University of Georgia

The central purpose of the MPA program at the University of Georgia is to educate students for professional careers in management and administration in government and nonprofit organizations. The program is open to students without previous public service experience as well as students employed in the public sector who are seeking to advance their careers. While normally a terminal professional degree, some graduates of the MPA program have entered PhD or other programs and have assumed academic careers.

Over the past 30 years, The University of Georgia has become a major center for academic research in public administration. For example, a Public Administration Review (1981) evaluation ranked the University of Georgia 's MPA faculty second in the nation in the area of research productivity. Replications of this study in Administration and Society (1987) and Public Administration Review (1996) ranked Georgia first in productivity for the years 1981-85 and 1986-93 respectively. A more recent study in the Journal of Public Administration Education ranked the UGA Public Administration and Policy faculty first in the nation in research published in scholarly journals associated with the American Society for Public Administration during the years 1993 to 2003. The general reputation of the MPA program at UGA has also been extremely high for many years. The most recent ranking from US News and World Report indicated the Georgia MPA program is ranked third in the nation. The program is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.

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