- Degree Requirements
- Recommended Course Schedule
- Non-Degree Status
- Common Curriculum Component Courses
- Concentration Area Courses
- Internship
- Professional Portfolio
- Admissions
- Transfer Credits
- Special Opportunities
Additional information, including tuition and fees, can be found at: Graduate Admissions
Degree Requirements
The Master of Public Policy (MPP) is designed to be a two-year professional degree although part-time students may take significantly longer to complete the degree.
Students are normally required to complete 39 credits of coursework (13 courses), including 24 credits (8 courses) in a common curriculum component, that includes an Internship, 9 credits (3 courses) in a policy concentration area, 3 credits of free elective (1 course), and a 3 credit Policy Research Seminar. Students are also required to preparea portfolio of their professional work and present it to a faculty committee for their reveiw and approval.
The Common Curriculum Component consists of eight courses required of all students in the MPP program. Some courses in the Common Curriculum Component have prerequisites can/may be fulfilled by courses taken as an undergraduate. If a prerequisite is not fulfilled by a course taken in obtaining a bachelor's degree, the Free Elective may be used to fulfill one prerequisite, including one undergraduate course. No other courses taken as prerequisites will count toward the MPP degree requirements.
Requirements for Master of Public Policy Degree
| Credits | Courses | |
|---|---|---|
| Common Curriculum Component | 24 | 8 |
| Policy Area Concentration | 9 | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | 1 |
| Internship | 3 | 1 |
| Total: | 39 | 13 |
Concentration Area
The MPP requires students to declare a policy area concentration by the beginning of their second semester. The policy area concentration will be fulfilled by taking three or more courses on a related topic(s). Special Topics courses and Independent Study courses may count toward the concentration if they are relevant to the student's declared area of concentration and are approved in advance by the Program Director.
Available concentration areas include:
- Public Management
- Environmental Policy
- Education Policy
Students may propose an individualized concentration area from available courses and submit it for approval to the program director before the end of the student's first semester.
Recommended Course Schedule
Year 1- Fall
POL 500 - Public Institutions and Policy Process
POL 540 - Microeconomics for Public Policy (prerequisite for POL 541)
POL 581 - Research Methods for Public Policy (prerequisite for POL 530, 580, and 585)
Year 1- Spring
POL 510 - Public Management
POL 530 – Policy Analysis
POL 541 – State and Local Finance
Year 2 – Fall
POL 580 – Statistics
Concentration Area Class or Internship
Concentration Area Class or Internship
Year 2- Spring
POL 585 - Applied Policy Research Seminar
Concentration Area Class or Internship
Concentration Area Class or Internship
Non-Degree Status
Students may enroll in up to two MPP courses without being admitted to the MPP program. Students interested in taking courses as a non-matriculated student must have the permission of the instructor before enrolling in the course.
Core Courses
POL 500 Public Institutions & the Policy Process
3 Credits
The institutional, political, and normative context of the public policy process. The course introduces students to the the central issues and major areas in U.S. public policy, such as health and welfare, education, economic policy, tax policy, and environmental policy. The course also reviews the key concepts and process models used to analyze public policy in the United States.
POL 510 Public Management
3 credits
Reviews the responsibilities of a public manager, including an introduction to the specific areas of public management. Topics include organizational structure; strategic planning; management decision-making; staffing, training, and motivating employees; leadership development; budgeting, program design, implementation, and evaluation; ethical considerations for public managers, and providing support to policymakers.
POL 530 Policy Analysis
3 Credits
Prerequisite: POL 581 Research Methods for Public Policy or permission of instructor
Reviews the theory and practice of program evaluation and its role in the policy-making process. Topics include policy history, evaluation design and methodology, data collection and data analysis, policy feasibility, and the ability to analyze the impact of government programs. The course emphasizes both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and policy analysis.
POL 540 Microeconomics for Public Policy
3 credits
Development of microeconomic theory, applications, and price policy. Covers the theory of price determination, resource allocation, income distribution, and welfare economics, with particular emphasis to public policy issues. Perfectly competitive markets and models of imperfect competition are covered, including applications of game theory. Theory is integrated with public policy questions.
