PPA 600
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CONFLICT STYLES AND COMMUNICATION
This is a one credit, five-week mini course (August 31 – September 28).
Students are not allowed to Audit mini-courses.
Individuals have different preferences and predispositions in communication styles, particularly under stressful conditions. Instead of causing conflict or avoidance, these differences can be utilized as a positive force in organizational effectiveness. In this course, participants will assess their own communication and conflict styles under both “calm” and “storm” conditions, and develop strategies to combat “excess” in their own style to assist themselves and others to stay in “strength.”
The second part of the course will develop understanding and competence in using a communication effectiveness model that assesses workplace conversations in terms of velocity and value. This will be a powerful diagnostic tool for public and nonprofit managers to bring to their new organizations.
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FALL
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PPA 600
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INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION
This is a one credit, five-week mini course (October 5 – November 2).
Students are not allowed to Audit mini-courses.
This course will enhance students’ “emotional intelligence” by sharpening their rapport building and conflict resolution skills to interact more effectively and solve problems more creatively. The course will emphasize skills in reflective listening, problem solving, assertion, and managing conflicts of needs and values. Approach to learning includes theory, demonstrations, skill practice and critique. This course is designed to have immediate and wide applicability in interpersonal and group settings.
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FALL
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PPA 600
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INTEREST BASED NEGOTIATION
This is a one credit, intensive weekend mini course (November3-5).
Students are not allowed to Audit mini-courses.
A popular slogan proclaims, “You do not always get what you deserve. You do get what you negotiate.” It is true that high quality negotiation skills are a key factor in getting needs met for individuals and organizations, and a critical competency for public and nonprofit managers in obtaining resources for themselves and their constituents.
This course will enhance students’ capacity to effectively use interest-based negotiation concepts and tools to achieve collaborative agreements that satisfy underlying interests, and result in high levels of satisfaction in terms of substance, relationship, and process.
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FALL
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PPA 600
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MEDIATION
This is a one credit, ,five-week mini course (January 16 – February 16).
Students are not allowed to Audit mini-courses.
Organizational and project managers in all settings use mediation to assist individuals in understanding disagreements and crafting enduring solutions. This course introduces students to the theory and skills of facilitating the resolution of disputes and differences as a neutral party. Students will learn the techniques of third party intervention, including opening statements, observation, listening, reframing, problem solving, and managing agreement. The course will cover both workplace and community settings and will include simulations, demonstrations, and practice for skill development.
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SPRING
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PPA 600
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COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
This is a one credit, five-week mini course (February 19 – March 30).
Students are not allowed to Audit mini-courses.
The world of public management has changed. Public managers now find themselves not as unitary leaders of unitary organizations. Instead, they find themselves facilitating and operating in multiorganizational arrangements to solve problems that cannot be solved, or solved easily, by single organizations. Where traditional administration relied primarily on organization structure and a “command and control” mentality to shape public action, collaborative management relies on a diversity of inputs and opinions and is more fluid, thus requiring managers to shift from structure to process for leverage. Today’s public managers are expected to be more deliberative and inclusive, seeking a diversity of ideas and inputs that will yield stronger, more robust, and more sustainable public policies.
This goal of this course is to examine both the framework and skill set of collaborative management. Students will analyze case studies to determine the basics of the approach and will practice the skills of negotiation, facilitation, mediation, and collaborative problem solving. This course is highly interactive and features case studies, exercises, and simulations.
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SPRING
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PPA 600
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MULTI-PARTY PUBLIC POLICY DISPUTES
This is a one credit, five-week, mini course (April 2 –
May 4).
Students are not allowed to Audit mini-courses
This course explores dispute resolution in theory and practice. Students will gain a realistic understanding of how to analyze complex multiparty disputes, strategies to manage large and diverse groups, principles of consensus building and cooperative negotiation, and strategies for framing complex issues so that they can be resolved. This is a highly interactive course featuring simulations, case analysis, and exercises.
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SPRING
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PPA 601
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FUNDAMENTALS OF CONFLICT STUDIES
The goals of this class are to provide students with a broad overview of the interdisciplinary field of conflict analysis and resolution, to introduce them to faculty and the work they are doing in this field, and to help them to develop a framework for diagnosing and responding to conflicts within their own area of interest. Over the course of the semester we will explore the diverse range of (sometimes contradictory) theories of social conflict found across the social science disciplines. Of particular interest throughout the course will be uncovering how our theories about the nature of social conflicts result in our making particular choices about which conflict resolution activities make sense under which conditions. Relying on a number of guest speakers, documentaries, and group projects, we will consider how conflict manifests across multiple levels of analysis (from inter-group to international) as well as within specific topical areas (ethnic/racial, environmental, foreign policy etc.).
