Social and Public Policy, Master of Arts
The 30-credit Master of Arts in Social and Public Policy program draws students who are committed to social change, are open and often experienced. The program helps prepare graduates for advanced careers within government and nongovernmental settings involving public policy, advocacy, health care, human services, philanthropy, policy research and analysis, policy implementation, public administration, and community work.
Our students can specialize in any of the following areas which include but are not limited to: public administration, human services, health care policy, poverty alleviation, education, restorative justice, child welfare, or aging, through the program's general or public administration concentrations.
Program Delivery and Tuition Rate
This master’s program is delivered through online courses and is billed at the non-MBA rate.
Admission
Admission to the Social and Public Policy program is selective. New students may begin in the fall and spring terms.
Application
Please see the Graduate Admissions pages of this catalog for a complete listing of materials required to complete a graduate application.
Program Curriculum
Students in the MA in Social and Public Policy program must take 5 core courses, 4 electives in their chosen concentration, and a capstone course. The required courses are as follows:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses | ||
| PPOL 6005 | Social & Public Policy Process | 3 |
| PPOL 6010 | Social Policy Perspectives | 3 |
| PPOL 6015 | Policy Implementation | 3 |
| PPOL 6020 | Research Methods | 3 |
| PPOL 6030 | Public Policy Analysis | 3 |
| Concentration Courses (4) | 12 | |
| Concentrations: Public Administration or General | ||
| Capstone Course | ||
| PPOL 7010 | Final Project - Professional Project: Social and Public Policy | 3 |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
The graduate fall and spring terms are 15 weeks long, and the summer terms have some offerings for eight weeks and some for 15 weeks. Not all students enroll in 6 credits every term. The exact enrollment sequence should be planned between the student and the advisor as part of degree planning. This is a sample enrollment sequence for the general concentration.
General Concentration Sequence
| Term 1 | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| PPOL 6005 | Social & Public Policy Process | 3 |
| PPOL 6010 | Social Policy Perspectives | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 2 | ||
| PPOL 6015 | Policy Implementation | 3 |
| PPOL 6020 | Research Methods | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 3 | ||
| PPOL 6030 | Public Policy Analysis | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 4 | ||
| Elective | 3 | |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 5 | ||
| Elective | 3 | |
| PPOL 7010 | Final Project - Professional Project: Social and Public Policy | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
Public Administration Concentration Sequence
Please Note: The Public Administration concentration will no longer be available after the Fall 2022 term.
The public administration concentration will provide students with a structured set of courses more specifically designed to meet the education needs of those interested in pursuing employment or advancement in the state and local government sector. The following is a sample enrollment sequence for the public administration concentration.
| Term 1 | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| PPOL 6005 | Social & Public Policy Process | 3 |
| PPOL 6010 | Social Policy Perspectives | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 2 | ||
| PPOL 6015 | Policy Implementation | 3 |
| PPOL 6020 | Research Methods | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 3 | ||
| PPOL 6030 | Public Policy Analysis | 3 |
| PPOL 6085 | Public Administration | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 4 | ||
| PPOL 6170 | Public Finance | 3 |
| PPOL 6180 | State & Local Government | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Term 5 | ||
| PPOL 6175 | Public Sector Decision-making | 3 |
| PPOL 7010 | Final Project - Professional Project: Social and Public Policy | 3 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
Electives
Students must complete 12 credits of electives in the general concentration. You may choose to take scheduled or individualized electives. Examples of electives include but are not limited to:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PPOL 6070 | Race Class & Gender in US Public Policy | 3 |
| PPOL 6075 | Family Policy | 3 |
| PPOL 6055 | Human Services Policy | 3 |
| PPOL 6035 | Advocacy in State & Community-level Government | 3 |
Transfer Credit
A request for transfer credit may be submitted to the School for Graduate Studies. Typically, 9 credits are acceptable for transfer subject to the Transfer Credit Policy (located elsewhere in this catalog). In addition to approval by your academic advisor, the coordinator of your program also must approve these credits.