POL 541 State and Local Public Finance
3 credits
Prerequisite: POL 540 Microeconomics for Public Policy or permission of instructor
Explores the major economic decisions of subnational governments regarding taxation and expenditures. Considers how these decisions affect the allocation of both private and public resources. Focuses on constraints imposed on state and local governments that are not placed on the federal government, including the requirement of annually balanced budgets. Includes a detailed examination of economic and other data available on state and local governments, a review of existing relevant laws and policies pertaining to state and local public finance, and an examination of issues involving public goods and externalities in the particular context of states and municipalities.
POL 580 Statistical Analysis
3 Credits
A case study approach involving the following statistical concepts: descriptive statistics, probability, sampling, probability distribution, statistical estimation, chi-square testing, analysis of variance and simple regression-correlation analysis.
POL 581 Research Methods for Public Policy
3 Credits
Research-based course that reviews the process of applied research design, secondary data research techniques, appropriate techniques and sources for Internet research, and the use of mixed methodological strategies in applied policy research. The course requires students to conduct independent policy research within this framework and it requires students to produce a final research paper on a policy issue selected by the student.
POL 585 Applied Policy Research Seminar
3 Credits
Methods, techniques, and data sources for preparing analytic reports designed to influence decision-making in government, business, education, and other organizational settings. Course reviews the origins of policy analysis in the United States, the nature of policy research, the process of preparing to conduct applied research, how to conceptualize a research project, and how to conduct technical analysis and best practices research. Students learn how to communicate research findings to an appropriate audience through briefing papers, press releases, newspaper editorials, and formal testimony.
POL 599 Public Policy Internship
1 to 3 Credits
Prerequisite: Must complete 9 hours of coursework in the MPP.
A policy-related internship tailored to each student's career preferences or academic interests. The selection of an internship venue will occur in consultation with the student's MPP advisor and with the approval of the MPP Internship Coordinator. The Internship venue is usually selected from a pre-approved list of local, state, and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and private sector businesses. Note: The field work component of the internship (2 credits) is waived if an individual has at least 2 years substantial and relevant work experience in a policy making or public management position, although students must still enroll in the academic course component (1 credit) of the internship to graduate
Concentration Area Courses
POL 501 Theories of Policy Formation
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management
Theories of policy formation, including systems analysis, group theory, elitism/class analysis, structuralism, and the state autonomy/issues network model. The course examines how different theories view the role of citizen participation, political leadership, bureaucratic institutions, interest groups, academic experts, and business in the policy-making process. Provides students with the analytic tools to understand variations in the policy-making process across different issues and policy sectors and the opportunity to develop their own ideas and applications.
POL 511 Organizational Behavior in Educational Settings
3 credits
Concentration Area: Education Policy
This is an interactive skills building course designed to improve managerial and team performance in educational settings. Students will address concepts, principles, and practices associated with effective leadership and sound management of individuals, groups, teams, and organizations. The focus is on organizational contexts and dynamics of school processes and outcomes, promoting shared responsibility and civic engagement, and the importance of collaboration in decision making processes.
POL 512 Performance Management in the Public and Non-Profit Sectors
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management
Designing and implementing performance measurement systems in public agencies and non-profit organizations. The course provides program administrators and other practitioners with the concepts, tools and techniques essential to developing and implementing performance measurement systems, while emphasizing their usefulness in improving organizational and program performance.
POL 531 Program Evaluation
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management, Education Policy
Practical application of appropriate social science research methodology to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of public and non-profit sector programs and policies. Covers a broad range of topics including how to develop an evaluation plan, how to design various types of evaluations such as process, impact, cost-benefit, and cost-effectiveness evaluations, and how to manage evaluation projects.