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FALL/ SPRING
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PPA 632
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INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND NGO MANAGEMENT
This seminar is a distance course using web pages, a weekly text chat, email, and video conferencing starting with an in-person session in Syracuse in late August with an additional in-person session in Washington, DC sometime in late November. During Fall 2004, one of the weekly sessions will be in-person at Syracuse.
This course focuses on how international public and non-governmental organizations manage five key functions: regime creation; norm enforcement; peace, security and humanitarian assistance; development assistance and international management. Organizations are examined from a management perspective in terms of these functions through specific case studies. Topics include the nature of global governance and the role of non-governmental organizations; how management of international public and NGO management differs from national and private management and principles of multilateral negotiation and the role of NGOs. The course includes a simulation of strategic planning in an international organization.
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FALL
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PPA 633
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EVALUATION OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS
The course addresses the issue of how to evaluate the impact of programs and projects undertaken by international public and non-governmental organizations. This includes programs of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance as well as the regular programs of organizations dealing with such diverse functions as regime creation, monitoring of human rights, trade regulation and elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
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SPRING
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PPA 655
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GLOBAL INFORMATION POLICY
This course provides an introduction to and overview of the field of information technology policy. It focuses on the policy implications of the increasingly important interaction between information technology developments and the governance process. As globalization increases, governments are facing new challenges and opportunities that are presented by the rise of the global information economy and decentralization of power. As technology use expands, both within and outside of governments, the depth of knowledge required for thoughtful and informed policies also increases. In this course students will be introduced to a variety of policy-relevant issues, as well as to technical information that is essential for public managers in their role as decision-makers. We will explore relevant topics like encryption, privacy concerns and policies, the digital divide, IT and national security, and international IT issues. In addition to readings, lectures and class discussions, outside experts will meet with our class to discuss the most recent developments in the field.
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FALL
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PPA 706
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US NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN POLICY
This course will explore U.S. national security and foreign policy. We will examine U.S. policy during the cold war to establish a framework for understanding the policy challenges the U.S. faces today; current policy issues; and foreign and security policy decision-making. The course will use a combination of readings, case studies, exercises, and guest speakers to explore issues ranging from the U.S. national security structure, diplomacy and the use of force, U.S. relations with allies and potential adversaries, and the role of human rights and morality in U.S. policy.
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FALL
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PPA 715
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GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT COURSES (IN DC)
These courses will meet in Washington, DC at the Greenberg House, evenings, throughout the fall semester. The courses include: Post-Conflict Reconstruction; Strengthening Inter-agency Negotiations; Global Trade and Developing Markets; NGO Leadership; and Global Development Policy. These courses are targeted toward joint MPA/MA in International Relations students who will be in residence for two years and participating in a Fall internship in Washington, DC. Traditional PA graduate students may not be able to take advantage of a fall semester away from campus if core courses are required in that term.
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FALL
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PPA 724
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COMPUTER APPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC MANAGERS
This course focuses on the ways that information systems are designed, implemented and managed in the public sector. Students are introduced to a wide array of tools for effectively using information and communication technologies to manage complex and voluminous data often found in public sector organizations. The course examines the principals and practices of systems analysis and design, information system project management, database theory and design, information architecture for the web, and system integration. Through these topics students will learn how to apply public management information systems theory to practice. This course makes no assumption about prior computer experience and skill. Computer labs are used to teach hands-on skills to the students.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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E-GOVERNMENT
This course examines how governments around the world are deploying E-Government strategies. E-government refers to the broad spectrum of information and communication technology–enabled processes that predominately use web-based technology to deliver government services. These applications offer innovative possibilities to use the Internet to extend government service online, transform operational and bureaucratic procedures, and allow citizens to interact more directly with government. Students will learn how to develop and implement an E-Government strategy, how to address such critical policy concerns as security, privacy, and digital divide, how to assess the performance and function of E-government applications, and strategies for enterprise-wide integration.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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FUNDAMENTALS OF POLICY ANALYSIS
This course considers the rationale for and limits to public sector policies and how those policies can be analyzed prior to their implementation with a portion of the course devoted to cost-benefit analysis. Although the principles of economics are relied upon heavily in the course, no prior training in the subject is assumed.
prerequisite Course open to MA students only.
