Requirements for a Master's in Urban Policy and Administration

Required Courses:

700x- Statistical Concepts
724x- Computer Applications in Public Administration
740x Public Administration
751x Government of New York City I Urban Politics
717x Master's Seminar

Sample Electives: (see Graduate Bulletin for complete listings)

715x- Organizational Theory
722x- Criminal Justice and Public Policy
731x- Policy Formulation in U.S, government
733x- The Legislative Process in the United States
734x- Policy Analysis
735x- Politics and Public Opinion Formation
736x- The Politics of the American Labor Movement
745G- Fieldwork
747x- Metropolitan Areas and Community Power Analysis
748x- Planning for Metropolitan Areas
749.lx Selected Topics in American Government
755x- Health Care Politics
770x- Political and Administrative Problems of Newly Developed States
778x Political Development
789.lx Selected Topics in Comparative Politics

Courses offered by other departments at Brooklyn College, particularly economics and sociology, may be applied to the program with the approval of the program director.

Students who expect to transfer graduate credits from other institutions, or new students who see a course that they feel would enhance their knowledge in a specific area are encouraged to take electives when they begin. However, all required courses must be completed in order for a student to be awarded the Master's degree. (See section on Transfer Credit)

Master's Seminar - Urban Policy and Administration

The Master's Seminar is a guided research experience designed to allow students to conceptualize, organize and complete a major policy paper. Class sessions focus on problem identification and issues involving policy analysis. Students are required to identify a policy problem, choose an applicable model for evaluating the problem and complete a 30- 40-page policy paper containing a series of policy recommendations. In the course of the semester students submit various pieces of the project according to a prearranged schedule with the instructor. The class is organized as a workshop to provide systematic feedback and direction of the various papers.

This course tests the student's knowledge in public policy and administration and requires the completion of a task that senior members of an agency bureaucracy are required to master. The policy paper requires the student to use both primary and secondary sources for research and is subject to the same criterion employed in evaluating a thesis. This directed project must be completed within a determinate period effectively emulating conditions students face in the workplace or governmental agencies.