Gregory B. Lewis, Department Chair
Composed and written by the PMAP Academic Program Review Committee:
John C. Thomas, Chair
Carolyn Bourdeaux
Joseph Hacker
W. Bartley Hildreth
Cathy Yang Liu

1.a Undergraduate education
1.b Graduate education
1.c Research
1.d Contribution to cities
1.e Globalizing the university
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2.a Faculty resources
2.b Administrative resources
2.c Technological resources
2.d Space resources
2.e Laboratory resources
2.f GSU Foundation resources and other gifts
2.g Library resources
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3.a Describe sustaining innovations and disruptive innovations 26
4.a A list of goals and objectives for the coming cycle
4.b List of any identified new resources, where necessary, that will be required to achieve each goal
4.c An implementation plan for achieving each goal by the next scheduled self study
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Note: In this report, the aspirational programs for undergraduate comparisons are those at Indiana University (ranked #2 nationally) and Duke University (#16).
Aspirational programs for graduate comparisons are those at Syracuse
University (#1), Indiana University (#2), and the University of Georgia (#4), and peer programs for graduate comparisons are those at Arizona State University and the University of Kentucky (both ranked #16). (GSU is ranked #23.)
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Department of Public Management and Policy
Academic Program Review
1 Where is Your Unit Now?
1.a Undergraduate Education
1.a.1 Quality of undergraduate student attracted to the unit’s program (Freshman
Index, SAT, GPA, etc.)
The Department of Public Management and Policy awards a Bachelor of Science in
Public Policy (BSPP). Since only a handful of students enter GSU with a declared
BSPP major, data are not meaningful and so are not reported here.
Data on graduates of the BSPP program are more meaningful. As displayed in
Appendix 1, those data show BSPP students lagging slightly behind all GSU undergraduates and Andrew Young School majors on a variety of undergraduate quality indicators. That lag comes as no surprise since PMAP a) has no minimum
GPA for admission to the BSPP, b) has no course in the freshman-sophomore core that can assist in recruitment, and c) must recruit its majors largely from undergraduates who are undecided on their majors. We explain how we intend to address these issues in sections 3 and 4 below.
1.a.2 Scholarship Support for Undergraduates
PMAP has three scholarships for undergraduates: a) the Jim Mills Scholarship (for students interested in real estate, housing, economic development, etc.), b) the
Undergraduate Excellence in Scholarship award (for students who have excelled in the BSPP), and c) the PMAP Student Leadership Award (for students who have exhibited exemplary community leadership). Each is a one-time $500 award, given to one student per year at the AYSPS Honors Day Dinner. The Andrew Young School offers three scholarships for undergraduates: a) the Nance Lu Mescon Scholarship
($5,000), b) the Undergraduate Scholarship ($2,000), and c) grants to study abroad for a Maymester ($500) or semester ($1,000). BSPP students have been awarded each of these scholarships in the last two years.
1.a.3 Student Success and Satisfaction
1.a.3.1 Learning outcomes, including Core course outcomes: How has assessment of learning prompted curricula changes that led to improvements in student learning?
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The BSPP degree prepares students for effective citizenship and for careers in the public service. Students should develop the knowledge, skills, and values required to become responsible and visionary leaders in a wide range of settings. As specific learning goals, the degree is designed to help students to:
1: Understand citizenship, community and public service
2: Understand leadership in a variety of policy settings
3: Understand the policy process and critical public policy issues
4: Understand policy data analysis using statistical methods
5: Understand the evaluation of public policy
6: Understand principles of policy analysis
To assess achievement of these goals, faculty teaching core courses assess every student on a set of learning objectives for their course at the end of every semester.
As shown in Appendix 2, performance was generally good for the most recent 2014 academic year. Across all learning objectives, 88% of the students scored at least fair, one-third scored excellent, and the mean score was 3.9 on a five-point scale.
The most glaring weakness was for “exhibit critical thinking about the policy process and policy outcomes,” where only 74% scored at least fair and the mean score was only 3.4. Performance also only slightly exceeded the target on a couple of other objectives that required use of public policy tools (“Apply knowledge of the public policy process to current policy issues” and using “the basic tools of government intervention in the economy”).
The low scores on critical thinking are new this year. In response, the department asked the undergraduate program director and the faculty who teach Critical Policy
Issues (PMAP 3311) to assess the source of the problem and develop strategies to improve the quality of critical thinking on public policy.
1.a.3.2 Recruitment rates, input quality metrics, and advisement
As a consequence of the BSPP being an upper-division-only degree program, we have no data on the quality of students when they declare the BSPP major.
We take very seriously the need for advisement of BSPP majors. The University
Advisement Center provides the principal advising for students during the first half of their baccalaureate program. For the student’s last two years, the Andrew Young
School has developed an advisement system that integrates the Office of Academic
Assistance (OAA) and PMAP faculty mentors. This system shows students how to find and use university resources to a) satisfy degree requirements, b) plan programs of study, c) discover how their interests, skills, and goals connect to specific fields of study and careers, and d) ask appropriate questions to make intelligent decisions about their programs of study. OAA offers a) weekly walk-in advisement and appointments, b) initial review of students to establish graduation prediction and remaining requirements, and c) graduation audits to apprise
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students of remaining and in-progress requirements. OAA provides the same assistance to students who transferring to GSU from elsewhere.
1.a.3.3 Retention rates and graduation rates
Data on six-year retention and graduation rates are not meaningful due to the small number of students who begin at GSU with the BSPP major.
1.a.3.4 Output quality metrics; placement rates and/or acceptances into advanced degree programs
We lack comprehensive data on the placement of our graduates, but the new director of the AYSPS Office of Career Services and Student Life is putting in place a software system that will aid in collecting these data in the future. We do know about a variety of placements our graduates have reported to us (see section 1.b.4.4 below).
1.a.3.5 Race and gender diversity
The BSPP has drawn an unusually diverse population of students, as Appendix 3 shows. On the dimension of race, the majority of students has typically been African
American, with whites comprising the second largest group. Of 273 students in fall
2013, for example, 51.3% were African-American and 36.6% were white. Another
6.2% identified as Asian and 3.7% as multi-racial. Although we could not find data on peer programs, our impression is that most tend to be either predominantly white or predominantly minority. Most students have been female in recent years, varying from a low of 54% in fall 2010 to a high of 61% in fall 2013. We view this diversity as one of the program’s strengths, contributing to GSU’s strategic goal of
“demonstrating that students from all backgrounds can achieve academic and career success.”
1.a.3.6 Level of financial need
BSPP students resemble other GSU undergraduates on financial need and firstgeneration college status. Over the past five years, 49% of both groups have been eligible for Pell grants, and 26% of BSPP students and 27% of GSU undergraduates have been the first in their families to attend college.
1.a.3.7 Student Surveys
In surveys conducted as part of the Academic Program Review, current BSPP students and BSPP alumni rated their programmatic experiences somewhat lower than did their peer students and alumni elsewhere at Georgia State (see Appendices
4 and 5). The most striking differences appeared among alumni who rated their experiences more than a half point lower than did their peers on a) their program of study making “a positive contribution to the quality of my life,” b) applying skills
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“learned in my program to help resolve issues I’ve faced in my professional life,” and c) “overall” satisfaction “with my degree program.”
Even with those lower ratings of their programs, BSPP alumni were more likely than other alumni to include five of the listed skill areas on their resumes. The difference was especially pronounced for “research skills,” but also extended to
“communication skills,” “ability to interpret data,” “ability to analyze problems from different perspectives,” and “ability to work with diverse populations.”
Current BSPP students for their part gave their programs only slightly lower ratings than did other undergraduate majors at GSU. They were most negative relative to their peers on the “availability of undergraduate courses in the department” and
“opportunities to do research-related activities with faculty,” the only areas where
BSPP majors gave their programs a rating a half point or more below that of other
GSU undergraduates.