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FALL/
SPRING
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PPA 730
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TOPICS IN COMPARATIVE SOCIAL POLICY
This course aims at providing students with a broad exposure to the role of national governments in social policy; on how and why this role has evolved over time, and on several of the major concerns currently facing both high income countries (especially the U.S.) and middle income countries (especially in East Asia). Particular attention will be given to the similarities and differences in the challenges faced by countries with highly developed and emerging market economies, to the way in which these challenges are shaped by economic, political, demographic and cultural factors─including the degree of democratization, exposure to the global economy, and population aging─and to public pension systems in the U.S. and abroad. The course will be taught in seminar format with 12-15 students by former dean John L. Palmer, with some involvement of other faculty across the School. A basic understanding of economics and fluency in English are necessary. Students will write a major paper, requiring independent study, under Professor Palmer’s guidance over the course of the semester on a topic of their choice related to the content of the course.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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EDUCATION POLICY
The last several decades have witnessed dramatic changes in school finance systems, and far-reaching proposals to reform the structure, accountability systems, and operation of public schools. The purpose of this course is to provide you an overview of education finance and policies to reform American schools. While it is impossible in one semester to provide an in-depth analysis of such a broad topic, we will cover many of the major reforms which have received attention, such as education vouchers, charter schools, site-based management, school accountability systems, merit pay and comprehensive urban school reforms. These education topics will be examined using the tools and theories from micro-economics, policy analysis and program evaluation.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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POLICY AND MANAGEMENT IN THE NONPROFIT ECONOMY
The nonprofit sector is a large and growing part of the economy of the U.S., as well as of many other countries. Nonprofit and public managers require expertise on subjects unique to this sector: the structure of the industry, philanthropy and fundraising, the practical effects of regulation and tax policy, and public-private partnerships, to name just a few. This class will provide a basis of knowledge on these issues. Topics will be covered through lectures, guest speakers, student activities, and presentations.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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FUND DEVELOPMENT FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
This course examines the theory and practice of fund development for nonprofit organizations. Students work with a nonprofit of their choosing to develop a portfolio of fund development products (for example, grant proposal, gift range chart, direct mail solicitation letter, planned giving ad, website solicitation, and telephone script). Students examine the benchmarks, theoretical bases, and ethical issues associated with fund-development vehicles, campaigns (annual, campaign and endowment), and markets (individuals, foundations, clubs, and businesses). The course reviews tools for evaluating a fund development program and developing comprehensive strategies. In class, students engage with course ideas through mini-lectures, exercises, and presentations.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN GROUPS: FACILITATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
This course focuses on how conflict emerges in groups and the roles and skills of the facilitator in effectively managing group process, group dynamics, and differences among group members. Among the topics explored are contracting, design of agenda and process, stages of group development, observing and giving feedback about group dynamics, and managing group conflict. Exercises and simulations offer opportunities for practice, and application of theory to practice.
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WINTER
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PPA 730
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INFORMATION STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
This course provides an overview of contemporary practices for managing the information assets of public sector and non-governmental organizations. Information assets include the information systems, capabilities, and resources that collect, process, store, and distribute information to support decision making, coordination and control in an organization. The course highlights the challenges of managing the information assets of government organizations in a network economy, methods for building the information capabilities of organizations, understanding the information infrastructure, strategies to assure reliable and secure IT services, managing information asset outsourcing, and how best to organize and lead the IT function. Students will examine through active learning how management, technology and organization components work together to create information systems, the behavioral aspects of using information assets in organizations, managerial usage of information systems; and, how to assess the information architecture and capabilities of an organization, and practices for system development. The course makes no assumptions about the student’s prior experience with computer hardware, software, and telecommunications.
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FALL
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PPA 730
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ADVANCED PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM
The last decade has been a time of dramatic change in the public services of the established democracies. This course will examine how governments have restructured public organizations to deal with problems of overload, fiscal stress and declining public confidence. It will examine the “new paradigm” in public management that has shaped reforms in many liberal democracies, as well as reactions to reforms based on this new paradigm. Differences in reform agendas between the established and emerging democracies will be considered.