POL 542 Law and Education
3 credits
Concentration Area: Education Policy
This course is designed to provide a comprehensive review of the law and jurisprudence that governs public (and private) education in the United States. Topics will include an analysis of Education as a fundamental right and as a unique governmental function of the Federal and state governments; the constitutional powers, prerogatives and limitations that these governmental entities have for carrying out public education and regulate the private sector; and the rights and duties of parents, students, teachers and administrators inside and outside the schools. Special attention will be given to the various roles Law has played and continues to play as an agent of social change and in shaping educational policy and practice in the United States. In so doing, students will study how the idea of providing an equal educational opportunity has evolved through the courts and legislation from equality to equity and from equity to adequacy, and from simple opportunity (access) to meaningful access (fair chance) and then to results in student attainment.
POL 560 Environmental Consequences of Globalization
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Environmental Policy
The environmental consequences of unregulated economic activity, rapid industrialization, and population growth. The course focuses on the Global South, but also examines the effects of profligate consumption patterns, the practices of Northern-based corporations, and other aspects of the globalization process that impact the world's collective environmental security. Unsustainable environmental practices that impact climate change, biodiversity, the world's natural resource base, and food supply are examined.
POL 561 Public Finance in Education
3 credits
Concentration Area: Education Policy
This course will provide an overview of how education is financed in the United States and the national, state and local strategies used to support education. Using Massachusetts as an example, students will examine the various revenue sources that states use to fund educational services, how these funds are allocated (state funding formulas), the resources it provides to schools and school districts, and the way districts and schools finance and budget their operations (school budgeting and accounting practices). Students will also discuss some of the key financial issues shaping the future of public education in the country and the states, along with a discussion of several major policy issues shaping its future.
POL 562 Environmental Policy
3 credits
Concentration Area: Environmental Policy
The broad context of environmental policy-making. Course provides a particular understanding of environmental policy issues, including the importance and effects of historical, political, and institutional context of environmental policymaking issues are explored. The course also teaches the essential skills and concepts important for the analysis and evaluation of environmental policies.
POL 570 Social, Historical and Philosophical Foundations of American Education
3 credits
Concentration Area: Education Policy
In this course students will gain a historical and philosophical understanding of change in American Education from the colonial times to the present. They will analyze the interdisciplinary nature of the foundations of education with a focus on the intersections of culture, knowledge and power. The course will examine various schools of thought such as perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, social reconstructionism and scientific management and their nexus with dynamics of change and innovation in American Education, such as the politics of disciplinarity, comprehensive schooling, child driven curriculum vs. society driven interests, outcomes driven curriculum, (in)equality challenges, bilingual education, special education, school choice, vouchers, and homeschooling.
POL 611 Administrative Law
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management, Environmental Policy, and Education Policy
Formulation and implementation perspectives on administrative law. The goal is to create a basic understanding of the relationships between federal and state laws, and the implementing regulatory bodies. Topics covered include administrative power creation, implementation, and review, and the general relationships between principles of administrative law and of environmental policy are explored.
POL 650 Special Topics in Policy Studies
3 Credits
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor
Concentration Area: Varies with course
Seminar requires students to do in-depth research on a specific policy area. Topics will vary depending on the instructor's current research and in response to the emergence of significant public policy issues. Sample topics include freedom of information and information policy, science and technology policy, regional economic development, marine policy, environmental policy, and gender policy. Examples of recent offerings include: Women's Human Rights, Environmental Law & Policy, Crime & Justice Policy, and Poverty & Immigration.
POL 661 Environmental Law
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Environmental Policy, Public Management
The major policy implementation and legitimization stages typical of environmental law and regulation development. Students gain understanding of the ways the law establishes "frameworks" within which policies must be developed and must interact, and the roles of policy professionals in the several stages of development.
POL 663 Ocean Policy and Law
3 Credits
Prerequisite: PST 500
Concentration Area: Environmental Policy
The interrelation between law and policy in the particular context of the marine environment. The course surveys coastal zone management, offshore resource management, marine pollution, and domestic and international ocean policy. Students are offered a broad perspective on legal and administrative issues affecting the oceans worldwide.
