Faculty Contact Information:
Archie J. Twitchell, DPA
Email: atwitche@cs.com
Tel & Fax 859 881 0914
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Consultation:
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Required Texts and Readings:
Texts used exclusively in this course:
Denhardt, R.B. & Grubbs, J.W. (2003) Public administration: An action
orientation (5th ed.). Belmont, CA : Thomson Wadsworth.
Stillman, R.J. (2005). Public administration: Concepts and cases (8th
ed.). Boston: Houghton Miflin.
Text used in multiple courses:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the
American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington D.C.: Author.
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Supplementary Readings:
Articles of Confederation: http://www.constitution.org/cons/usa-conf.htm
The Constitution of the U.S.: http://www.constitution.org/cons/constitu.txt
Constitution of Virginia 1776: http://www.nhinet.org/ccs/docs/va-1776.htm
2002 Statistical Abstract of U. S.: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/01statab/stat-ab01.html
The White House: www.whitehouse.gov
Office of Management and Budget: www.OMB.gov
The Center for Policy and Budget: www.cbpp.org
In addition, all graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at "http://www.ed.umuc.edu/library">www.ed.umuc.edu/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 UMUC Library Website. Public Administration Review, the lead journal in the discipline,is especially useful for this course.
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Course Description:
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Prerequisite: Undergraduate American political science or American Government or permission from the Program Director. A survey of the fundamentals of public administration, management strategies and management techniques at the national, state, and local levels.
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Course Goals:
As the introductory course in the M.P.A. program and a prerequisite to the certificate in E-Government, this course introduces and analyzes:
- Discipline and practice of American public administration.
- Role of government in general and public administrators in particular in a democratic society.
- Basic institutions of American government.
- Development of the administrative state.
- Component parts of public administration.
- Current standards and best practices in public sector management.
- Major theories, models, and concepts of public administration.
- Differences between public and private sector management.
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to:
- Analyze
case material, web sites, public law, and research articles related to public administration
- Investigate
the relationship between historical and current issues in public administration
- Utilize
electronic resources to find primary source documents, data, statements on best practices, and research articles related to issues in public administration
- Develop and present
written and oral arguments, case studies, and/or research papers on current issues in public administration that make reference to and build on factual and expert information.
- Assess emerging difficulties in federal state relations.
- Differentiate between various schools of federalism.
- Identify key elements of public policy design.
- Classify critical methods of policy analysis and evaluation.
- Define the current judicial limitations to governmental power.
- Explain the mechanics of the budgetary process.
- Recognize the methodology of the major schools of budget preparation.
- Summarize the latest trends in public personnel policy.
- Distinguish differences among private and public sector unions.
- Identify the key features of the collective bargaining process.
- Access new E-Government technologies.
- Comprehend the depth and dimensions of governmental ethics.
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Grading Information:
Grades for the course will be assigned as follows:
A = 450 - 500 points
B = 400 - 449 points
C = 350 - 399 points
Below 350 points equals an F(a) or regular non-attendance F(n)
Grades of "Incomplete" or "Withdrawal" are governed by UMUC- Europe policies. Please refer to the UMUC Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center, or online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu.edu/visit/pubs/catalog/grad_03-04.pdf for further details.
Course Requirements:
Midterm...................100 points
First Project..............50 points.
Second Project.............50 points
Term paper................100 points
Final exam................100 points.
Participation.............100 points...Half allotted to each term.
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F 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:
Course Requirements:
Midterm...................100 points
First Project..............50 points.
Second Project.............50 points
Term paper................100 points
Final exam................100 points.
Participation.............100 points...Half allotted to each term.
Total 500 points
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Description of Course Requirements:
Description of Course Requirements:
Exams: Both the midterm and final exams are composed of six essay questions from which three are selected to answer.
Written Projects:
Follow the APA Publication Manual 5th Ed.with regard to title page and citations. Plagiarism is grounds for failure of the paper and projects. Failure to cite sources constitutes plagiarism.
The first project involves the examination of the relationship between politics and administration. Wilson's dictum that politics should be separate from administration contains the criteria by which the case "The Blast from Centralia" is examined. The paper is limited to four pages of 12 point type.
The second project involves a comparison of decision theories. Incremental choice is compared to Mixed Scanning and to Rationalism. The purpose is to recognize the importance that the decision structure of an organization has on outcomes. The paper is limited to four pages of 12 point type.
Term Paper:
The topic is selected by the student. It must reference a topic in the domain of public administration. The criteria for grading are: 1) What is the quality of English and 2) What is the quality of the analysis? The paper must have an introduction that defines the issues researched. The body of the paper addresses the issues defined. The conclusions should logically flow from the data presented.
The papers should display critical thinking. The paper should not be just a report, rather fundamental questions should be addressed? For example, Congress intervened in the Shiavo case after state and federal courts had ruled. Was this consistent with the separation of powers embodied in the Constitution?
The length of the paper should be between 10-20 pages.
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Course Schedule:
COURSE SCHEDULE
1. Sept 3-9 Establish communications, introductions, get organized:
The Structure of Federalism. Denhardt, 1./ Stillman, 1.1; 1.2. Also read the description of the first project.
2. Sept 10-16 The Impact of Political Parties. Review of US Constitution at http://www.constitution.org/cons/constitu.txt (Articles I-III, Amendments 1-10, 14), Readings: Denhardt, 2./ Stillman, 4.
3. Sept 17-23 Intergovernmental Relations: Readings: Denhardt, 3./ Stillman, 5. The Articles of Confederation Articles I-111, VI, VIII
First project due Sept. 25
4 Sept. 24-30 Public Policy Analysis. Readings: Denhardt, 6./ Stillman 7, 8.
5. Oct. 1-7 Public Budgeting (Legislative Perspective). Readings: Denhardt, 7./ Stillman, 12. Also, see the analysis of proposals to reduce in the income tax, the capital gains tax and the estate tax www.cbpp.org
6.Oct. 8-14 Public Budgeting (Executive Perspective). Readings: Denhradt, 6./ Stillman 10, 13; Decision-making Stillman 8, 12.
7. Oct. 15-21 Term break
8. Oct. 22-28 MIDTERM EXAMINATION. The exam is due at midnight 28 Oct.
9. Oct. 29-Nov. 4 Organizational Behavior. Readings: Denhardt, 5.
10. Nov. 5-11 Public Personnel Management. Readings: Denhardt, 8./ Stillman, 11. Discussion of the Hawthorne and Western Electric Company
11. Nov. 12- 18 Labor Law & Collective Bargaining.Readings: Denhardt, 8.
12. Nov 19-25 E-Government and the Future. No Readings.
Term paper due Nov. 25.
13. Nov. 26-Dec 3. Examination The final exam will be posted in Course Content Nov. 26 and is due on Nov. 30.
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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:
Dr. Twitchell holds a doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California. He served as a city manager for 11 years and another four working for the federal government in the field of environmental protection. He has taught graduate courses for since 1990. He authored a training manual in financial administration for the World Food Programme as well as numerous training manuals for the Office of Personnel Management.
His hobbies are: reading military history, bridge, hiking, cooking.
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