PPPA 8000 Foundations for Doctoral Study (4 cr.)This course introduces students to Walden University and the requirements for successfully participating in an online curriculum, to provide a foundation for academic and professional success as a scholar-practitioner and social change agent. Course assignments focus on practical application of writing and critical-thinking skills and the integration of professional practice with professional and academic excellence as they relate to practice in public policy and administration.
PPPA 8002 Writing a Quality KAM Demonstration (2 cr.)
This course covers the structure of the KAM and the research and writing techniques needed for the successful development of a KAM. In this course, students develop a draft Learning Agreement for their first KAM, under an instructor’s guidance. (Prerequisites: PPPA 8000 and PPPA 8200. This course must be successfully completed immediately before a student begins the KAM studies portion of the P.P.A. program. Previously listed as PPPA 8002 KAM Writing Course.)
PPPA 8105 Managing at the Boundaries: Creative Thinking for Social Change (6 cr.)
This course examines the historical and contemporary patterns of interaction between levels of government and between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in the United States. Of all the Western democracies, the United States has the most fully developed nonprofit sector. In the past 20 years, the private sector has become more and more important to the other two sectors with, for example, growing efforts to privatize public service delivery and to use corporate strategies and connections for enhanced revenue in the nonprofit sector. Increasingly, the boundaries between governmental levels and the three sectors have become more blurred and the action at these intersections more critical for the effectiveness of public/nonprofit sector leaders and managers.
PPPA 8200 Intellectual Traditions of Public Policy and Public Administration (4 cr.)
This course focuses on the historical and contemporary roles and relationships of the public and nonprofit sectors in the United States. It provides a scholarly perspective on public policy and administration that traces major theories associated with the field and the political, social, and economic context within which they developed. Students are expected to gain a clear understanding of the “layers of government” and their interdependence between local municipalities, county, state, and federal levels. This is intended to make a strong connection between the student’s own professional development and development of the major theories and concepts of public administration.
PPPA 8305 Professional Leadership and Ethics (4 cr.)
This course examines the ethical issues of public and nonprofit sectors. It provides conceptual tools to clarify moral dilemmas and analyzes individual decision-making strategies and organizational programs from an ethical perspective.
PPPA 8320 Public Policy Implications of Terrorism Legislation and Policies (4 cr.)
This course provides a broad perspective on the history of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, similar terroristic legislation and immigration laws, and their policy implications on law enforcement, governmental entities, organizations, and individuals. It provides a basic foundation upon which to build for those public administrators and public policy analysts who are charged with drafting and implementing public policy and enforcing and/or responding to potential terroristic threats, while simultaneously upholding and protecting constitutional freedoms. Material for this course is drawn from contemporary texts, Web sites, case studies, and material representing international, national, and local governments and organizations. Learners critically review and analyze the U.S.A. Patriot Act and similar terroristic legislation and policies, and participate in online discussions about these laws and their implications on U.S. Constitutional freedoms.
PPPA 8321 Terrorism: A Systemic Approach for Emergency Preparedness (4 cr.)
This course provides participants with an overview of terrorism—local, national, and international—and the need to develop a systemic approach for emergency preparedness. Topics include, but are not limited to, terrorism overview, terrorism and public health, bioterrorism, biosecurity, cyberterrorism, risk assessment, implications for public health, and components of a systemic preparedness infrastructure. Course participants begin the development and/or analysis of a terrorism preparedness infrastructure, and participate in online discussions.
PPPA 8322 Critical Incident Planning and Leadership (4 cr.)
This course examines the principles of emergency planning, selection of leaders, specialized planning (e.g., schools, tourism), mutual aid, and leadership theories. It provides a basic foundation for public administrators to develop a critical incident plan and also understand leadership theories. Course participants critically analyze case studies, identifying weaknesses and potential solutions.
PPPA 8330 Holding Up the Mirror: Understanding Different Cultures and Increasing Global Consciousness (4 cr.)
