Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Following admission to the program, all MPA students are assigned a faculty advisor. The MPA faculty advisor assists students with individual academic program planning, the selection of a degree concentration, and choice of electives. The student's MPA faculty advisor may also work jointly with other faculty in and outside the Department of Political Science, Public Administration and History on courses related to the student's concentration area. Students who wish to have a particular faculty member serve as their regular advisor may submit a request for this to the MPA Program Coordinator, Dr. Roger Green.

The MPA program offers a choice of two degree concentrations: Public Leadership and Management and Community Resilience. Students should select one of these two concentrations on the MPA Supplemental Application Form when applying to the program. If a student wishes to change his or her degree concentration after being admitted to the program, he or she can do so by emailing this request to the MPA Program Coordinator, Dr. Roger Green, provided this is done prior to applying for graduation in the student’s final semester.

Like any other public organization, Florida Gulf Coast University generally and the MPA program specifically have to operate within budget and personnel constraints. This has a significant impact on how often the MPA program offers specific courses and when it offers them. You need to be attentive to this when planning ahead and registering for courses. Here are some important details to bear in mind with respect to course scheduling and course selection.

• The required core courses PAD 6417 (Public Personnel Administration), PAD 6060 (Introduction to Public Administration), PAD 6708 (Research Methods and Analysis), PAD 6227 (Public Budgeting), PAD 6327 (Program Planning and Evaluation), and PAD 6961 (Capstone Seminar) are offered twice a year (in the Fall Semester and in the Spring Semester).
• The required core course PAD 6365 (Public Policy) is offered only once a year in the Fall Semester.
• The required core course PAD 6101 (Organizational Theory and Behavior) is offered only once a year in the spring semester.
• You should take PAD 6060 Introduction to Public Administration in your first semester. You must complete PAD 6708 Research Methods and Analysis before you will be allowed to register for PAD 6327 Program Planning and Evaluation. Except in unusual circumstances (and only then with department permission) you must wait until your final semester to register for the PAD 6961 Capstone Seminar.
• Most of the MPA program’s elective courses are offered only once every two years (on a rotating basis). You can anticipate that every Fall and Spring Semester the program will offer two to three elective courses from the “Public Leadership and Management Concentration” but only one elective course from the “Community Resilience Concentration.”
• The exact mix of “required core” and “elective” courses you should take in a given semester depends on several factors, perhaps the most important of which is whether you are proceeding through the program on a full-time basis (i.e., three courses per term) or on a part-time basis (either two courses per term or one course per term). If you are a full-time student, in most Fall and Spring Semesters it will be advisable to take two required core courses and one elective course per term. If you are a part-time student, the optimal mix of required core versus elective courses each term will vary, depending in part on whether you are taking two courses or just one course per term, but also in part on whether in a given semester the program offers an elective course closely aligned with your career interests. However, in all cases involving part-time students, the program cautions you against loading up exclusively on required core courses in your initial few semesters and deferring your elective courses until the later stages of your coursework. Given that most of the program’s electives are offered only once every two years on a rotating basis, if you delay taking your electives until the later stages of your coursework you will likely discover that your elective choices are unusually limited. This is a particularly important consideration for students in the “Community Resilience Concentration,” owing to the fact that we offer only one elective course per term from this concentration. Consult regularly with your advisor in the program or with the MPA Graduate Program Coordinator about these issues.
• MPA course offerings during the Summer Session tend to be highly limited in number due to severe budget and personnel constraints. You should anticipate that the MPA program at best will only be able to offer two elective courses during the Summer (but none of its required core courses). If you are a pre-service student (i.e., a student who at the time of admission lacked at least one year of full-time professional work experience in a public or non-profit organization) and are required to complete an MPA Internship, the Summer Session is oftentimes the optimal period for doing so. If that is your intent, be sure to discuss this with the MPA Graduate Program Coordinator well in advance of the Summer and to familiarize yourself with the Internship requirements.

Please refer to the Registration webpage for important information about course registration at FGCU.

To use the course schedule for the MPA program, go to the course schedule website and enter the term for which courses you’re interested, enter “Political Science & Public Adm” as department, enter “Graduate” as level, and then click “Search.”

