Curriculum

Requirements

Both the BA/MPA and BA/MAIPD require the following 118 credits:

Transfer credits (60 credits)

Introduction to Policy & Data Analysis (4 credits)

Development Paradigms, Discourses, and Theories (4 credits) sample courses:

• Development, Theory, and Practice
• Introduction to Conflict Resolution
• Politics of Development
• Power, Social Change, and Organizations

Economics (8 credits) sample courses:

• Development Economics
• Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
• International Trade: Theory and Practice

Seminar and/or Applied Practice Workshops (6 credits) sample courses:

• Proposal Writing for International Development
• Behavior Changing Strategies in Public Health
• US Immigration Policy in the 21st century
• Negotiating Global Development Policy
• Qualitative Data Analysis

Specialization (16 credits)

Practicum (4 credits)

Language/Intercultural Competence

• Spring 2020 entrants: 16 credits, minimum 8 credits of language studies required.
• Fall 2020 (and beyond) entrants: one intercultural competence course is required, language studies are optional (using electives).

To complete the BA/MPA, the following additional 32 credits are required:

Management and Leadership (4 credits)

Finance and Administration (4 credits)

Program Evaluation for Social Change Organizations (4 credits)

Electives (20 credits)

• Electives by advisement build on your expertise in areas that can benefit your career

Transfer Credits

Upon matriculating, BA/MA students are required to transfer 60 credit hours with grades of B or above that cover the following requirements:

• Composition (3 credits)

• Math (3 credits)

• Four courses (12 credits) from at least two of the following:

  • Social Science

  • Arts/Humanities

  • Physical and Biological Sciences

• Language Semester 1 (at least 3 semester credits required for spring 2020, optional for fall 2020)

• Language Semester 2 (at least 3 semester credits required for spring 2020, optional for fall 2020)

• Electives (as needed to reach 60 semester credits total)

Specializations

Students choose one of the following specializations. You can find out more about what each specialization involves and how it can help shape your career plans with these detailed fact sheets.

Migration, Trafficking, and Human Security

• Analyze trends and patterns in international migration, including human trafficking and associated challenges to human security
• Gain professional skills to pursue careers in international organizations, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), advocacy groups, state agencies, and research institutes dealing with migration
• Learn to develop and advocate for policies to protect migrants’ rights and improve social and economic conditions
• Understand the domestic and international regimes that manage migration flows

Global Poverty and Inequality

• Apply a range of tools from economics, international relations, data analysis, and political economy to address problems of poverty and inequality
• Design and evaluate regional and national policies, and explore issues calling for international cooperation and global governance initiatives
• Engage in serious and sustained inquiry into poverty across differing regions to develop plans to address it
• Gain professional skills to pursue careers in the private sector, government, or NGOs doing consulting, management, and research
• Study dimensions of poverty and inequality, including income, assets, gender, service access, and more

Human Rights, Gender, and Identity

• Examine topics such as women’s participation in decision making in post conflict states, sexuality and violence against women, the role of men and masculinities, girls’ access to education, and advocacy for human rights
• Gain professional skills to pursue positions as gender analysts, program officers, and trainers, as well as policy analysts and researchers at organizations promoting human rights/women’s human rights, social inclusion, and the integration of gender equity
• Learn how ethnic, religious, national, or gender identities are shaped by dominant power interests through everyday interactions, and how they play a role in conflict, and turning the other into an enemy

Conflict Resolution and Social Justice

• Explore how conflict interveners aim to minimize the destructive effects of conflict while using it as a vehicle to transform relationships and oppressive structures
• Gain professional skills to pursue jobs at the grassroots level (community organizations, NGOs), the institutional level (international NGOs, research organizations, think tanks), and policy institutions (UN, World Bank, other major international organizations)
• Learn to integrate theory, research, and practice through critical analysis, simulations, case studies, and internships
• Reflect on personal ethics when dealing with social challenges such as migration, refugees, poverty, insecurity, discrimination, human rights violations, and environmental crisis
• Strengthen conflict resolution skills, such as communication, listening, negotiation, mediation, and dialogue

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Design

• Explore the analytical function of transforming information into data, and data into actionable knowledge
• Gain professional skills to work as project, program, or policy evaluators and designers in a range of fields with nongovernmental organizations, governments, and UN agencies
• Learn commonly applied techniques for determining the worth and value of initiatives at the policy, program, and project levels
• Strengthen practical skills for designing, collecting, managing, analyzing, storing, disseminating, and curating data

Financial Crime Management

The 16-credit Financial Crime Management specialization is available to students in any degree program. It addresses the growing market need for professionals to prevent, detect, and manage illicit finance.

Intercultural Competence

The 16-credit Intercultural Competence (ICC) specialization is available to students in any degree program. It equips you with the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes to expertly lead and train multicultural teams, sensitively interact with diverse stakeholders, and create effective ICC assessments and training materials.

Professional Practicum

Put theory into practice through a semester-long practicum in the field or through a capstone research course:

Design, Partnering, Management, and Innovation PLUS

Design, Partnering, Management, and Innovation PLUS includes a three- to nine-month internship applying degree-area skills to benefit a host organization. You’ll also create a case study examining DPMI-related issues confronting the organization. These issues may include project design, project monitoring, training, stakeholder participation, strategic partnering, social entrepreneurship, and innovation.

International Professional Service Semester

An immersive learning experience, the International Professional Service Semester integrates academic work with professional opportunities. Students serve as junior professional staff members in an international organization while producing specific deliverables for academic credit.

Frontier Market Scouts

The Frontier Market Scouts program selects and trains students and professionals seeking careers in social venture management and impact investing. Two weeks of training is followed by a two- to 12-month field placement. To choose the fellowship program for your practicum, you must apply for admission to the program and complete the fieldwork, including an impact research report.

Practicum Project Seminar

This four-credit seminar helps students demonstrate, integrate, and apply competencies central to their degrees. The course is designed to support customized projects depending on your interests and career aspirations. You are required to produce high-quality deliverables related to the issues you explore, either with client organizations or in non-client-based research projects.

Independent Practicum

The independent practicum (four to six credits) is self-directed and requires independent academic planning and responsibilities. You can choose to complete an internship or field-based research. Both require you to engage a faculty sponsor, develop a work plan with that sponsor, submit specified deliverables to be evaluated at the conclusion of the project, and present the deliverables in a final colloquium.

Language and Intercultural Competence

Courses taught in your chosen language combine language skills development with topics related to your degree work and professional interests. Our intercultural competence (ICC) offerings provide the cross-cultural communication skills needed to pursue global careers. 

Sample language studies courses:

• Arab-African Relations (in Arabic)

• Citizenship, Security, and Development in Latin America (in Spanish)

• Challenges in Peacebuilding—Congo (in French)

Sample ICC courses:

• Intercultural Group Dynamics

• Multilingual Communications in Multicultural Settings

Internships/Study Abroad

Gaining professional development experience during the course of your academic program is essential. The Institute helps support student opportunities to apply their skills, build their résumés, expand their connections, and advance their international careers through innovative real-world learning experiences. Learn more.

Additional Program Options

Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) are encouraged to apply for the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program.

Options for Peace Corps Service

Interested students can integrate Peace Corps service into their degree.

Sample Course Schedule

Fall Start, Full Time, Six Semesters