The Evans School's Master of Public Administration (MPA) program emphasizes broad-based fundamentals in policy analysis and management, while allowing you to pursue a field of specialization through an area of focus.
Our MPA degree includes 60 total credit hours:
Most of our MPA students enroll full-time and complete the program in two years. We also welcome part-time students and offer evening options for some courses.
Find out more about the Evans School MPA degree requirements, or our specialized Peace Corps Master’s International MPA track.
To earn an Evans School Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree, you must complete 60-credit hours of course work and a three-month internship. The 60-credit hours of required course work includes:
Twenty-eight credits of core courses that will help you develop fundamental policy and management skills. These courses are taken in sequence, mainly during your first year of study.
The core courses include:
Some core courses can be waived by examination.
Twenty-six elective credits with a minimum of 15 related to your area of focus and chosen in a combination of:
View a complete list of core and restricted elective requirements for 2008-09 (159.3 KB PDF)
A degree project, worth six credits, which involves working closely with a faculty member to research a topic of serious interest to you. The project can be completed in one of three ways:
The three-month internship, totaling a minimum of 400 work hours for a government, nonprofit, or private organization, must be related to your professional goals and require you to use a substantial amount of analytic or managerial knowledge. (The internship requirement can be waived if you have at least two years of recent professional-level public service experience related to your degree and career goals.)
For more information, contact the Evans School Student Services office at evansrec@u.washington.edu or 206.543.4900.
The Evans School Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) MPA track focuses on international development of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and combines our Master of Public Administration degree with two years of Peace Corps service.
Today’s NGO leaders need more than just a vision and grassroots organizational skills. They need to know how to strategically manage and strengthen their organizations in the context of the competitive and growing NGO sector.
With our PCMI MPA track, you will learn the analytical and managerial skills needed to run an NGO while pursuing a chosen field of specialization in international development.
Most of our PCMI students enroll full-time and complete their degree in three and half years. Our program includes 51-credit hours:
Find out more about the Peace Corps Master’s International MPA track degree requirements.
The Evans School PCMI program was developed through generous support from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. The UW also offers two other PCMI programs:
To earn an Evans School Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree through our Peace Corps Master’s International track, you must complete 51-credit hours of course work and two years of overseas Peace Corps service. The 51-credit hours of required course work include:
Twenty-eight credits of core courses that will help you develop fundamental policy and management skills. These courses are taken in sequence, mainly during your first year of study.
The core courses include:
Some core courses can be waived by examination.
Seventeen elective credits with a minimum of 15 related to your area of focus and chosen in a combination of:
A degree project worth six credits that involves faculty advising for a research report on a topic of serious interest to you. Work on your project report will begin during your Peace Corps assignment, and then completed after you return from overseas.
View a complete list of core and restricted elective requirements for 2007-2008 (26 KB XLS)
The Peace Corps portion of the degree involves two years of volunteer service overseas working with:
You will be assigned to a local, national, or international NGO to work on projects that will increase the quality and effectiveness of their services. Such projects include:
Peace Corps projects completed by previous Evans School PCMI students include microcredit financing for small businesses in Morocco, youth development in Grenada, and AIDS education in South Africa, among others.
Before leaving for your assignment, you will be partnered with a fellow PCMI student who has already returned from their tour of service. Your partner will serve as a peer-mentor while you are overseas. After you return, you will return the favor for a different PCMI student who is about to begin their tour of service.
For more information, contact the Evans School Student Services office at evansrec@u.washington.edu or 206.543.4900.