1.a.3.8 Curriculum Quality based on internal and external benchmarks
PMAP developed the BSPP curriculum more than a decade ago based on a review of comparable degree programs in highly ranked public administration and public policy programs around the U.S. We plan soon to conduct a similar review of contemporary programs as described under items 3 and 4 below.
1.a.3.8.a Syllabi, degree requirements, advisement procedures
The BSPP features a 21-hour (seven-course) common curriculum focused on the formulation, implementation, analysis, and evaluation of public policy, plus a required internship. Students choose from three 21-hour concentrations in nonprofit leadership, planning and economic development, or public management and governance. Advising for students on all degree options is available from a variety of sources (see 1.a.3.2 above).
The nonprofit leadership concentration focuses on the important role of nonprofit organizations in addressing social issues and interests in a democratic society. The planning and economic development concentration prepares students to work in both the public and private sectors addressing issues facing urban communities.
The public management and governance concentration examines how government operates and how policies are converted to action.
All BSPP majors take two writing intensive courses under the University’s Critical
Thinking Through Writing (CTW) designation. The CTW classes emphasize the development of writing as a basic skill for success in the policy arena. They are taught by regular faculty or by doctoral students, most recently by doctoral students who have apprenticed with regular faculty. Resources permitting, we intend to
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continue this practice. These classes further GSU’s Quality Enhancement Plan, a critical part of the University’s strategic emphasis on student success.
At present, our curriculum requires that all BSPP majors complete 18 credit hours of advisor-approved electives at the 3000/4000 level (Section I), a requirement that exceeds the number of upper division classes required in other AYSPS majors.
Recognizing this additional burden could make the BSPP less attractive to prospective majors, PMAP faculty have voted to reduce the requirement to only nine hours (three classes) of upper division 3000/4000 level classes, with the other nine hours still requiring advisor approval (to ensure relevance). PMAP hopes to see this change receive the necessary approvals to be fully instituted for Fall 2015. We believe the change will make the BSPP more appealing to prospective majors and facilitate current majors in progressing toward their degrees.
1.a.3.8.b List of courses
Appendix 6 shows the full list of PMAP courses and enrollments for PMAP over recent years.
1.a.3.9 Contribution to the core curriculum/general education outcomes
No PMAP course is included in the core curriculum. Previous proposals to add an urban-focused PMAP course as a core elective have been rejected.
1.a.4.2 Urban service learning programs
The required core course PMAP 3021, “Citizen, Community, and the Public Sector,” requires 40 hours of community service.
1.a.4.3 Internships
The BSPP requires students to complete a 200-hour internship. Internship coordinators Drs. Greg Streib and Katherine Willoughby have managed the department’s internship program for over 15 years, and have deep connections with governments, nonprofits and other organizations in the Atlanta area, across Georgia, and in Washington, D.C. They, along with the AYSPS Office of Career Services, help students find appropriate internships.
Internships are required for all PMAP undergraduate students who lack significant administrative experience in a public or nonprofit agency or related organization.
Internship experiences provide students the opportunity to apply concepts and skills from their curriculum. Students are expected to find their own internships, but PMAP assists by providing information on sites for possible internships. While
PMAP cannot provide financial assistance to interns, the internship coordinators strongly encourage employers to pay interns.
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During the three-year self-study period, 312 undergraduate students performed internships (and registered for PMAP 4941), an average of 104 per year, providing over 60,000 hours of service to governments and nonprofit organizations. Many students undertake additional internships on a not-for-credit basis. The work of the
PMAP 4941 class includes a) a program plan outlining intern responsibilities, signed by the intern sponsor, b) a time and activity report detailing at least 200 hours of work, c) a final report that links the internship experience with academic work, and d) a written evaluation of the intern’s work from their internship supervisor.
1.a.4.4 Study abroad
Consistent with GSU’s strategic goal of globalizing the university, PMAP offers two study abroad programs and one exchange program (see also: http://aysps.gsu.edu/programs/study-abroad/ ):
Policy Studies in Europe: This is a three-week Maymester program open to all GSU students regardless of major. Students travel through France, Germany, the Czech
Republic, and the Netherlands to learn about the European Union, including its history, institutions, and policies. This program began in 2008, has enrolled as many as 23 students, and is one of the largest study abroad programs at GSU. The program had 17 students in Summer 2014, 20 in 2013, 22 in 2012 and 23 in 2011.
International Development in Ghana: This is also a three-week Maymester program, teaching students about the complex world of international development is as it relates to eradicating poverty and helping communities become sustainable. The program began in May 2014, enrolling 16 students.
PMAP also has a one-semester exchange program with Newcastle upon Tyne, United
Kingdom. This program is designed to give students a better understanding of comparative government and international policy. Students gain an awareness of international policy and practice and learn about the United Kingdom and its role within the European Union. Since renewing the exchange agreement in 2012, four students have participated in the semester-length program.
1.a.5. Honors College
1.a.5.1 Honors courses and Honors add-ons taught by faculty
PMAP teaches honors dimensions to students seeking honors distinction, directs students writing an honors thesis, and teaches HON 1000 and HON 3260 courses.
Since fall 2011, PMAP has directed one honors thesis, offered honors dimensions to three students, and taught one HON 1000 course (11 students) and one HON 3260 course (15 students).
1.a.5.2 Honors Faculty Fellows
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Cathy Yang Liu is the departmental Honors College coordinator. She supervised an
Honors College University Assistant student during Spring 2014 and served as a faculty judge for GSU Undergraduate Research Conference 2014. Cynthia Searcy serves on the GSURC Advisory Committee, chaired the GSURC Evaluation Committee in spring 2014, and supervised two Honors College University Assistants during
2013-2014.
1.a.5.3 Honors theses produced by students in the major
One during the study period.
1.a.5.4 Student participating in the GSU Undergraduate Research Conference
Sarah Wilgus presented her research on “Social Networking and Eating Disorders” in spring 2013.
1.a.6 Undergraduate programs within the GSU context
1.a.6.1 Programs undertaken jointly with other units at GSU, list of cross-listed courses
PMAP 3005, “Career Planning and Management,” is cross-listed with all AYSPS departments, with an equal number of seats allotted to each department.
1.a.6.2 Areas of substantial overlap/redundancy with other units at GSU
While sharing some interests with other GSU units (e.g., Political Science), PMAP’s
Bachelor of Science in Public Policy is a unique program at GSU through its focus on issues of public policy for public service and citizenship.
1.b Graduate Education
PMAP awards a Master of Public Administration (MPA) and a Master of Public Policy
(MPP), two doctorates in Public Policy (one in partnership with Georgia Tech) and graduate certificates in Disaster Management, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofit
Management & Social Enterprise, and Planning and Economic Development. As explained in sections 3 and 4 below, we seek to grow the master’s programs and to enhance the two doctorates as part of GSU’s “base of distinctive graduate programs that assure development of the next generation of researchers and societal leaders.”
1.b.1 Quality of graduate students attracted to the unit’s programs (Average scores on
entrance exams, e.g., GRE, GMAT, LSAT)
PMAP received 347 applications for graduate admission for the 2014 academic year and admitted 56.2% of them (Appendix 7). Of those admitted, 45% actually enrolled. GRE scores for new master’s enrollees (MPA and MPP) average around
60% on the verbal portion and about 40% on the quantitative portion (Appendix 8),
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appropriate levels for pre-professional master’s programs. Mean scores are higher for enrollees than for applicants, but somewhat lower than for all admits. We face greater competition for our top applicants, and many choose to go elsewhere for better financial assistance. This also explains why higher proportions of spring than fall admits enroll at GSU; higher proportions of fall applicants come from out of state and presumably apply to more schools. More research assistantships might enable us to attract more of these top students.
The doctoral program in public policy has been relatively successful in attracting and enrolling high-quality students. Until fall 2014, PMAP had persuaded a majority of new PHD admits—ranging from 50% to 71%—to enroll. (This year’s enrollment decline will prompt more attention to recruitment, as explained in sections 3 and 4 below.) The quality of doctoral students has improved steadily over the past decade, with GRE verbal scores rising from the 64 th percentile to the 82 nd percentile and
GRE quantitative scores rising from the 57 th percent to the 88 th percentile.