Degree Program Planning
To begin planning your degree program, think about your long- and short-range goals, the area you want to investigate or learn more about, policy areas that interest you, or any gaps that you have noticed in your education. Your academic advisor can assist you in thinking through these areas of interest and the ways in which they can be made into appropriate electives. If you are considering doctoral study, you also should investigate the requirements of programs that interest you so that you can incorporate their requirements into your Master of Arts degree. In Social and Public Policy, degree program planning should begin in your second term.
Final Project
The final project represents the capstone experience in the program. This shall take the form of a Policy Memorandum, which is designed to support students’ professional and personal goals.
This is a challenging task, which draws on and brings together the skills and concepts learned through the master’s program. It requires identification of a public policy issue, examination, and interpretation of various sources of information relating to the issue including scholarly sources, analysis of possible approaches to the issue, and the student’s recommendations regarding the issue.
Learning Activities and Course Goals
As the capstone project for the master’s program, the policy memo builds on prior coursework and provides the opportunity for the student to engage in a sustained examination of a major policy issue; it integrates and puts into action the learning acquired throughout the program in courses such as policy process, public policy analysis, policy implementation, ethics and program-specific courses.
The purpose of this option is to reinforce the knowledge and skills required to analyze policy issues, develop defensible positions on policy issues, and clearly communicate a position in the form of a policy memo which is standard fare in the work of legislators, elected officials, agency heads, and other organizational leaders involved in the formation of policy.
The policy memo includes the exploration of a critical issue, the development of alternative approaches to the issue and a reasoned, evidence-based, defensible argument about how the issue should be addressed. It is important to keep in mind the distinction between a policy memo and other academic papers. Whereas academic papers build arguments by gradually introducing the least important ideas first, a policy memo uses an “inverted pyramid” of ideas, delivered as efficiently as possible, beginning with the most important. In a policy memo getting at the truth through the exploration and the interpretation of what is known about an issue is more important than developing new knowledge. As such, no thesis statement or theoretical framework underpins a policy memo.
Course goals:
- The ability to clearly identify a critical policy issue related to the student’s program;
- The ability to identify and access relevant information related to the problem;
- Demonstration of a nuanced comprehension, evaluation, and interpretation of the body of knowledge surrounding the issue;
- Exhibition of a disciplined application of knowledge in the formulation of alternative, feasible approaches to the issue; and
- Presentation, in good tightly-constructed prose, of a well- reasoned defensible approach to the issue that draws on relevant concepts from previously completed coursework.
To complete the project, the student will engage in general readings and use other resources related to the preparation of a policy memo as specified in the online course including videos and links to various websites.
Next, guided by the approved Final Project Proposal, the student will engage in the relevant readings for this project and prepare drafts of the policy memo. As opposed to preparing the entire memo all at once, the student will develop the memo in sections as follows: Executive Summary (while this appears first in a policy memo, its exact contents will change as the student progresses through this course); Argument, Counter Arguments, Analysis, Recommendations.
Following instructions in the online course, drafts will be submitted to the instructor for review and comments; the student will revise project drafts and return. This process will be repeated until the draft is accepted by the instructor. While there is no set number of pages for a policy memo which can range from a page to a hundred pages, for the purposes of this program, 20-30 pages is the target. The specific task should dictate the length of a policy memo. The writer should use a direct, efficient style of writing that results in a “tight” memo that does not ramble or engage in needless repetition. The student may be required at strategic points during the semester to provide drafts to other students for their feedback and, in turn, the student may be expected to provide feedback to help other students improve their projects.
At the end of the term, the student will be expected to make an oral presentation, following instructions in the online course. The presentation will be made to other students in the study, to the instructor-of-record, and one additional faculty member. The student will be expected to respond to any questions that might be posed during the presentation.
Finally, the faculty members involved will render an evaluation of the project and privately share their evaluation with the student. Even if the student receives a passing evaluation, he/she may be expected to make revisions to the project.
Upon successful completion of the program, students will be able to:
- Understand the policy process from formation to implementation;
- Create a paradigm for analyzing public policy;
- Intensively engage with specific policy issues;
- Engage in sustained, disciplined research effort; and
- Develop competencies that they are likely to need as professionals in the public policy arena.