the candidate must:

1. Comply with all general requirements of WIdener University relating to the governance of graduate programs.
2. Satisfatorily complete a total of 37 hours of approved coursework in the MPA program with a minimum G.P.A. of 3.0 as follows:

Seven CORE Courses (21 semester hours)

• PA 501 Introduction to Public Administration
• PA 502 Organizations in Public Administration
• PA 503 Introduction to Public Policy Analysis
• PA 505 Public Personnel Administration
• PA 506 Public Finance and Budgeting
• PA 507 American Intergovernmental Processes
• PA 510 Quantitative Analysis in Public Administration

Five Elective Courses (15 semester hours)

• Three of the five graduate electives (9 semester hours), must be chosen from Public Adminstration courses (prefix PA). Students may take two PA courses rather than three with approval from the MPA Advisory Committee to meet specialization requirements.
• Faculty-led independent research thesis project redits (3 credits for PA 699 or 6 credits for PA 699/700) count as elective credits.

PA 698, Comprehensive Examination (1 semester hour)

• Successful completion of a two-day, three-part comprehensive written examination consisting of essay questions based on core and elective course work.
• In order to register for the comprehensive examinations, students must be able to demonstrate that all course work (including elimination of all incompletes) will be completed prior to the semester in which they take PA 698. The MPA Advisory Committee may grant exceptions allowing students to take a maximum of two other courses during the comprehensive exam semester.

Gordon Henderon, Ph.D.
Director

Master of Public Administration
Widener University
One University Place
Chester, PA 19013
tel: 610-499-4358
gphenderson@widener.edu