1.b.2 Expanding Support for Graduate Programs
PMAP has pursued several strategies in recent years to expand support for its graduate programs. At the master’s level: a) Recognizing the importance of faculty support for master’s students, the department created the position of director of master’s programs beginning fall 2012. b) External grants to faculty support six or more GRAs per year. c) The department has built several endowments to provide supplementary scholarships for at least six GRA positions each year (see 2.f below for more detail), positions that are used to recruit new students. d) As explained under 1.b.4.2, PMAP has partnered with area companies and agencies to support more than a half dozen paid internships for master’s students each year.
At the doctoral level, the department partners with AYSPS research centers (e.g., the
Georgia Health Policy Center and the Fiscal Research Center) to provide GRA positions for doctoral students. Faculty buyouts fund additional doctoral students.
1.b.2.1 Total numbers of graduate students by year, degree program, and
concentration in the period of the Self-Study
The total number of PMAP graduate students grew from 204 in fall 2010 to 222 in fall 2014, after peaking at 236 in fall 2012 (Appendix 9). Two programs grew consistently across this period: a) the MPA, from 128 in 2010 to 143 in 2013 and
142 in 2014 and b) the GSU-only PHD, from zero in 2010 to 16 in fall 2014. MPP enrollments held relatively steady in the low–to-middle 60s before dropping to 47 in fall 2014. Although the latter could be only a temporary drop, we intend to address any possible problem through plans detailed in sections 3 and 4 below.
MPA enrollment growth has extended across most of the degree’s concentrations, as
Appendices 10 and 11 show. Planning and Economic Development is the only
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concentration to see a decline, falling 19 to 11 majors between 2011 and 2014. The
2014 MPP decline is spread across the degree concentrations.
1.b.2.2 Percentage of graduate students compared to total number of students in the department
As Appendix 9 earlier showed, graduate students as a proportion of PMAP students have remained well above the GSU target benchmark of 30% in all recent years, ranging from 46% in fall 2013 to 57% in fall 2009.
1.b.2.3 Graduate student financial support by type GTA, GRA, etc.
Most PMAP graduate student financial support comes in the form of graduate research assistantships (GRAs), though a few receive graduate teaching assistantships (GTAs). As Appendix 12 shows, the total number peaked at 50 in fall
2013 (46 GRAs and 4 GTAs). Those numbers had declined from 2008 to 2011 before reversing direction in the past two years.
Appendix 13 shows the full range of PMAP financial support and sources of that support for a recent year (FY 2012). For master’s students, the PMAP GRA budget is
$30,600, which funds about 7-8 students per year. Faculty buyouts and external funds support an additional 6-7 students for a total of 12-17 masters GRAs annually during the self-study period. GRAs work 8–16 hours per week and receive full tuition remission for fall and spring semesters plus a stipend of at least $4,000 per year, more for a few positions. Summer assistantships are typically available only for masters-level GRAs who are working on special externally funded projects.
PMAP has supplemented master’s level GRA funding through a variety of techniques: a) external grants to faculty, b) several endowments the department has built, supporting at least six GRA positions per year (see 2.f below), and c) several cooperative internships with area employers, fund another half dozen or more master’s students each year (see 1.b.4.2 above).
The PMAP GRA budget for doctoral students is $261,195, which supported 14–15 doctoral students for every year of the self-study period. Each doctoral student receives an annual stipend of at least $18,000 plus full tuition waivers. In addition, the Andrew Young and Dean’s Fellowships boost the stipends for the best doctoral students to $26,000 to $28,000; the Carolyn McClain Young Fellowship provides a stipend of $20,000 to one or two African or Caribbean doctoral students; and three
University Fellowships have stipends of $22,000. Faculty buyouts and external funds support a small number of additional doctoral students. Each doctoral student works 16–20 hours per week.
1.b.2.4 Ratio of graduate students to TT faculty
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As shown in Appendix 14, the ratio of master’s students to tenure-track faculty doubled from a low of 11.0 in FY 2007 to a high of 23.7 in FY 2013 before dropping back to 18.1 in FY 2014. The ratio of PHD students to graduate faculty varied between 1.8 and 2.8 over the past decade with a FY 2014 ratio of 2.0.
1.b.3 National Reputation in Professional Degree Programs
PMAP has earned a strong national reputation. The most recent U.S. News ranking of graduate programs in public affairs and administration placed the department 23 rd among more than 400 programs in the U.S., up from 27 th in 2008. The department ranked even higher in some subfields: #4 in Public Finance and Budgeting and #12 in both Nonprofit Management and City Management and Urban Policy, three areas linked closely to GSU’s strategic goal of being “a leader in understanding and addressing the complex challenges of cities.”
According to two recent studies, PMAP faculty rank even higher for their scholarly productivity among public administration programs nationally and internationally, contributing to GSU’s goal of becoming “a leading public research university.” Van de Walle and van Delft (2014) found PMAP faculty tied for the 4th most prolific public administration faculty for 2009-13 on two of their five measures. Looking at
U.S. programs only, Williams, Slagle, and Wilson (2014) rated PMAP faculty as the
8th most productive in public administration research for 2006-10.
In addition, a recent National Research Council study ranked PMAP’s doctoral program second among all GSU doctoral programs (see Appendix 15), trailing
Computer Science by only one-hundredth of a point.
1.b.3.1 Number of graduate students in professional degree programs by year, with %
growth
See 1.b.2.1 above.
1.b.4 Student Success and Satisfaction
1.b.4.1 Learning outcomes: How has assessment of learning prompted curricula changes that led to improvements in student learning?
Since 2009 instructors of master’s level core courses have rated all students on 5point scales on each learning outcome associated with their course. The chair examines the outcomes each semester, summarizes the numbers annually, and shares them with the faculty. If fewer than 80% of students are rated Excellent,
Good, or Fair, the faculty must develop an action plan to respond.
Over the past four years, the department has tracked student performance on the
WEAVE objectives. In general, that performance has been at least acceptable, with faculty achieving the 80% standard for almost all goals in almost all semesters. The
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two notable exceptions traced to a new faculty member with different expectations than those of most members of the department, prompting discussions among faculty who teach the courses to determine whether we are sufficiently demanding of students. It also contributed to the department's decision to begin using multiple graders to assess student performance in achieving learning outcomes.
PMAP also views teaching evaluations as rough measures of student satisfaction with their learning experience. The PMAP Executive Committee uses them as part of its evaluation of teaching effectiveness in its annual merit review, and the faculty uses them in promotion and tenure decisions. The department chair tracks scores over time to identify problems with individual classes or poor matches between instructors and courses. A downward trend or a mean below 4 on a 5-point scale signals a need for a closer examination of the problem. (See Appendix 16.)
1.b.4.2 Recruitment rates, admission requirements and procedures and advisement
Consistent with our mission of educating a diverse population of students, we recruit full- and part-time students for our master’s programs from many settings, especially public and nonprofit agencies and colleges and universities. We recruit part-time, early- or mid-career students from public and nonprofit agencies in the
Atlanta metropolitan area.
We recruit full-time students from a broad range of universities and colleges around the region and the world. These include many historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), both in the Atlanta area (e.g., Morehouse, Spelman, Clark
Atlanta) and from elsewhere in Georgia and around the Southeast (e.g., Savannah
State, Jackson State, North Carolina Central). In FY 2014, for example, over 10% of our master’s applicants had attended HBCUs. We also draw international applicants from all across the globe, including Eastern and Southern Europe, the Near East,
Africa, and Asia, contributing to GSU’s strategic goal of “globalizing the university.”
Because most applicants learn about us from Web searches, we rely principally on our Web presence for student recruitment. There we emphasize a) the quality of our program (e.g., our US News rankings), b) the diversity of our curricular offerings, and c) the diversity of our student body. We rely secondarily on positive word-ofmouth from our students and graduates.
