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Home > Accreditation > For Programs Seeking Accreditation > Reference Documents >

Guidelines

Diversity Guideline

Local Government Management Education

Developing a Master's Degree Specialization in Public Works Administration within the MPA Degree

Public Service Internships

Graduate Professional Education in Nonprofit Organizations Management and Leadership (Revised October 2006)

Graduate Professional Education in Health Care Organizations, Management and Leadership

DIVERSITY GUIDELINE

These guidelines help NASPAA members establish and maintain diversity in their faculties and student bodies and provide recommendations and illustrations how programs can demonstrate a commitment to the integration of diversity with educational content.

NASPAA's Standards For Professional Master's Degree Program in Public Affairs and Administration manifest a commitment to diversity as an objective.

Standard 5.5 requires programs seeking accreditation to provide "evidence that specific plans are being implemented to assure the diversity of the composition of the faculty with respect to the representation of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities."

Standard 6.1 asserts that goals, policy and standards pertaining to student admissions should reflect "specific concern for the representation of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities." In addition to the standards concerning faculty and student diversity, these guidelines also recognize the need for students to develop a capacity to function in organizational settings with diverse work forces, clients and related groups.

Consequently, methods of incorporating diversity concerns into the curriculum also are presented in this document. The program administrator is ultimately responsible for implementing these standards.

If programs pursue the strategies presented below, they will enhance their prospects for fostering diversity. The guidelines are not, however, exhaustive. Other strategies may also prove effective in achieving the goal.

These guidelines address faculty diversity as it relates to race and sex. All university programs also have an obligation to facilitate the hiring of faculty and enrollment of students with disabilities. Programs should, therefore, review their physical facilities and support services to identify and, whenever possible, remove obstacles which hinder persons with disabilities. Faculty and students with disabilities should actively be sought and provided needed assistance and support. In this regard, graduate programs should be aware of the office/individuals within the university who are knowledgeable of recruitment services, hiring requirements, and support services for persons with disabilities.

FACULTY DIVERSITY

Under Standard 5.5, programs undergoing review must provide evidence that they have made an active effort to attract women and minority candidates to the faculty and that they have made a positive effort to provide an attractive, supportive environment for women and minority faculty. Overcoming gender and racial under representation sometimes requires distinctly different strategies than may be used to overcome racial under representation.

Listed below are examples of successful approaches to improving diversity. Individual programs may use supplemental or alternative approaches. Every program undergoing review, however, must demonstrate that a substantial range of activities, similar to those suggested below, has been undertaken. For those programs not successful in achieving diversity, the need to demonstrate an active and aggressive outreach and recruitment effort is especially important. All programs, however, have a responsibility to continue active outreach and recruitment efforts. These guidelines apply to every faculty search.

Faculty Recruiting

I. Developing a Diverse Pool of Candidates

In order to develop a substantial pool of women and minority candidates, programs must go beyond traditional advertisement in newspapers and professional journals, or distribution of position announcements by mail. Programs should distribute information concerning faculty positions to a broad range of minority and women's organizations both within and outside public administration. Appended is a list of such professional groups and associations.

Beyond distribution of position announcements, effective recruiting requires personal contacts. Programs should actively solicit nominations via personal contacts with colleagues and with the leadership of appropriate minority and women's organizations. Programs should ask placement directors at Ph.D.-granting institutions for folders and credentials of promising women and minority graduates or ABD's. Colleagues at NASPAA-member institutions also may be willing to provide assistance in identifying or nominating prospective candidates. In addition, programs should assure that the length of time allotted to the search is adequate to allow female and minority candidates to apply.

Development of a pool of potential female and minority applicants should be a continuous process, extending beyond the filling of a particular position. This requires maintaining regular contacts with doctoral programs, and frequent contacts with professional women's and minority associations to identify future prospects.

Programs seeking to enhance the pool of prospective candidates also could consider efforts directed toward non-traditional populations. These may include retired female and minority government officials or military officers, community leaders or individuals active in the volunteer sector. Within the college community, experienced female and minority faculty willing and able to retool in a related discipline may be sought. Programs may wish to consider providing financial assistance, released time, and other forms of support for women and minorities willing to undertake a doctoral program as a vehicle for career change or retooling.

II. Screening and Hiring

In all activities related to the recruitment process, ranging from the search committee's screening of candidates for closer review or interviews, through initial telephone contact with the candidate to the extension of a job offer, the program should take care to present an academic, professional and community setting likely to be attractive. This is particularly important for programs in which women or minorities are not well-represented. During the initial contact, for example, efforts should be made to determine the candidate's areas of interest, both personal and professional. When the on-campus visit occurs, opportunities for enhancement and expression of these interests should be emphasized. During the campus visit, candidates should have an opportunity to meet with other women and/or minority faculty or administrators on campus, even if not within the same discipline. Similarly, the candidate should have opportunity to explore the community, perhaps meet with community leaders and/or alumni likely to be supportive and congenial.

Beyond the presentation of a positive and supportive campus atmosphere, programs should assure that all job offers extended to women and minority candidates provide as positive a range of inducements as possible, within the economic and policy constraints of the institution. In addition to salary and benefits, such inducements might include: availability of research support, in released time and/or funding, opportunities for faculty development, funding for conference participation, assistance in meeting special needs; e.g., child care, housing, job opportunities for a spouse and access to professional or community association. Indeed, these are prudent practices to follow regardless of the candidate's race or gender. If an offer is extended to a minority or woman candidate and rejected, the program should determine the reason for the rejection; make every reasonable effort to adjust the offer to meet the candidate's needs, as you would with other candidates; take feasible steps to assure a positive outcome in future negotiations.

To emphasize its commitment to faculty diversity and as a source of support and assistance in the achievement of diversity, a program may wish to establish a specific organizational entity (e.g., committee, task force or designated individual) responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of that program's plan for increasing diversity.

III. Supplemental Activities

In addition to the foregoing activities, programs also may wish to undertake a number of supplemental measures to enhance the participation and visibility of women and minorities. These measures could include: use of women and minority practitioners as part-time or adjunct faculty members and allocation of visiting appointments to women or minority faculty from other institutions. Such appointments include special inducements such as research support, access to special collections and opportunities for collaboration. Other options might include use of women and/or minority faculty from other departments within the same institution, perhaps with some opportunities for retooling; sharing faculty or borrowing for one or several courses from other programs within the same geographic area, and/or use of women or minorities as practitioners-in-residence.

IT CANNOT BE EMPHASIZED TOO STRONGLY, HOWEVER, THAT SUCH MEASURES ARE CONSIDERED SUPPLEMENTAL TO EFFORTS TO INCORPORATE BOTH WOMEN AND MINORITIES WITHIN THE RANKS OF FULL-TIME, TENURE-TRACK FACULTY. NONE OF THE MEASURES SUGGESTED ABOVE IS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTIVE, AGGRESSIVE OUTREACH DIRECTED TOWARD THE ENHANCEMENT OF FACULTY DIVERSITY.

Faculty Development

Retention of women and minority faculty is as much a programmatic responsibility as is outreach, recruitment and hiring. All women and minority faculty should be informed of the institution's formal and informal criteria for tenure and promotion. Faculty members should be provided support, assistance and ample resources to meet these criteria. Supportive activities might include funding for conference travel, released time for research, opportunities for collaboration with senior colleagues, access to professional networks, assistance in developing teaching skills and appointment to prestigious, high-visibility committees. On the other hand, programs should take care that women and minorities on the faculty are not assigned teaching loads, advising tasks or committee work greater than the institutional norm.

