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PhD Students

Mission Statement

The mission of the doctoral program in Public Administration is to provide advanced graduate education in theory and research in the field to prepare students for academic and research careers in public administration as well as professional careers in advanced practice of public administration.

Objectives

Within resource constraints, our hope is for each student to graduate with experience as:

  • A teaching assistant including teaching an independent section of the introductory Political Science undergraduate course
  • A research assistantship with a public administration faculty member
  • Presentation of a scholarly paper at a national conference
  • Co-authorship with a faculty member of a refereed article

The Public Administration Department is committed to providing each student with honest feedback about scholarly performance and potential.

Admission Information

Admission to the PhD program is based on the applicant's undergraduate and/or graduate academic record, standardized test scores, and references from instructors. All applicants must have completed a bachelor’s degree. A completed MPA or equivalent degree is a preferred admissions requirement, although students without the MPA or equivalent may be admitted. Students without an MPA or equivalent degree are required to complete University of Kansas core MPA requirements as part of their doctoral studies.

A completed application must include:

  • An application to the Graduate School (online submission or paper copy)
  • The Graduate Record Examination results—verbal, quantitative, and analytical
  • A resume
  • A two page statement of goals and research interests, including evidence of research aptitude and interest
  • A writing sample that reflects the applicant’s interest in and potential to conduct research
  • Three letters of recommendation, preferably from faculty members who can comment upon the applicant's potential as a doctoral student (Note: For applications submitted after Oct. 15th, 2008, letters must be accompanied by the attached evaluation and waiver form, and applicants must sign the form on the second page.) recommendation form & waiver.doc
  • A nonrefundable application fee
  • One official transcript from the degree-granting college or university and any post-graduate college or university attended
  • An interview may be required
  • International students are also required to submit TOEFL scores from an examination administered no more than two years from the date of application. A score of 600 is required or 80 percent on each of the three computerized tests. Requirements regarding immigration and a financial statement are available at the Office of International Student Services (http://www.ku.edu/~issfacts/).

All of these materials must be received before the application for admission can be considered.

If the applicant wishes to be considered for fall admission and financial aid, the application file must be completed by January 25 for the fall semester.

Send all application materials to:
The Department of Public Administration
Attn: Doctoral Admissions
1541 Lilac Lane, #318
Lawrence, KS 66044-3177

Financial Aid

Financial aid for doctoral students is available through the Public Administration Department and also through the University of Kansas. Applicants who submit their materials by February 1st will be automatically considered for financial aid offered by the department. To apply for financial aid through the University, contact the Office of Student Financial Aid.

The Relationship of the Doctorate and the MPA

The PhD program requires a minimum of 66 credits of coursework, including up to 30 credits earned in the process of completing the MPA degree or its equivalent, plus a minimum of nine credits for the dissertation for a total of 75 credit hours. (An applicant with a Kansas MPA may apply 30 credits toward the 75-hour coursework requirement.)

All students who enter the PhD Program must have either already completed courses in the core required for the Kansas MPA degree (that is, public policy and administration, human resource management, public finance, introduction to quantitative methods, budget and policy analysis, role, context and ethics of public administration in American society, law and public management, and organizational analysis) or their equivalent at a NASPAA MPA accredited program, or they must take the appropriate courses after they enter the PhD Program.

Doctoral Requirements

The requirements for the PhD in Public Administration are based on coursework in the Foundations of Public Administration, a Specialization Field within Public Administration, a Cognate Field, and a Methods Sequence.

PhD Course Summary Sheet (PDF)

I. Foundations of Public Administration. Four of the five courses listed below are required of all PA doctoral students.
  • PUAD 932, Seminar in the Intellectual History of Public Administration,
  • PUAD 930, Research Seminar in Public Administration and Democratic Theory,
  • PUAD 931, Research Seminar in Public Administration and Management,
And either
  • PUAD 943, Constitutional Foundations of Public Administration or
  • PUAD 949, Law, Courts and Public Policy.

Substitutions for these requirements require the approval of the Departmental Coordinator of Doctoral Studies.

II. Public Administration Specialization. In consultation with the Coordinator of Doctoral Studies, each doctoral student will develop a public administration specialization. The specialization will consist of at least three courses. Within the public administration discipline commonly considered subjects for specialization would be areas like budgeting, public finance, human resources management, public policy analysis and evaluation, public values and ethics, organizations and organization theory, public law and administration, and urban policy/politics and community building. Each of these specializations has a basic course that is regularly taught in the present graduate public administration curriculum at the 800 level, and it is presumed that at least an additional course would come from an independent study. A third course could come from within the department or could be taken outside of the department. Potential cooperating departments include Political Science, Communications Studies, Economics, School of Education and the Business School. Communication in Appendix B from each of these units indicates their willingness to work with public administration doctoral students.

III. Cognate Fields. The doctorate in public administration also requires a cognate field in addition the Public Administration specialization. The cognate field is envisioned as a sub field in economics, political science, education administration, etc. or, a policy specialization (environmental policy, transportation policy, etc.)

The Cognate Fields sequence of courses requires the approval of the Departmental Coordinator of Doctoral Studies and does not require a comprehensive examination.