The AYSPS Office of Academic Assistance (OAA) manages much of the recruitment and application process for prospective master’s applicants. (See Appendix 17 for the plan for staying in contact with prospective students and applicants.)
Prospective applicants may call or visit campus to talk with Michelle Lacoss in OAA and/or with the PMAP master’s program director.
The master's Admissions Committee, chaired by the master’s director, makes admissions decisions, but all PMAP faculty have a say on admissions standards. The committee looks at several criteria in evaluating master’s applicants, beginning with
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the applicant's undergraduate grade-point average (UGPA) and Graduate Record
Examination (GRE) scores. A UGPA of 3.0 or higher and combined GRE verbal and quantitative scores of 295 or higher will typically result in the student being admitted. If one or the other falls below the minimum, a comparably higher score on the other criterion will also earn admission. For applicants on the margin, the committee reviews more closely reviews the applicant's letters of recommendation, personal essay, and personal history in deciding on admission. With international applicants, we also look for evidence of English-language fluency, typically a score of
100 or better on the Test of English Language as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
Ms. Lacoss and the master's program director take primary responsibility for advising master’s students during the course of their programs. Students are also encouraged to seek advising on specialized areas (e.g., nonprofit management) from faculty in those areas.
As explained in 1.a.4.3 above, PMAP has an extensive internship program for both undergraduate and master’s students, managed by two internship coordinators.
I nternships are required for all MPA and MPP students who lack significant prior administrative experience in a public or nonprofit agency or related organization.
(Master’s students also have the option to replace the internship course with a practicum, an applied research project in the student’s work setting.) To receive three hours of internship credit, students must complete requirements similar to those detailed for undergraduate internships earlier. During the three-year selfstudy period, 220 master’s students registered for internships, an average of 73 per year. An unknown number undertook additional internships on a not-for-credit basis.
The internship coordinators strongly encourage employers to pay interns, and our new half-time professor of practice made a special outreach effort to Atlanta nonprofits in spring 2014, resulting in a number of new paid internships. Currently,
PMAP partners with the UPS Foundation, the Georgia Senate Budget Office, CARE, the Georgia Charter Schools Association, and four other nonprofit organizations, with the organization paying interns and PMAP providing tuition waivers.
Students conduct their internships in all manner of governmental and nonprofit agencies in the Atlanta area and beyond, contributing to GSU’s strategic goal of addressing the complex problems of cities. These include dozens of local governments, many state agencies, federal agencies (e.g., GAO, FEMA, HHS, and
DOT), national and international nonprofit organizations (e.g., CARE, the Red Cross, the American Cancer Society), as well as a wealth of smaller local nonprofits.
We also rely principally on our Web presence for student recruitment at the doctoral level. The PMAP doctoral coordinator serves as the principal contact point for potential applicants, assisted by the AYSPS Office of Academic Assistance. OAA receives and processes PHD applications, a GSU-only doctoral faculty committee reviews applicants for the GSU stand-alone program, and a joint GSU-Georgia Tech
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faculty committee reviews joint program applicants. After applicants are admitted, the doctoral coordinator and other faculty engage in a variety of recruitment efforts.
The coordinator calls and emails each admitted applicant, faculty who are closely connected to a student’s research area also call, and new admits are sometimes brought to campus to visit. However, a recent decline in the number of new doctoral students will prompt new attention to marketing, as detailed in sections 3 and 4 below.
The doctoral coordinator initially serves as the principal advisor for doctoral students. Students may later transition to advising by a different faculty member who is likely to become the student’s dissertation chair. Every student is expected to seek a dissertation supervisor at the latest after passing the core comprehensive and field examinations.
Our review of the PHD programs suggests that students often take longer than we believe should be necessary to complete dissertation proposals and the dissertations themselves. For example, of the doctoral students who joined the program over a six-year period more than a decade ago, 31% had not finished the degree after 7 years, and another 11% required 6-7 years to finish. We plan to give this issue more attention, as explained in sections 3 and 4 below.
1.b.4.3 Retention rates, graduation rates, and output quality metrics
The two master’s programs typically require at least two years for a full-time student (taking 9 credits per semester) and at least three years for a part-time student (taking 6 credits per semester). As a consequence, graduation rates after three years may represent the most meaningful metric. For the MPA program, according to Appendix 18, those figures have fluctuated from 71-82% for 2006-
2010 new admits, up by 10-20 percentage points from admits in 2005-2006. After four and five years, graduation rates reached 77-93%, which we view as impressive given that many students are working full time and have young families.
Comparable figures for the MPP program are noticeably lower, fluctuating between
57% and 67% for the most recent years for which 2- and 3-year graduation rates are available. These data suggest a need for increased attention to the MPP program, as detailed later in this report.
1.b.4.4 Placement rates
As with our BSPP degree, we lack comprehensive data on the placement of our graduates (although the new director of the AYSPS Office of Career Services and
Student Life is developing a system to collect these data in the future). For the moment, we know from what our graduates—mostly master’s graduates, but some undergraduates, too—have told us that, since 2012, they have taken positions with a range of employers, most of which focus on GSU’s strategic goal of addressing the complex challenges of cities. Those employers include:
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Governments: the Cities of Decatur, Atlanta, Alpharetta, Dunwoody, and Duluth,
Administrative Office of the Courts of Georgia, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council,
DeKalb County Board of Health, Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, GA Department of Labor, Centers for Disease Control, Peace Corps, US Attorney’s Office.
Nonprofit agencies: American Bar Association, American Kidney Services, Atlanta
Beltline, Boys and Girls Club of America, Center for Puppetry Arts, East Lake
Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement Georgia, Open Hand Atlanta,
Piedmont Park Conservancy, Teach for America.
Private Sector: AT&T, Cox Media Group, Culpepper and Associates, Inc., DeKalb
Medical, Edleman, Hawkins, Parnell, Thackston & Young, LLP, HPTY Law, Invesco
Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton, LLP.
Higher Education: Georgetown University, University of Illinois, Georgia State
University, Georgia Tech, Georgia Regents University.
At the doctoral level, PMAP public policy doctoral graduates have achieved impressive placements in recent years. These include academic placements at
Syracuse University (the top-ranked school in our field), American University,
George Washington University, Arizona State University, University of Georgia,
University of Maryland-Baltimore County, University of Massachusetts, Florida
International University, University of Miami, University of Indiana-Bloomington,
University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga,
California State University-Monterey Bay, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Agency placements include the Centers for Disease Control, the National Opinion
Research Center, the Department of Homeland Security, the World Bank, the Asian
Development Bank, and a number of national agencies in other countries.
1.b.4.5 Race and gender diversity
PMAP attracts a diverse graduate student population. Over the last five years, about half the master’s students have been white (ranging from 46.5% in 2009 to 51.3% in
2013) and one-third black (ranging from 30.3% in 2011 to 35.3% in 2010). Only
22% of our peer programs (member of the National Association of Schools of Public
Affairs and Administration) report similar a 40-60% minority composition, with the other 78% being either predominantly white or predominantly minority. About
60% of PMAP graduate students are women, similar to most of our peer programs.
Our doctoral programs attract a student body that is about evenly split between men and women and, consistent with GSU’s strategic goal of globalizing the university, between U.S. and international students. We currently have international students from China, Korea, France, Ghana, Ukraine, Saint Lucia, India,
Pakistan, Peru, Azerbaijan, and Egypt. We have placed African-American graduates
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in top programs, including Syracuse, Indiana, George Washington, and University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
1.b.4.7 Student Surveys
In surveys conducted as part of the Academic Program Review, PMAP graduate students and alumni on average rated their programs slightly lower than did graduate students and alumni from other programs around Georgia State (see
Appendices 19 and 20). For current students, the largest differences—averaging about a half point on a 6-point scale—appear on several “general learning outcomes,” especially a) learning to “speak clearly and effectively,” b) “collaborating effectively with colleagues,” and c) learning about “the tenets of effective practice.” For alumni, the largest differences—also averaging about half a point— appeared on the dimensions of a) “applying skills I learned in my program” and b) overall satisfaction with the program.
