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MSPA Masters Degree Program

The MSPA master's degree program is a two-year professional degree program that prepares students for careers in public service and enhances the skills of those already employed in the public sector.

Graduates of this highly competitive program include mayors, city managers, and state agency managers and directors, as well as a host of elected officials.

The curriculum is a carefully planned sequence of evening courses that provides academic instruction in American culture, politics, economics, management, budgeting, statistics and public finance.

 

Goals of the MSPA Master's Degree Program

The MSPA program concentrates on four broad goals for its graduates:

1. An understanding of the cultural, political and economic factors that influence the development and implementation of public policy initiatives, strategies and programs at the national, state and local levels.
   
2. A firm knowledge of the range of methodologies appropriate to policy analysis, including evaluation models, survey research and design, and the quantitative and qualitative measure for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data related to public policy issues.
   
3. A solid grounding in the skills required for planning, implementing and controlling public sector programs and policies, with special emphasis on the nature of human resources and public budgeting issues associated with public sector organizations and agencies.
   
4. The capacity to exercise the skills needed to build support for policy initiatives essential to the success of their organizations or agencies.

The Public Affairs MSPA program includes intensive analyses of current policy issues and concentrates on topics relating to metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts and New England.

MSPA Students

Students admitted to the program are usually currently employed and have several years' experience in the public, private or not-for-profit sectors; although students who have just completed and undergraduate degree are also considered. Those coming from the private sector usually hold or aspire to positions of authority in their organization's community relations, governmental affairs or long-range strategic planning divisions.

Since most students are employed full time, the program operates on an evening and weekend schedule. It draws on regular teaching faculty from throughout the university.

For more information on the faculty in the MSPA traditional master's degree program, see the MSPA Faculty page.

Students in the MSPA Masters Degree program work closely with McCormack Graduate School staff and senior fellows and benefit from their contacts with these professionals whose expertise ranges over may areas: criminal justice, economics, government healthcare, higher education policy, political behavior, polling, public finance, public management, public policy analysis and urban affairs. Students can also get involved with the Institute-sponsored New England Journal of Public Policy, a semi-annual publication designed for academics, practitioners and policy analysts.

Career Goals of Our MSPA Graduates

The MSPA program recruits, primarily, successful and effective practitioners in Massachusetts state and local government. They may be appointed or elected, working in executive departments, offices and agencies, or as legislative staff members. Some masters degree program students are also journalists or business people who need or want to understand how the public sector works, leaders in the non-profit sector or people about to enter the public sector.

Fundamentally, though, the MSPA masters degree program is designed for those women and men who are working in government in the Commonwealth and wish to continue doing that work while enhancing their ability to do so.

The MSPA masters degree program's interest in these particular practitioners has its source, first and foremost, in the growing public demand that government increase its effectiveness and professionalism. Citizens want government to work, and work well.

The current broad public interest in a wide variety of approaches testifies to the popular sense that, while government is necessary, it is not very well run and must be improved.

 

Contact the MSPA Program for More Information

If you have questions about the MSPA master's degree program or need additional information, please contact the department. You can call us at (617) 287-5543.

Additional program contact information is available on the Contact page.