Environmental & Sustainability Studies & Public Administration Program
The Environmental and Sustainability Studies and Public Administration Program will prepare you for the challenges of a career in the environmental field. Courses examine the development and implementation of public policy responses to environmental issues. You will also gain a greater understanding of how information should be used to assess societal risk and create policy. Through courses offered in the Master of Public Administration Program, students learn how to effectively manage organizational resources and exposes them to the political settings in which policy is often developed.
In order to earn one degree, you will need to complete 12–13 courses. Depending on how many courses you complete at a time, you can earn the MPA or EVSS degree in about a year and a half. If you work on the two degrees separately, you will be required to earn a total of 77 credit hours for completion of the two degrees. However, through the concurrent degree program, the curricula of both master’s degree programs are combined in such a way that you can earn both degrees in an abbreviated period of time and with a required minimum of 60 credit hours.
A full list of the courses offered is available in the 2023-2024 Graduate Catalog.
Program of Study Form- Concurrent Degree Program
For more detailed information regarding the EVSS or MPA programs please visit their respective websites: EVSS program website and MPA program website
Core Curriculum
| Environmental and Sustainability Studies | Public Administration | |
| EVSS 601 Economic Theory for Policy Analysis (3) | EVSS/PUBA 651 Research and Management in Environmental Organizations (3) | |
| EVSS/PUBA 602 Public Policy (3) | PUBA 600 Foundations of Public Service Roles and Leadership (3) | |
| EVSS 611 Introduction to Environmental and Sustainability Studies (3) | PUBA 601 Research and Quantitative Methods for Public Administration (3) | |
| EVSS 624 Biometry (4) OR EVSS 659 Environmental Statistics (3) | PUBA 604 Managing Human Resources (3) | |
| EVSS 541 OR 610 OR 640 OR 650 science core (3 or 4) | UBA 605 Managing Financial Resources (3) | |
| EVSS 632 Social Science Methods in Environmental Studies (3) | PUBA 701 Capstone Seminar (3) | |
| EVSS 691 Thesis (6) |
Total core – minimum 42 hours
Students then select elective courses from either program to fulfill the 18 remaining hours to reach a minimum of 60 total credit hours. These elective courses should be selected with the input of their advisor.