STUDENT DIVERSITY

All programs have an obligation to promote enrollment of women and minority students. All programs have a responsibility to encourage promising women and minority students to consider doctoral education in public administration.

To that end, all programs should have in place admissions policies and practices designed to assure gender and racial diversity. These options include: development of programs, within or among institutions designed to attract promising undergraduates; the use of targeted fellowships and assistantships for both master's and doctoral candidates; special meetings, seminars, conferences and/or speaker's programs oriented toward the needs and interests of women and minority students; development of structured support networks and mentoring programs and research support and assistance activities.

Doctoral-granting institutions have a particularly obligation to expand the pool of minority doctoral candidates. An active, aggressive promotional and outreach effort is needed to attract prospective doctoral candidates to the profession and to support completion of doctoral programs. Cooperative programs might be undertaken in conjunction with undergraduate and master's program to identify prospective students and encourage interest in academic careers. Fellowships, research and teaching assistantships should be specifically examined and targeted for increased participation by minority students. Housing assistance, support for doctoral research, access to senior faculty mentors and to professional networks are among other forms of assistance which could be made available.

CURRICULAR AND PROGRAMMATIC ENRICHMENT

All graduates of master's degree program in public affairs and administration are required to function in increasingly diverse and heterogeneous organizational settings. Consequently, course and curriculum materials as well as other programmatic activities should expose students to issues relating to race and gender and develop in them the capacity to work effectively with individuals representing diverse backgrounds.

Among the activities which might be undertaken are the following:

CONCLUSION

Enhancing faculty and student diversity within its member institutions is a central concern of NASPAA. These guidelines represent practical and realistic suggestions. Noting the difficulties associated with these efforts, NASPAA is convinced, however, that progress can be made toward establishing greater representativeness of personnel in public affairs/public administration programs.

Approved by NASPAA Executive Council April 12, 1992 Chicago, Illinois April 11, 1992 Baltimore, Maryland Revised April 15, 1993

Revised by COPRA October 10, 2005

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
ICMA/NASPAA Task Force on Local Government Management Education, 1992

Preamble

American local government has been variously viewed as the "cradle of liberty" for American democracy, as the context for the "grassroots democracy" deemed so important by Thomas Jefferson, and as the appropriate focus of responsibility for the delivery of most public services by a succession of recent U.S. presidential administrations. American local governments-- counties, cities, villages, towns, townships, regional councils of governments, regional planning agencies, school districts, and other special service districts--collectively employ more persons in civilian jobs than any other level of government. Local government is the only level of government that delivers services directly to every citizen in the nation. It is local government that has the first and primary responsibility for providing the bulk of the public services upon which twentieth century American life depends.

The quality of American local government, in short, is critical. It is crucial to the American quality of life; it is essential for the maintenance of American political values and practices. Since no government can be better than the quality of its leadership--including the people who are appointed to direct and administer its daily operations and activities--the availability of competent local leadership is similarly crucial.

Capable, professional leadership in local government must be stimulated, nurtured, and prepared. It should not simply grow out of experience nor be the accidental by-product of other professional education programs. Students must be given an opportunity to observe and understand the qualities and responsibilities associated with local leadership positions. Those attracted to local leadership must be transformed into highly qualified and dedicated public leaders who accept and advance the standards of professionalism in local government management.

The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) are interested in and recognize the importance of education in liberal arts, functional specializations, and general administration as it pertains to local government and urban affairs. Because of their special concern with educational preparation, these organizations have developed the following guidelines to assist colleges and universities in the development of their own efforts to meet this educational responsibility, and particularly to assist in offering professional degree programs tailored to address directly the need for competent, responsible local government leadership.

Statement of Purpose

The development of these suggestions has been predicated upon the belief that the administration of local government agencies is a component of professional public administration that shares the values of general public administration, yet encompasses some aspects that are separate and unique to local government. As a profession, local government management embodies all of the traditional values of commitment, service, dedication, and selflessness historically associated with the concept of professionalism. It is a profession that is committed to excellence in the discharge of the "sacred trust" about which Woodrow Wilson wrote in his 1887 essay that first articulated the concept of professional public service.

Local government administrators are distinguished from their colleagues in other facets of professional public administration by their close working association on a daily basis with both their elected superiors and the residents of the communities that they serve. Not only must they preserve and protect "the cradle of democracy" at its "grassroots" level but also they must supervise and coordinate a wide array of public services produced by an exceedingly diverse range of separate professions, and see to the delivery of those services while interacting, directly and continuously, with the specific individuals being served.

These activities are to be accomplished with the greatest possible economy and efficiency since the use of resources by local governments has always been more closely scrutinized than at other levels of government. Administrators, even in small communities, must demonstrate a range of capabilities and master a diversity of relationships found only among the few most highly placed administrators at other levels of government.

Local government managers thus are public servants engaged in a profession dedicated to protecting and enriching the quality of life in the communities that they serve. They are members of a profession committed to the tenants of democracy and to the preservation and enhancement of democratic principles in local government.

A profession committed to such ideals can optimize its fulfillment only by seeking and sustaining a close working relationship with the educational institutions that prepare persons for entry into the profession. Such a profession must work with these institutions to develop programs for students that will enhance their democratic political values and impart to them the expertise that, in turn, will enable them to fulfill the goals and ideals of the profession.

The guidelines contained in this document have been developed for these purposes. They have been prepared and approved collectively by representatives of ICMA and NASPAA. They are not designed to serve as a basis for accreditation or certification, nor are they meant to be the sole model for local government management education; rather, they are offered as a guide to educational programs seeking to develop and enhance instructional offerings that will serve governments at the local level, and thereby promote a more complete achievement of democratic objectives in political and governmental processes. These suggestions are particularly germane to programs focused exclusively or predominantly on local government.

Curriculum

A curriculum designed to prepare persons for professional careers in local government management should be built upon the standards established by NASPAA for master's programs in public administration. The core curriculum requirements in the NASPAA standards cover the knowledge and skills needed by any professional public manager.

To serve simultaneously as the core of a local government management curriculum, however, the courses in the curriculum prescribed by the NASPAA standards should integrate local government concepts, issues, and examples so that local government management students are familiar with what is generic as well as distinct about the context and administration of local governments. Courses that draw only, or even largely, upon knowledge and examples drawn from the federal or state experience are not sufficient. The local government environment is unique. No other legislative system, for example, is so dependent upon part-time, functionally non-partisan, elected officials. Instruction in local government management must make such distinctions.

The model presented here offers a more intensive local government alternative to the standard model of a generic core coupled with advanced components leading to a specialty. As such, it suggests tailoring the core curriculum to meet the needs of professional local government administrators. Consequently, the following discussion of substantive knowledge and management skills is designed to augment NASPAA's statement of the common curricular components. A matrix that fits possible courses into the core curriculum is offered in Appendix A.

Finally, this model can also serve as a guide to developing the content of courses in local government to serve the needs of persons educated in other professional programs who wish to benefit from exposure to knowledge regarding the policy-making and administrative operations of American local government.

Substantive Knowledge

The content of the curriculum in local government management should be predicated upon the recognition that the local government manager is an important change agent who needs to be attentive to problems in the community, should be in the vanguard of efforts to seek change to solve those problems, and always acts with full awareness of the public administrator's role as integral to democratic political processes.

Elements that should be added to, or emphasized in, the NASPAA curriculum standards for purposes of educating professional local government administrators include:

1. Management and Administration - Local government administrators must be integrative managers and administrators par excellence. Within the local government organization, they must provide staff leadership, design and implement change, structure and coordinate the activities of diverse departments--some of which may have elected heads or appointed citizen advisory boards--improve productivity, and set the tone for high standards of performance among staff. They also link the organization to its elected officials, the public, and the array of organizations and agencies with which local governments must interact.

