Degree Requirements


Take Yourself and Your Organization to New Heights

“As an Executive Master of Public Administration graduate, you will have an outstanding leadership model to rely on for the rest of your life, whatever path you choose.”—Bett Schlemmer, Regional Administrator, Washington State Department of Health and Human Services

Our Executive Master of Public Education (Executive MPA) is a customized program adapted from the traditional Evans School MPA to meet the professional challenges and time constraints of senior managers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Through our cohort system, participants are able to maximize peer learning, team building, and networking. Over the course of approximately 16 months, participants will complete 45 credit hours of coursework. No final degree project or thesis is required.

The curriculum is comprised of challenging and relevant coursework taught by faculty, who are experts in their fields. Faculty pay specific attention to building an academic foundation in strategic and visionary leadership, and then provide necessary tools for success in the workplace. The 45 credit hours include:

  • A one-week residential foundation seminar in October, which introduces strategic leadership concepts in the public and nonprofit sectors, including:
    • Differing leadership styles
    • Understanding the authorizing environment and the role of being a leader
    • Setting vision, mission, and goals
    • Using frameworks for analyzing organizational environments
    • Connecting strategic and operational planning to mission and purpose
    • Placing the modern organization in the regional and global economies
       
  • Twelve weekends of in-classroom core coursework during three-day intensive courses held Friday through Sunday, approximately every five weeks. These core courses are designed to sharpen your skills in:
    • Strategic leadership
    • Planning and financial analysis
    • Organizational culture
    • Human resource management
    • Performance measurement
    • Critical thinking
    • Effective communication
    • And more
       
  • Distance learning online between weekend classes with written assignments, short exercises, and readings that will prepare you for the following month’s core coursework.

Download our 2008-09 course descriptions (158 KB PDF), or find out more about the Executive MPA faculty, Admissions process, and tuition and expenses.  You can also contact our Executive MPA office at execmpa@u.washington.edu or 206.616.0778.