Those differences may trace principally to the larger sizes of PMAP classes as compared to other programs at Georgia State. Larger classes reduce the ability to give individual attention to students, and so are likely to reduce overall satisfaction with the program. Larger classes also limit the ability to prepare students as speakers and to offer collaborative opportunities.
At the same time, the comparative survey responses point to many dimensions where PMAP grad students and alumni evaluated their experience as positively as did their peers elsewhere at Georgia State. That is true for current students, for example, with most aspects of a) “program preparation/challenge” (e.g., “my program of study is academically challenging”), b) academic support (e.g., availability of courses, quality of instruction), and c) faculty interaction (e.g., “faculty are up-to-date on emerging trends . . . in my field of study”).
PMAP alumni respondents were more likely to say they cited some aspects of their academic work on their resumes than were their peers elsewhere at Georgia
State. That was true for “research skills” and, to a lesser extent, for “ability to interpret data” and “ability to analyze problems from different perspectives.”
1.b.4.8 Student publications and presentations
Based on an informal count, PMAP doctoral students published at least 15 articles and 7 book chapters in 2013-2014, with a number of other manuscripts under journal review. They also made at least twice as many presentations at scholarly conferences.
1.b.4.9 Student accomplishments: exams, theses, dissertations, projects, grants, prizes, and awards
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Fourteen students in the PHD programs completed and successfully defended their dissertations between 2011 and 2014, as shown in Appendix 21. PMAP doctoral students also won numerous prestigious awards during the self-study period, including:
Kelechi Uzochukwu received a) the 2013 Kim Hinton Memorial Scholarship Award from the Georgia Fiscal Management Council and b) a 2013 Founders’ Forum
Fellowship from American Society of Public Administration.
Elizabeth Searing won a) first place in the Best Student Paper Competition at the
International Confederation for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics and
Economic Psychology conference in July 2011 and b) best graduate student paper competition at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics conference in
March 2011.
Hyunghoon Kim received the 2012 ARNOVA Doctoral Fellowship, which recognized the potential contribution of his dissertation research to the nonprofit literature.
Just prior to the self-study period, Amy DeGroff won the 2010 Best Dissertation
Award from the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and
Administration.
In addition, Niaa Daniels, a JD/MPA student, a) was the 2013 recipient of the Georgia
Association of Black Women Attorneys Foundation scholarship, b) was recognized as a Gate City Bar Association 2013 Hall of Fame Scholar, c) earned one of three funded internships at the Association of Corporate Counsel Georgia Chapter, d) was a Ronald Freeman Opportunity Scholarship Recipient, e) was honored with the
University at Albany Spellman Achievement Award (three-time recipient, consecutive), the University at Albany Spellman Achievement Award for
Distinguished Leadership, and University at Albany Deans Lists of Distinguished
Leaders.
1.b.4.10 Student outcomes after graduation: admission into further graduate education, postdoctoral fellowships, employment
See 1.b.4.4 above on placement rates.
1.b.5 Graduate programs within the GSU context
1.b.5.1 Programs undertaken jointly with other GSU units, list of cross-listed courses
PMAP and the College of Law offer a joint JD/MPA degree, where students use credit hours earned in one program to satisfy elective course requirements for the other program, reducing the time necessary to earn the two degrees. The MPA program also offers two concentration areas in collaboration with other GSU departments. A
Criminal Justice concentration is offered collaboratively with the Department of
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Criminal Justice and Criminology, and a Public Health concentration is offered in collaboration with the School of Public Health and the Institute of Health
Administration. PMAP faculty have recently collaborated with faculty in Religious
Studies and the Education School to add a concentration in Nonprofit Management to the M.A. in Religious Studies and in the proposed M.A. in Creative and Innovative
Education.
1.b.5.2 Areas of overlap/redundancy with other GSU units
While sharing interests with a number of other GSU units (e.g., management interests with the Robinson College of Business, public affairs interests with Political
Science), PMAP graduate programs have no redundancy with other programs.
Having two doctoral programs, GSU’s own plus the joint program with Georgia Tech, does not create redundancy either. Having both programs enables students to learn from faculty on both campuses, even as the two faculties share responsibilities for teaching the core curriculum, thereby supplementing each other’s resources.
1. c. Research
1.c.1 Success of the Unit’s Research Culture
1.c.1.1 2CI hires, Regents Professors, Alumni Distinguished Professors, eminent scholars, and endowed professors
PMAP hired one 2CI faculty member, Dr. Ann-Margaret Esnard. It was formerly the home of the Bernard B. and Eugenia A. Ramsey Chair of Private Enterprise, which has now returned to the Department of Economics.
1.c.1.2 Levels of external and internal funding: grants, fellowships, and awards
External funding awards to PMAP faculty have averaged more than $550,000 annually over the past five years, ranging from a low of $246,635 to a high of
$1,387,504.
1.c.1.3 National/international rankings of the unit (e.g., by the National Research
Council, US News and World Report, professional associations)
See 1.b.3 above.
1.c.1.4 Research productivity that furthers the strategic goals of the university
See 1.c.1.4.a above
.
1.c.1.4.a Quantity and quality of disseminated research
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PMAP faculty members are active scholars who contribute regularly to knowledge development in their fields. In the 2010-2014 period, PMAP faculty published articles (totals in parentheses) in the following premier journals:
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (11)
Public Administration Review (9)
American Review of Public Administration (6)
International Public Management Journal (5)
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (5)
VOLUNTAS (4)
Journal of Urban Affairs (4)
Administration and Society (3)
Public Management Review (2)
Public Performance and Management Review (2)
Public Budgeting & Finance (2)
Public Finance Review (1)
Public Integrity (1)
Review of Public Personnel Administration (1)
State and Local Government Review (1)
That list does not extend to many other articles published in various field journals.
Faculty also published 15 books with such high-quality publishers as Oxford
University Press, M.E. Sharpe, Routledge, Jossey-Bass, ICMA, Kendall/Hunt, Edward
Elgar, and Palgrave. Faculty also published 55 chapters in edited books.
1.c.1.4.b Impact of research on relevant disciplines, including analyses of citations of the work of individual faculty members
The research of PMAP faculty has substantial impact. As displayed in Appendix 22, inCites shows PMAP faculty with 178 articles in public administration journals with
2004 citations in Web of Science journals, an average of 11.3 citations per article.
That number is nearly twice the number of citations per article for the field as a whole, meaning that the impact of PMAP scholarship greatly exceeds the impact of other scholarship in the field.
Among larger departments at Georgia State, PMAP ranks fourth in its impact, trailing only Physics and Astronomy, Computer Science, and Management. PMAP achieved that standing despite the fact that the Web of Science has been slow to add public administration journals, resulting in public administration articles being cited less than articles in other fields. The journal Public Budgeting and Finance, for instance, is not included, although it is the top journal in a sub-field where US News ranks PMAP as the #4 program in the country.
1.c.1.5 Success in recruitment and retention of top faculty in the field
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PMAP has been very successful in recruiting and retaining top faculty, as several indicators reflect: a) As noted in 1.c.3 below, PMAP faculty rank among the elite programs in terms of scholarly productivity. b) PMAP faculty have received many awards for the quality of their scholarly work during the self-study period (see
1.c.3.2 below). c) PMAP recently hired a new elite faculty member under the Second
Century Initiative. d) The few high-quality faculty who have left PMAP moved to more prestigious and more lucrative positions (see 1.c.1.6 below).
