NGO Education Survey

MGT 9969 Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts and Cases

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is the application of the tools, techniques, and skills of entrepreneurship to the achievement of a social mission (e.g., providing affordable housing to low-income households, feeding the hungry, making a college education accessible to disadvantaged youth, etc.). The course will explore the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the field, its practice, and the ways in which its impacts are assessed. Case studies will be used extensively to illustrate principles and stimulate discussion.

PA 9157 Introductin to Philanthropy

This course considers the complex system of private giving that supports civil society, examining the ways in which private funds are given and the vehicles through which they are administered. It emphasizes the philanthropic motivations, strategic frameworks, and practices of individuals and institutions in the U.S. and other regions, as well as the public impact of these private activities. It also examines the current legal and regulatory framework within which philanthropy operates and emerging controversies about philanthropic institutions and activities.

PAF 9151 Administration of the Nonprofit

In this class, students study management techniques and strategies applicable to nonprofit agencies. The topics include agency interaction with governmental and political institutions, planning and control systems, the role of the governing board, and the role of the executive director. The course pays special attention to the needs of community service/social welfare and cultural/arts organizations.

PAF 9152 Fund Raising & Grants Admin

This course examines the strategies and techniques for acquiring voluntary and governmental support for local nonprofit agencies. The course focuses on the role that fundraising plays in the economics of the nonprofit organization and its relationship with government agencies, foundations, and other donor/granting institutions. Open to Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs students and MA in Arts Administration students; others with Marxe School permission.

PAF 9153 Budget & Finance for Nonprofit

This course is for students whose career path is the nonprofit world and aspires to hold senior level positions in nonprofits. The course provides the tools for budgeting in a nonprofit, and the tools of financial analysis and managerial control as is currently practiced in nonprofit organizations.Open to Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs students; others with Marxe School permission.

PAF 9183

This course examines the international dimension of the nonprofit world. It focuses on those nonprofit organizations that work across borders because: 1) they seek to influence global issues such as economic justice, human rights or the environment; 2) they deliver aid or capacity building programs in developing countries; or 3) they are the secretariat or headquarters of an international network of organizations. The course will explore international and cross-cultural management issues, relationships with national governments and supranational entities, and international advocacy strategies. 

PAF 9199 Selected Topic: Applying Technological Innovation to Solve Public Sector Problems

The focus of the course is developing a systematic approach to solving complex problem that arise in the public sector. Within the context of solving problems we also want to account for the role technology can and should play in the solutions we consider. In particular we want to understand the practical implications of AI, algorithms, and learning machines in solving these problems today and explore their potential in the future.

PAF 9299 Topic in Nonprft Mgt

The focus of the course is developing a systematic approach to solving complex problem that arise in the public sector. Within the context of solving problems we also want to account for the role technology can and should play in the solutions we consider. In particular we want to understand the practical implications of AI, algorithms, and learning machines in solving these problems today and explore their potential in the future.

Aging Policy and Politics

Capstone Seminar

This writing intensive course is the culminating experience in the Public Policy minor/certificate. It provides students with an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in their other courses to a specific policy problem.

Critical Equity Issues at the Intersection of Disability, Policy, and Law

Digital Privacy, Surveillance, Security in the Pandemic Age: Implications for Public Policy

Global Pandemic Impacts

Introduction To Public Policy: An Interdisciplinary Approach

This 100-level course is designed to provide students with an interdisciplinary introduction to public policy utilizing the literature and tools of a variety of social science disciplines related to policy studies.

Labor and Employment Rights: Law, Policy, and History

PAF 9127 Managing Cultural Diversity

Managing Cultural Diversity in the Workplace explores selected problems and opportunities organizational leaders encounter as they lead, interact with and make decisions about employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. The course interrogates the rhetoric of understanding and valuing workplace diversity and explores why it has become such an important managerial imperative in the United States and abroad.

PAF 9100 Introduction to Public Affairs

The course is an introduction to politics, government, and public policy in the U.S. It provides a rigorous, scholarly, yet practical view of governmental institutions, policy making, administration, and contemporary public policy. Attention is given to the role of governmental and nongovernmental actors, as well as the influence of history, culture, public opinion, and political economy. Students develop skills in thinking critically and writing clearly about issues of public importance.

