In-service personnel near Winston-Salem who are interested in completing a graduate degree in public administration are advised that Appalachian State University is recruiting for a new MPA cohort to begin in mid-May 2010.
The Master of Public Administration degree is appropriate for personnel in careers with local, state and federal government agencies and with non-profit organizations. Since its inception in 1988, the MPA program at Appalachian has graduated over 300 persons, over 100 of whom completed the degree while working full-time. The degree program involves 42 semester hours of credits. Classes will be held two evenings per week from 6-9 p.m. over seven semesters.
An informational meeting will be held for prospective students at 6 p.m. on Monday, November 23, 2009 in Room 112 of Work Place V at the School of the Arts. This building is located off Main Street between Banner Avenue and Cascade Avenue. Information on application procedures, cost and the program's curriculum will be covered at the informational meeting. The deadline for applying for admission to start the degree in May 2010 is March 15, 2010 and requires submission of a complete application, transcripts, three letters of recommendation and scores on the Graduate Record Examination.
Distance Education Website
The Master of Public Administration program is designed to train persons to manage public agencies and programs and to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and agencies. Graduates of the program occupy a wide variety of jobs throughout the United States and abroad.
Students enrolling full-time should expect to spend two years completing the 42 credit hour degree program, which includes at least one semester-length full-time internship in a public agency.
Appalachian's MPA program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration and is one of seven NASPAA-accredited schools in North Carolina and one of approximately 125 programs nationally that meets NASPAA's standards for accreditation.
Appalachian State University, a member institution of the sixteen-campus University of North Carolina System, is a comprehensive university located in Boone, NC, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains with an enrollment of more than 15,000 students. Appalachian offers degrees in 130 undergraduate disciplines and over 70 graduate programs. Appalachian State University is consistently ranked among the top regional universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report and was named College of the Year by Time magazine in 2001.
The MPA program offers evening classes in Boone and on a rotating basis in Hickory and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.