Prerequisite PPA 709: Public Organizations &Management, or permission of instructor.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Organizational behavior explains how and why people behave as they do in organizations. Topics include workplace stress, conflict and negotiation, organizational politics, perception, personality, and team dynamics. Special attention will be given to advising managers on best practices and to advising employees on successfully navigating their careers.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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HUMANITARIAN ACTION: CHALLENGES, RESPONSES, RESULTS
This course examines major humanitarian challenges worldwide since 1992 including disasters caused by nature and by man, including conflicts and economic stress. It also reviews key challenges for women, children, refugees, and displaced people, and the actions of governments, UN agencies, NGOs, militaries, donors, the press, and others. Classes are a combination of lecture, discussion, student presentations, and videos. Students are graded on their class participation, memos, group and individual presentations.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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INSTITUTIONS AND ECONOMIC CHANGE
As development agencies move into a 'post-Washington Consensus' era, there is growing interest in the role of institutions in economic change. The course will focus on how institutional arrangements influence economic growth and development. The seminar will also investigate how institutions arise, how they adapt, and how they are replaced in response to growth and development. A combination of country case studies and review of the theoretical literature will form the core of the class. A specific component of the class will be devoted to understanding the implications of these lessons for states that have fragile or failed institutions.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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UN ORGANIZATIONS: MANAGING FOR CHANGE
This course analyzes the processes for change in UN organizations. It begins with brief summaries of types of UN organizations, including their purposes, funding systems and governance structures. Half of the course will focus on the process of change in UN organizations funded by assessed contributions, highlighting the UN secretariat. The other half of the course will highlight the World Food Program as an example of the process of change in a voluntarily funded agency. Students will be graded on class participation, memos, a final paper, and occasional unannounced in class assignments.
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FALL
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PPA 730
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GIRLS EDUCATION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD: BENEFITS, OBSTACLES & OPPORTUNITIES
Education of girls is one of the most effective means of enhancing the quality of life of all people in the world. Yet in many countries, girls' participation in school lags significantly behind that of boys. This seminar type course will explore the benefits of girls education, will discuss many of the obstacles to higher numbers of girls in school, and will review the current state of play in various countries. The major student work project of the semester will be to write a business plan for how one specific country could take measures to significantly raise the numbers of girls in school.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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MANAGING NGOs IN TRANSITIONAL AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The later stages of the 20th century experienced a remarkable rise in the number and types of non-government organizations (NGOs) active in the developing world. The purpose of this course is to provide the students with some insight into the variety of roles that these organizations play in civil society while laying out some of the knowledge and skills required to operate NGOs effectively. Using mini-lectures, case studies, and a simulated project development exercise, the course will cover a broad range of topics including the origins of NGOs, how they are defined, their influences and how they are influenced, NGO boards, governance mechanisms, organizational structures, how NGOs develop a sense of mission and develop programs and projects in support of that mission, and how NGOs generate financial resources and sustain their projects and the organization.
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WINTER
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PPA 730
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POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POLICY REFORM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: EXPERIENCE FROM ASIA
The central focus of this course is on the political economy of policy reform in developing countries: the role and interplay of politics and institutions. Through an extensive use of cases, role-playing, class discussion, lectures, and exercises, the aim of the course is to help participants develop a better understanding of the political economy dimension of policy reform. It also intends to address the challenge of what policy makers, and policy analysts and advisors--inside and outside government, and in international institutions--can do to help increase the likelihood of effective reforms.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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PUBLIC POLICY MAKING: THE FEDERAL PERSPECTIVE (IN DC)
Examines public policy development in the executive and legislative branches with attention to the intersection of private and public interests. Areas for examination will include: the savings and loan legislation; public changes in financial institution policy; energy policy; national health care policy, etc. Focus will be on the applied, practical considerations facing policymakers and public administrators. This course is taught in Washington, DC at Syracuse University’s Greenberg House and will include several guest speakers from the various branches of government, experts on several issues of public interest and representatives of media and its role in shaping public policy.
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WINTER
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PPA 730
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INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
This course will familiarize students with some of the major theoretical approaches to the study of international security, and some of the central issues shaping current debates about security and the use of force. War and conflict have been central to international politics. The study of security investigates causes of war, strategies for avoiding conflict, and the impact of new technologies, actors, and ideas on calculations about the use of force. The goal is to give students a solid grounding in current research and theoretical approaches to the study of international security, and to encourage them to think about how this knowledge applies to ongoing security problems.
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FALL/
SPRING
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PPA 730
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PROLIFERATION, NON-PROLIFERATION AND COUNTER-PROLIFERATION
This course will examine the dangers caused by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and strategies to address this threat. We will explore the current threat of proliferation to both state and non-state actors, and look at the factors that have led some states to choose not to develop such weapons. We will examine both national and international efforts to prevent the spread of WMD, ranging from diplomacy and arms control to counterproliferation strategies. The course will include discussion of theories about the spread of WMD, and efforts to control this spread both during and after the Cold War. The goal is to provide students with a strong grasp of the challenges presented by proliferation, and the strategies that have been developed to address this problem.
