Community Planning is one of the essential activities carried out by governments in the United States, resulting in a significant overlap and synergism between expertise and career development in public administration and community planning. Thus, a dual degree program in the Master of Community Planning (MCP) and the Master of Public Administration (MPA) should be valuable and attractive for many of the students in these two fields.
Students apply separately to each program and are admitted (or rejected) based on the program's current admissions criteria. They proceed normally through each program meeting the requirements for all MCP and MPA students. In essence (as detailed in the course requirements below), students take the core classes in both programs with the MPA core counting as MCP electives and vice versa. This allows students to receive both degrees with 57 credit hours, as opposed to the 88 credit hours that would be required if they were taken separately.
Required MCP Core (21)
CPLN 6010: Introduction to Community Planning (3)
CPLN 6050: Land and Urban Economics (3)
CPLN 6460: GIS for Planning and Policy (3)
CPLN 7200: Urban Design Studio (3)
CPLN 7350: Planning History and Theory (3)
CPLN 7430: Land Use Law (3)
CPLN 7600: Synthesis Studio I (3) OR CPLN 7610: Synthesis Studio II (3)
Comprehensive Examination
ePortfolio project
Required MPA Core (21)
POLI 7140: Financial Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations (3)
POLI 7150: Public Personnel Administration (3)
POLI 7330: Seminar on Administrative Leadership and Democratic Government (3)
POLI 7350: Foundations of Public Administration and Public Service (3)
POLI 7360: Foundations of Public Policy (3)
POLI 7920: MPA Internship (3)
POLI 7930: Research Project (3)
ePortfolio project
Options (3)
CPLN 7240: Quantitative Methods for Planning OR POLI 7000: Research Methods for Public and Nonprofit Organizations (3)
Required Elective Credits (12)
CPLN 6XXX+: two graduate-level electives (6)
POLI 6XXX+: two graduate-level electives (6)
TOTAL CREDIT HOURS: 57