This course offers students an opportunity to explore and understand the cultural values and styles of communication, reasoning, and leadership unique to their home culture. Students apply their increased understanding to other cultures. They also identify and become familiar with the challenges American nonprofits face as they work internationally or cross-culturally within the United States. (Prerequisite: A course or direct experience in nonprofit management is strongly advised.)
PPPA 8331 Crossing Borders: U.S. and International NGO Organizational Cultures and Environments (4 cr.)
In this course, students study in depth the cultures, structures, and activities of NGOs in select countries and compare their activities, organizational cultures, structures, and working environments with nonprofits in the United States. (Prerequisite: A course or direct experience in nonprofit management is strongly advised.)
PPPA 8332 Placing NGOs in the Global Context (4 cr.)
This course offers students knowledge and understanding about the geopolitical and economic contexts in which international, nongovernmental, and voluntary agencies function in other countries. Students analyze the historical, political, social, and cultural contexts in which NGOs work and the implications these contexts have on the work of local and international NGOs. Students identify strategies that make the international and cross-cultural efforts of NGOs successful. (Prerequisite: A course or direct experience in nonprofit management is strongly advised.)
PPPA 8340 Leadership for the Nonprofit Sector (4 cr.)
This course provides an overview and history of the third sector in American society, featuring governance and nonprofit corporation law. Government and business are the first two sides of the sector triangle. The course covers the relationships between the board and the executive director. Ethics topics typical to nonprofit organizations, such as conflict of interest, fiduciary responsibility, human resources, and board organizational structures, are examined in depth. The role of nonprofit organizations in fostering social change is a major component of this course, and the emerging trend toward entrepreneurship in nonprofits is examined in detail.
PPPA 8341 Fund Raising and Marketing in Nonprofit Organizations (4 cr.)
This course examines the history of philanthropy and the philosophy of giving, and their relationship to the nonprofit sector in the United States. The principles of development and their relationship to organizational mission, governance, and capacity are a core part of the course. The course provides students with an understanding of the many fund-raising techniques and funding sources that generate financial support for nonprofits, as well as the contexts of their use.
PPPA 8342 Nonprofit Management (4 cr.)
This course provides the basis for understanding nonprofit management issues and for understanding how management in the nonprofit sector differs from both public and business administration. It includes special issues of nonprofit management, such as mission, budgeting, financial management, strategic planning, and outcome evaluation and assessment.
PPPA 8350 Historical and Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice (4 cr.)
This course looks at the evolution of crime—from lone criminals to worldwide syndicates—using the scientific rigor built into the selected readings and discussions. Among the topics examined are the philosophy of community- and problem-oriented policing, transnational crime, terrorism, and the new nexus between them. The course equips current and future leaders with the knowledge and depth of understanding to assess and manage the opportunities, innovations, and challenges in their profession.
PPPA 8351 Policy Analysis in the Criminal Justice System (4 cr.)
This course reviews key court decisions and explores the tension between constitutionally guaranteed individual rights and crime-prevention and public-safety efforts. The course also covers policy analysis and planning in the criminal justice field, and offers an understanding of the policy context in which the criminal justice system functions.
PPPA 8352 Leadership: Putting Theory Into Practice in Criminal Justice Administration (4 cr.)
This course introduces students to the problems that currently confront the administration of the criminal justice system, as well as problems predicted for the future. So that students are prepared to lead efforts to address these challenges, this course offers powerful models for strategic, critical, and reflective thinking. This course also immerses students in discussion about the major components of effective justice administration: organizational thought and theory, leadership, human capital, policy development and implementation, and collaboration with other public safety and community organizations.
PPPA 8360 Public Safety Issues (4 cr.)
This is a comprehensive survey of the issues faced by public safety agencies and personnel at the local, state, and national level, including police and sheriff, emergency medical, and fire services and related organizations. It emphasizes communication and coordination between public safety organizations.
