The mission of the Suffolk MPA program is to prepare students to function as leaders in enhancing the responsiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness of government, health, and non-profit organizations, while adhering to the democratic values of inclusion, egalitarianism, and respect for diversity.

Strategic components of our mission statement are discussed separately below.

Quality Faculty

Our full-time and adjunct faculty members are highly qualified based on their credentials (both academic degrees and professional experience), research productivity (publications and grants/contracts), awards and recognition (teaching, fellowships and research), public service (public office, volunteer service on boards, committees), and professional service (editorial boards and ASPA committees). We seek to recruit faculty members who strive for the same levels of excellence.

Approaches

Our faculty manifests a variety of approaches in teaching, research, service and practice, giving students a wide-range of role models, approaches, knowledge and skills on which to draw.

Focus

Our curriculum targets management, administration and policy, all under the central topic of leadership. Students are prepared to manage and lead in a variety of organizational settings.

Program Objective

Our Program imparts high quality education to students. Evidence of this is our track record in placing students in management and leadership positions in federal, state and local government, non-profit agencies and private sector organizations, in addition to our long-standing success in placing students in the Presidential Management Fellowship program. Our students have also received Rappaport Public Policy awards, in competition with a variety of students from area universities, such as Harvard, Brandeis, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Skills

We arm students with the core skills necessary to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery systems, and to be catalysts for positive change. Advanced learning in elective courses helps students acquire knowledge and skills useful in more specialized management settings. We focus on leadership skills so that students are able to mobilize, engage in, and facilitate a collaborative problem solving process. We seek to produce leaders who will inspire and empower people to address societal problems and manifest the value of public service and democratic principles.

Positions

Our Program targets students aspiring to be or already in mid-level management and administrative positions, where our MPA degree will help them to assume leadership positions in public service. However, we also strive to meet the needs of pre-service students by providing them with the knowledge to secure entry-level positions, and instilling in them a commitment to continuous learning to enhance their leadership capacity. Some of our students enter our Program simply lacking confidence in their abilities. Through ensuring that they are well educated, we build confident and capable leaders and managers.

Market

Our Program serves Eastern Massachusetts although we draw some students from Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as other states and foreign countries.

Ethics & Effectiveness

Our Program not only educates students for management and leadership, but it also builds their capacity to behave ethically. One is unacceptable without the other. Our approach to ethics is grounded in a commitment to democratic values and respect for diversity.

Public Service Emphasis

Public service is a dynamic, changing field. Our Program tries to educate students to anticipate and respond to change, as well as to lead it, so that they can be effective managers and leaders. We teach in a learning environment that emphasizes the value of public service. Leadership skills enable students to create shared leadership based on collectively determined values and norms in an organizational or community setting. We examine ethical issues in the context of individual core courses to demonstrate the ubiquity and variety of ethical challenges that can arise in the public sector.