PAF 9103 Communication in Public Settings

Introduces students to communication in public settings and provides extensive opportunities for practice with basic written and oral forms. Interrelationships among communicative activities and organizational goals. Internal and external messages are given equal weight. Argumentative structures necessary for constructing sound policy and persuasive techniques relevant to funding, regulation, client, and public constituencies. Topics will vary somewhat from semester to semester depending on the instructor's and students' interests. The course follows a workshop/laboratory format with intensive attention to student work as a fulcrum for the application of theory and refinement of skills.

PAF 9104 Media, Politics, and Public Culture

This course identifies how the media advances or limits democratic values. Students will examine how policy leaders work with media systems to influence public opinion, and the domestic and global policies that shape media diversity. The course also covers the ways individuals and groups monitor, preserve, or challenge the power of the media.Open to Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs students; others with Marxe School permission.

PAF 9110 Ethics and Public Decision-Making

This course concerns the relationship of ethics and public service. Those in public service face a broad array of ethical problems and dilemmas ranging from simple matters of public trust through the application of ethical reasoning in policymaking. The course examines the limits of self-interest in public service, the differing ethical concerns of elective and appointive officials, the conflict between responsibility to hierarchical authority and personal conceptions of the right, bureaucratic responsibility for the ethical content of public policies, and the possibility of necessary evil. A significant portion of this course focuses on ethical theories that may help resolve these dilemmas.

PAF 9111 American Public Law and the Administrative State

Introduction to the American legal system and its role in the development and control of the modern administrative state. The course also emphasizes the legal context within which public and nonprofit agencies operate.

PAF 9115 Intergovernmental Relations

This course focuses on the vertical and horizontal relations among American governmental jurisdictions. It examines the theory and history of American federalism and its emergence into an intergovernmental system. The emphasis is on the changing nature of constitutional, fiscal, and non-fiscal relationships. Open to Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs students; others with Marxe School permission.

PAF 9117 Public Personnel and Human Resource Management

Analysis of problems and issues dealing with public sector personnel. Topics covered include selection, training, employee evaluation, and promotion policies and practices. Managerial, legal, and political aspects of human resource management are also considered.

PAF 9120 Public and Nonprofit Management I

This course introduces the fundamental concepts and techniques for managing government and nonprofit organizations. It focuses on structural models; individual behavior, including group dynamics and leadership; effective use and management of human resources; and political and cultural frameworks. It considers questions of effectiveness, responsibility, and professional relations. Open to Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs students and MA in Arts Administration students; others with Marxe School permission.

PAF 9130 Economic Analysis and Public Policy

This course is an introduction to the concepts and analytic tools necessary to analyze and understand the economic behavior of individuals and firms and the causes and consequences of public sector intervention in the economy. Open to Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs students; others with Marxe School permission.

PAF 9140 Budgeting and Financial Analysis I

This course focuses on the budget cycle and budget decision-making. It includes tools for developing, implementing, and controlling a budget within a, typically, public organization. Topics include development of operating budgets, cash budgets, break-even analysis, cost behavior, the time value of money, capital budgeting, long-term financing, and variance analysis. Basic budget accounting concepts are studied. The course includes development of spreadsheet skills for budgeting.

PAF 9160 Public and Nonprofit Management II

Managing public agencies and nonprofit organizations. The course addresses concepts, strategies, and techniques for effectively planning, organizing, directing, and controlling agencies, programs, and projects. The objective of the course is to prepare students for practical managerial assignments in government and in the nonprofit sector.

PAF 9165 Race, Inequality and Public Policies

This class explains different forms of inequality, identifies their origins, and analyzes how and why race and racism shape laws and public policies. The class will assess policies, current and proposed, to reduce inequality, and strategies to promote a more just and ethical society.

