MPS 500 INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC SERVICE MANAGEMENT
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Introduces students to organizational theories and practices useful to public service managers. Teaches students how to use structural, human resource, political and symbolic perspectives to rethink public service organizations. Provides an introduction to managerial issues including workforce diversity, decision making and leadership; stresses critical thinking and writing skills. |
MPS 508 INTRODUCTION TO NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course provides and introduction to and overview of the most important skills needed in managing a nonprofit organization, and gives students a chance to practice those skills using contemporary and historical case studies. Topics covered include the history, scope, and significance of the nonprofit sector, theories of the nonprofit sector, law and governance, resource development and volunteer management, social entrepreneurship, marketing, external relations, the nonprofit life cycle, competition and collaboration, and relationships with business and government. |
MPS 515 NONPROFIT FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course explores key issues in operations budgeting and capital budgeting. Specific skill sets include cash flow analysis, variance analysis, present value techniques, interpreting financial statements, and evaluating financial performance. |
MPS 519 RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course teaches students the theories and techniques of resource development. We discuss the fundraising tradition in the U.S., principal donor types, theories of donor behavior, and the organizational, legal and ethical contexts of fundraising. Students learn basic fundraising tools, including planning, grant writing, special events, major gifts, planned giving, and capital campaigns. Students work as volunteer consultants with nonprofit partners to analyze their current fundraising strategies and materials and help them develop new ones. |
MPS 522 FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course explores human resource issues facing employees with supervisory responsibilities in public service organizations, including those working in the volunteer, non-profit, religious, government, and education sectors. The course considers human resource planning, employee recruiting and selection, and the motivation and evaluation of staff personnel and managers both individually and in teams. Topics include recruiting and selecting employees and managers, fostering team development, managing employee stress, preventing workplace violence, and handling issues pertaining to termination, training, and development. The course also explores progressive discipline and, improving performance management of employees and volunteers. |
MPS 533 APPLIED STATISTICS FOR PUBLIC SERVICE (USING EXCEL)
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Using Microsoft Excel software, this course introduces students to the use of quantitative data in policy, public management, and nonprofit decision-making. Topics include: causal inference, descriptive statistics, data visualization, probability, statistical inference, and regression analysis. Students gain hands-on experience managing and analyzing large datasets and critically reviewing quantitative research conducted by others. Special attention is given to best practices for presenting quantitative findings to diverse stakeholders.
MPS 500 (or SUD 401) is a prerequisite for this course. |
MPS 536 APPLIED STATISTICS FOR PUBLIC SERVICE (USING SPSS)
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Using SPSS software, this course introduces students to the use of quantitative data in policy, public management, and nonprofit decision-making. Topics include: causal inference, descriptive statistics, data visualization, probability, statistical inference, and regression analysis. Students gain hands-on experience managing and analyzing large datasets and critically reviewing quantitative research conducted by others. Special attention is given to best practices for presenting quantitative findings to diverse stakeholders.
MPS 500 (or SUD 401) is a prerequisite for this course. |
MPS 546 ADVOCACY AND LOBBYING
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Explores the roles of individuals and organizations in the public policy process, particularly as power arrangements facilitate or impede consensus building. Examines how legislation is written and how administrative rules are formed in government agencies. Special attention is paid to advocacy techniques such as lobbying, public education, and litigation. |
MPS 583 RESEARCH METHODS FOR PUBLIC SERVICE
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course introduces students to the principles underlying scientific research and how these principles apply to policy design and evaluation. Students learn about research ethics, causality, sampling (both random and purposive), and collecting data through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation. Students learn applied research, including needs assessment, program theory and logic models, and process, outcomes, and impact evaluations. Students also develop the research proposal that they will carry out for their capstone project in MPS 593. MPS 533 or MPS 536 is a pre-requisite for this course.
(MPS 533 or MPS 536) is a prerequisite for this course. |
MPS 593 INTEGRATIVE SEMINAR
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
In this capstone course students complete an action research project integrating applied research, theoretical frameworks, and professional practice.
MPS 583 is a prerequisite for this class. |
MPS 594 ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC SERVICE
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course provides students with the framework for personal and professional ethical decision making applied in the context of diverse workplaces and international organizations. Through lectures on ethical theories, case studies in applied ethics, and specific assignments, students clarify their personal-professional values, assess their moral intelligence, and develop their ethical leadership integrity. Students will also study the ethics of organizations, including the formation of social norms, how they influence individual decisions, and how entire organizations can become more ethical.
(MPS 533 or MPS 536) is a prerequisite for this course. |
MPS 501
CROSS-SECTOR ANALYSIS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course examines the size, scope, capacity, and limitations of the nonprofit, government, and business sectors, in the domestic and international context. Students will be introduced to research and become familiar with print and electronic resources and databases. They will learn to develop meaningful research questions, write literature reviews, and analyze the interrelationships among the three sectors. |
MPS 513
VOLUNTEERISM IN GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course examines the concept of volunteerism within global civil society, especially nonprofit organizations and government associations. This includes an analysis of the role of volunteers in US and global civil society, the motivation to volunteer and how to effectively recruit, train, supervise and evaluate volunteers. Students develop an understanding of the role of volunteers in the management of any social program. |
MPS 518
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Every nonprofit organization (NPO) should measure its progress in fulfilling its mission, its success in mobilizing its resources, and its staff's effectiveness on the job. What about a program implemented by an NPO works? How does it make a difference? Who benefits most? And in what context? Program Development and Evaluation is a course that will introduce students to practical program planning, implementation and evaluation skills applicable to nonprofit organizations engaged in a variety of policy areas including emergency relief, service delivery, and policy & rights advocacy. The topics include identifying the problem, planning, implementing and evaluating a program. The course will examine both formative and summative evaluation, and why these components are so critical to measure the real success of an NPO in achieving its mission.