PPPA 8361 Managing Public Safety Organizations (4 cr.)
This course examines how public safety leaders find solutions to major issues confronting their operating systems, both organizations and communities, through research, analysis, planning, and decision-making. It adapts classic business management techniques and leadership principles to public safety operations. The concepts of “first-planner” and “first-responder” are introduced. Solutions and alternatives to varied situations confronting public safety managers are developed. Emphasis is on systems approaches, environmental analyses, contingency planning, implications for change, coordination, and controls.
PPPA 8362 Ethics in Preserving Public Safety (4 cr.)
This course applies the lessons of the first two courses in the specialization—management issues and planning solutions—to specific cases of leadership and personal responsibility in the public safety field. Using primarily the case study method, students will analyze leadership and ethical issues public safety officials encounter in their work and develop effective approaches for how standards and ethics can best be instilled throughout a public safety organization. Students analyze classic cases, including the federal 9/11 Commission report, for lessons applicable to any public safety agency and situation—in intelligence, planning, operations, command, interagency coordination, communication, and technology.
PPPA 8380 Policy and Politics in American Political Institutions (4 cr.)
This course introduces students to the crafts of policy-making and analysis in the American democratic system. It covers the policy process—agenda setting, using policy analysis tools, managing the political process, implementing policy, and providing evaluation and feedback. Students develop skills in policy and economic analysis, as well as skills in determining the political feasibility of proposed policies. Regulation as a policy choice is discussed. Students completing this course will enhance their abilities to develop alternatives and to assess strategies that are proposed to achieve certain policy objectives. Policy areas of interest to students form the foundation of this course and may include communications, immigration, social, transportation, housing, labor, arts, and environmental policies.
PPPA 8381 Program Public Policy and Evaluation (4 cr.)
This course provides an introduction to the tools used by policy-makers and policy analysts to evaluate the impact of social programs. Topics include selecting programs to evaluate, crafting program descriptions, identifying stakeholders and their interests, developing logic models, framing evaluation questions, applying utilization-focused evaluation techniques, using quantitative and qualitative tools to complete formative and summative evaluations, and formulating evaluation reports, and providing feedback to decision-makers. By the end of the course, each student develops a program evaluation design for a social program. (Previously listed as PPPA 8381 Program Evaluation.)
PPPA 8382 Public Policy and Finance (4 cr.)
This course covers both micro- and macroeconomic models used in policy formulation and how public finance influences policy choices as well as implementation alternatives. Students examine tax policies and tax incentive models, budgeting, public/private models, market influences on policy, the impact of government expenditures on income redistribution, and economic considerations of welfare, food stamps, workers’ compensation, and Social Security. Outsourcing of public programs is also examined.
PPPA 8390 Strategic Context of Public Management and Leadership (4 cr.)
Public policy implementation can take place in either a public organization, a private one, a nonprofit one, or a combined or networked one. This course engages learners in a collaborative study of the changing strategic context of public administration as they apply a strategic planning and management approach to the implementation of public policy. Learners are introduced to planning, management, financial management, performance management, and contracting processes in the organization whose purpose it is to implement public policy.
PPPA 8391 Transformative Change in a Shared-Power World (4 cr.)
This course engages students in collaborative study of the nature and methods of transformative change in the complex human systems of contemporary public organizations. Students learn a pragmatic action learning process for learning from the experience of transformative change in complex systems. The dynamics of complex adaptive systems are studied to gain an understanding of how large-scale and highly interrelated human systems change through self-organization. Appreciative inquiry and other selected methods of transformative change are studied and applied to a positive organizational change situation of special interest to the students. Students also develop professional action habits for pragmatic action learning in the practice of public administration.
PPPA 8392 The Language of Leadership (4 cr.)