PAF 9181 Comparative Public Policy and Administration

This course focuses on international variations in public affairs through a comparative analysis of the factors that drive policymaking and determine the configuration of the public and nonprofit sectors around the globe. The course provides students with a basic toolbox of theories and methodologies needed to conduct comparative analyses of public policies and governance systems. Open to Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs students; others with Marxe School permission

PAF 9190 Capstone Seminar

This course is an advanced seminar in which MPA students in their last semester before graduation produce a semester project drawing from the full course of study toward the Master of Public Administration (MPA). The project may involve policy research, intensive study of an organization, development of a rationale fornew or changed service programs, or some combination of these. Special attention is placed on incorporating knowledge from the core MPA curriculum.

PAF 9270 Data Collection and Description

Data Collection and Description (PAF 9270) is the first course in the research methods sequence. Upon completion of this course, students can choose between Data Analysis for Public Service (PAF 9171) and Causal Analysis and Inference (PAF 9272). PAF 9270 teaches students how to collect qualitative and quantitative data for domestic and international policy or practice purposes and how to analyze and present data for descriptive purposes. It also teaches students how to interpret existing descriptive analyses to extract relevant and accurate information. The course will introduce the following topics: research questions and concepts, descriptive vs. causal research, case-oriented vs. variable-oriented approaches, sampling, data cleaning, and determining and maintaining data collection for organizations. Students will develop thefollowing specific skills: using spreadsheets, univariate and bivariate descriptive statistics, data visualization, conducting interviews or qualitative observation, analyzing and coding qualitative data, designing and assessing measures, anddesigning survey questionnaires and procedures. Course sections will use applications tailored towards students’ interests and concentrations (e.g., sections more populated with MIA students will have a greater international focus).

PAF 9271 Data Analysis for Public Service

Data Analysis for Public Service (PAF 9271) is the second course in the research methods sequence. Upon completion of Data Collection and Description (PAF 9270), students can choose between this course and Causal Analysis andInference (PAF 9272). PAF 9271 is meant for students pursuing domestic or international careers in management, fundraising, budget analysis, and other practice areas and will use data and applications relevant to such work. It emphasizes managerial, organizational, and practice examples and context. This course teaches students how to extract from existing analyses relevant and accurate information to enhance practice. It also teaches students how toconduct basic quantitative and qualitative analyses within organizations to shed light on which programs do and do not work, how well they work, and which features contribute. Specific topics include: logic models and mechanisms;developing and curating administrative data; collecting and analyzing interview, focus group, qualitative observation, and extant qualitative data; analyzing organizational data using spreadsheets and dashboards; pre-post, interrupted time series, comparative designs, and difference-in-difference analysis; methods for rolling out and managing programs to get good causal evidence; recognizing natural experiments. Course sections will use applications tailored towards students’ interests and concentrations (e.g., sections more populated with MIA students will have a greater international focus).

PAF 9272 Causal Analysis and Inference

Causal Analysis and Inference (PAF 9272) is the second course in the research methods sequence. Upon completion of Data Collection and Description (PAF 9270), students can choose between this course and Data Analysis for PublicService (PAF 9271). PAF 9272 is meant for those interested in becoming analysts, researchers, or making quantitative data analysis an important element in their careers. It teaches students how to critically evaluate existing causal analyses of both qualitative and quantitative data and how to conduct statistical analyses to answer causal questions for domestic and international policy and practice. Compared to PAF 9271, PAF 9272 places greater emphasis on observational and experimental data from representative surveys and requires students to write programs (coding) to carry out statistical analyses using advanced statistical software such as Stata or R. The course provides a hands-on introduction to understanding causal evidence, covering logic models and mechanisms, case-oriented vs. variable-oriented approaches, correlation vs. causation, observational vs. (quasi) experimental data, treatment effect, confounding and omitted variable bias, complex survey sampling, generalizability, standard error, confidence interval estimation, hypothesis testing, statistical and practical significance, power analysis, multiple regression, and difference-in-differences estimation. Course sections will use applications tailored towards students’ interests and concentrations (e.g., sections more populated withMIA students will have a greater international focus). (Students who took PAF 9170 or PAF 9172 cannot get credit for this course. They, and all other students looking for an advanced causal methods and statistics course, should considertaking PAF 9177.)

Seminar: Contemporary Issues in Education Policy

Seminar: Public Policy in New York City