Why pursue an MPA Degree?

Are you committed to bettering your neighborhood, your community, your country? Interested in serving the public? Dedicated to improving the human condition through public service? Are you civic minded?

An MPA degree can provide you with an opportunity to influence the communities you live in - the cities, states, and nations around the world. Employment demand for professionals to provide leadership, financial management, policy analysis, and other such skills has never been stronger.

Why pursue an MPA at UIC?

Quality Instruction
UIC-MPA program faculty are nationally recognized scholars producing prolific scholarship, allowing for cutting-edge research to filter into MPA classrooms. The placement of the faculty's scholarship is often recognized in top-tier outlets, including Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Public Administration Review, Public Budgeting and Finance, Review of Public Personnel Management, American Review of Public Administration, Public Productivity and Management Review, Urban Affairs Review, American Journal of Political Science, Social Science Quarterly, Publius as well as M.E. Sharpe and Georgetown University Press. This research brings first-rate scholarship into the classrooms, providing intellectual excitement and critical thinking necessary for a successful MPA program curriculum. The energy and enthusiasm with which faculty attack the intellectual challenges of the discipline are replicated in the classroom, as students and faculty connect the research findings and frameworks to their readings and assignments.

Recognizing the multidisciplinary nature of the field, the UIC-MPA program faculty represents many disciplines. Their academic training and research interests cover a broad range of relevant areas including law, management, political science, statistics and research methods, survey research, sociology, economics, business, organizational theory and decision making, human resources, budgeting and finance, and information technology. The program's full-time faculty is complemented by several distinguished, adjunct professors who are recognized practitioners in the areas of public policy, management, and administration.

The MPA Program is accredited by The National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). To achieve this status, the MPA Program must meet certain curricular and operational standards that demonstrate the quality of the curriculum, faculty and student support services. UIC is the only fully accredited MPA program by NASPAA in the Chicago area.

Through a combination of elective and required courses, students pursue specialized concentrations in the following areas:

• Public Management - includes courses in organizational theory and public management, innovative management practices, program evaluation, and special topics courses in decision making, strategic management, and leadership.
• Financial Management - includes courses in budgeting, the management of the financial affairs of government, accounting, economics, and special topics courses in areas such as public finance.
• Information Technology- includes courses in information systems and other applications, the use of the internet in government, the management of information technology, and special topics courses in areas such as geographic information systems.
• Survey Methods - includes courses in survey planning and design, sampling and estimation methods, the psychology of survey measurement and cross-cultural survey measurement.
• Local Government Administration - includes courses in local government management, intergovernmental management, and urban expertise across the university in courses such as urban policy, urban politics, and local economic development.

The UIC-MPA curriculum is designed to provide both pre-service and working students with the theoretical understanding, analytical tools, and up-to-date information needed for successful careers in the public service. The program informs students of the broad contexts of the profession; provides an understanding of organization theory and organizational behavior; teaches the principles of human resource management and financial administration; instructs how to apply qualitative and quantitative techniques to solve problems and answer questions; introduces a broad range of management methods and tools, and explores current issues facing managers and administrators in the public setting. In addition to completing formal course work, each student participates in team-based field work that integrates classroom learning with practical experience. Each student also has the option of participating in an organized internship placement with a public service agency.

Diverse Experience
The MPA program at UIC serves a diverse student clientele, providing students with an opportunity to find their niche in a very diverse and professionally rich environment among peers who have a wide variety of experience in government and non-profit work. Some are mid-career professionals in the public or nonprofit sector, some are looking for opportunities to change their career paths, and some have recently completed their undergraduate studies and realize the need for professional training to launch successful careers. MPA students are exposed to a variety of management and policy issues at every level of government, from regional agencies of the federal government headquartered in Chicago to the numerous municipalities situated throughout the metropolitan area. In the nonprofit field, Chicago houses major international nonprofits such as MacArthur Foundation, and Chicago neighborhoods have nurtured many active community organizations. The environment of the university and the city prepare students for collaborating with coworkers and citizens from a diversity of backgrounds. Chicago is a laboratory for confronting new challenges such as homeland security, regionalism and the possibilities of information technology. Persistent concerns such as poverty, education, affordable housing, and mass transit are prominent in Chicago as well. This environment provides ample opportunity for the MPA program at UIC to provide rich experiences that reinforce our efforts to create capable and creative administrators.

Versatile Careers
A master of public administration degree is well-recognized among administrators in the field, and is considered to be critical to many career paths leading to the management of public agencies. Unlike specialized degrees in particular substantive fields such as criminal justice or social work, an MPA program provides training and preparation in areas that improve the effectiveness and success of public managers and other administrators who make important decisions regarding the operation and functioning of public organizations.

Employment demand for professionals to provide leadership, financial management, policy analysis and other such skills has never been stronger. The Chicago region alone is home to numerous state and federal agencies, major nonprofit organizations, and more local governments than any other metropolitan area in the country. Opportunities for internships and ultimately for placement in government agencies and the non-profit sector are exceptionally good.

Although no academic program can guarantee advancement to in-service students or the all-important first job opportunity to pre-service students, the MPA Program at UIC has an excellent track record in this regard. Graduates of UIC's MPA Program have consistently demonstrated the ability to successfully compete for the most prestigious positions. We are particularly proud of this fact and view our graduates' successes as perhaps the most important indicator of program quality. Included among the positions held by some of our graduates are:

Federal Government
Director of Disability Programs, Social Security Administration
Program Analyst, Office of Inspector General
Management Specialist, Transportation Security Administration
Executive Officer, Illinois Army National Guard
Human Resources Specialist, Department of Veteran's Affairs

State Government
Chicago District Commissioner, Illinois State Police
Special Projects Director, Illinois Child Care Bureau, Illinois Department of Human Services
Senior IT Project Manager, Chicago Transit Authority
Assistant Laboratory Director, Joliet Forensic Science Laboratory, Illinois State Police
Associate Dean, Graduate College, UIC
Assistant Dean of Communications, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, UIC

Local Government
Budget Analyst, Office of Budget and Management, City of Chicago
Captain, City of Chicago Police Department
Assistant City Manager, City of Deerfield Beach, Florida
County Administrator, Peoria County, Illinois
Chief Operations Research Analyst, City of Chicago, Department of Police
Deputy Commissioner, City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development

Non-Profit Organizations
Associate Director, McCormick Tribune Foundation
Director of Development, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Associate Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Director of Grants, YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago
Executive Director, Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation

Private Organizations
Associate, Kane, McKenna, and Associates (consulting firm specializing in municipal finance)
Senior Policy Analyst, The QED Group, LLC
Senior Civil Engineer, Superior Property Services
Finance and Employee Benefit Manager, Jane Addams Resource Corporation

CUPPA has an Assistant Dean for Student Services and the MPA program has an Assistant Director, both of which assist students in securing employment in the government and non-profit sector. Students are given access to the CUPPA Career Center website, the program's central resource for employment, internships, and assistantship opportunities. Each spring, the MPA Program hosts a Career Fair, inviting representatives from organizations in the Chicago area who are recruiting for full- and part-time positions as well as internships.