IV. Methods. The PA doctorate emphasizes the development of research skills. It requires PUAD 934 Research Methods in Public Administration, with the prerequisite PUAD 836 or its equivalent, and PUAD 935, Advanced Quantitative Methods in Public Administration. As mentioned in the introduction, the public administration field is epistemologically and methodologically diverse, and doctoral students will be encouraged to take PUAD 937, Qualitative Methods in Public Administration or PUAD 936 Policy Analysis and Evaluation, or their equivalents. Substitutions for these courses require the approval of the Departmental Coordinator of Doctoral Studies. The Methods requirement satisfies Option 1 of the Foreign Language or Research Skills (FLORS) Requirement of the Graduate School.

The Preliminary Written Examinations

Only students who complete the required courses in the Foundations, Specialization, Cognate, and Methods Sequence with a GPA of 3.0 or better may proceed to the preliminary written examination. The Doctoral Committee (see Doctoral Program Governance) certifies the successful completion of course work and will administer a written preliminary examination. While no examination is required in the cognate field, the student’s advisor must provide a written notice that the student has fulfilled the cognate requirement. Credits taken for the Cognate may not be applied to an examination field.

Students should consult their adviser to plan a schedule of course work and seminar preparation in anticipation of the written preliminary examination in public administration foundations and specializations. The student must complete the course credit requirements and the PhD residency requirements before registering for the preliminary examination. All incompletes in courses counting toward the PhD must be completed or the doctoral coordinator must grant a waiver before the student may take the preliminary examination. If an aspirant receives a grade of “unsatisfactory” the preliminary written examination may be repeated but under no circumstances may a student take it more than twice.

PA doctoral students are required to take two separate written exams: one to cover Foundations and the other their area of Specialization. Students must declare their area of specialization no later than six months prior to taking the exam and may only answer questions in their declared specialization. Each exam will contain four to six questions with the student answering two.

The Foundations examination will cover the intellectual history and enduring questions in the field. Many, but not all, of these subjects will be covered in the required doctoral courses and will include such topics as public administration and democratic theory, public organizations and management, and constitutional and legal foundations. This exam will be written and graded by the Public Administration graduate faculty.

The Specialization examination will be tailored to the doctoral candidate’s specific course of study. It will be written by faculty teaching in the student’s area of specialization but graded by the Public Administration graduate faculty.

The students will take the Foundations and Specialization exam over a seven day period. Each exam will last no more than eight hours. Students will be provided a computer with either Word or WordPerfect on which to write their exam. They are also allowed blank paper.

Students may not bring notes in any format into the exam, nor will the computers have access to the Internet or other resources. Students should plan to bring lunch and other necessary food. The exams will not be proctored. Students are free to leave the room but should remain in the building. Students are honor bound to follow the “no notes, no access to books or resources” format of these exams with violations considered academic misconduct.

The Comprehensive Oral Examination and Advancement to PhD Candidacy

Following the successful completion of the written preliminary examination, the student must satisfactorily complete a comprehensive oral examination and present a dissertation proposal to become a PhD candidate. No student may attempt the Comprehensive Oral Examination until passing the written preliminary examination.

Within four weeks of passing both written examinations, students are required to take an oral exam. The oral exam will involve comprehensive questioning across the intellectual field and a close review of the student’s dissertation idea. It is advised that the student prepare a dissertation précis for oral presentation and defense.

After passing the Comprehensive Oral Examination, the doctoral candidate must write a dissertation approved by a departmental dissertation committee and pass a final oral defense of the dissertation to qualify for the PhD degree.

After passing their oral examinations, doctoral students will give a colloquium to PA faculty and doctoral students on their dissertation proposal. After the colloquium but prior to proceeding with their dissertation research, the student’s doctoral committee must approve the dissertation proposal.

After passing the Comprehensive Oral Examination, the candidate will be continuously enrolled until completing all requirements for the degree. When the dissertation committee accepts the completed dissertation but before it has been bound, and all degree requirements have been met, the department will request the Graduate School to schedule the Final Oral Examination, allowing a minimum of two weeks to verify requirements and publicize the examination. At least five months will elapse between the successful completion of the Comprehensive Oral Examination and the Final Oral Examination.

The committee for the Final Oral Examination will consist of at least five members (the three members of the dissertation committee plus other members of the Graduate Faculty). At least one member will not be a member of the Public Administration faculty; this member will represent the Graduate school and must be a regular member of the Graduate Faculty. The representative of the Graduate school will be a voting member of the committee and will have the right to full participation; this individual will be charged with reporting any unsatisfactory or irregular aspects of the examination to the Graduate School. Interested members of the university community will be encouraged to attend the Final Oral Examination and will be permitted to question the candidate.

If the aspirant receives a grade of “unsatisfactory,” the examination may be repeated but under no circumstances will the student take it more than twice.

Curriculum Outline

 

Fall Semester

Spring Semester

Year 1

PUAD 932 Intellectual History of Public Administration

PUAD 934 Research Methods in Public Administration

Specialization Seminar

PUAD 935 Advanced Quantitative methods for Public Administration

PUAD 930 Public Administration and Democratic Theory

Specialization Seminar

Year 2

PUAD 943 Constitutional Foundations of Public Administration

Specialization Seminar

Cognate Seminar

PUAD 931 Public Management

Cognate

Cognate or Additional Methods Course

Year 3

Additional Specialization, Cognate, or other courses as advised.

Preliminary Examination

Preparation

Examination

Oral Examination and Dissertation Proposal

Year 4

PUAD 999 Dissertation

PUAD 999 Dissertation

 

More Information

Contact Chuck Epp .