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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DEFENSE CHALLENGES IN A NEW CENTURY
The course will focus on three themes: (1) the essence of strategic leadership at the national and theater level; (2) how strategic environments change and strategic paradigms and policies, and art of operations with them, and (3) the rationale for and the efficacy of the use of force. First, we will take a short look at the literature on strategy and war and on leadership in war. We will study how strategic schools of thought change at critical times. Then, we will assess what has changed in the strategic environment at the turn of this century, particularly in the areas of transnational terrorism and our response to it. By studying campaigns conducted since 1995 by the Bush, Clinton and current administrations, given an understanding of those factors, students will develop a sense of the practicality and the unintended consequences of the use of military force. Then, once we have assessed what seemed to go well and not so well in those campaigns and why and what seems to be changing in the art of operations, we will delve into the mechanisms by which political leadership derive the need for the use of force, their tools for employing it, and the degree to which their decisions seem effectively to apply force and diplomatic energy to root causes. As we develop insights across the wide spectrum of conflict from acts of terrorism to war, students should keep asking the question, what does today’s changing environment mean for how we conceive of, develop and execute our national security strategy? What is the essence of successful leadership at the strategic level? How does the nature of that leadership affect the results of campaign and vice versa?
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SPRING
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PPA 730
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INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND THE ASYMMETRIC USES OF FORCE
The end of the Cold War and the emergence of the United States as the sole remaining superpower – one with truly global reach and overwhelming technological superiority – has forced state actors and non-state actors alike to fundamentally rethink basic conceptions of international security. Indeed, perhaps the principal lesson of the recent military actions in the Persian Gulf and in the Balkans is that, for the foreseeable future, there is no prospect for deterring, much less prevailing over, the United States through conventional alignments of military power. In fact, most have now recognized that such direct confrontations are an almost certain recipe for the defeat of the weaker party or parties.
This course will explore the theoretical, doctrinal and policy implications of this new reality, focusing in particular on the emergence of asymmetrical warfare as a rational response by those unable to counter the U.S. through conventional means. After laying the conceptual groundwork through an examination of the contemporary (and likely future) international security environment, the course will explore in detail a variety of asymmetrical threats, including the use of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological and chemical weapons), cyber-attacks, attacks on civil infrastructure (transportation, communications, electrical grids, etc.), attacks on agriculture, and others. The course will be taught as a seminar, and enrollment will be limited to encourage class discussion. Students should expect an extensive reading list and will be evaluated, in part, on the basis of their class preparation and participation. Each member of the class will be expected to prepare and orally defend a policy memorandum to the National Security Council inter-agency process concerning a selected asymmetric vulnerability. There also will be a second writing assignment at the end of the semester that will also function as a take-home final exam.
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FALL
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PPA 731
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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
Introductory, practical course for persons whose formal training in government finance, accounting, or financial analysis is limited to PPA 734 Public Budgeting. Focus is on basic financial and managerial accounting and reporting, including short and long-term financial decision-making, capital budgeting and the market for tax-exempt debt, public employee pensions, accounting principles for state and local governments and financial condition analysis.
Prerequisites PPA 734 Public Budgeting. Not open to students who have completed PPA 749 Financial Management in Nonprofit Organizations.
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FALL
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PPA 735
|
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE
Analyzes the expenditures and revenues of state and local governments plus fiscal aspects of intergovernmental relations. Course explores the determinants of state and urban economic development and local governments' fiscal behavior and develops criteria for selecting among policy alternatives. The assignments, and many of the class sessions, give students the opportunity to apply analytical techniques to actual problems in state and local public finance.
Prerequisite PPA 723 Managerial Economics for Public Administrators, or its equivalent.
Requirements Case discussions; memos; paper; exam.
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SPRING
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PPA 742
|
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND LAW
This is a case study driven course. The objective of this class is to present the big picture of public law and public administration by examining who the major players are in the legal system, how the public and private law systems and processes diverge and come together, and how the public law system, its institutions and processes incorporate public administration. Specific sections include constitutional politics, the transformation of policy proposals into regulatory programs, constitutional limits on government action and others.
Pre-requisites Not open to JD/MPA students.
