Doctoral Program Curriculum

Intellectual Collaboration

Faculty, whose expertise spans a broad range of areas and knowledge frameworks, provide the flexibility and support you need to pursue your research interests — even as they shift and change — and generate your own path-breaking ideas.

Core Seminars

There are seven required core seminars in the doctoral program of study.

Research Seminars

There are three required research seminars.

Professional Skills Workshops

There are two required 1-credit hour workshops focused on teaching and research (PA 9920 and PA 9930) doctoral students typically take in year two and three of the program. A team of faculty facilitates discussions on topics related to teaching, publishing, job search, and other areas.

Specializations

The faculty offers five areas of specialization. Doctoral students choose two courses (6 hours) in one area of specialization. The specialization courses are drawn from the graduate curriculum in Public Administration or a related academic unit in the university system. The seven specialization areas are:

Public and Nonprofit:

Policy
Theory
Management
Budgeting & Finance
Technology & Data Analytics

Dissertation

The dissertation represents an original contribution to knowledge development in the field of Public Administration. Following successful completion of all course work and field exams, doctoral students apply for Candidacy for the Degree and then defend a dissertation proposal before their supervisory committee. Following successful defense of the proposal, students work under the guidance of their supervisory committee chair until the project is complete. Two readers from the student's supervisory committee then review the entire document and may recommend further work or changes. After the committee chair and readers agree that the dissertation is ready for defense, the student schedules a public defense.

For more information, please see the Dissertation Format.