Do you want to know what it's really like to come to the Martin School? In this video, MPA and MPP students talk candidly about why they came to the Martin School, what they got out of the experience, and where they hope to go in the future.
The 42-semester hour MPA program offers rigorous academic and practical training for persons interested in public service careers. The curriculum consists of three major components: (1) an Administrative Core (2) an Area of Concentration, and (3) Internship or equivalent experience.
All MPA students regardless of their eventual Area of Concentration take the 33 semester hours of Administrative Core courses. The Core provides the analytic and conceptual foundations necessary for successful entry into or advancement within public agencies. The Core covers the areas of economics, finance, budgeting, accounting, management, statistics, research methods, policy formulation and analysis, and the political and legal environments of public administration.
In the final semester the students take the Capstone course, which assists in the integration of the core material. The written capstone project serves as the student’s written examination, and its oral presentation serves as the final master’s oral exam.
2012 - 2013 MPA/MPP Student Handbook (.pdf)
Student Forms can be found here
Past Capstone Projects can be found here
2012 - 2013 MPA/MPP Student Handbook (.pdf)
Student Forms can be found here
Past Capstone Projects can be found here
- Core Curriculum
- Areas of Concentration
- Internship
- Admissions
Core Curriculum (33 hours)
PA 602 Organizational Change & Strategic Planning
PA 621 Quantitative Methods of Research
PA 622 Public Program Evaluation
PA 623 Decision Analysis
PA 624 Government Information Systems (2 credits)
PA 631 Public Financial Management
PA 632 Public Funds Management
PA 642 Public Organization Theory and Behavior
PA 651 The Policy Process
PA 652 Public Policy Economics
PA 681 Capstone in Public Administration
PA 691 Ethics in Public Administration (1 credit)
Course Descriptions
Areas of Concentration (6 hours)
Economic Development
Education Policy
Environmental Policy
Health Policy
International Public Policy and Management
Nonprofit Management
Policy Analysis
Public Financial Management
Transportation Systems Management
Internship (3 hours)
Students without previous professional experience complete a 3-credit internship.
Internships often inspire successful capstone projects and may lead to permanent
employment.
Please note that students must apply to both the Martin School and the Graduate School for admission to the MPA Program.
Martin School Admissions Instructions
All applications for graduate study at the University of Kentucky Graduate School must be submitted on-line. We are now part of the Hobsons ApplyYourself Application Network, a system used by over 700 colleges and universities that provides an opportunity to submit all Graduate School and program requirements in one application including letters of recommendation. You may apply for as many programs as you wish, but each application requires completion of a separate application form and submission of a separate application fee. Currently the fee for domestic applicants is $65.00 per application and for international applicants the fee is $75.00. Please note that the application cannot be submitted without payment of this fee.
Step 1 in the process is to set up a new account and establish a user name and password. Do not lose this information; you will need it if you wish to return to continue an unfinished application or review a completed application.
In order to complete the application you will need to gather several pieces of information including the following:
Transcripts: You will be asked to upload copies of transcripts from all higher education institutions attended and, in the case of domestic students, to self-report cumulative GPA's for each institution. For degree-seeking students, the Graduate School requires an overall undergraduate grade point average of 2.75 and 3.00 on all graduate work; individual programs may have higher requirements. If you are offered admission and decide to enroll you will then be required to submit official transcripts to the Graduate School.
Test Scores: In most cases an official test score (either GRE or GMAT) is required for admission (** see exceptions below). You will be asked to self-report these scores on the application (you can also supply a future date for taking the test). We will however also require official scores from the reporting agency.
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GRE scores should be sent directly to us from Educational Testing Service (ETS); the Institution Code for the GRE for UK Graduate School is R1837.
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Scores for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) should be sent directly to us from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC); the UK Graduate School code is 1837.
These scores will be incorporated into your application and compared against self-reported scores to ensure consistency. The Graduate School sets no minimum score for the GRE or GMAT; individual programs may however have specific requirements and it is recommended that you contact them directly for more specific information.
TOEFL or IELTS Scores: All applicants whose native language is not English will be asked to self-report one of these scores on the application. As for GRE or GMAT scores, we also require official language scores be sent to us directly from the reporting agency.
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TOEFL scores should be sent directly to us from Educational Testing Service (ETS); the Institution Code for the TOEFL for UK Graduate School is 1837.
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IELTS scores should be sent directly to us from the International English Language Testing Service specifying the University of Kentucky Graduate School, Lexington, Kentucky as the recipient institution.
For further information contact:
Sarah O. Lee, Student ServicesMartin School of Public Policy and Administration
413 Patterson Office Tower
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0027
Phone: (859) 257-5594
Fax: (859) 323-1937
Email: solee@uky.edu