University of La Verne's DPA Program

I've been following the recent MPA threads and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the DPA program at the University of La Verne. ULV offers an online option for their DPA program that requires three weekends on-campus each semester of the program and consists of 54 semester hours total. Since I live in Washington the commute to California for the weekend seminars will be easier to handle than travelling to Florida for NSU's DPA program. I've looked into Walden's doctoral program in Public Policy and Administration but am currently leaning towards earning a doctorate from a well-established B&M school versus an online school.

I'm also seriously considering the Ph.D. program in Public Administration and Policy at Portland State University but am a little concerned about the 150 + mile drive to the campus. PSU offers classes for the Ph.D. during the late afternoon and evening, so I could possibly complete the degree but it will involve quite a bit of driving and more time off from work than ULV's program. Has anyone ever commuted a significant distance to complete their doctoral degree, and if so how did it affect your everyday lifestyle? And what effect did distance from the school have on the ability to utilize university resources and collaborate with other students and professors during the program?

For those of you with non-Ph.D. doctorates, how are your degrees viewed by others in academia and hiring committees in general? I'm interested in completing a doctorate and teaching as an adjunct until I retire and then possibly teaching at a community college or small 4-year school sometime down the road.

Any comments, suggestions, or information about the above listed programs and/or the reputations of the University of La Verne and Portland State would be appreciated.

abnrgr275

 

I haven't seen any real issues with a DBA versus a PhD. The DL versus traditional B&M issue is much bigger.

I'd give Portland State a good look. I suspect that even though it may be a mid to lower level state school, it may stand out as stronger than ULV.

Regards - Andy

 

I have an Ed.D. and have work in government leadership roles for almost 10 years. It has not been a hindrance. I just accepted a position in academia as director of a master's program and associate professor, so I guess it has not hurt me in academia. I commuted 90 miles 1-way for my doc. It was difficult, but was managable. It did mean planning my library/research time wisely. It also meant being attentive to the other events of my life and trying to keep each thing in its right time.

 

I agree with Andy--I have not seen any issues between PhD and DBA. I believe that the issues are more between traditional programs (full time/in residence) and non-traditional (part-time/on-line). I imagine it would be the same between PhD and DPA.

I have been to the La Verne campus (mostly the Library) many times--it’s pretty cool. I believe the school has been around since the late 1800s.

I also believe LaVerne's MPA is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), which is the professional accrediting body for public administration/public policy programs. I don't know if that applies to the DPA. That may be a factor in your decision.

 

I just took a peek at the NASPAA website and both doctoral programs are accredited. The search page is available here:

http://www.naspaa.org/students/graduate/schsearch.asp

If it were me, I'd probably opt for the LaVerne program. I'd be afraid the drive would get pretty old and I would like the fact that I could spend my time working on my dissertation or coursework vs. in the car. They have an interesting program, as it is a mix of distance and in-residence work. I took a look at it, but I found it to be out of my price range -- especially considering the fact that I'd have to include travels costs to CA several times a year.

 

I attended the ULV DPA program from 1997 to 2000... It is a reasonably good program... but it also depends on what you are looking for...

I was looking to go into academe... and this is a very applied practitioners program... a large portion of their program at the time was group project based... the main thrust of the program seemed to be to train us to be consultants...

The faculty was reasonably good... some of the faculty did publish... but most did not... they have a large percentage of incestuous adjuncts (prior ULV DPA graduates who are practicing public administrators)...

The curriculum design is sound... The coursework is challenging... although I felt like some of the assignments were busy-work... and I hated the group projects (there were always those who did not carry their fair share of the load and those of us who felt responsible would pick up the slack...).

If you are only planning to use the DPA as a practitioner I would wholeheartedly encourage you to investigate the program deeper... If you are looking for a change of career paths into academe I would recommend Portland State.

I had also looked into the Portland State Univ program but the distance was an adverse factor. Otherwise I was impressed with their programs... both Public Administration and Urban Studies.

 

Thank you everyone for the informative responses. I got called out to work on Saturday evening and ended up driving to Portland and will have to make the trip there and back again tomorrow. After dealing with the traffic and the time involved I'm honestly wondering if commuting 150 + miles each way once or twice a week for doctoral classes will be worth it, especially since I have a family to consider and my job involves quite a few unexpected callouts each month anyway. I'm afraid I'd end up missing one or two classes over the course of a quarter and fall behind in the coursework at Portland State.

It appears that ULV has changed their DPA coursework since last year and the research process is being stressed more via additional quantitative and qualitative research methods classes. It is still a doctoral program oriented towards practitioners in the public sector but the training in the research process appears sound and should serve me well in the future. I also noticed that ULV now requires DPA students to join ASPA and attend the annual conference in the second year of the program, similar to how NSU requires students to attend professional conferences while enrolled in a doctoral program.

I recently discovered that the University of Washington in Seattle will be starting a Ph.D. program in Public Policy and Management in 2006, so I'll definitely be looking into that program when it starts up. I just hope they offer the program on a part-time basis for nontraditional students.

Once again, thanks for the replies!

abnrgr275