1.c.1.6 Faculty Development, including the number of faculty promoted and/or tenured; the number and ratio of faculty at all ranks; average time in rank; and the recruiting and hiring history
PMAP takes pride in its faculty development efforts and successes, as evident in the following: a) All PMAP assistant professors who have undergone tenure and promotion reviews in the past dozen years have been promoted and tenured by unanimous vote of the departmental and school promotion and tenure committees. b) All PMAP assistant professors who have undergone third-year reviews in the past dozen years have received positive reviews. c) Only two PMAP associate professors have served more than six years in that rank (and one retires at the end of this year). Most of the department’s other former associate professors were promoted to full professor on schedule. d) All faculty who have left GSU in the past dozen years appear to have left primarily due to pull rather than push factors. All appear to have received substantial raises while moving to peer or aspirant institutions: five
Syracuse, one each to University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Georgia, American
University, Indiana University-Bloomington, Florida State University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Yonsei University (Korea), and a consulting firm. In addition, most assistant professors—including those who left—have co-authored with at least one senior colleague, suggesting the success of the department's mentoring.
PMAP also takes pride in having achieved substantial faculty diversity. The current
17 fulltime faculty include 10 men and 7 women, and the 7 women include two full professors, two African Americans, and one Chinese American. The distribution of
PMAP faculty does tilt toward the senior side, with 8 full professors and 5 associate professors and only 4 assistant professors in AY 2014. However, that tilt reflects in part the success of PMAP junior faculty in achieving promotion and tenure: 6 of
PMAP’s associate and full professors began as assistant professors in the department. The tilt should be partially addressed by the recent retirements of two full professors and their likely replacement by junior-level new hires.
1.c.2 Faculty Partnerships and Professional Service
1.c.2.1 Faculty participation (direction, affiliation) in research centers and clusters at the Georgia State University
PMAP faculty were extensively involved with research centers during the self-study period, including holding the following leadership positions in AYSPS centers:
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 Karen Minyard: Director of the Georgia Health Policy Center.
 Carolyn Bourdeaux: Associate Director of the Fiscal Research Center.
 Dennis Young: Director of the Nonprofit Studies Program.
 Greg Streib: Director of the Public Performance and Management Group.
Most other PMAP faculty worked with one or more of the AYSPS research centers during the self-study period.
1.c.2.3 Evidence of interdisciplinary research
Scholarly research in public administration and public affairs is inherently interdisciplinary. PMAP faculty research crosses the fields of public administration, public policy, public finance, urban studies, political science, organizational behavior, and public opinion, among other fields. PMAP faculty published in journals in each of these fields during the self-study period.
1.c.2.4 Significant professional service
During the past year, PMAP faculty edited or co-edited five major journals in the field: a) the Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, b) the American
Review of Public Administration, c) the Municipal Finance Journal, d) the Journal of
Emergency Management, and e) the Nonprofit Policy Forum. Most faculty serve on one or more editorial boards of the top journals in the field.
1.c.3 Recognition of Scholarly Excellence
See 1.b.3 above for PMAP rankings for scholarly productivity. As the basis for these rankings, the 12 current tenured/tenure-track faculty who arrived before AY 2013 and are still here published, between 2009 and 2013, 5 books, 88 refereed articles,
40 book chapters, and 22 other reports. On average, each published 1.5 articles, .67 chapters, and .37 reports per year, roughly the equivalent of 2 articles per faculty member per year.
1.c.3.2 External awards, honors, prizes, and fellowships
PMAP faculty received numerous awards for their research during and immediately preceding the self-study period: a) The prestigious National Academy of Public
Administration elected Greg Lewis, Bart Hildreth, and Katherine Willoughby as
Fellows. b) Two PMAP faculty recently received "lifetime achievement awards" (the
Aaron Wildavsky Award from ABFM for Bart Hildreth and the Charles Levine Award from ASPA/NASPAA for Greg Lewis). c) John Thomas's book, Citizen, Customer,
Partner: Engaging the Public in Public Management, was co-winner of the 2014 Best
Book Award of the Section on Public Administration Research of the American
Society for Public Administration. (4) Bart Hildreth was co-author of the best article in Public Budgeting & Finance in 2012.
1.c.4 Unit Infrastructure for Supporting Research
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1.c.4.1 Unit-level research and travel grants
PMAP allocates each faculty member $1500 each year, plus conference registration fees, for travel for scholarly presentations. Every doctoral student is allocated $800 per year for scholarly travel.
1.c.4.2 Grant support: writing, administration
The PMAP Business Manager is a certified Sponsored Research Administrator and provides pre- and post-award research grant administration support to the faculty.
The department does not have the capacity to provide services such as grant writing or searching for funding opportunities and/or matching faculty interests with funding opportunities.
1.c.4.3 Facilities, equipment, technical support and other administrative support
AYSPS provides fully equipped conference rooms, meeting rooms, and media rooms for faculty meetings and presentations. AYSPS also provides IT staff support for managing media equipment and resources. PMAP provides every faculty member a fully furnished private office with individual and network printers and Xerox copy machines. Faculty are also provided individual laptops, and GRAs are provided individual workstations and network printers.
1.c.4.4 Research information resources
AYSPS has its own school library: http://aysps.gsu.edu/faculty-research/facultyresearch-support/
1.d Contribution to Cities
As detailed above, PMAP faculty and programs contribute in many ways, beyond those detailed below, to the GSU strategic goal of being a leader in understanding and addressing the complex challenges of cities and developing effective solutions.
1.d.1 Activities with the Council for the Progress of Cities
Ann-Margaret Esnard has chaired the Council since September 2014. Cathy Yang Liu was elected to serve on the inaugural steering committee for the Council from 2012-
2014.
1.d.2.1 Speakers series
Cathy Yang Liu helped organize the Cities Conversation, an interdisciplinary faculty forum on important urban topics. She was a panelist for the conversation on
“Immigrants in Cities” with faculty members from Communications, Sociology, and
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Law/Business.
1.d.3 Field-specific contributions to cities
Faculty research contributes to our understanding of cities from many different areas: transportation (Hacker, Poister), disaster planning (Esnard, Waugh), economic development and labor markets (Liu), state and municipal finance
(Bordeaux, Hildreth, Streib, Willoughby), urban governance (Poister, Streib,
Thomas), and nonprofit organizations (Kerlin, Young), among others.
1.e Globalizing the University
1.e.1 Critical issues for global cities: partnerships with other universities on challenges facing cities
PMAP is under contract with the University of International Business and
Economics in Beijing to create a joint Master of Public Administration program for
Chinese public administrators. See sections 3 and 4 below for more detail.
1.e.4.2 Number of students enrolled in study abroad programs
PMAP has a substantial and growing study abroad program with 33 students in two programs in AY 2014 (see also 1.a.4.4 above)
1.e.4.8 Success in recruiting top international faculty and students
As detailed above (see 1.b.4.2 and 1.b.4.5), PMAP’s graduate programs consistently attract top international students from all parts of the world.
2 How Adequate Are Your Unit’s Resources?
2.a Faculty Resources
2.a.1 Student/faculty ratio data
PMAP faculty carry a relatively heavy and growing student load. As shown in
Appendix 14 earlier (under 1.b.2.4), the ratio of undergraduate students to tenuretrack PMAP faculty more than doubled from lows of 11.0 to 12.7 in FY 2006-2009 to a peak of 25.4 in FY 2013, before declining slightly to 22.5 in FY 2014. The ratio of master’s students to tenure-track faculty followed a similar trend, increasing annually from 11.0 in FY 2009 to 23.7 FY 2013, before declining to 18.7 in FY 2014.
Class sizes also suggest a relatively heavy load for PMAP faculty. At the undergraduate level, IPORT data show PMAP class enrollments averaging among the highest in the university, with only the College of Business having comparably
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large classes. The average undergraduate fall class size in PMAP ranged from 32.0 to
37.2, while the averages for Business ranged from 32.6 to 34.5 and averages in every other college never exceeded the 20s. Within AYSPS, PMAP’s undergraduate class sizes were comparable to those of the Department of Criminal Justice and
Criminology (averages ranging from 32.2 to 35.6) but higher than The Department of Social Work (a range from 22.8 to 24.7). (The averages for Economics classes were substantially higher—from 41.5 to 52.2—but as a consequence of its large freshman-sophomore principles classes.)