2. Political Accountability and Local Politics - Local government administrators should understand the roles and characteristics of elected officials and the nature of governing board-administrator relations, including: the patterns of political activity unique to the local level; the differences in political behavior by long- and short- term residents of the community; the local impact of single-issue politics; the different kinds of political cultures found at the local level; the appropriate patterns of interaction between professional administrators and the political arena; and the nature of the politics of interlocal government relations.

In a separate, but equally important, sense, local government managers must understand that political processes are dynamic and ever-changing; that the actions of the professional public manager may necessarily be subject to modification in responses to such changes; and that managerial success requires the ability to adapt to changing political roles as well as changing political personalities. To achieve these purposes, local government managers must be provided with working familiarity with the ICMA Code of Ethics and its accompanying guidelines.

3. Policy-Making and Policy Analysis - These areas are components of basic public administration education. They are equally important to the education of professional local government administrators. However, educational programs directed to such administrators must also focus upon differences in the application of policy-making and policy analysis concepts and methods at the local government level, and particularly in the small community setting. The policy-making process, the users of policy analysis, the resources for such analysis, and the environment in which such processes and activities occur are different at the local level; students must be sensitive to these differences, to their implications for methods of inquiry, and to their effects upon public policy activities.

4. Administrative Values - Local governments operate at the grass roots level of American democracy. It is particularly important that local administrators be well grounded in the responsibilities of professional administrators in a democratic society and aware of their responsibilities for leadership, and especially of their responsibilities for responsiveness to both the immediate public interest and to the long- term public good.

5. Administrative Ethics - Ethical problems are not unique to local government, but the local government leader operates in unusually close proximity to constituents and, as a result, is subject to special political and ethical pressures. Local government administrators need to know how to apply the ethical values emphasized in the NASPAA curriculum; they should be fully aware of the ICMA Code of Ethics and its application. In addition they need to know where and when they will face ethical problems as well as how to deal with ethical dilemmas. Most importantly, they must know how to be the vigilant conscience of their administrative staff and elected officials, and set an appropriate example to bring ethical principles into both public policy considerations and the daily operations of local government. Finally, local administrators need to have a sense of how to apply ethics (e.g. when to bend and when not to bend) in the ongoing practice of administration.

6. Citizen Participation and Public Relations - The link between local government and the public is critical--perhaps even more so than the link between federal or state government and the public because of the direct proximity of local government to its constituents. The public as citizens must be involved in policy making, as members of boards and committees that advise government officials, as customers and clients who receive services, and increasingly as co-producers of services. Administrators must be sensitive to the need for, and work to assure that, activities involving citizen participation will include persons who represent the diversity of the community's social composition. The success of many public programs and the acceptance of local government initiatives require that the public and the media be fully informed about the purpose and activities of local government.

7. Intergovernmental Relations - The focus for the local government administrator needs to be on interlocal, interregional, local-state, and local-national government relations. Administrators should fully understand the need for effective interactions with the non-profit and private sectors and the issues surrounding the involvement of private organizations in public decision making and the private provision of public services. Traditional orientations of the federal system comprised of federal-to-state-to-local processes should be supplemented with more contemporary orientations that focus upon the local government as the primary provider of public services, often in accordance with federal and state regulations and with limited or no outside financial assistance.

8. Legislative Behavior - Increasingly, local government officials must play proactive roles in conjunction with state and federal legislative bodies regarding the development of state and national policy affecting government at the local level. Such roles require that local leaders be familiar with the behavior of such legislative bodies and able to interact with them in ways that promote the interest of their local constituencies.

9. Planning - Broad familiarity with planning, not only land use planning but also financial planning, personnel planning, strategic planning and long-range planning for service delivery functions, is necessary for local management to meet the needs of the 1990s and beyond.

10. Local Government Law - Of particular importance to local government administrators is familiarity with local, state, and federal law as it applies to such functional areas as land use, zoning, health and safety regulation, and code enforcement. Administrative law, especially as it relates to rule making and operations; public liability law; and civil service/personnel operations are also critical. Law as it relates to governmental structure and enabling authority should be stressed.

11. Urban Economics - Administrators need to understand the economic system and the economic dimensions of land use and development, housing, poverty, employment, transportation, and environmental protection. Increasingly, the local administrator needs to grasp the place of the community in the national and international economy.

12. Physical Domain of the City - The physical domain of the city--its economy, its infrastructure, its commercial and industrial facilities, and especially its housing stock have traditionally been the particular concern of local government. Local administrators must understand the factors that affect the quality of this domain, and especially the quality of life in residential neighborhoods, so that community goals can be more expeditiously achieved.

13. Human Resources - People are the key to the labor-intensive functions of local government. As personnel practices can have important implications, administrators should be aware of the various structures and practices of local government personnel administration. They should be particularly concerned with the motivation, development, and appraisal of all local government employees and with assuring that the local government work force reflects and is attentive to the populations served.

14. Accounting and Finance - The local government administrator needs to go far beyond budgeting. Familiarity with accounting and financial reporting, the assessment of financial conditions, knowledge of creative financing techniques, capital financing methods, and cash management are essential. Because they are involved in revenue as well as expenditure policy development, local administrators must understand basic principles of public finance and tax policy.

15. The Dynamics of Community Life - Local managers should have a general familiarity with urban sociology, urban history, demographics, intergroup relations, and community power structures.

16. Human and Social Services - The persistence of "people problems"--related to mental and physical health, poverty, race and ethnic relations, age, housing, education, leisure services, economic opportunities, and other quality of life considerations--is a growing local as well as national concern. The design and delivery of programs and services directed to the solution of such problems are increasingly becoming a local government concern. Local managers must be both sensitive to the circumstances that give rise to such problems and knowledgeable about the service delivery opportunities and difficulties associated with ameliorating them.

17. Racial and Ethnic Diversity - An increase in both the number of women and minority students preparing for managerial careers in local government and local government program faculty who are women or members of minority groups is essential to increase the number of women and minority persons in local government management and to develop greater sensitivity among those trained for management to the needs, concerns, attitudes, and values of the broad range of persons directly served by local government programs. These groups also need effective representation in the policy-making processes of local government. To achieve this end, local government programs must make an active effort to involve women and minority persons as members of their faculties and as speakers, intern supervisors, professional mentors, and educational resource persons.

15. The Dynamics of Community Life - Local managers should have a general familiarity with urban sociology, urban history, demographics, intergroup relations, and community power structures.

Management Skills

Local government administrators require all of the management skills described in the NASPAA standards. They must be able to analyze and communicate information, data, and ideas in terms meaningful to citizens and elected officials who may lack professional skills, and/or related educational background. In addition, they should have educational preparation in the following:

1. Political Analysis - Local government administrators must have antennae to sense key political events and political awareness to understand the dynamics of local political behavior. They should not rely upon locally elected officials as their only source of information about local political groups, emerging political attitudes, changing political values, or potential political difficulties.

2. Consensus Building and Conflict Resolution - Local administrators must understand that logic alone will not suffice in working with adversarial groups. They must understand that they must work as political brokers, using group consensus building techniques and the principles of mediation and conciliation, and be able to use negotiation processes to reconcile divergent interests and points of view.

3. Strategic Planning - Local government administrators must understand the concepts, procedures, and tools for the development of effective strategies to cope with changed and changing circumstances as they affect the local community, and to develop coherent and defensible bases for community decision making.