MPS 508 is a prerequisite for this class. |
MPS 520
VALUES-CENTERED LEADERSHIP
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This interdisciplinary course explores service leadership through the lenses of Robert K. Greenleaf, The DePaul Leadership Project, Margaret J. Wheatley and other theorists and practitioners within the leadership field. The course expands our thinking on leadership to include modules dedicated to four topics: Service Leadership, Leadership and Diversity, International Leadership and Ethical Leadership. Students will assess their own leadership practices, develop a leadership action plan and participate in coaching, as coach and client. Student grading will be based on participation in self-reflection, course participation, project teams and a final project. |
MPS 521
LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC SERVICE
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course focuses on key theories of leadership such with attention to leader focused, follower focused, and contextual focused concepts and their intersections with attention to their application to the public sector workplace. Recent research in leadership with analysis of psychological systems, interpersonal relations, and the relationship of rewards to performance are addressed through case studies, practical application, and readings throughout the course. The course contains special attention to leadership theories and practices that students use to assess and develop their own most effective leadership styles including value-based leadership models such as servant-leadership, "The Leadership Challenge" of Kouzes and Posner, and emerging theories within the field of leadership studies. |
MPS 523
GROUP DYNAMICS FOR LEADERS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This interactive course will explore the relevant theories and methods for understanding the structures and processes of groups. The course will also consider how leaders and managers function effectively within groups. An emphasis is placed on role and function, status, power, leadership, communication, decision-making, problem solving, conflict management, negotiation, and coalition. |
MPS 524
MARKETING FOR SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course provides a broad understanding of marketing nonprofit, governmental, and advocacy organizations. Students learn how to analyze and develop a wide range of marketing plans and campaigns. Content includes the key theories, principles, and techniques of marketing and the differences between for-profit and non-profit efforts. The associated aspects of marketing--public relations, communications, advertising, and fundraising--are explained and compared. Students learn all aspects of the marketing process from identifying and defining the preferred target segments, crafting the key messages, and developing, executing, and measuring effective marketing campaigns. |
MPS 525
WORKING WITH NONPROFIT BOARDS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course examines the legal and philosophical reasons that nonprofit organizations are governed by an external board of directors. Membership, structure and process for this body are examined, as well as the relationship of employees to the individual board members and the policies established by this group. |
MPS 527
BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES FOR PUBLIC SERVICE
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Using insights from psychology, economics, sociology, and consumer behavior can help policymakers, program administrators, and fundraisers to predict and influence how individuals will behave in response to public and nonprofit initiatives. Individuals often respond in ways that are not expected by policymakers, influencing the efficiency and effectiveness of government and nonprofit programs. Insights about actual individual behavior can influence how policies and administrative requirements are designed in education, health, taxation, bureaucratic administration, and nonprofit fundraising. In this course, students will review the principles of behavioral public administration, the successful use of "nudges" by government agencies and nonprofit organizations, and the ethical and practical considerations when designing behavioral interventions to support policy. |
MPS 528
FOUNDATION MANAGEMENT
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course examines the concepts, functions and practices of organized philanthropy, with a primary emphasis on corporate, private and community foundations. |
MPS 529
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Students learn how to apply strategic management and planning concepts and tools to public and nonprofit organizations to achieve goals and objectives in meeting service delivery missions, both domestically and internationally. The course focuses on analyzing the interaction of trends, market forces, stakeholders, and core competencies in developing visions and strategies for alternative scenarios. |
MPS 530
ANALYSIS OF NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course explores the art and science of nonprofit management. Students analyze nonprofits holistically, combining perspectives from law, governance, resource development, and finance. Students learn through hands-on analysis of existing nonprofit organizations and the analysis of historical case studies.
MPS 515 is a prerequisite for this class. |
MPS 561
LAW AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Introduces laws and regulations governing nonprofit organizations, including procedures for incorporation, maintenance of tax-exempt status, and compliance with relevant labor laws. No legal background is assumed. |
MPS 575
STUDY ABROAD SEMINAR
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
A Study Abroad course that assesses politics, political institutions, public administration and policy implementation in an international location. It focuses on the international public sector including relationships with nongovernmental organizations and the nonprofit sector. Students expand experiential and intellectual understanding of these global actors and how they compare to the US. |
MPS 600
INDEPENDENT STUDY
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Individually supervised learning experience, usually involving extensive library research and writing. Variable credit. |
MPS 601
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNSHIP
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Professional work experience under the guidance of an organizational site supervisor during one or more school terms. The Professional Internship usually involves application of skills in a non-profit, governmental or other public service organizational setting new to the student. |
MPS 604
SPECIAL TOPICS
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
Topics vary each term. (May be taken more than once). |
MPS 611
MANAGEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL NGOs
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course examines management skills and trends of international nongovernmental organizations. Through specific case studies in the fields of international public service, development and emergency, students learn current techniques to effectively manage projects, relations and operations of international non-governmental programs and development projects. |
WRD 526
GRANT AND PROPOSAL WRITING
Credit-Bearing
Graduate |
This course introduces students to the purpose and structure of grant proposals and other forms of professional proposals. Through analysis of real-world documents and typical grant- and proposal-writing situations, as well as guided writing practice, students will develop the research and writing skills necessary to compose these common workplace genres. The course typically features a client project, in which students work on teams to develop grant proposals for nonprofit organizations. |