The differences are even more pronounced at the graduate level. IPORT data show
PMAP graduate classes averaging in a range between 18.5 and 24.2 between fall
2010 and fall 2014. No other AYSPS department averaged as high as PMAP’s lowest semester average of 18.5 in any fall semester during this period, and, universitywide, only law and business had comparably large average class sizes.
We do not see these figures as suggesting a need to reduce the size of our classes since our class sizes are not out of line with what our aspirational programs report.
Programs at the University of Georgia and Syracuse University, for two examples, report AY 2014 average graduate classes of 17.3 and 22 students. What the figures do suggest is that that PMAP lacks slack resources to mount new initiatives. We must find new faculty resources in order to undertake new programs; sections 3 and 4 below outline strategies toward that end.
2.b Administrative Resources
At the faculty level, administrative resources include a) the department chair, b) the director of master’s programs, c) the doctoral coordinator; and d) the director of undergraduate programs. The chair receives a two-course release during the academic year and a two-course buyout supplement in the summer, while each of the other three receives a one-course release during the academic year and sometimes the equivalent of a one-course buyout in the summer. As detailed under
1.a.4.3 above, PMAP also has two internship coordinators, who are compensated for their work through the several internship courses they supervise each year.
PMAP has three fulltime staff. Elsa Gebremedhin, the business manager and assistant to the chair, oversees the business and financial management of the department. Lisa Shepard, an academic specialist, handles academic duties such as class scheduling, grade and registration adjustments, GRA coordination, and the like.
Abena Otudor, the administrative coordinator, is responsible for the front desk and reception area and for providing general administrative support (e.g., ordering supplies, fulfilling typing and scanning requests, processing all reimbursements and travel requisitions and making deposits).
In addition to PMAP’s own administrative resources, the Graduate Career Services and Student Life office of the Andrew Young School provides career services to
PMAP students. This comprehensive career office offers individualized counseling
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in career planning, resume review, assistance with internship and job search, alumni mentoring, professional networking, and leadership development. The
Career Services office also provides leadership and guidance to several PMAP student life organizations. One of these, the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (NLA), was recognized in 2014 by the national NLA as the best NLA chapter in the nation.
2.b.1 Staff support per FTE faculty member
PMAP counted 3 fulltime staff and 18 FTE faculty in fall 2013: 8 full professors, 5 associate professors, 4 assistant professors (3 tenure-track and 1 non-tenure-track),
1 halftime non-tenure track faculty member, and 2 quarter-time retired faculty. The staff support ratio per faculty member is thus 1:6, and staff support is adequate.
2.c Technological Resources
The Andrew Young School provides two computer labs for students with 60+ computers, and the university provides several more.
2.d Space Resources
PMAP occupies the third floor of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies building, although four faculty have their offices elsewhere in the building (nearer the research centers where they work). All doctoral GRAs and some master’s GRAs have their own cubicles and computer workstations. PMAP also has access to a variety of meeting rooms in the building.
2.e Laboratory Resources (both research and non-instruction laboratory space)
See 2.c above.
2.f GSU Foundation Resources and other gifts the unit has received
PMAP has received more than $730,000 in gifts, comprised of $700,000 for endowments and $30,000 for departmental and special fund operating expenses.
Interest from the endowments provides more than $100,000 each year for six different scholarships (see Appendix 23).
2.g Library resources
The University Library houses more than 32,500 monograph titles, 1268 serial titles, and a core list of twenty databases for PMAP specifically. The librarian for
PMAP teaches instructional classes and meets individually with students upon request.
3 Where Does Your Unit Want to Go?
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3.a Describe sustaining innovations and disruptive innovations if any
We have as our goals for sustaining innovations (“what we’re already doing that we can do better”) the following, stated in order of priority:
1.
Maintain and enhance a world-class faculty: Georgia State’s top-25 ranking in public affairs rests primarily on the research productivity of the PMAP faculty.
The schools above us in the rankings are typically flagships of their state university systems, prestigious private schools, or located in the nation’s capital.
Our program’s reputation depends on research in top public administration and policy journals, editorship of those journals, visibility at professional conferences, and placements of doctoral students in high-quality departments.
We want a) to maintain this faculty by keeping and rewarding the high-quality scholars/teachers we have and b) to enhance the faculty by recruiting highquality new tenure-track faculty and by supporting all faculty in their scholarly endeavors, pursuit of external research funding, and other aspects of career development. The disruptive innovations we propose below are designed in part to support these goals.
2.
Maintain and enhance our signature Master of Public Administration
program: Of all its degree programs, PMAP is best known for its MPA. We enroll our largest number of graduate students in the MPA, and more PMAP faculty identify with the MPA than with any other PMAP degree. We want to maintain and enhance the MPA by a) reviewing the curriculum to remain state of the art and b) adding tenure-track faculty through the disruptive innovations proposed below.
3.
Enhance our emerging premier PHD programs in Public Policy: Our PHD programs are climbing toward elite status. Our collaborations with Georgia Tech and our Economics Department give students a broader education than most policy doctoral programs can offer, and we place graduates in top public administration and policy programs around the country. We seek to continue this upward trajectory through a) more aggressive pursuit of high-quality applicants, b) increased encouragement of faculty-student scholarly research collaborations, and c) more assistance to students in completing their degrees in a timely manner. A stronger PHD program should also facilitate the recruitment and retention of high-quality tenure-track faculty.
4.
Enhance our unique BSPP program: The PMAP BSPP is a unique degree at
Georgia State, offering undergraduate students an opportunity to build toward careers in public service and lives as good citizens. Consistent with GSU’s strategic goal of becoming “a national model for undergraduate education,” we want to enhance the BSPP by revising the curriculum to better meet the career preparation needs of a higher-quality student body.
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We also have goals—and plans—for several disruptive innovations, again stated in order of priority:
1.
Partner with the University of International Business and Economics
(UIBE) in Beijing on an MPA for Chinese public administrators: Georgia
State has signed an agreement with UIBE to create a joint Master of Public
Administration, where half of the curriculum will be offered in Beijing and the other half at Georgia State. The details of this program should become clearer after a December 2014 meeting in Beijing, but UIBE has already committed to send 20 MPA students to GSU every year.
2.
Partner with the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology to create
a new, online Master of Criminal Justice Administration (MCJA): PMAP and
CJ have begun developing an online program that will be targeted to a broad audience of police professionals. The program would build on the complementary strengths of the two departments in public sector management and criminal justice. We anticipate at least 50 new graduate enrollments per year, contributing to GSU’s strategic goal of graduate students comprising 30% of the student body. The development of online courses would also accelerate
PMAP’s evolution toward a larger online curricular presence.
3.
Reinvigorate the Master of Public Policy as an innovative, nationally
competitive degree: After giving the MPP less attention than our other degrees in in recent years, we intend to reinvigorate the degree by reviewing its content relative to innovative MPP programs around the country. We envision the revised MPP having a) a core curriculum reflective of innovative practices nationally and b) a broader choice of interdisciplinary concentrations in a number of new policy areas.
4 What Do You Need to Do or Change to Get There?
4.a A list of Goals and Objectives for the coming cycle, including a description of identified strategic initiative or changes the unit will undertake to improve
program quality and align the unit with the strategic plan
See 3.a above and 4.b and 4.c below.
4.b A List of Any Identified New Resources, where necessary, that will be
required to achieve each goal
Maintenance of GSU’s ranking in public affairs and enhancement of our doctoral programs require that we hire primarily research-active, tenure-track faculty rather than NTT teaching faculty. Justification of this practice will require an increased emphasis on faculty’s potential to attract grants.
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We anticipate obtaining new resources from three disruptive innovations, two of which will be pursued as premium-priced, self-supporting educational programs, as detailed below. These innovations will also assist in meeting GSU’s strategic goal to
“strengthen and grow the base of distinctive graduate programs that assure development of the next generation of researchers and societal leaders.”