4. Organization Development and Management - Local governments operate in closer proximity to governmental clientele, to other public service providers, and to persons of all social and economic backgrounds than any other level of government. As a result, they have a unique obligation to provide leadership in the provision and integration of public services and to encourage public service providers to upgrade the quality of life at the neighborhood level. As the officer most responsible for overseeing and integrating the provision of such services, the local government chief administrator must be skilled in organizational design and management, and must utilize these skills both within the local government and among the public and private service providers working at the community level.

5. Long-Range Financial Planning - Unceasing growth of local government responsibilities, coupled with continuing public resistance to increased fiscal support for the public sector, makes it imperative that local government managers engage in careful, informed, and accurate projections of future revenues and expenditure needs; be familiar with a wide range of new and different sources of potential program funding; and engage in cash management, capital budgeting, and revenue forecasting strategies designed to optimize their jurisdiction's long- term fiscal health and stability. Toward this end, their educational experiences must give them extensive familiarity not only with public sector budgeting but also with the full range of finance administration tools, and make them cognizant of the need for and methods of long-term financial planning.

6. Information Technology - Local government administrators need to understand emerging trends in electronic systems used to compile, store, and analyze information and data. They need to be sufficiently expert in the use of such systems to understand when and how to manage such technologies, interpret the results of their use, and optimize the community's benefit from their use.

7. Organization, Analysis, and Evaluation of Information - Local administrators must be able to review and assess quickly large volumes of information and to structure and disseminate the information in a way that is comprehensible and usable in policy deliberations by local officials and community residents.

8. Acquisition of Resources - Today, local government administrators need to be especially adept at securing external funding and support from organizations and foundations as well as funds from state and federal governments.

9. Marketing - As local governments increasingly become suppliers of a broader range of public services, with some directed to specific portions of their constituencies, they need to become more proficient at the marketing or dissemination of public information regarding those services and the benefits afforded to potential users.

10. The local government management education should draw upon the curriculum of courses offered by other professional and graduate programs in the university, and especially from the insights offered by programs in law, human and social services, civil engineering, labor relations, planning, and transportation as well as fields traditionally included in the study of public administration such as political science and business administration.

A matrix suggesting how these curriculum suggestions can be integrated into a curriculum designed according to NASPAA standards is provided in Appendix A.

Faculty

A curriculum for local government administrators requires a programmatic outlook that focuses on the management of local government. Appropriate faculty input into such a program can be obtained from academics who have developed a special expertise in local government management, from those who interact regularly and professionally with local government managers, from faculty drawn from a variety of professional and academic specializations whose courses incorporate local government examples, as well as from persons with professional experience as local government administrators.

A faculty teaching local government administration should meet the standards set forth for graduate public administration programs by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. To fully meet the needs of local government management education, such a faculty should also meet the following criteria:

1. The local government management faculty should represent a diverse mix of individuals. It should blend full-time faculty from such disciplines as public administration, political science, planning, sociology, and economics with full-time administrators who can lend a continuing perspective on current urban community characteristics, needs, and operations. Both perspectives are important. Students should grasp and understand the value of each and appreciate the dialectic between them. Elected officials and leaders of citizen organizations should also be routinely included in the program as visiting speakers and resource persons.

2. Full-time faculty are the key elements of the teaching program. Ideally, such faculty members should be professionally involved in local government. They should be regularly engaged in research and publication on local government management and related topics, and they should be personally involved working with local government administrators. Faculty members should also be aware of the practical and ethical problems posed by personal involvement in local electoral politics. Such activity is not a substitute for professional interaction with professional local government managers and it may serve as an impediment to effective rapport with both professional administrators and elected officials.

3. Part-time, adjunct faculty also play a critically important role. In addition to the perspectives afforded by their offices and experiences, they provide a mentor function that is crucial to student development. However, it is important that such faculty be closely supervised and monitored, receive needed pedagogical advice and assistance, and be encouraged to develop expectations and place demands upon students consistent with those established by the program faculty.

4. Local governments ultimately serve all elements of the population. Local government managers thus must be able to relate professionally to, and interact with, men and women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Local government management faculties can best promote such abilities by exposing students to a diverse mix of professional persons serving as teachers, lecturers, internship supervisors, and mentors. It is thus imperative that local government management programs undertake recruitment and selection programs that will provide students with exposure to such a diversity of persons in all aspects of their educational programs. To achieve this end, local government programs must make an active effort to attract women and minority candidates to their faculty applicant pools and to provide an attractive, supportive campus environment for diverse faculty to pursue their careers. Toward this end, the NASPAA Diversity Guidelines, developed to supplement and augment the NASPAA Standards, need to be rigorously applied in local government education programs.

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Internships -

Use

An internship that integrates the student as an operating member of a management staff is a critical component of the local government management education of pre-service students. The suggestions herein for pre-service internships are more demanding than the regular NASPAA requirements. Local administrators often have a broader range of responsibilities earlier in their careers than administrators at other levels of government. They are required to blend and put into practice more rapidly the broad range of knowledge and skills while experiencing greater scrutiny and pressure from elected officials and the public. The internship, which can be either of a general management or specific administrative function orientation, provides the critical opportunity to test and expand classroom learning under the guidance and teaching of a practitioner supervisor.

For in-service, mid-career students, an internship can also be a valuable experience. It can broaden their perspective, introduce them to new approaches to management and administration, and provide those without administrative experience a practical, working introduction to the profession.

The internship experience is, first and foremost, an educational experience. Both the faculty internship coordinator and the internship supervisor in the administrative agency must function as educators in their dealings with the intern. In particular, supervisors should be informed of their educator role and should assume responsibility for teaching the intern through accepted practicum instruction practices (i.e. application of theoretical knowledge from the classroom to real world situations, demonstration of how knowledge affects problem-solving, interpersonal interactions, communications, and task achievement).

An internship should be a required component of the professional education of pre-service students, and should be made available to mid-career students who can benefit from one.

Design

To fulfill their intended educational purpose, internships should be:

1. A long-term experience, preferably at least six months full-time or one year part-time. Shorter experiences fail to give the student a sufficient range of experience in observing and participating in diverse activities; they provide too little time for the student to grasp adequately the organizational and political cultures of the employing local government. They also fail to capture the seasonal variations that comprise the administrative year. Interns with long- term appointments are more likely to become operating members of an administrative staff rather than short-term visitors assigned a specific task or project.

2. Positions with diverse responsibilities. Management interns should be exposed to a broad range of management problems; given diverse work assignments; expected to perform daily management task responsibilities as well as long-term research and report preparation; required to interact with other professionals, inside and outside the local government, and with constituents; given exposure to political meetings and processes; and provided opportunities for interaction in professional association activities. Internships that focus on a particular project or narrow task assignment are not well suited to the development of broad-based professional managers.

3. Paid positions. Organizations that contribute financially to the support of the internship are more likely, over time, to make more meaningful use of the intern, to provide the intern with more supervision, and to demand more from the intern in terms of professional productivity.

4. Exclusively graduate in nature. Internship opportunities that mix undergraduate and graduate interns are less likely to provide the kind of administrative experience essential to a professional educational program.

Internship programs can follow several different models. The following are illustrative:

1. The one-year, full-time model in which the intern spends full time in an internship following a year or more of academic study (University of Kansas model).

2. The one-year or longer, part-time model in which the intern serves with the government agency while concurrently pursuing a program of graduate study (Northern Illinois University model).

3. The rotation internship in which, during the course of the internship year, the student is assigned to a number of different administrative offices within a local government (Phoenix, Arizona, model).

