Our mission is to promote collaborative, multidisciplinary, culturally appropriate, and ethically responsible approaches to the analysis, development, advocacy and evaluation of innovative public policies.
Our goal is to prepare future public policy leaders for local, regional, state, national and international public agencies, as well as for nonprofit, community-based, and non-governmental organizations. We also aim to provide private sector professionals with the skills needed to deal with important social, economic and business policies affecting society.
The curriculum focuses outcomes-based learning experiences, in both the classroom and the field, on development of the knowledge, skills and abilities required to analyze, design, and advocate for public policies that:
1. Promote civic responsibility of all sectors
2. Improve the quality and responsiveness of government
3. Empower citizens to work for social justice
4. Lead to actions optimizing the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities
We accomplish these things by providing students with rigorous public policy training that emphasizes the interrelationships and interdependencies between individuals, communities, government agencies and market sectors, and integrates the values of shared governance, community collaboration, ethical leadership, social justice, diversity and multicultural competence into a professional degree program.
The program provides students with a "toolbox" of competencies, including the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking and communication abilities, demanded by leadership positions in increasingly complex public policy environments. The curriculum features four distinct components:
1. Development of essential knowledge, skills and abilities through a comprehensive and rigorous set of evidence-based quantitative and qualitative reasoning and policy analysis methodology core courses
2. Concentration in a chosen field of public policy through specialized courses, field education and directed research
3. Emphasis on collaboration and interdisciplinarity through course electives and cross-disciplinary program faculty
4. Integration of theory and practice through collaborative assignments between complementary courses, the development of an applied policy analysis research project and an advanced professional policy internship focused on "real world" public policy problems and approaches
Special Features of the MPP Program
Similar to other public policy graduate degree programs, our MPP program includes a rigorous set of quantitative analysis, leadership and management courses designed to prepare graduates for advanced level professional policy positions in public and nonprofit agencies. In this unique program, the CSUMB core values (collaboration, interdisciplinarity, outcomes-based education, service to the community) are integrated into an academic and field-based curriculum.
We are also fortunate to include the Honorable Leon Panetta as a member of the faculty. A distinguished policymaker with a long and well-respected career in Washington , Mr. Panetta's teaches on the policy-making process that forms an integral part of the core curriculum. This unique opportunity provides students, faculty, staff to gain a unique understanding of public policy decision-making and connect with the greater world of policy at the state and federal levels.
Program Structure
Program requirements include a total of 55 credit hours, with 33 credits of core courses, 9 credits of concentration and electives, and 13 credits of internship and research seminars. You will select an area of concentration (current offerings include Health & Social Policy and Government Politics and Policy) to focus your study and direct your research. A required 400-hour professional policy internship related to your area of concentration may be completed through an intensive fulltime summer experience, or part-time during your course of study. This internship will provide you with an opportunity to develop a real-world applied policy analysis research project , including the development of a case study and a policy designed to benefit the sponsoring agency and its constituents. Students select two concentration courses in a primary disciplinary area and at least one elective course in another.
The MPP program is currently designed as a three-year part-time program for working professionals, with courses primarily offered in the evenings and on weekends. There is a two-year path available, however it requires coursework during the day.
Program prerequisites
Introductory knowledge and skills in statistics and economics, must be demonstrated with prior coursework. Evidence for computer literacy is essential, and can be demonstrated through coursework or sufficient professional training and experience. Transfer courses from other colleges and universities will be accepted with sufficient evidence to demonstrate equivalency to CSUMB courses. If an applicant does not have prior coursework in economics and statistics they will need to plan on completing prerequisites prior to entering the program. If your recent experience with statistics is limited and your coursework is more than five years old, we recommend that you take a refresher course prior to applying. (Most local community colleges offer such coursework.)
Learning Environment
Faculty, students and professional mentors work together in an interactive teaching and learning environment conducive to optimal acquisition of the knowledge, skills and abilities represented by the MPP Learning Outcomes (PPLOs). The curriculum is based on an iterative model of learning that ensures integration of theoretical and conceptual knowledge through use of varied (and shared) teaching and learning methods, including interdisciplinary classroom and web-based models, a final applied policy analysis research/case study development project, and a fully integrated professional internship experience. Each learning experience is associated with a primary set of PPLOs that provides students with opportunities to demonstrate an increasingly higher level of understanding and skill development throughout the program.
The highly integrated curriculum design takes advantage of the added value that comes from courses that explicitly respond to the need for sequential and collaborative learning experiences. The courses feature interrelated content, co-taught by cross-disciplinary instructors (academics and practitioners), and shared assignments. Assignments integrate quantitative and qualitative research skills across courses, or are connected in other innovative ways.
How the program serves students, the community, society as a whole.
The CSUMB Vision Statement emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary and collaborative relationships, and programs that train professionals to respond to a society's need for increasingly more sophisticated ways of identifying and finding solutions to complex public problems. The MPP program facilitates collaboration across campus and brings policy leaders from local, state and national arenas into the program for their professional expertise and mentoring support of students.
The program also reaches out to a wide range of potential students in the broader community and society by emphasizing social justice, ethics, global interdependence, cross-cultural competence, and technology. Although policy programs may focus on some of these, very few explicitly integrate all of them. The MPP program incorporates each of these important elements into the mission, goals and core curriculum of the program, thus offering students the chance to integrate these conceptual and practical areas of study, with their learning and professional experiences.
For more details see:
|