1.
UIBE MPA partnership: Assuming this program unfolds as contracted, PMAP must mount 6 additional course offerings per academic year (to accommodate
20 students, each taking 3 courses per semester). Lacking slack faculty resources to meet that additional demand (as documented in 2.a.1 above), PMAP will need a new tenure-track faculty position, funded presumably through college-level reallocation. If the program generates the anticipated enrollments,
PMAP will ask to use some of the resulting new revenues to fund the faculty line in subsequent years. In addition to helping us grow the MPA, this program will also contribute to the strategic goal of globalizing the university.
2.
New Master of Criminal Justice Administration : This program will require
PMAP to mount six new online courses. These new offerings will be rolled out over two years and will be taught either annually or every other year, depending on enrollments. Lacking any experience in developing online courses, PMAP will need course buyouts to support faculty in developing the online courses, and in being trained to meet their obligations to comply with federal law (ADA and
FERPA) while teaching online. The two departments will work with the Center for Instructional Innovation in this effort, but also need an instructional designer to assist with development of online content, to ensure a common course shell, to tutor faculty on innovations in online delivery, and to troubleshoot problems.
There will also be a need to market the program. Although we hope that word of mouth and direct marketing to police and sheriff’s departments will generate a sufficient number of applicants, the most successful online programs (e.g., the
University of Cincinnati) have hired professional external marketers and program developers, who were paid 40-50% of program tuition. As neither department has the slack faculty resources to mount this program, the two departments will seek a share of the new revenues to hire at least one new tenure-track faculty member in each department.
3.
Interdisciplinary MPP: This initiative will require reviews of a) the curricula of the strongest MPP programs elsewhere to identify potential curricular changes for the PMAP degree and b) the curricula of other GSU university departments in special policy areas that might become new MPP concentrations. Since other departments already offer the latter courses, this initiative would not require new resources, unless the revised program were eventually to spark substantial new student interest.
4.c An Implementation Plan for achieving each goal by the next scheduled self
study
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We will explain our plans for the disruptive innovations first since they are designed in part to support the sustaining innovations.
1.
UIBE MPA partnership: Since this innovation originated at the university level, we cannot know fully what it will entail until after the upcoming visit to Beijing.
Tentatively, we expect to do following in the near future:
 Estimate the number of visiting students to be anticipated at GSU annually.
 Develop a plan for mounting the necessary courses for the visiting students beginning fall 2016.
 Assess at the end of AY 2017 possible needs for programmatic changes after the first cohort group has completed its stay at GSU.
 Measure success by a) the number of students who graduate from the program and b) a survey of student satisfaction with the program.
Dr. Greg Lewis, as department chair, will take principal responsibility for supervising these activities.
2.
New Master of Criminal Justice Administration : We project the following plan for developing of this program:



Prepare a detailed proposal for the new degree program through a collaborative PMAP-CJ faculty committee by mid-March 2015.
Conduct a market study in spring 2015 of likely program enrollments, based in part on consulting with key professional groups (e.g. Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, Georgia Department of Corrections).
Obtain the necessary departmental and AYSPS approvals of the proposed

 degree program by the end of AY 2015 for immediate submission to the GSU
Faculty Senate.
Obtain the necessary approvals from the Georgia State Faculty Senate and the Board of Regents by the end of AY 2016, if possible.
Empower selected faculty to develop the online course components of the program during the year after receipt of Regents approval. We will also seek counsel here from peer programs (e.g., Arizona State University) that are more advanced in the development of online degree programs.
 Launch the program, at the earliest, at the start of the 2016 fall semester.
 Measure success by a) the number of students who graduate from the program and b) a survey of student satisfaction with the program.
Drs. Greg Lewis and John C. Thomas, the master’s program director, will assume joint responsibility for the PMAP side of this program’s development.
3.
Interdisciplinary MPP: We project the following steps over the coming years:
 Review other MPPs and other GSU departments for curricular options. One model of particular interest is in our aspirational program at Duke
University, where the MPP offers specializations in six policy areas (i.e., environment and energy, health, national security, population studies, social policy). The review will be completed by the end of AY 2016, resulting in a proposed revised curriculum for consideration by fall 2016.
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 Obtain the necessary departmental and AYSPS approvals of proposed programmatic changes, including new interdisciplinary concentrations during AY 2017.
Launch the revised program for the 2017 fall semester.

 Measure success by a) the number of students who graduate from the program and b) a survey of student satisfaction with the program.
Drs. Greg Lewis and John C. Thomas will take joint responsibility for leading this initiative.
We have also been approached by U.S. Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) about possible development of an Executive Masters in Public Administration for its staff of professional auditors. The DCAA is seeking a collegiate partner for a program that would be offered on a continuing contractual basis to the agency auditors. This conversation is in the early stages, but raises the possibility of PMAP undertaking another disruptive innovation.
Returning to the sustaining innovations, our plans for their implementation build in part from the anticipated success of the disruptive initiatives, as explained below:
1.
Enhancing a world-class faculty: We will continue the strategies of recruitment, mentoring, and rewards that has built the quality of the current
PMAP faculty. We also plan to use new resources from successful disruptive innovations to hire more quality tenure-track faculty and fund additional rewards to all faculty. We will measure our success by the scholarly metrics discussed earlier (e.g., inCites).
Dr. Greg Lewis will take principal responsibility for this initiative.
2.
Enhancing the MPA program: This initiative will begin with a review of curricular innovations in leading MPA programs and a subsequent effort to incorporate the more valuable innovations in the GSU MPA curriculum by the end of the AY 2016. We will measure the success by a) a qualitative analysis of eventual curriculum changes and b) a pre-post survey of student satisfaction with the program.
Dr. John C. Thomas will take responsibility for overseeing this initiative.
3.
Enhancing the PHD programs: To enhance the doctoral programs, we will:
 Develop and implement by March 2015 a plan for more aggressive recruitment of high quality applicants (e.g., by earlier offers of financial
 support).
Review and update the core and field curricula, to be completed by the end of
AY 2016.
 Develop a plan to facilitate student transitions from comprehensive exams to completion of dissertation proposals and actual dissertations, to be in place by the end of AY 2016.
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

Require student development of a strategy, in advance of the dissertation defense, for converting the dissertation to two or more scholarly article submissions, to be in place by the end of AY 2016.
We will measure success by time-series analyses of a) the numbers and quality of new enrollees, b) average time from admission to graduation, and c) numbers of publications by doctoral students.
Dr. Christine Roch, the doctoral coordinator, will take principal responsibility for overseeing this initiative.
4.
Enhancing the BSPP program: To improve the BSPP as a national model for undergraduate education, we will:
 Review BSPP requirements in light of peer institutional practices, faculty capacity, and the career preparation of our graduates, with a target completion date of the end of AY 2016. We will look, in particular, at model undergraduate majors in aspirational programs at Duke University (i.e., a public policy major) and Indiana University (i.e., a public affairs major).
 Increase the emphasis on writing skills, potentially designating a third
Critical Thinking through Writing (CTW) course in the degree requirements, by the end of AY 2015.
 Consider requiring skill development courses (e.g., writing, statistics, software) for qualifying students to ensure that a) all students have core competencies before moving into advanced classes and b) all graduates possess the necessary career skills, to be completed by the end of AY 2016.
 We will measure success by pre-post survey comparisons of student satisfaction with the program.
Dr. Joseph Hacker, the undergraduate coordinator, will take principal responsibility for overseeing this initiative.
References
Van de Walle, Steven, and Roxanne van Delft. 2014. "Publishing in Public Administration:
Issues with Defining, Comparing and Ranking the Output of Universities."
International Public Management Journal.
Williams, Adam M., Derek R. Slagle, and Darrin Wilson. 2014. "Ranking Universities for
Scholarship in Public Administration Research 2006–2010." Journal of Public Affairs
Education 20 (3):393-412.
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