List of online PhD programs in Public Policy and Administration

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Dustin, May 12, 2021.

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  1. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Hi all,

    I recently went through the list of NASPAA (Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration) programs in Public Administration and wanted to share the results. You can see the original list here: https://www.naspaa.org/resources/why-public-service-degree/doctoral-public-affairs-education

    I ignored any DPA programs (not interested in those personally, but off hand I know both West Chester in PA and Capella in MN have fully online DPA programs, and Valdosta has either an online or hybrid program.)

    As expected, most programs are face-to-face but out of the 87 degrees (of which 6 are DPA, one is a dual JD/MPA) and the rest are PhDs listed there are a few online PhD options:
    There were a lot more online MPA and MPP programs out there than I remember when I last looked, but unfortunately not a lot of PhD options.
     
    JoshD likes this.
  2. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    Liberty and ODU would be what I’d target were I in the that field. At least of these options.
     
  3. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

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  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I'd go with Liberty if I wanted to work in Republican administrations, and ODU or TSU if I wanted to work in Democratic administrations.
     
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  5. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Great list. Maybe I overlooked it but when I clicked the link, I didn't see anything about UNO's program being online. I know when I lived in New Orleans/Louisiana in 2015-2017, this was a face-to-face program. The chief before I joined NOPD, Ronal W. Serpas, earned his Ph.D. in Urban Studies at UNO. He's now a professor or practice at Loyola New Orleans.
     
  6. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    You're right, it actually doesn't list it there. I didn't read that page very closely lol. The way I did the search was to type "[university name] + online" and then once I found the program mentioned as being online, to find the specific program page and skim it. In this case, the program page actually doesn't indicate method of delivery. It does show up here: https://www.uno.edu/academics/online-programs
     
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  7. sideman

    sideman Well Known Member

    Just a quick comment on the dual JD/MPA strictly for the purpose of informing a prospective student that might bring this up in the search engine. Dustin's post shows the University of Akron (N.E. Ohio) and is offered for part-time law students. In person attendance is required twice per week and the rest of the classes and coursework is conducted online. So this is a hybrid option primarily geared towards working adults in the Akron area and of course the bonus is the dual degrees. If someone is considering doing online law school to qualify to take the bar in Ohio, a better option might be the University of Dayton which is conducted primarily online with 10 days of in person attendance required annually.
     
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  8. MiracleWhipz

    MiracleWhipz Member

    I looked at that program and my personal impression was that it was a lot of B&M requirements for non-traditional learning, I'm not saying this is a bad thing but it makes me wonder if they are capable of translating their in person program online. There is a difference in B&M learning and distance learning. I don't get the impression that the cross over is there yet...but I could be a pessimist so you may choose to ignore me.
     
  9. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I agree 100%. It appears to be an online program but not necessarily a "distance" program. They didn't make it clear, but it seemed like comps, thesis proposal defense, dissertation defense and the other major program milestones would all be done in person, in addition to the 7 "social" events that must be completed before you can graduate. The discussion on funding made no differentatiion between B&M and online which makes me think they intend it to be a FT online program, although I always assumed I would do a PT program.

    The graduates that I looked at (I sampled randomly from the theses available) are all Professors (not necessarily TT) at various schools which is a plus normally but in my case might represent a negative because I don't actually want to be in academia full time. I want to work for a think tank, do program evaluations and similar work in the private/nonprofit sector as opposed to being a TT professor somewhere.

    Edit: Oh shoot, that whole answer applied to ODU and re-reading your post you might have been talking about TSU which I haven't explored.
     
  10. MiracleWhipz

    MiracleWhipz Member

    Indeed I was talking about TSU but I am glad you found it also applied to ODU, I have found that many programs seem great until you get into those little things that when you look into it further it might not be doable. For me, I can and would like to do some residency but I also cannot do 17 of them so a lot of programs go out the window when they follow more traditional B&M stances...if that makes sense.
     

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