The Degree of Master of Public Service and Administration
The George Bush School of Government and Public Service offers an interdisciplinary, non-thesis program leading to the degree of
Master of Public Service and Administration (MPSA).
The curriculum in the Bush School provides a professional education for those persons seeking to lead and manage organizations concerned with furthering the public interest. Successful leaders in public and not-for-profit organizations must possess a combination of substantive knowledge and critical skills. This knowledge includes an understanding of the structures and processes of policy formation and the political, social and economic forces that shape policy transactions. Coalition building, personnel motivation, policy analysis and effective communication are skills crucial to productive public service. The Bush School will equip students having a disposition toward leadership and public service with vital skills and knowledge critical for professional careers, whether in federal, state or local government, or in the not-for-profit sectors.
The MPSA degree is a two-year, 54 credit hour professional program that includes a core curriculum of 8 courses, a summer internship, seven electives and a capstone policy seminar. The program integrates leadership assessment and skills acquisition throughout the two-year course of study. The MPSA degree is a non-thesis degree.
For further information about the Bush School, including requests for admission materials, please contact: Bush School, Texas A&M University, 4220 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4220, email admissions@bushschool.tamu.edu or on the website bush.tamu.edu.
Students must complete 12 credit hours of Texas A&M University resident credit to satisfy the residence requirement for the Master of Public Service and Administration degree.
Student's Advisory Committee
After receiving admission to graduate studies and enrolling for course work, the student will consult with the program director concerning appointment of the chair of his or her advisory committee. The student's advisory committee for the master's degree will consist of
no fewer than three members of the graduate faculty
representative of the student's fields of study. The chair or one of the co-chairs of the advisory committee must be from the student's department, and
at least one or more of the members must be from a department other than the student's major department.
The chair, in consultation with the student, will select the remainder of the advisory committee. The chair will then notify the tentative members of the advisory committee, giving the student's name and field of study, and request that they consider serving on this committee. The student will interview each prospective committee member to determine whether he or she is willing to serve. Only graduate faculty members located on the campuses at College Station, Galveston, Texas A&M University-Temple Campus or Institute of Biosciences and Technology-Houston may serve as chair of a student's advisory committee. Other graduate faculty members
, including the Texas A&M University System graduate faculty,
may serve as co-chair with an individual located at College Station or Galveston. The chair of the committee, who usually has immediate supervision of the student's degree program, has the responsibility for calling required meetings of the committee and for calling meetings at any other time considered desirable.
If the chair of the student's advisory committee is unavailable for an extended time in any academic period during which the student is involved in activities relating to an internship and is registered for 684, 692 or 693 courses, the student may request, in writing, that the department head appoint an alternate advisory committee chair during the interim period.
The duties of the committee include responsibility for the proposed degree plan and any professional study or project. In addition, the committee as a group and as individual members is responsible for counseling the student on academic matters, and, in the case of academic deficiency, initiating recommendations to the Office of Graduate Studies.
The committee members' signatures on the degree plan indicate their willingness to accept the responsibility for guiding and directing the entire academic program of the student and for initiating all academic actions concerning the student. Although individual committee members may be replaced by petition for valid reasons, a committee cannot resign
en masse.
Degree Plan
The student's advisory committee, in consultation with the student, will develop the proposed degree plan.
The degree plan must be completed and filed with the Office of Graduate Studies following the deadlines imposed by the student's college, and no later than the dates announced in the OGS calendar of deadlines for graduation. No exceptions are allowed.
This proposed degree plan must be typed and submitted on the official form as it appears on the website at ogs.tamu.edu/OGS/currentForms.htm with endorsements by the student's advisory committee and the head of the student's major department.
Credit Requirement
A minimum of 54 semester credit hours of approved courses that include a core curriculum of 8 courses, a summer internship, seven elective courses and a capstone policy seminar is required for the Master of Public Service and Administration degree.
