Master of Public Administration
A career in public management provides an opportunity to shape the future of our communities and to improve our overall quality of life. A public manager’s capacity for leadership is especially important in a world of rapid change.
Public administrators run our harbors, airports, and public transportation networks. They manage our environmental protection systems, community centers, schools, and universities. They are leaders in healthcare, urban revitalization, and welfare reform. They work in the public and nonprofit sectors and with private agencies to help manage virtually every aspect of our public services. They oversee and continuously redesign governance structures at the city, county, state, and federal levels to create placed-based solutions to community problems.
Successful public management today requires a capacity to integrate regional and local considerations and the ability to achieve desired outcomes within a complex tapestry of intergovernmental fiscal pressures, regulations and the political process. Public administrators address significant social challenges, including:
- How can we maintain high-quality public service in the face of diminishing government resources?
- How can leaders from multiple sectors work together to solve public problems?
- How can citizens be more effectively engaged in the governing processes?
- What must be done to prepare the next generation of leadership in public service, as our current leaders near retirement?
MPA Program – Ascending the National Rankings
SPPD's Master of Public Administration (MPA) program continues to be rated among the top public administration programs nationwide. Most recently, the USC MPA degree program was ranked seventh in the nation in the 2008 survey of public administration, public policy and public affairs programs, conducted by U.S. News and World Report.