4. The multiple agency model in which the student follows a planned progression, spending some time with two or more different government agencies over the course of a year (Palm Springs, California, model).

5. The in-service internship model designed to provide administrative experience for in-service students whose work activities have not provided such experience or who want administrative experience in a different setting (University of Delaware model).

Detailed explanations of these models, together with a discussion of their advantages and disadvantages, is contained in Appendix B.

The Mix of Pre-Service and In-Service Graduate Students

The optimum instructional situation is achieved when pre-service and in- service graduate students are mixed in the same classes. Each can learn from the other. The mix creates an atmosphere conducive to a wider exchange of views and perspectives.

Undergraduate Education

Specialized, professional education for local government management should be provided only at the graduate or master's level. Appropriate professional education is best served by combining a broad background of undergraduate studies with a specific, professionally focused graduate program.

Undergraduate education for persons planning to enter the local government management profession should:

1. Be drawn from a wide variety of undergraduate academic disciplines, including political science, economics, sociology, literature, philosophy, accounting, and engineering. Such a diversity provides both strength for the profession and a richer variety of perspectives in the graduate classroom.

2. Be supported by an undergraduate program of study which is based heavily in the liberal arts in order to emphasize the study of people and cultures as well as the study of technical subjects and competencies.

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DEVELOPING A MASTER'S DEGREE
Specialization
in Public Works Administration within the MPA Degree

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance in developing the specialized curricular content of masters level specialization to help fulfill the urgent need for persons with knowledge and competence essential for effective planning and management of public works facilities and services. It is designed for use by universities, public officials, professional associations, and others concerned with improving the quality of administration and performance.

Although these guidelines feature the requisites of a program which fulfills the criteria for the MPA degree established by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), the document also mentions optional choices for other uses in the public works sector.

Preamble

From time to time, proposals for concentrations within the Masters Program of Public Affairs/Administration may be brought to NASPAA. Such proposals will be referred to the Standards Committee.

Review of these proposals is limited to whether the proposal is consistent with the overall structure of the NASPAA Standards. A negative finding simply indicates that the proposed specialization or concentration is not consistent with the Standards. A positive finding does not indicate that the proposal has in any way been added to or become part of the NASPAA Standards. It indicates simply that the concentration offered in the described proposal is consistent with the NASPAA Standards.

Formal Approval Action

At its April 6, 1970, session in Baltimore, Maryland, the NASPAA Executive Council accepted the "Guidelines for Developing a Master's Degree Specialization in the Public Works Association/National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration Joint Committee on Education for Public Works/Environmental Administration as providing a useful model for masters programs desiring to develop a specialty in Public Works Administration. Other models, obviously, are possible. It should be recognized that Section 4.22 for the Additional Curriculum Components of the NASPAA Standards for Professional Masters Degree Programs in Public Affairs and Administration clearly applies to the structure and operation of specialty fields within specific programs, precluding endorsement of any model in isolation from its operational dimensions.

Appreciation

The NASPAA Executive Council expresses their appreciation to the current Joint Committee and their predecessors for their work in developing these guidelines and expresses the hope that they will be useful to educational institutions desiring to develop such program concentrations within the MPA Curriculum.

Target Professional Roles

The public works sector is one of the largest and most diverse fields of public service. It involves planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of physical systems (infrastructure) essential to economic and social development of communities, regions, and nations. These systems include transportation, water resources, waste disposal, public structures and facilities, airports and seaports, public utilities, important aspects of environmental management, and many similar functions.

This sector requires for effective performance a far greater supply of persons who have been professionally educated for planning and managing such facilities and services. The primary market is for engineers, scientists, and other professionals who have already moved, or hope to move, into the main stream of managerial and executive responsibility.

This document is prepared specifically for the guidance of universities, government officials, professional groups, foundations, and others concerned with securing a better response from higher education in serving this vast public service sector. A sampling of vacancies, turnover, and qualifications of recent incumbents in public works positions indicates that a larger network of stronger university programs in public works administration is needed. In the aggregate, these should serve in- service and pre-service personnel and cover the major public works functions.

The term "public works administration" is used generically in this document to cover both spectrum of public works functions and essential administrative knowledge and competencies.

Two Sets of Building Blocks

Two documents provide the framework for the design of graduate programs to serve the above purposes.

First, and basic are the "Standards for Professional Masters Degree Programs in Public Affairs and Administration," as amended October 23, 1992, Cleveland, Ohio, and issued by NASPAA.

Second and substantively important is the handbook "Professional Education in Public Works/Environmental Engineering and Administration" issued jointly by the American Public Works Association (APWA) and NASPAA.

These two documents are compatible and mutually supportive. This new reference guide for designing masters specialization to serve the public works sector incorporates the common curricular requisites of NASPAA's Standards for public administration programs and draws on the functional and substantive contribution of the APWA/NASPAA handbook to provide advanced curricular components.

NASPAA's Standards A complete set of the NASPAA MPA Standards should be obtained from NASPAA, Suite 730, 1120 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005, before an institution proceeds to develop a Public Works Specialization within the MPA degree. The directly relevant elements of NASPAA's standards are presented in the following parts:

4.2 Curriculum Components. The curriculum components are designed to produce professionals capable of intelligent, creative analysis and communication, and action in the public service. Courses taken to fulfill the common curriculum components shall be primarily for graduate students. Both the common and the additional curriculum components need to be assessed as to their quality and consistency with the stated mission of the program.

4.21 Common Curriculum Components. The common curriculum components shall enhance the student's values, knowledge, and skills to act ethically and effectively:

In the Management of Public Service Organizations, the components of which include:

Human resources
Budgeting and financial processes
Information, including computer literacy and applications

In the Application of Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques of Analysis the components of which include:

Policy & program formulation, implementation, and evaluation
Decision-making and problem solving

With an Understanding of the Public Policy and Organizational Environment, the components of which include:

Political and legal institutions and processes
Economic and social institutions and processes
Organization and management concepts and behavior

These area requirements do not prescribe specific courses. Neither do they imply that equal time should be spent on each area or that courses must all be offered by the public affairs, public policy, or public administration programs. Nor should they be interpreted in a manner that might impede the development of special strengths in a program.

A "basic understanding" implies a good exposure to the subject. Substantially, all of the Common Curriculum Components must be covered by required prerequisites and/or graduate work. These common subject matter areas and competencies must be covered adequately in developing a master of public administration curriculum to serve the public works sector. No program which fails to reflect these requisites can be considered in conformity with NASPAA's Standards. The manner in which this is achieved is the responsibility of each university. NASPAA utilizes a self-assessment and peer review process to assist institutions in determining strengths and weaknesses of their program.

Additional Curriculum Components

NASPAA's specifications for this element of a masters program are designed to stimulate and recognize innovation in relating administration to particular fields. The requirements are defined flexibly as follows:

4.22 Additional Curriculum Components. Each program shall clearly define its objectives for additional work and the rationale for the objectives and shall explain how the curriculum is designed to achieve those objectives. The statement of objectives shall include any program specialization or concentrations and the main categories of students to be served (e.g., pre-service, in-service, full-time, part-time). If a program advertises its ability to provide preparation for specialization or concentration in its catalog, bulletin, brochures, and/or posters, evidence shall be given that key courses in the specialization or concentration courses may be offered by units other than the public affairs or administration program. The specialization and concentration courses shall not be substitutes for the common curriculum components.