In today’s complex environment, leaders engaged in shaping public policy must know how to use the emotional as well as the intellectual power of language to motivate, inspire, and competently manage their organizations. Dynamic leadership requires understanding and use of techniques that affect both conscious and unconscious influences on human behavior. Effective communication connects at many different levels. This course provides students both theoretical and practical information demonstrating the necessary components for making such connections and show them why stories, symbols, and metaphors are an essential element in the language of leadership.
PPPA 8400 Nonprofit and Governmental Budgeting and Finance (4 cr.)
This course examines governmental and nonprofit budgeting policies and practices, as well as the fiscal climate within which these organizations have to operate. Students gain a better understanding of the role of finance in public and nonprofit organizations and the theories underlying major fiscal policy debates. They also learn how to construct budgets and capital improvement plans, as well as how to successfully generate funds to support nonprofit sector organizations.
PPPA 8427 Research Seminar II: Research Methods (5 cr.)
Topics include problem definition; development of research questions; theory and hypothesis testing; variable definition and measurement; correlational, survey, observational, and nonexperimental designs; experimental design; language, logic, and execution of qualitative designs; and integrated qualitative and quantitative designs. Students write the dissertation prospectus and develop skeleton drafts of their proposals as part of the course. (Prerequisites: SBSF 8417 and either KAM V or KAM VI. Students must take this course before nominating their dissertation supervisory committee, but should not take it until they are ready to develop the dissertation prospectus.)
PPPA 8437 Research Seminar III: Data Analysis (5 cr.)
This course covers descriptive statistics; statistical inference; and quantitative techniques, including analysis of variance and covariance, multiple linear regression, and various nonparametric techniques. Other topics include software for data analysis, qualitative data reduction and analysis, data management techniques, and integrating qualitative and quantitative data for analysis. (Offered winter and summer quarters. Attendance at a designated Walden residency is required. Prerequisite: SBSF 8417.)
PPPA 8500 Organizational Theory and Behavior (4 cr.)
This course focuses on behavior in organizations as influenced by individual differences, group processes and interactions, and organizational processes. Skills and abilities essential for effective management in changing organizational contexts are emphasized. Topics examined include motivation, productivity, diversity, group development, team building, decision-making and communication processes, power and politics, leadership, job design, and organizational culture.
PPPA 8600 Human Resource Management (4 cr.)
This course is a survey of philosophy, approaches, and systems of managing people in government and nonprofit organizations. It includes historical developments, personnel management practices and behaviors, and current issues. It examines recruitment, classification, compensation, training, evaluation, and labor-management relations functions.
PPPA 8700 Policy Analysis (4 cr.)
This course provides a broad perspective on the policy process, recognizing that both public and nonprofit administrators are intimately involved in executive and legislative/board policy- and decision-making. It focuses on how policy is initiated, researched, shaped for decision-making, decided, implemented, and then evaluated. Balanced attention is given to the dynamics of the policy-making process itself and the analytical and communications tools that equip professionals at many levels in organizations to be effective actors in this process.
PPPA 8800 Strategic Management of Information (4 cr.)
This course is designed to give students an in-depth understanding of information resources and their implications for the public and nonprofit sectors. Advancements in information technology, which are making e-government a reality and are causing administrators to rethink their approach to service delivery, are explored as well as new ways of structuring organizations for greater productivity. The human systems and organizational culture impacts of information technology are also examined.
PPPA 8840 Independent Study (4 cr.)
This course provides students an opportunity to create and conduct an individualized area of study. Students are assigned an instructor to assist and assess the work completed during the course.
PPPA 9000 Dissertation (30 cr.)
This course offers doctoral students the opportunity to integrate their Program of Study into an in-depth exploration of an interest area that includes the completion of a research study. Students complete the dissertation independently, with the guidance of a dissertation supervisory committee chair and committee members. Students complete a prospectus, proposal, institutional review board application, and dissertation. Once students register for PPPA 9000, they will be registered each term until successful completion of the dissertation. (Prerequisites: Core KAMs, SBSF 8417, PPPA 8427.)
