Graduate Learning Outcome Statement
Master of Public Administration

Mission Statement
The mission of the UNF MPA program is to provide students a broad understanding of the theory and practice of public administration, and to contribute to the betterment of the public and not-for-profit service community in the state, particularly in the northeast Florida region. These general goals are obtained commensurate with the University of North Florida's commitment to excellence, focus, relevance, and accountability in all of its academic programs. The MPA program serves to open a path to graduate education to a wide variety of students, particularly nontraditional students, who seek an opportunity to enhance their professional qualifications and career prospects in the public and nonprofit sectors. The ultimate purpose of the MPA program is to enhance the capabilities of potential and current administrative, managerial and political leaders of the region to better serve their organizations and the public in the competitive environment of the 21st century.

Program Objectives
The UNF MPA program intends to have faculty and students engaged in a curriculum that produces graduates who have significantly enhanced professional capabilities suitable for working effectively within increasingly diverse public and not for profit organizations. Specifically, we want our program to provide students with the ability to integrate topical knowledge with management skills that enhance their lifetime contributions to their workplaces and the community. The program's objective is to provide students with management skills that, when combined with topical knowledge of policy issues, will provide sound and innovative decision making by the student. In short, our intent is to "add value" to our students--making them more effective as employees and citizens and/or enlarging their capabilities for leadership within their respective organizations and communities.

These objectives are congruent with the criteria of the University Mission as follows:

Excellence-the MPA program will adhere to national norms in the provision of common curriculum components, and will strive to concentrate faculty and programmatic resources in a small number of high-quality specializations within the program;
Focus-the MPA program will emphasize course development and content that reflects the professional strengths of program faculty, and that reflects an orientation toward local issues, problems, and policies;
Relevance-the MPA program emphasizes recruitment of local and regional students, including many who are already involved in public or not-for-profit work in our surrounding communities;
Accountability-the MPA program is accountable to a national accrediting body, as well as university internal review processes.

Graduate Learning Outcomes
The MPA Program learning environment consists of three components: 1) acquisition of managerial and analytical skills, 2) acquisition of substantive knowledge in one or more policy areas, and 3) integration of management and analytical skills with substantive policy knowledge, enabling the student to make and effectively communicate professional assessments and decisions.
Specific learning outcomes for each component are shown below.

1) Acquisition of Managerial and Analytic Skills Students should show evidence of the acquisition of managerial and analytical skills covered in the core courses:
a. Quantitative and qualitative analysis
b. Financial and budgetary analysis
c. Policy or program analysis or evaluation
d. Human resource analysis
e. Organizational analysis
f. Ethical analysis

2) Acquisition of Substantive Knowledge In One or More Policy Areas Students should show evidence of the acquisition of substantive knowledge in one or more policy areas in the MPA curriculum:
a. General track-demonstrated knowledge of general governance policies and issues;
b. Local Government Policy and Administration track-demonstrated knowledge of local government or local community policies and issues;
c. Health Administration track-demonstrated knowledge of public or community health policies and issues;
d. National Security Policy and Administration track-demonstrated knowledge of national security or defense policies and issues;
e. Nonprofit Management track (proposed)-demonstrated knowledge of nonprofit community needs and circumstances.

3) Integration Of Management and Analytical Skills with Substantive Policy Knowledge To Make and Effectively Communicate Professional Assessments and Decisions.
a. Students show evidence of effective written and oral expression of the nature and results of the work they have done;
b. Students show evidence that they can successfully manage priorities and resources in the organization of their work;
c. Students demonstrate a capability to manage complex projects effectively and on-time;
d. Students demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge and concepts from the theoretical literature to develop, explain, and justify decision alternatives in public policy or management.

Graduate Learning Outcomes Assessment

Assessment of graduate learning will be based on the results of a pre/post tests designed to elicit student capacity upon admission to the program and upon graduation from the program, faculty evaluation of in-course assignments and projects, and assessment of the content and quality of the student capstone project. Content and quality in the case of the capstone project will include faculty assessment of the student's ability to manage a complex project, as demonstrated by the student's work with his/her committee and the capstone coordinator.

Assessment tests, class projects, and capstone activities will be evaluated by rubrics. These rubrics will assess student work in the component areas as "Exceeds," "Meets," or "Does Not Meet "expected program requirements. No student will be prevented from graduating as a consequence of assessment under these rubrics. Instead, results will be used to ascertain where the program is functioning effectively in preparing students to meet or exceed expectations, and where it is not doing so. These measurements will allow the program to focus on curricular changes that will increase the percentage of students who achieve a meet or exceeds rating in particular learning objectives. Targets will be established after the initial assessment activity provides a base line of learning achievement in the current capstone group. This approach will allow assessment of student achievement by ascertaining how much a student improved over the course of the program relative to where s/he started, as well as relative to the target set by the program for demonstrable student gains within a particular cohort.

Students will also be asked to fill out a self-evaluation, rating their experience of the program on a number of dimensions. These responses will serve as indirect measurements of student learning outcomes. The survey will ask students to indicate their position on a 5-point Lickert scale with respect to the contribution of the MPA program to knowledge in the core areas a-f above, to the contribution of the development of their skills in core areas a-f above, and the contribution of the program to the integration of knowledge and skills in the integration areas a-d above. Finally, as part of this self-assessment, students will also be asked to rate the program in terms of the degree of achievement of a number of mission-related activities, as follows:
• support of use of technology in management
• emphasis on ethics
• enabling of contact between faculty and students
• provision of professional networking opportunities for students
• provision of opportunities for professional development
• integration of theoretical and applied approaches
• enhancement of decision making and analytic skills
• preparation of students for careers in as public/nonprofit managers
• preparation of students as leaders in the public and nonprofit sectors