4.23 General Competencies. The common and additional curriculum components shall develop in students general competencies that are consistent with the program mission. In respect to minimum degree requirements, the NASPAA MPA Standards state that:

4.3 Minimum Degree Requirements. Students with little or no educational background or professional experience in the common and additional curriculum components are expected to devote the equivalent of two academic years of full-time study to complete the professional master's degree program. Where students have had strong undergraduate preparation in the common curriculum requirements or have been engaged in significant managerial activities, some of the subject matter requirements might be appropriately waived or reduced. Even in such cases, students ordinarily must spend the equivalent of a calendar year of full- time study in formal academic work, exclusive of an internship, to obtain the professional master's degree. A calendar year is defined as two semesters and a summer session of at least eight weeks in duration or four quarters (exclusive of internship) of full-time academic work.

Applicability to the Public Works Sector

The immediate purpose of these guidelines developed by the APWA/NASPAA Joint Committee is to explain how NASPAA's common and advanced curricular components can be applied in developing and conducting a specialization in public works administration.

The educational objective is to equip persons who are aspiring to be, or who have already become public works executives, managers and administrative support staff with a professional master's preparation. Graduates of such programs must be able to apply a variety of advanced and specialized kinds of knowledge and competence to substantive policies, issues, operations, technologies, and environments found in the public works sector. A number of schools of public affairs/administration have developed substantial programs with specially designed curricula for various sectoral fields including public works. That experience was reflected in the APWA/NASPAA Handbook, and thus, contributes to its value as a source document for designing the advanced curricular component.

Operational Ways to Serve the Public Works Sector

In considering the desirability and feasibility of initiating a master's level program in public works administration, alternative and complementary options may be considered. The APWA/NASPAA Handbook* describes five ways a university may produce better qualified personnel to serve the public works sector:

*A complete copy of the APWA/NASPAA Handbook may be obtained by writing to APWA Headquarters, 1313 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

Increasing the public works technology and practice component of an engineering curriculum.
Broadening an engineering curriculum to include more public administration and social science subject matter, including a major or specialization in public works planning and management.
Encouraging graduate students in engineering and other pertinent fields (environmental sciences, public health, urban planning, architecture, etc.) to earn a dual or sequential masters degree or certificate in public administration or related public policy, urban management, etc., field.
Recruiting more pre-service and mid-career engineers and scientists for enrollment in ongoing or strengthened programs in public affairs/policy/administration/urban planning/management, or other comparable offerings.
Initiating collaborative arrangements which involve a school of public affairs/administration and a school of engineering, and perhaps other appropriate units, in specially structured or mutually supported programs. The preferred basic component in any such arrangement is a master program in public works administration which fulfills NASPAA's Standards.

All options will be enhanced if they also apply, as much as circumstances permit, the common and advanced curricular components described herein.

Designing a Curriculum

Whether organized in formal cooperation with a school of engineering and other units, or undertaken largely on its own, a school of public affairs/administration should structure a master's program with a public works specialization by utilizing the following:

1. Course offerings and related research/field work of a school of public affairs/administration which fulfill common curricular requirements.

2. Course offerings developed as advanced curricular components for other programs which are also suitable for serving the public works program. Where feasible under both #1 and #2 kinds of courses, public works students should be given an opportunity to focus on problems and applications in the public works sector.

3. Courses specifically designed by the school of public affairs/administration to fulfill public works practitioner needs.

4. A third category of course offerings covering public works subjects sponsored by the school of engineering, public health, environmental sciences, or whatever units are appropriate. Through these courses, the students gain knowledge and competencies in the substantive aspects, technology, and operation of the field application in which they have primary interest, e.g., water resources, transportation, environmental engineering, municipal engineering, etc.

5. In addition to formal courses, public works students in a masters concentration sponsored by a school of public affairs/administration, will need to fulfill specified field work, practicum, or internship requirements in conformity with NASPAA's Standards. These requirements are especially important to students with limited experience. This clinical element is also obtained by replacing a traditional thesis with a problem-solving field research project.

Applying the Advanced Component to a Public Works Specialization

The curriculum should be academic in orientation with intensive components. Most of the course work should involve clinical problem-solving components. The goal is to produce graduates equipped to perform progressively higher level executive and other administrative responsibilities.

In this context, students should be solidly grounded in the functions, tasks, methods, and styles of executives and managers. They need to know how to plan, analyze, develop, advocate, resolve, and implement policies, programs, and projects. Competence in building and managing organizations and achieving individually satisfying and productive group effort are essential.

Once again, the APWA/NASPAA Handbook describes these capabilities and cites the findings of an important study by the National Academy of Public Administration on competence and abilities required to make managers out of engineers and scientists. The advanced curricular component will thus normally include one or two specially designed courses on public works management with a policy and executive/action orientation. Public works management is increasingly conducted in an intergovernmental context. If available courses do not cover this complex area of management from a practitioner perspective, special provision may be indicated. These management courses can incorporate special supplement content as listed in the following section.

Special Content for Public Works Administrators

The APWA/NASPAA Joint Committee has prepared a list of subjects and topics deemed of considerable importance in public works administration. Many of these subjects are appropriately treated in the common curriculum components. Some are of advanced character, and some are so specifically related to public works management that they will need to be addressed as topics in specially designed courses to the extent feasible. All in all, special content should provide a basic understanding and ability to deal with:

Role of public work systems in economic and social development, including the relationship with local, regional, and national planning.
Political, economic, financial, social, and administrative factors contributing to public works capital development, including technical planning and assessment.
Project planning, design, evaluation, and management, including contracting for project development and implementation.
Policy and program planning and implementation in selected fields, e.g., water, resources, transportation, solid waste and other public works activities, including both historical and contemporary perspectives.
Public works organizational alternatives and management systems, strategies, leadership and participatory approaches.
Special requirements in human resource mobilization, personnel management, labor relations, collective bargaining, training, and development in the public works sector.
Public works budgeting, finance, bonding, user fees, special assessment, and reporting.
Public works productivity, techniques including technology transfer, management methods, and motivation of personnel.
Contracting for planning studies, design, construction, operation, and services from the private sector or other governments.
Public works applications of management science, including benefit-cost, cost-effectiveness, allocation models, decision- theory, queuing theory, simulation, etc.
Environmental assessment, urban growth, policy, land use planning, facility location, and physical resources utilization.
Legal processes and issues in public works.

Even two-year master's programs cannot cover all of the desirable subject matter. Rigorous testing as to priority and benefit must be applied to all courses and parts thereof.

Degree Terminology

A common degree for master's program in schools of public affairs/administration is the MPA; other degree designations are also used. The public works program is thus a specialization or concentration. The additive of "specialization in public works administration, public works planning and management" or whatever the program is labeled may be used in making awards or as an inscription on the diploma.

On the other hand, a public affairs/administration school which desires to create a major center with optional public works specialization, may wish to provide a special degree such as master of public works administration, public works planning and management, or just master of public works. Use of different degree terminology in no way modifies the applicability of NASPAA's Standards, just as different degrees for engineering specialties do not vitiate common requirements applicable to all engineering students. Involvement of all relevant disciplines and professional schools in a university is the goal.

Student Background

With good publicity and interpretation, a public works program along the above lines should be attractive to both pre-service and mid-career students, particularly persons with engineering, environmental, and other technological and scientific backgrounds. It will also appeal to pre-entry students with some grounding in urban planning and management or general public administration who need to develop competence in a functional field as a launching pad for a career.

Such a program should have exceptional relevance for persons who have some years of public works or other public experience. Engineers and other professionals generally spend several years in technical or specialized positions before they are assigned managerial responsibilities or conclude that administrative work is a career interest. Such persons may be given some advanced credit or have a particular course or courses waived as indicated in NASPAA's Standards. Naturally, such experience and study should be in management or a relevant professional field.

