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Public Administration
Criminal Justice Administration Specialization

Public Justice Administration Course Requirements

The criminal justice concentration emphasizes criminal justice administration and criminal justice in rural communities. The second unique approach is to pair public administration with criminal justice. Although this approach is not common, it is taking place nationally, most notably at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, but is not a direct focus of any other MPA in Texas currently. Offering a criminal justice curriculum along with traditional MPA courses prepares students for administrative positions in criminal justice. Students who take this route will receive a concentration designation on the MPA degree. Students who choose to concentrate their graduate work in rural/local governments or criminal justice will receive a notification on their official transcripts.

Criminal Justice Concentration (Required nine hours):

CRIJ 6340 The Criminal Justice System: An Overview

CRIJ 6346 Seminar in Criminal Justice Administration & Public Policy

CRIJ 6355 Seminar in Rural Criminal Justice

Core Courses in Public Administration

The required core courses in the MPA program are designed to provide a grounding in administrative approaches, policy, methods, and theory. These courses provide the foundation for students in the program to move into their areas of concentration – criminal justice administration, rural/local government administration, or general administration. The seven core courses are listed below and are designed to achieve these goals and allow students to master these five competencies: ethics, policy, finance, administration, and research methods. These courses involve examining core readings in public administration, administrative management, policy, ethics, statistics, research methodology, and financial administration. These courses will establish a framework for bureaucratic activity, policy formulation, decision making, and budgeting. 

Core Courses (21 hours; Required):

POSC 6350 Seminar in Public Administration

POSC 6351 Seminar in Public Policy (cross-listed as CRIJ 6351)

POSC 6388 Statistics for Social & Criminological Research (cross-listed as CRIJ 6388 and SOCI 6388)

CRIJ 6348 Seminar in Criminal Justice Ethics

POSC 6387 Seminar in Research Methods (cross-listed as CRIJ 6387)

POSC 6353 Seminar in Administrative Management

POSC 6355 Seminar in Public Financial Administration

For additional information, please contact Dr. Darrell Lovell (MPA Director).