Faculty Contact Information:
Archie J. Twitchell, DPA
Mailing Address: 112 Mariwood Dr. Nichlolasville, KY 40356
Email Address: atwitche@cs.com
Telephone and fax: 859 881 0914
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Consultation:
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Consultation as desired via the internet.
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Required Texts and Readings:
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Texts used exclusively in this course:
Anderson, J.E. (2000). Public policymaking (5th ed.). Houghton Mifflin.
Dye, T.R. (2004). Understanding public policy (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall.
Text used in multiple courses:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author.
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Supplementary Readings:
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All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills.
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Recommended Journals:
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A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the PA Webboard (http://webboard.ed.umuc.edu/~pa). The Public Administration Review is the lead journal in the discipline and is especially useful for this course.
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Course Description:
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Prerequisites: Undergraduate economics and American political science or American government, and PUAD 501 or PUAD 502, or permission of the Program Director. Focuses on the analysis of costs and benefits in the selection of public policy choices. Students analyze public policy alternatives, factors, and processes involved in policy development, including the rulemaking that occurs after legislative enactment of public programs.
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Course Goals:
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As a required course in the policy track of the M.P.A., this course develops analytical skills necessary to the study of public policy. Students learn to apply a variety of common theoretical and conceptual approaches to policy development and policy analysis.
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to:
- Analyze public policies using standard conceptual and theoretical models.
- Evaluate policy options based on various assumptions of policy formulation and implementation.
- Investigate the relationships between historical and current policy proposals on the public agenda.
- Utilize electronic and technological solutions to accomplish policy analysis.
- Utilize electronic resources to find primary source documents, data, statements on best practices, and research articles related to policy analysis.
- Develop and present viable policy recommendations or proposals.
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Grading Information:
GRADING SCALE:
A = 400-360
B = 359-320
C = 319-280
F = Below 280.
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog. Hard copies of the catalog are available in your local Education Center.
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Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours of additional for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class.
Write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Plan on committing approximately 50 hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables. Specific requirements for the term paper in the course include:
Length: 10-20 pages
Topic: research subject selected for its learning value
Standards: The APA manual
Voluntary - submit a paragraph describing the topic accompanied by an outline. I will comment within the week.
Paper due 5 Oct. Papers are submitted to the assignment folder in WebTycho.
Complete two written examination(s): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.
The examinations are composed of six essay questions from which three are selected to answer. The exams will be posed in Course Content one week prior to the due date. Exams are submitted to the assignment folder in WebTycho.
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Description of Course Requirements:
Successful graduate students in American universities dedicate approximately three hours of preparation/study time for every hour spent in the face-to-face classroom. Thus, the following course requirements were developed on the assumption that students would be prepared to spend approximately 150 hours of their own time working on them. In an 8-week term, that is the equivalent of a half-time job. Most 14-week graduate distance education courses require at least 10 hours per week of dedicated time, plus time spent in the virtual classroom.
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner.
Write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment.
Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present your research in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this typically means an oral presentation accompanied by appropriate visual material. In a DE class, this means creating a visual/textual presentation for your instructor and classmates.
Complete one or more written examination(s): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.
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Course Schedule:
Course Schedule:
The reading is designated as follows:
D = Dye A = Anderson W = web site C = cases
Week #, Session Dates, Reading Assignments
1. June 13-19 Getting organized, introductions, and introduction to public policy A-1, D-1,2
2. June 20-26: A-2, W-www.whitehouse.gov ?The President?s Management Agenda?
3. June 27-July 3: A-3, D-3, 12 Policymaking Process, Federalism
4. July 4-10: A-4 Policy Adoption
5. July 11-17: D-7,8, Economic Policy, Tax Policy, http://www.cbpp.org/ Analysis of the Estate Tax Repeal, www.cbo.gov ?The Economic Outlook 2006-20015?
6. July18-24: A-5 Budgeting, www.cbo.gov (Analysis of the 2006 budget proposals), www.omb.gov (Projected revenues, deficits)
7 July 25-31: D-5- Health and Welfare, www.cbo.gov Analysis of the Medicare Prescription Drug Program, Web site references on welfare -TBA
8. Aug. 1-7: Midterm Exam
Term break Aug. 8-21
9. Aug. 22-28: D-4- Criminal Justice
10. Aug. 29-Sept. 4: D-6 Education policy, www.ed.gov ?No Child Left Behind ? (Find at top right of Home page)
12. Sept. 5-11: D-13: Defense Policy, www.dod.gov (Explore strike first doctrine)
13. Sept. 12-18: A-6, D-10-11 Policy Implementation
14. Sept. 19-25: A-7 D-14 Policy evaluationwww.census.gov (demographics)
15. Sept. 26-Oct.2: Wrap up, Final exam posted 26 Sept, due Oct 3.
16. Oct. 3-9 paper due by midnight Oct. 5
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Academic Policies:
The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism.
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi.
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.
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Faculty Bio:
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Dr. Twitchell earned his BA in History/Government, and his Masters and DPA are in the field of Public Administration. Dr. Twitchell served as a city planner and then as city manger for a total of 15 years. As a consultant to the National Association of Counties he preapared an assessment of the Impact of State Energy Codes on county government. That was followed by a three year stint as the program manager for a federal program where the mission was to develop the implementation program for a national energy code. Thus, he has more than 20 years experience drafting local, state and national policies and assessing their impact.
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