Approved: April 6, 1979
Revised: January 3, 1983
Revised: October 22, 1988
Revised: April 15, 1993

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INTERNSHIP GUILDLINES

Introductory Statement

Most universities and colleges granting degrees in public administration and related fields require the student to have practical field experience. Using medical school terminology, most institutions call this field experience an internship. However, unlike the medical school requirement, there have been no generally accepted guidelines and standards for public service internships.

As a result, the term public service internship denotes many varied field experiences. Criticisms of internships are many. A common one is that interns are assigned clerical-type chores rather than more meaningful learning experiences. Often students are on their own, they receive little supervision from either on-the-job personnel or university faculty members. Another criticism, from the public service side, is that the students are not properly trained and motivated. From the university side, the criticism is made that internships are not integrated into the academic curriculum.

In response to these and other criticisms, and to supplement other standards and guidelines developed by NASPAA, the Committee on Public Service Internships took as one of its first assignments the development of NASPAA guidelines for public service internships.

We want to make several points before proceeding with our suggested guidelines. We think that public service internships are an integral part of the public service student's professional education, but we also believe that those in charge of such programs must make every effort to see that the internship is conducted in such a way that it is indeed a true learning experience. The internship should not be primarily a means of recruitment for the public service. Nor should it be an after-thought or an add-on. Although we think that the internship can be a valuable part of a public administration program, we take no position that it must be part of all programs. There are alternatives.

Purpose

The public service internship provides the student with a work experience to give him/her a realistic exposure to an organizational-bureaucratic environment. This experience should develop the student's awareness of the internal dynamics of an organization and of the value and attitudes of public employees to both their clientele and their administrative-political superiors.

The internship should give the student the opportunity to become aware of his/her obligations as a professional and to the public. The internship may be one of the few opportunities the student has to test the skills and attitudes development discussed in his/her academic program. Although the intern should handle real work assignments, it should be remembered by all supervisory personnel-both on the job and academic--that the major reason for the internships is to provide a learning experience. The internship should be carefully integrated into the student's overall academic program. The following guidelines are for the general development of internships. Other models may exist and are encouraged.

Duration and Timing. An internship should be related to an academic calendar. A full-time internship should last a minimum of ten weeks and a maximum of 12 months. At a minimum, part- time internships would utilize the student for at least 20 hours per week for 15 weeks.

Undergraduate internships vary somewhat from this general description. NASPAA standards and guidelines adopted for the baccalaureate degree state: "Part-time internships should require a minimum of twenty hours per week for at least one term or semester. Full-time internships should not be less than eight weeks in order for the student to have a meaningful experience." (Added by the NASPAA Executive Council, July 14, 1978.)

Academic Component

As set forth in the NASPAA guidelines and standards for professional degree programs, experiential learning should be considered an indispensable element of public affairs/public administration programs.

For public administration programs which include internships as part of their academic programs, an internship or related field experience may be required of all students. Academic credit should be given for the internship. The internship should be graded on a basis consistent with the policies of the institution (either a pass-fail or a letter grade). Because undergraduate programs typically involve more academic credit than the master's degree, the baccalaureate standards and guidelines have defined limitations on credit, as follows: "Academic credit awarded for internship experiences should not exceed twelve and one-half percent of the total credits required for the baccalaureate degree.

"An additional twelve and one-half percent of total credit may be allowed for appropriate professional experience when such experience is validated through examinations or other established procedures which demonstrates mastery of the content of specific academic courses.... These limitations do not apply to the granting of academic credit through the College Level Entrance Program (CLEP)."

In developing a curriculum plan with the student, an academic adviser should take care that credit for internships in public service is not a large part of the student's total academic program, both undergraduate, and graduate. (Added by the NASPAA Executive Council, July 14, 1978.)

Students who have had considerable experience in the public sector, or who are currently in the public sector, and are students on a part-time basis, may be permitted to waive the internship requirement by demonstrating equivalent experiential learning expected of the intern.

To strengthen the academic component of the internship, where practical, an academic seminar during the internship should be arranged. At the minimum, the student should be required to prepare an academic paper based on his/her practical experience. The paper should be evaluated as a regular seminar paper. For programs with a thesis requirement, students should be encouraged to use the internship as an opportunity to develop thesis documentation.

The MPA program faculty should assume responsibility for the development of policies governing the curriculum and academic aspects of internships programs; responsibility for the implementation of those policies should be assigned to a member of the MPA faculty, who may be the MPA director. The development maintenance, and evaluation of individual internships and the day to day operation of the internship program may be delegated to non-academic professional staff. When such duties are assigned to a member of the MPA faculty, they should be recognized as part of the teaching load or service contribution of that faculty member, and should be appropriately evaluated and rewarded.

Placement

One of the most important components of internships is the nature of the assignment given the student. The primary responsibility for evaluating the adequacy of the placement of the intern should rest with the academic coordinator, not with the student. Ideally, the academic coordinator should offer several placement possibilities in the public sector for the student, and in cooperation with him/her should determine which position would give a particular student the best learning experience, given the student's interests and talents. The student should have the right to refuse an assignment.

Most students will be placed in governmental agencies, but other assignments in the public sector are acceptable. Among the other agencies in which placements would be acceptable are political parties, government relations sections of labor unions and management groups, and such organizations as the League of Women Voters and Common Cause.

When a student is placed, there should be a formal understanding between the public service agency, the academic coordinator, and the student, including a clear understanding of the obligations and responsibilities of all parties. (Usually an agreement can be reached by a discussion among the academic coordinator, the agency representative, and the student, or students.)

Supervision

Both the Agency and the academic coordinator should supervise the intern. The agency should designate an intern supervisor. There should be as much contact with the student as necessary by both the agency supervisor and the academic internship coordinator. The intern should not be left on his/her own. The agency supervisor should spell out work assignments for the intern, and should follow up to see that these assignments are completed satisfactorily. When in doubt, the agency supervisor should feel free to discuss assignments with the academic coordinator. The agency supervisor should be regarded as a partner in the learning experience of the student.

Before and during an internship assignment, where practicable, there should be a series of sessions attended by the student, the academic coordinator, and the agency representative (in most cases this should be the intern supervisor) to discuss their mutual expectations of the internship program. In such sessions, attention should be given to the agency representative to make sure that he/she is aware of the special needs of student interns.

Compensation

The participating agency should, where practicable, be encouraged to provide a stipend or salary to the intern. However, the availability of compensation should in no way impinge on the academic validity of the intern experience.

Evaluation

Evaluation should be a continuous, on-going aspect of the internship program. The evaluation should include statements on each student from the agency intern supervisor, preferably during as well as at the conclusion of the internship. This evaluation should be an important component in grading the intern for academic credit. Interns should be required to submit self-evaluations of their experiences. Both agency supervisors' and interns' statements should include evaluations of the program's effectiveness. This should aid the academic coordinator in determining which agencies have not given desirable supervision and learning experiences. If written statements by the students are requested, they should be in addition to the academic paper mentioned earlier.

It may also be desirable to require that students submit an additional evaluation six months or a year after their internships have ended. This will provide a means of assessing the long-term impact of the internship. These guidelines were developed by the following NASPAA Committee on Public Service Internships. They were approved by the NASPAA Executive Council at Colorado Springs, Colorado, November 10, 1977.