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WINTER
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PPA 744
|
METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Metropolitan Government and Politics is a survey of issues involving metropolitan areas in the U.S. Course sessions center on financial, economic development, education, human services, operational, intergovernmental, neighborhood, personnel, management and governance issues that significantly influence metropolitan areas. Major course assignments involve an individual assignment on financial trend analysis (no accounting or finance experience required) and a team assignment at course end that synthesizes course work into a hypothetical strategic campaign strategy for a local government chief executive. Case studies, presentations by local government officials, and class discussions of readings are involved.
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SPRING
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PPA 746
|
ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
In a democracy, those who make and implement public policy are charged with serving the interests and protecting the rights of everyone. They are obligated to act responsibly in using the powers and resources entrusted to them, to address fairly the competing demands and needs of their constituents. But, in the government’s distribution of benefits and burdens, public officials are constantly pressured by powerful individuals and institutions for special consideration, often at the expense of other citizens. Moreover, the issues confronting public decision-makers are frequently complex, involving conflicting values and strongly held preferences, incomplete and possibly unreliable information, and consequences that no one can foresee. Effectively serving the common good, then, requires that public officials exercise sound moral judgment in performing their duties – that their actions be defensible ethically as well as legally. It requires an appreciation of ethical principles and an understanding of their application in the tangled domain of public affairs. This course is designed to enhance students’ ability to think ethically about the means and ends of public policy. Accordingly, we will examine normative concepts and principles that typically enter into moral reasoning and use these tools in analyzing actual cases. In our case discussions, we will seek to get clear about moral issues facing the decision makers and explore how these issues might be resolved in ethically responsible ways.
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SPRING
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PPA 747
|
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR
This course is designed to introduce a number of traditional and contemporary issues in human resources management. We will examine the essential features of human resource management systems and the environments in which those systems operate. We will explore how the actions of and options available to public managers are shaped and constrained by political considerations. Theories and mechanisms for creating and sustaining high performance public agencies will be analyzed, and applied to critical issues confronting public managers.
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FALL
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PPA 748
|
NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
This course looks at the management and governance of nonprofit organizations with an emphasis on human resource and strategic aspects. Topics include the legal establishment of nonprofit organizations, industry analysis, strategic planning, crisis prevention policies and practices, design of volunteer programs, governance systems, management of the dynamics of staff and board, and ethics and stakeholder accountability. Students explore the value of specific theories and tools for leaders of nonprofit organizations.
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FALL
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PPA 749
|
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
Introductory, practical course for persons aiming for general management careers in nonprofit organizations and who have little or no previous training or experience in accounting and finance. Topics include: financial decision-making techniques; capital budgetng and debt financing; endowment management; financial accounting and reporting principles for not-for-profits; and analysis of financial statements.
Pre-requisites PPA 734 Public Budgeting. Not open to students who have completed PPA 731 Financial Management in State and Local Governments.
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SPRING
|
PPA 751
|
JD/MPA SEMINAR: REGULATORY LAW AND POLICY
An advanced exploration of regulatory decision-making, focusing on the justifications and methods for implementing regulation; how policy, politics and law impact on regulatory decisions; case studies of regulatory programs, their successes and failures. This course is required for JD/MPA students, and must be taken in the 3rd year. JD/MPA STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE AS A PPA COURSE.
Pre-requisites 3rd Yr JD/MPA Student Status or PPA 742: Public Administration and Law.
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SPRING
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PPA 756
|
POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
This course concerns the alleviation of poverty in poor countries. Its aim is to facilitate understanding of the nature of poverty, its causes, and what development administrators can do to help address it. The course emphasizes three areas: macro issues in development, analysis of specific policy sectors, and practitioner micro-skills. By the end of the course students will have: gained an understanding of the major debates in the field of development studies and developed their own perspective on these issues; acquired knowledge of the core issues in a series of policy sectors central to poverty alleviation; developed detailed understanding of the one sector of greatest personal interest to the student; and had a chance to develop and practice practitioner micro-skills that will enhance the capacity to create, manage and evaluate poverty alleviation projects at the local level. The skills will involve a distinctly participatory methodological approach, one in which the development administrator engages rather than directs those affected by and involved with projects. The course is highly participatory and will use a variety of learning methodologies including instructor lectures, discussion, role-plays and simulations.
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FALL/ SPRING
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PPA 757
|
ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT
This course (cross-listed in the economics dept.) will familiarize the student with a variety of alternative theories on what causes (or hinders) economic development. Different strategies and outcomes from a variety of settings will be presented and discussed. The goal of the course is to develop the student’s understanding of international, national, sectoral, local, and household level issues related to economic development and the language used by economists to discuss these issues. Special attention will be given to the following questions: Are there differences between economic growth and economic development?; What are the environmental implications of economic development?; and How are industrial/urban needs balanced against agricultural/rural needs in development?