Registration for courses can be done in person at the Office of the Registrar with your Student ID Card. However, in most cases it is more convenient to register online using the university’s Gulfline system. Here are the steps for registering for courses online.

1. Go to Gulfline.
2. Select Gulfline to login.
3. You will be directed to the FGCU Eagle Access page which will require dual process login authentication. 
4. Enter your University email address and password, and click sign in. 
5. You will then be directed to the second authentication page. Follow prompts as indicated. 
6. Select Student & Financial Aid Menu.
7. Select the Registration Menu.
8. Select Drop/Add Classes.
9. Select Term.
10. Enter the CRN (the 5-digit course registration number) fin the ADD section for each course you wish to register in. Please pay attention to course prerequisites and restrictions, as these may affect your eligibility to register for certain courses.
11. Click on Submit Changes to save courses.
12. Select Return to MENU and click on Registration Fee.
13. Assessment to complete registration. Print the fees, and use the printout to send payment to cashier.
14. Return to the previous menu to print your courses schedule.
15. Exit from Gulfline.

The MPA program is offered exclusively online, enabling students to complete their degree requirements via distant learning. Courses incorporate Internet technology such as electronic readings, web boards, and chat rooms, in some cases supplemented by optional discussion sessions held on the FGCU campus. Students may register for one or more courses per semester, selecting from the distance courses scheduled each term. Eligibility requirements include an adequate home computer system and Internet service capacities for completing internet-based coursework.

Special Note. Students who have less than one year of full-time professional work experience in the public or not-for-profit sectors at the time of admission into the program must attend two (2) on-campus professional networking workshops over the course of their MPA program. Students who have less than one year of full-time professional work experience in the public or not-for-profit sectors at the time of admission also must complete a 3-credit MPA internship (PAD 6940). The MPA Admissions Committee will determine whether or not an applicant's work experience is sufficient to waive attendance at these on-campus sessions. All students must attend one Saturday session during their final semester, in order to deliver a formal oral presentation as part of their Capstone Seminar (PAD 6961).

MPA students who have less than one year of full-time professional work experience in the public or not-for-profit sectors at the time of admission (as determined by the MPA Admissions Committee and stipulated in the student’s letter of admission to the program) must complete a 3-credit MPA internship (PAD 6940).

Internship Requirements

In order to register for and complete an MPA Internship, the following are required:

• You must be admitted as an MPA student.
• Find a placement in a position with meaningful administrative- and/or policy-related work experiences. Although an intern might reasonably expect to occasionally perform routine duties, the major duties performed by the intern must be non-clerical in nature. The final determination of this is made by the MPA Program Coordinator. 
• Completion of the program’s internship form providing the instructor of record (MPA Coordinator) with information about the name and location of the internship site, the name and contact information of the site supervisor/mentor, and a list or narrative summary of the principal job duties associated with the internship. The student, internship site supervisor, and MPA Program Coordinator must sign and date this form. 
• Completion of 300 hours of work at the internship site (including work performed off-site if instructed to do so by the internship supervisor/mentor).
• At the completion of the internship, the intern must arrange for the site supervisor/mentor to send the instructor of record a brief letter or email summarizing: 1) the major activities engaged in during the internship, 2) confirmation that the intern completed 300 hours of work; and 3) an assessment of the quality of the intern’s work at the site: “A” (excellent), “B” (above average), “C” (average), “D” (below average), or “F” (failing).
• Completion of an intermediate-length paper (8 to 10 pages) that examines one or more aspects of the internship work or some other dimension of the administrative-or policy-related activities dealt with by the organization.

Recent Internship Placements

Below are examples of recent internships completed by FGCU’s MPA students:

• Ocean Conservancy; Intern
• Spirit Airlines Safety Curriculum Developer
• Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce; Government Affairs Collier County
• Matt Hudson State Representative District 80 Staffer
• U.S. Department of Justice; Deputy U.S. Marshal; Policy and Training Development
• Florida Department of Transportation; District 1 SW Area Office Intern
• Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce; Government Affairs Lee County