John Baget, California State University, Long Beach
Stanley Botner, University of Missouri-Columbia
Robert D. Fuller, University of South Dakota
Michael Goldstein, University of Illinois, Chicago
Circle Samuel K. Gove, Chairman, University of Illinois
Ralph W. Hemphill, Georgia College
Sylvester R. Houston, California State University, Sacramento
D. Jeanne Patterson, Indiana University, Bloomington
John A. Rehfuss, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb
Marcia Taylor, Temple University
James Thurber, The American University
Michael R. Weaver, State University of New York (Washington Semester Program)
Charlotte M. Weber, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
John W. Wood, University of Oklahoma
Richard E. Zody, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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GUIDELINES FOR GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
in Nonprofit Organizations, Management and Leadership
Revised October 2006
(Print the Guidelines)

Background and Purposes

The Guidelines for Graduate Professional Education in Nonprofit Organizations, Management, and Leadership respect the educational challenges presented by the breadth and diversity of the nonprofit sector. A wide array of skills, knowledge, competencies and attitudes is essential for the success of nonprofit leaders and managers. These guidelines are intended to stimulate exploration and innovation in curriculum design and content and are based on the view that there are core essential elements that characterize nonprofit organizations and their managers and differentiate them from public and for-profit organizations. While most graduate-level nonprofit management education occurs in conjunction with MPA/MPP degrees, there are programs in a variety of other academic settings. Regardless of the setting, graduate professional education programs in nonprofit organizations, management, and leadership should reflect the fundamental body of knowledge defined by these guidelines.

Section 1: Program Integrity

As evidenced in "Section 3: Program Elements," nonprofit management encompasses a significant range of subject matter. Therefore, a minimum level of educational offerings dedicated specifically to the nonprofit sector is critical for a program to advertise truthfully that it is providing graduate professional education in nonprofit organizations, management, or leadership. Elective courses should be used to enable students to move beyond generic nonprofit course work and to specialize in substantive knowledge areas.

1. A Masters degree in public affairs, policy or administration should include a minimum of 36 semester hours or equivalent credit hours with a minimum of 12 semester hours within a nonprofit concentration (4 courses or equivalent focusing primarily on the distinctive essential elements of the nonprofit sector listed in Section 3-D below).

2. A Graduate Certificate in nonprofit organizations, management, and leadership should have a minimum of 12 semester hours or equivalent credit hours.

Section 2: Mission, Program Objectives, and Structure

Graduate professional education programs in nonprofit organizations, management, and leadership, serve different audiences and seek different ends. Thus, a program should have a clear written statement of its educational philosophy, mission, objectives and strategies to guide decisions about curriculum, faculty, degree requirements, and instruction. The statement should be included in program literature and referenced in advertisements.

The statement of mission, objectives, and strategy should identify the general types of positions for which the program attempts to prepare its graduates (for example, mid-level managers in larger nonprofit organizations; board/community leaders; in arts, human services, community development nonprofits; in government or for-profit positions that require extensive interface with nonprofit organizations; in international or multilateral NGOs); the population from which students are drawn (for example, pre-service, in-service, local, national, international); and relative educational emphasis (for example, theory, practice, leadership, public policy, organizational management, quantitative analytical/policy skills).

The faculty and administration should have a clear understanding of the program's compatibility with the mission of the host department or school and the program's relationships with other graduate professional education programs in the host department or school (if any). The structure of nonprofit management programs can take a variety of forms. A careful assessment of resource stability, ability to draw on interdisciplinary resources, and intellectual compatibility with a host department are factors to consider in determining the placement of a nonprofit management program within a university structure.

Section 3: Program Elements

A. Format
Separate courses do not need to be established for each element of these guidelines. The elements may be addressed through any format appropriate to match the needs and resources of the offering institution so as to allow flexibility and encourage creative delivery of relevant subject matter.

It is acceptable to assemble a nonprofit management curriculum by drawing upon a limited number of appropriate courses originating in different disciplines (for example, anthropology, communications, health sciences, management, marketing, psychology, economics, social work, and sociology.) However, the curriculum must include explicit efforts to integrate such disparate components.

B. Content
The core masters courses should include subject matter related to the nonprofit sector and the blurring of the boundaries among the three primary social sectors. The changing relationship between the sectors should be included in lecture materials, case exercises, assigned readings, and research topics throughout the curriculum.

C. Internship
If the masters program requires an internship, students who choose the nonprofit concentration/certificate generally should be placed in a nonprofit organization for that experience. Exceptions may be appropriate if internship tasks are highly relevant to nonprofit practice, policy, or regulation.

D. Essential Elements
The guidelines now turn to curriculum topics or elements. This subsection covers elements distinctive to nonprofit organizations. These elements should be addressed in the curricula of all programs that claim to provide graduate professional education in nonprofit organization, management, and leadership. Specific prescriptive approaches and requirements within these essential elements are purposely avoided in order to foster innovation in the field and to preserve flexibility to pursue different educational program missions.

1. History, Values, Ethics and Philosophies: Nonprofit management programs should place nonprofit organizations in their relevant societal context. Coverage of the history, values, ethics, and philosophies of nonprofit organizations is necessary for understanding the role of nonprofit organizations in civil society and democratic processes. The curriculum should address the moral and ethical issues and dilemmas faced by nonprofit organization board members and staff, and it should develop critical thinking skills in participating students. Students should understand nonprofit reliance on the public trust and the need to set and maintain elevated standards of duty to mission, care for the public's best interests in the execution of that mission, and expectations to work collaboratively to promote the public interest. This material should address more than purely legal issues.

2. Legal Structure: Programs should include curriculum content that addresses the legal context within which nonprofit organizations operate including the dynamic regulatory environment. Law that governs incorporation and tax-exempt status (at the federal and state levels) implies specific impacts on organizations. An understanding of the responsibilities imposed by statute and the rationale for society's willingness to privilege nonprofit organizations should be included in an academic program's basic curriculum. Students should be exposed to the legal environment for advocacy by nonprofits.

3. Revenue: Nonprofit organizations raise funds through a variety of means including: solicitation of donated revenues, such as charitable gifts, planned giving programs, and capital campaigns; memberships; earned income, including fee-for-services and sales of products; private and government grants; investments; special events; and contracts with businesses and government agencies. This element should include, for example, the history, theory, ethics, standards, and practice of fundraising and philanthropy; Unrelated Business Income; charitable trusts; and related tax and other laws regulating fundraising.

4. Governance: Programs should address the volunteer boards of trustees (or directors) legally charged with fiduciary responsibility to act in the public interest. The non-distribution constraint is a key concept to be included in any discussion of governance concerns. Board responsibility, structure, and relations with the CEO and staff, and the board's responsibility for the organization's mission are key factors in this element, and should be included along with theories of governance, leadership, and conflict negotiation and management.

5. Human Resources and Volunteer Management: If human resource management for nonprofit governing bodies is not covered elsewhere in the curriculum, it should be included in a specialized human resource management course for nonprofits. The curriculum should cover human resource management for volunteers as well as for paid staff, and address human resource management functions including recruitment, selection, training and development, evaluation, negotiation, job analysis, and reward and recognition. Motivation of board, staff and volunteers should be addressed, as well as management of the relationship between paid staff and volunteers. The curriculum should develop recognition of the challenges of human resource management in the nonprofit context, including executive compensation and cross-sector careers.

6. Theories of the Sector and its Organizations: Theory should be an important and visible part of any nonprofit management program. Particularly important for nonprofit organizations are theories of the sector's existence, role and functions as well as theories of philanthropy, voluntarism, and civic engagement. Theories of organization that distinguish organizations by sector are particularly important, as are organizational and systems theories that explain nonprofit behavior (e.g., life cycle theories).

E. Overarching Elements
This section includes elements that are not specific to the nonprofit sector but are still important for effective management and leadership o