Prerequisite PPA 723 Managerial Economics for Public Administrators, or its equivalent.
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SPRING
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PPA 772
|
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY
Discusses the interplay of science, technology and public policy. This course explores the relations of scientists and policymakers (knowledge and power). Technology is viewed as a resource that is both a tool of policy and a factor shaping policy. Moreover, various interests promote, oppose, and seek to control technology to "leverage" the future. Focus is on the United States, but attention is given also to other nations and their science and technology policies. A special concern is science, technology and environmental policy.
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SPRING
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PPA 775
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ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT & RESOURCE POLICY
Analyzes the relation of government to policymaking in the domain of energy, environment, and resources. Attention is given to politics and administration of energy/environment/resources policy in the US at all levels of government. Comparative and international aspects of the problem are also examined. Particular emphasis is given to environmental policy and the processes by which policy is formulated, implemented and modified.
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FALL
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PPA 776
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THE ECONOMICS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In an ever-changing world, technological change both influences policy decisions and is influenced by policy. This course looks at the interaction of policy and technological change from both directions. Throughout the course, we will use examples from current policy debates to highlight important issues. The course begins with an introduction to the economic analysis of knowledge. We begin by discussing the role that knowledge plays in the economic growth of nations. Next, we look at why economists consider the creation of knowledge to be a public good, and discuss how the public goods nature of knowledge affects the creation of new knowledge. We then ask how government policy, such as patent protection and government funded R&D, influences the development of new technologies. Next, we look at the diffusion of knowledge. We begin by looking at how new knowledge is transferred, both across institutions the industrialized world and to developing countries. Finally, we conclude by considering how technological change affects policy. We consider the impact of information technology on the“New Economy”, and discuss how technological change affects policy. For example, should sales taxes be collected on Internet purchases? Should drug companies should receive patent protection in developing countries? How can health policy keep up with changing medical technologies?
Prerequisites PPA 723 Managerial Economics for Public Administrators, or its equivalent
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SPRING
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PPA 777
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ECONOMICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
In this course, we will apply the principles of economics to environmental problems. The main question in any economics course is how best to allocate scarce resources. This holds true for environmental economics as well. However, environmental resources differ from many other goods that economists study in that there is usually no market for them. Thus, government policies are needed to maintain and improve environmental quality. We will begin by examining how economic incentives lead to environmental problems, and discussing various options for dealing with these problems. Because economic analysis requires information on both cost and benefits, we next discuss methods for valuing the benefits of environmental amenities. The course concludes with a section that relates the lessons of environmental economics to the macroeconomy, with a focus on the effects of environmental policy and economic growth.
Prerequisites PPA 723 Managerial Economics for Public Administrators, or its equivalent.
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SPRING
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PPA 781
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SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY
An overview of the American system of social welfare, including education policy, income security policy, and health care security policy in the United States and in cross-national context. Objective is to familiarize the student with several specific policy debates and their historical roots which include: persistent poverty; welfare reform; Social Security and Medicare reform; social exclusion; and more generally, public policy toward workers, the elderly, the disabled and children. Cross-national comparisons of social policy and inequality are also included.
Requirements Class participation; sequential term paper; short assignments.
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FALL
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PPA 782
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HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT
This course is designed to identify the approaches and tools required for successful management of health care organizations in a changing environment and coping with the patchwork quilt of non-profit, public and for-profit enterprise in the health care delivery system. Using a case study format, the course starts with a discussion of ethical issues that affect individuals involved in health services management. The discussion then extends into organizational ethics. The course explores the governance function where an organization’s overall direction should come from, moves into the strategic and business planning that implements the direction and finally examines how managers implement (or try to implement) these plans. This is a required course for the HSMP certificate/program of study.
Pre-requisites PPA 783: The Changing American Health Care System, or permission of instructor.
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SPRING
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PPA 783
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CHANGING AMERICAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
The objective of this course is to examine the health care system in America and to explore the change it is undergoing. The evolution of the organizations (hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, etc.) and the people (physicians, nurses, social workers, etc.) making up the system will be examined. How these organizations and people and their relationships are changing in response to an environment of development of integrated delivery systems and restructuring of the financing systems as we know them will be explored. Public policy implications of these changes on the public health system and the social services system will be examined. This is a required course for the HSMP certificate/program of study requirement.
