Location:

Shippensburg, United States

Program Type:

Full Degree

Degree Level:

Master

Specialty:

Public Administration

Program Overview

Program Description:

The Master of Public Administration degree program requires the completion of a minimum of 36 semester hour credits of graduate work. Each student’s program will include core courses and a six-credit thesis or an internship. Students planning to pursue an additional graduate degree may opt to complete a master’s thesis for 6 credits. PLS501 Organizational Theory and Behavior should be among the first core courses taken by students. PLS601 is a prerequisite for Public Policy Analysis, PLS603. PLS605 should be taken as late as possible in a student’s program to provide a capstone experience. Students with over five years of experience in public administration or a related field may apply to have part or all of their internship requirement waived. Substitution of the thesis for the internship requires the approval of the department. Students can take courses one night per week at the Dixon Center and finish their coursework in two years. Students who take courses on campus and are willing to go to the Dixon Center for a limited number of courses can finish their course work in 1.5 years, and sometimes one year and two summers. Almost all courses are taught by full-time regular faculty members of Shippensburg University. All of our full-time faculty are PhDs. Occasionally we supplement our offerings by having practitioners teach an elective course.

Additional Program Information

Accreditation:

Shippensburg University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, AACSB International, ABET Inc., Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC), American Chemical Society, Council on Social Work Education, Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, International Association of Counseling Services, Council for Exceptional Children and by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Financial Aid:

No

Requirements:

To be eligible for admission to the master’s program, a student must: have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; present an official transcript showing at least a 2.75 cumulative grade point average for his or her undergraduate studies; applicants with an undergraduate GPA of less than a 2.75 must take either the GRE General Test or the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) and achieve scores equivalent to or exceeding the mean; have taken at least 6 semester credits in political science or public administration at the undergraduate level; and provide a current resume and writing sample.

International Requirements:

The recommended score for the TOEFL is 68 for the internet-based test or 500 for the paper-based test. (Shippensburg University's test code for the TOEFL is 2657). The recommended score for IELTS is 6.0. International applicants from a country where English is the native/official language may be exempted from the TOEFL or IELTS requirement, however the GRE or GMAT is required.