Course options at the Charlton College of Business
POM 500 Statistical Analysis
3 Credits
Can be taken in lieu of POL 580
A case study approach involving the following statistical concepts: descriptive statistics, probability, sampling, probability distribution, statistical estimation, chi-square testing, analysis of variance and simple regression-correlation analysis.
MGT 600 Corporate Social Responsibility & Business Law
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management
Critical analysis of the obligations managers have to all stakeholders in a business enterprise. Readings on ethical responsibility and global interconnectivity emphasize how business decisions impact people and the environment.
MGT 650 Organizational Behavior
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management
An interactive skills building course to improve managerial and team performance. Students will develop an understanding of themselves in relation to others in an organizational context. Class time will be allocated among short lectures, exercises, discussion, process observation, role playing, and team work research.
MGT 671 Management of Organizational Change
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management
Knowledge, understanding, and skills to actively contribute, whether as a manager, leader, or change agent, to essential renewal and transformation processes within organizations. Course examines how change occurs in large-scale organizations, the role of leadership in the change process, the use of vision, symbols, and metaphor to stimulate change, and the use of change forums to help employees maintain momentum during the process.
MGT 675 Managing Across Cultures
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management
Culture’s impact on business and management in a global world. The course seeks to develop intercultural competence and understanding. It integrates cultural awareness into traditional business disciplines through a mix of discussion, case studies, video, and exercises focusing on management, organization, and communication. Students develop methods to bridge cultural gaps and communicate more effectively with other cultural groups in business and social settings.
MGT 677 Leading, Motivating, and Empowering Others
3 Credits
Concentration Area: Public Management
Fundamentals of collaborative work as they occur in traditional, hierarchical, and empowered workplaces. Course reviews selected theories of leadership, motivation, empowerment, communication, and learning. Course provides an interactive setting where participants can assess and develop the interpersonal skills necessary to influence others.
Note: This is not a comprehensive listing of all concentration area courses. Not all courses listed here are offered regularly.
Internship
The Master of Public Policy requires an internship (3 credits) for students with less than 2 years of substantial and relevant public policy or public management experience. The field work component of the internship (2 credits) will be waived if an individual has at least 2 years substantial and relevant work experience in a policy making or public management position, although all students must enroll in the academic seminar component (1 credit) of the internship to graduate and for purposes of reviewing the students' professional portfolios.
Students seeking a waiver should make a formal request in writing to both the Department Chair and Internship Coordinator in the semester prior to when they plan on completing the internship requirement. This written request should include a detailed discussion of the substantive reasons why the applicant's previous experience and professional background merits a waiver. Waivers are granted at the sole discretion of the Department of Public Policy.
Students will select an internship venue from a pre-approved list of local, state, and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and private sector businesses. The internship's objective is to expose students to a policy-related or public management setting that allows them to integrate public policy theory (in their academic course) and with the real world of policy making and public management in their area of substantive interest. In the academic seminar, interns will share workplace experiences and analyze these experiences within the framework of public policy and public management theory.
For more detailed information on the Department's Internship policies including waivers and deadlines for requests, please click here:
For more information about internships, please see: http://www.naspaa.org/students/careers/service.asp
For a searchable listing of internship opportunities in Massachusetts, visit http://www.massitsallhere.com/stayhere
Professional Portfolio
Students should begin developing a professional portfolio during their first semester. In the last semester of their studies, students present their portfolio to a faculty committee and discuss how it represents their learning and will support their future job search.
For more information on the portfolio process visit http://www.umassd.edu/seppce/departments/publicpolicy/resources/portfolio/
Admissions
The Master of Public Policy program uses the campus-wide graduate admissions process at UMass Dartmouth. This process requires prospective graduate students to submit an application to the university's graduate school along with supporting documents and test scores. The applications are screened by university staff to insure that applications are complete and meet the MPP's minimum requirements for admission. All completed applications that meet the MPP's minimum admissions requirements are reviewed by an Admissions Committee composed of faculty from the Department of Public Policy.