Limitations on the Use of Transfer, Extension and Certain Other Courses
Some departments may have more restrictive requirements for transfer work. If otherwise acceptable, certain courses may be used toward meeting credit-hour requirements for the master's degree under the following limitations.
| 1. |
A total of any combination of a and b below may not exceed
the greater of either 12 hours or one-third (1/3) of the total hours on
the degree plan. |
| |
a. |
The maximum number of credit hours which may be considered
for transfer credit is the greater of 12 hours or one-third (1/3) of the
total hours of a degree plan. The following restrictions apply: |
| |
|
• |
Courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution,
or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater
will be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were
completed, the student was in degree-seeking status at Texas A&M University,
or the student was in degree-seeking status at the institution at which
the courses were taken; and if the courses would be accepted for credit
toward a similar degree for students in degree-seeking status at the host
institution. |
| |
|
• |
Courses previously used for another degree are not acceptable
for degree plan credit. |
| |
b. |
A maximum of 12 credit hours of 489 and/or 689 (Special Topics). |
| 2. |
A maximum of 8 hours of 684 (Professional Internship), or
485 and/or 685 (Directed Studies), and up to 3 hours of 690 (Theory of
Research), and up to 3 hours of 695 (Frontiers in Research)--any combination
of 684, 685, 690 and 695 may not exceed 25 percent of the total credit
hour requirement shown on the individual degree plan |
| 3. |
A maximum of 2 hours of Seminar (481/681). |
| 4. |
A maximum of 9 hours of advanced undergraduate courses (300-
or 400-level). |
| 5. |
No credit may be obtained by correspondence study. |
| 6. |
For graduate courses of three weeks' duration or less, up
to 1 hour of credit may be obtained for each five-day week of course work.
Each week of course work must include at least 15 contact hours. |
| 7. |
No credit hours of 691 (Research) may be used. |
| 8. |
Continuing education courses may not be used for graduate
credit. |
| 9. |
Extension courses are not acceptable for credit. |
Exceptions will be permitted only in unusual cases and when petitioned by the student's advisory committee and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies.
Transfer of Credit
A student who has earned 12 hours of graduate credit in residence at Texas A&M University may be authorized to transfer courses in excess of the limits prescribed above upon the advice of the advisory committee and with the advance approval of the Office of Graduate Studies
if these courses are not available at Texas A&M University. Courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater might be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the student was in degree-seeking status at Texas A&M University or at the institution at which the courses were taken, and if the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for students in degree-seeking status at the host institution. Otherwise, the limitations stated in the preceding section apply. Course work
in which no formal grades are given or in which grades other than letter grades (A, B, C, etc.) are given (for example, CR, P, S, U, H, etc.) is not accepted for transfer credit. Courses appearing on the degree plan with grades of D, F or U may not be absolved by transfer work. Credit for thesis research or the equivalent is not transferable. Credit for course work submitted for transfer from any college or university must be shown in semester credit hours or equated to semester credit hours. An official transcript from the university at which the transfer course work was taken must be sent directly to the Office of Admissions and Records.
Courses completed at other institutions are not included in computing the GPR.
Foreign Languages
There is no specific language requirement for the Master of Public Service and Administration degree.
Internship
During the summer between their first and second year, students participate in an internship related to their career plans. Six hours of graduate course-work credit is earned by satisfactorily completing this requirement.
Time Limit
All degree requirements must be completed within a period of seven consecutive years for the degree to be granted. A course will be considered valid until seven years after the end of the semester in which it is taken. Graduate credit for course work which is more than seven calendar years old may not be used to satisfy degree requirements.
Application for Degree
Graduate degrees are conferred at the close of each regular semester and 10-week summer semester. Candidates for advanced degrees who expect to complete their work at the end of a given semester must apply for graduation by submitting the electronic application for degree to the Office of the Registrar and by paying the required graduation fee at the Fiscal Department no later than the Friday of the second week of the fall or spring semester or the Friday of the first week of the first summer term.
The electronic application for degree can be accessed via the website degreeapp.tamu.edu. Graduate students in interdisciplinary programs should attend the ceremony of their home academic department.
Final Examination
A final comprehensive examination is not required for the Master of Public Service and Administration.
