Undergraduate Degree Programs
Recommended Curriculum for
B.A. Degree in Public Management
Undergraduate Course
Descriptions
People who choose public service
careers are individuals determined to make the world better because they
are part of that world. Maybe you are one of those people. If you think
you are, then consider a major or minor in public management.
The Department of Public Administration
addresses issues of governance, organization, and policy in democratic
society and provides students with the skills required for successful
executive and administrative careers in public service -- in government
and in other public organizations such as healthcare institutions and
nonprofit agencies. The Public Management program has three primary
goals:
- to prepare students for careers in
public service
- to prepare students for further
study and education
- to help students become better
participants in democratic society
The
undergraduate major in Public
Management combines superior, nationally-recognized instruction with
a liberal base and significant practical experience through its popular
internship program. This Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree introduces many of
the skills necessary for professional participation in public service,
including critical thinking, effective speaking and writing, preparation
of budgets and grants, and research and analytical capabilities.
The major requires a minimum of 33
degree credit hours and may involve prerequisite courses. A number of
students in the program have chosen a double major (e.g., Public
Management and Economics, Forestry, GIS, or Computer Science); a few students have
chosen to pursue a double degree. For students preferring to
minor in
Public Management, an 18-credit-hour program is available.
The Department participates in a range
of research and public service projects for the State of Maine and the
New England Region. Recent job placements include managers for the towns
of Brownville, Madison, and Milford in Maine; an administrator for the
Division of Health Care Finance in Massachusetts; a planner for the Town
of Chelsea, Massachusetts; an agent for U.S. Customs; a development
coordinator for a nonprofit organization in Maine and staff at the
Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.
Students majoring in public management
who are from the New England states of Vermont, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, and Connecticut are eligible for significant reductions
in tuition through the New England Board of Higher Education and
Regional Student Program.
Course Work
The Public Management major is consistent with the guidelines of the
National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA).
The guidelines:
Undergraduate education in Public
Affairs/Public Administration should be focused upon the process and
substance of public policy and the knowledge and skills needed for
effective implementation of public policy
Students who major in Public Management
may choose to pursue one of two optional concentrations --
local
government administration or
criminal justice administration. A
wide range of elective courses is available, in such areas as these:
- Administrative Law
- Police and Community
- Public Policy
- Environmental Policy
- Local Government Administration
- Statistics
- Financial Management
- Management
- Health Care
- Personnel
- Governmental & Nonprofit Accounting
- Nonprofit Management
- Internships
Students interested in the criminal justice
concentration can also choose to spend the last semester of their senior year
at Criminal Justice Academy receiving internship credit. Those students successfully
completing the Criminal Justice Academy will be ready to take law enforcement jobs in Maine.
Exceptionally qualified students who are majoring
in public management may receive credit for their advanced preparation and thereby
complete the Master of Public Administration(MPA) in one calendar year. This is known
as the
BA+1.
So, what's your preference here at the
University of Maine: The Public Management major or the minor? How are
you going to leverage our public institutions to help change the world?
You won't believe what you can do!