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FALL
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PPA 785
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IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL POLICY
Implementation is management. It is managing policies and programs that are brand new, those that are being modified, and those that are replacing existing programs. Policy in all its forms come to managers in clear, direct, and measurable forms, but also with conflicting mandates, ambiguous directives, and measures that are not well defined or all that observable. There are many actors and institutions that shape the formulation and context of policy and fund and regulate policies and programs. Implementation is an integral part of the policy process and public sector governance and one that is dynamic, unpredictable, time consuming, and often does not occur in a straight-forward, linear process. This course is designed to: (1) Familiarize students with the theoretical and conceptual models used to understand the policy implementation process. (2) Examine implementation frameworks, the myriad actors and institutions that seek to influence the implementation of policy, tools for implementing policy, and more generally becoming aware of just how complex and difficult managing implementation can be. (3) Develop the analytical, reflective, and adaptive thinking skills from which managers, policy analysts, and advocates need to improve their ability to implement policy.
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SPRING
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PPA 786
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URBAN POLICY
Many of the most difficult problems facing public policy makers are concentrated in urban areas. These problems include poverty and unemployment, discrimination in housing and labor markets, homelessness, and a lack of affordable housing. This course develops analytical tools for understanding these problems and explores alternative policies for dealing with them. Class sessions include lectures and case discussions, with many opportunities for students to develop and present their own view on these complex topics.
Prerequisite PPA 723 Managerial Economics for Public Administrators, or permission of instructor.
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SPRING
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PPA 789
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ADVANCED POLICY ANALYSIS
Introduces students to the key steps in policy analysis, including: (a) assessing the rationale and limitations of government policies; (b) development of policy alternatives; (c) analyzing policy alternatives through a variety of analytical techniques with particular emphasis on cost-benefit analysis; (d) communication of results; and (e) adopting and implementing policies.
Prerequisite PPA 721 Introduction to Statistics, or successful completion of waiver exam.
PPA 723 Managerial Economics for Public Administrators or its equivalent.
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SPRING
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PPA 890
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INDEPENDENT STUDY
Prerequisite Proposal required.
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FALL/
SPRING/
SUMMER
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PPA 895
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EXECUTIVE EDUCATION SEMINAR: MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP
Objectives are to establish an understanding of the schools of leadership thinking, especially current trends, to practice requisite skills, and to plan for additional learning and development through assessment and action planning. Course readings focus on leadership theory and practice and their application in the changing organizational environment.
Prerequisite Open to MA students only.
Requirements Several short application papers; research paper, action plan.
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FALL/
SPRING
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PPA 896
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EXECUTIVE EDUCATION SEMINAR: HR MANAGEMENT
This seminar will have three primary emphases: the examination of major reform priorities in human resource management; the extent to which capacity for effective implementation is considered in reform design; and the extent to which the capacity necessary for effective implementation can be created in a variety of national settings.
The design of this course incorporates an examination of major elements of human resource management policies in both western industrial and developing nations, as well as discussion of the national experiences of students in the seminar. The discussion of creating the necessary administrative capacity will include analysis and use of the capacity model created by the Government Performance Project. This framework will allow discussion of reform design and implementation experience in different national and governmental contexts to be more rigorously comparative, and will also allow the creation of comparative case studies.
Preparation and analysis of the cases will be a primary student responsibility; the cases, in their various stages of development will be a significant teaching tool in the seminar. Each student will be responsible for a case with which s/he has had – or expects to have – personal experience. As this suggests, the seminar is targeted toward the senior government officials and representatives of NGOs enrolled in the Executive Education program; MPAs with some governmental experience will also find the seminar useful.
Prerequisite While this satisfies an MA Core Requirement – the course is open to MPA students who have prior work experience. MPA students should meet with the professor if they are interested in taking this course.
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SPRING
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PPA 670
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EXPERIENCE CREDIT
Prerequisite: Proposal required.
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FALL/
SPRING/
SUMMER
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PPA 690
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INDEPENDENT STUDY
Prerequisite: Proposal required.
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FALL/
SPRING/
SUMMER
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PPA 996
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MASTER'S PROJECT PAPER
This is the capstone course and a core requirement for the MA degree. Students will participate through project teams to solve a public management or policy analysis problem defined by a sponsoring organization (e.g. The United Nations, US Congressional Research Service). Topics on project management and group dynamics will be covered to support student project teams as they work over the semester with sponsors and faculty advisors to complete their project. Students are expected to integrate material from all other parts of the MA curriculum in their work. A final oral presentation and a written report to the sponsor and faculty advisor are the major course requirements.
Prerequisite Open to MA students only.
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FALL/
SPRING/
SUMMER
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