Application Deadlines:
The deadline for admission to the MPP program is March 1st. Students interested in enrolling at other times have the option of taking up to two courses prior to being accepted into the program or may apply for admission into one of the Department's two online graduate certificate programs in Environmental Policy and Educational Policy which have a rolling admissions policy. These courses will count towards the MPP in the event that the student subsequently applies to and is accepted into the MPP program.
Individuals should submit an application to the MPP through the graduate office.
See Ways To Apply
Master of Public Policy
Admission Requirements
1. Earned Baccalaureate Degree:
All applicants to the Master's in Public Policy (MPP) must have an earned baccalaureate degree from an accredited 4-year college or university in the United States or comparable non-U.S. degree/diploma from a recognized foreign institution of higher education at the time of matriculation. Undergraduate seniors may apply in their final semester with expectation that they will have graduated prior to enrolling in MPP courses. A copy of official transcripts from all colleges/universities attended, undergraduate and graduate, must be submitted as part of the application process.
Applicants may hold a degree in any field, although it is expected that most applicants will hold degrees in the social sciences, business, and humanities. To make up for gaps in their undergraduate preparation, students may be admitted with conditions to complete one or more undergraduate deficiency courses. Deficiency courses will count in the students load, but not towards the degree requirements. Such conditions will be stated in the letter of admission.
2. Graduate School Application for US Citizens/International Applicants:
All applicants to the Master's of Public Policy must complete and submit UMass Dartmouth's Graduate School Application. The application may be submitted electronically or by mail.
3. Statement of Purpose (Essay)
The MPP at UMass Dartmouth requires an essay of 600-900 words explaining the applicant's interest in the program and purpose for applying to the program. graduate study objectives, previous policy-related or public management experience, and undergraduate preparation for the course of study. The applicants should also submit resumes or a curriculum vita.
4. Letters of Recommendation
Every applicant will be required to submit at least two letters of recommendation. For recent recipients of the bachelor’s degree, at least one of the letters should be from a professor familiar with the student’s academic work.
5. Other Materials Required for Application to the Master of Public Policy:
a: Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT): Applicants to the Master of Public Policy must submit GRE (general test), or GMAT scores taken within 5 years of the application. The MPP will not require a minimum score for admission, but performance on the examination will be factored into the admissions process. Official score reports must come directly from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). [UMass Dartmouth's GRE Code for reporting scores is 3786]. Applicants that have already earned a graduate degree from an accredited institution or have earned a graduate certificate in environmental or educational policy from the UMass Dartmouth Department of Public Policy are not required to submit GRE scores .
b: Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth requires a TOEFL or other sanctioned English competency evaluation exam unless applicants have earned their Bachelor's degree in the United States or in the following countries where English is the official language (Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa).
TOEFL scores are valid for five years from the date of anticipated matriculation to the MPP. This requirement is waived only for those who had English as their primary language for secondary school or college instruction, who have successfully completed a year of advanced secondary school or college/university study in the US, or who can be present in person to meet with officials of the university at the time of application for admission. A minimum TOEFL score of 250 is required on the computer-based test and a minimum score of 600 is required for the paper version of the test.
6. Financial Aid
Students enrolled in the Master of Public Policy degree are eligible to apply for any financial aid that is generally available to graduate students at UMass Dartmouth. The MPP program also offers a limited number of paid teaching assistantships and the Center for Policy Analysis offers paid research assistantships. The Center for Policy Analysis also awards a small number of merit-based scholarships.
Students admitted to the MPP program may transfer up to 2 courses (6 credits) of graduate course work taken at other colleges and universities. Transfer credits must be approved by the MPP Director/Department Chair. Students interested in transferring credits or taking courses at another higher education institution should consult with the MPP Director/Department Chair.
Kassel University (German Exchange Agreement)
The Department of Public Policy has a student exchange and course-sharing partnership with Kassel University's (Germany) Master in Global Political Economy program. The exchange agreement allows up to 3 students annually to study in Germany for periods of 4 weeks to one full semester (or summer). All courses in Germany are taught in English and are pre-approved for transfer credit in the MPP. Consult the International Programs Office for more information.
