Deadline Approaching for SDSU MPA Program
The deadline for the Master of Public Administration program at San Diego State University is approaching. The MPA degree at SDSU is recognized as a highly desirable MPA degree that is highly flexible and whose credits are easy to transfer to other universities.
In 2012, US News and World Report ranked the MPA program at SDSU as the best in the California state university system.
According to the university, there are several graduates from the MPA program who are working in the San Diego area. Kathleen Lang is the deputy director of Health and Support Services for the Imperial County Public Health Department. She actually went on to earn her doctorate (DPA) after she got her MA from San Diego State.
Lang noted recently that she gained a great deal of knowledge about public administration from SDSU, and also greatly benefitted from the open dialogue with many types of colleagues from many public organizations. She said that being a public administrator has many important responsibilities and there are many challenges. But the MPA program at SDSU prepares graduates to deal with them with a lot of confidence.
Also, Imperial County District 1 Supervisor John Renison was a graduate from the MPA program at SDSU. He noted that this is a wonderful MPA program and is a great chance for professionals in Imperial Valley to get their postgraduate public administration degree. SDSU has a strong faculty and it is possible to get your graduate degree there in a convenient fashion and in a small class.
One of the students in the program, Abbey Campos, has one semester left before she earns her MPA. She currently is doing an internship with the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development.
The MPA program at San Diego State University is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. You can earn an MPA with a concentration in City Planning, Criminal Justice Administration, and with a combined Master of Arts degree in Latin American Studies.
If you are interested in the City Planning concentration, you should know that it is designed to give you the skills and experience that you will need to deal with the processes and problems of urban and regional planning. The curriculum stresses both an historical and a theoretical understanding, as well as critical thinking, technical and methodological skills. The City Planning program will give you the chance to adapt their personal values, aspirations and talents to their career goals in public administration.
MPA graduates in this specialty are trained to be active participants in many facets of the city planning field. You will get a general urban planning education that will allow you to get many managerial positions in the San Diego area and also the state of California. YOu will get many skills in design, quantitative analysis and economic analysis. You also will have a strong understanding of fiscal, budgetary matters and intergovernmental relations. Many graduates from the city planning MPA have moved on to get positions in academia, industry, nonprofits, government, and also private consulting.