Mass adoption of advanced information technologies is fueling a need for public servants with the skills to manage data-driven public agencies. Public employees typically acquire data skills through graduate research methods courses, which focus primarily on research design and statistical analysis. What data skills are currently taught, and what…

A purpose of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program is to translate theory into practical concepts to prepare leaders of the public and nonprofit sectors. The practice continues to employ entrepreneurial activities throughout the world. The academy has researched, written, and published extensively about entrepreneurship to build…

Imposter Phenomenon (IP) is feelings of inadequacy and inauthenticity in settings where achievement is emphasized and valued. This exploratory study employs a survey to investigate the prevalence and underlying factors of IP among Master of Public Administration (MPA) students at seven US universities with varying institutional characteristics.…

This explanatory study explored what graduate programs should embrace in educating public serving professionals to become able to respond to paramount challenges unknown at the time of studies. For conceptual frameworks, the study employed: (1) principal-agent theory on how predominant philanthropic organizations pushed the creation of globalized…

In recent decades civil services worldwide have experienced exogenous forces that are transforming their work and workplace. In turn, these changes are altering the skills set associated with civil service employment. As professional degrees oriented towards careers in civil service these changes can have important ramifications on the curriculum.…

This article provides a critical analysis of the development of public administration education in the context of five post-Soviet, transitional, and authoritarian Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan from early independence to the present time (1991-2019). The study is based on a review of…

This paper describes the pedagogical efforts of 67 NASPAA programs offering a specialization in global/comparative administration and policy. A web content analysis of course and concentration titles, course descriptions and syllabi of 67 programs with this specialization showed that across all programs, 52 unique concentrations were offered, and…

Curricular mimicking between undergraduate and graduate public administration, policy, and affairs degrees is an ongoing concern of program administrators. Mimicking occurs when the curricular elements of an undergraduate degree overlap those of a graduate degree. Missing from the discourse surrounding this issue is empirical evidence of…

This article presents an integrated approach to teaching a graduate-level public financial management course. It stresses the importance of fundamental budgeting proficiencies (e.g., cost allocation; forecasting; operating within constraints; and using Microsoft Excel) and additional skills that tend to receive less attention in financial…

This article aims to discuss the health of the public administration discipline in the US higher education system. In particular, it debates two possible alternatives: decline or reposition. The paper analyzes the academic offers of political science, public policy, and public administration programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The…

On October 27, 2018, a gunman killed eleven people attending Shabbat services in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. For many -- both Jews and non-Jews -- this tragedy served as a wake-up call about the persistence of antisemitism in the United States today. MPA curricula and public affairs research have rarely addressed contemporary…

Every MPA student learns about organization theory but too few learn to "see" gender, both within the public service workforce and among clientele of the agency. Because organizations employ gendered structures and processes, it is incumbent on faculty to teach students not just about organizational architecture, but also how to identify…

Disparate student academic outcomes and program access is a problem at Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs in the Northeast United States The current admission committee members at the case university did not know institution leaders' rationale for eliminating the Graduate Records Examination (GRE) criterion. The decision to exclude the…

While the praxis of public administration in India is documented in the literature, its pedagogy, and the formal dissemination of its knowledge, is relatively unexamined. This study determines the status of public administration pedagogy in India through a review of the academic programs in public administration at accredited state, central, and…

Ethics, and its application in academe and society, is a subject of tremendous importance. Ethics education and courses of study are the foundations for developing ethical public servants, educators, researchers, and leaders. Ethics, while universally recognized as important, is not universally integrated into college curricula, few colleges take…