Curriculum

The Master of Public Administration Inspector General (MPA IG) Program is a track of the MPA Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. This track is unique among MPA and Public Policy programs nationally because it concentrates on the assessment and oversight of performance and integrity in public and independent agencies.

The National Online MPA IG Program is envisioned by the College, in a collaboration with the Association of Inspectors General, as a national program targeted to professionals working with inspection and oversight agencies, and also targeted to students who aspire to work in inspection and oversight agencies across the nation, and eventually around the world.

While the courses are primarily offered online, face-to-face meetings for selected classes will be offered in conjunction with Association of Inspector General meetings. The sessions will take place immediately before and during Association Fall and/or Spring conferences.

Course Delivery Plan

The MPA IG Program, as it exists as a track within John Jay’s MPA program, is a 42 credit program consisting of nine core courses, three specialization courses, and two elective courses.

The core courses focus on the foundations of public policy and public administration as a field, as well as the foundations of the field of inspection and oversight as relating to its standards of accounting and auditing, principles of public accounting and forensic accounting, techniques of investigation, inspection, and assessed, and fundamentals of ethics and integrity public service.

While four specializations are offered in the campus-based program (inspection and operational investigation, forensic financial analysis, program evaluation and assessment, and international inspection and oversight) the on-line program is initially envisioned to offer only the inspection and operational investigation specialization for the first year or two. Depending upon demand, additional specializations will be considered.

The course delivery plan involves offering three courses per semester over a sequence of four semesters over two years. The course offering plan is in the adjacent panel, including the names of the faculty members who will be the primary instructors.

In addition, two elective courses must be completed. This requirement may be satisfied in the following ways:

• The program will offer an online course in the summer of enrollment demand is sufficient.
• Students may complete an online course offered through the campus-based MPA Program.
• Students may transfer a graduate course completed at another academic institution either before or during matriculation in the National Online MPA-IG Program.
• Students may complete a certification course offered by the Association of Inspectors General, such as the Certified Inspector General course. This option is under development and will be available based on finalization of an external credit agreement between the College and the Association.

Attendance Requirements

Students are expected to consistently participate in online instruction for each of the 15 weeks of the academic semester. In addition, students are required to travel to the a designated conference of the Association of Inspectors General once during each academic year while the student is matriculated in the program.

Generally, the Association’s conferences take place during November and May, and the conference’s take place at locations around the United States. During the day immediately before the first day of the conference, and the morning of the first day of the conference, students will attend face to face class meetings with the faculty for the course which they are enrolled in. In these face-to-face classroom sessions, students will also be expected to complete certain assessments where the identity of the student must be assured.

Matriculation and Registration Rules

The following is a summary of rules relating to matriculation and course registration.

• Registration in the online courses offered through the Online MPA IG Program is limited to students who are admitted to study in the Online MPA IG Program.
• Students in the Online MPA IG Program may transfer up to four graduate courses (12 credits) outside of the Online MPA IG Program, provided that the courses are determined by the MPA Director to equate to the courses within the Online MPA IG Program for which substitutions would be made.
• Students admitted to the Online MPA IG Program may also complete up to 4 courses offered as campus-based John Jay College courses, provided that the total number of transferred courses and campus-based courses does not exceed 4. For example, a student could complete PAD 742 as a campus-based course in place of the Online MPA IG Program course.
• In the event that an out-of-state student in the Online MPA IG Program registers for a campus-based course, the out-of-state tuition would apply. Furthermore, out-of-state students are not required to satisfy the NY State immunization verification policy. However, if the out-of-state student decides to register for a campus-based course, the immunization proof will be necessary.
• Students in the John Jay College campus-based MPA Program may apply for admission to the Online MPA IG Program. However, if admitted, such students would be permitted to apply no more than four courses (12 credits) of campus-based courses to the Online MPA IG Program.
• Students in the Online MPA IG Program may register for fewer than three courses in a particular semester, but this may lengthen the number of semesters necessary to complete the program.
  

 

 

 

Summary of Courses

The following is a summary of twelve of the fourteen courses offered to satisfy the requirements of the program. Two additional elective courses must also be completed, and options for accomplishing this are explained in the adjacent panel.

The summary includes an illustrative list of topics covered in each course. The sequence and selection of courses may be adjusted as the program is delivered.

Year One Fall Semester

PAD 700 Public Administration
Professor Patrick O'Hara

• Examine the field of public administration.
• Review political, economic, cultural, and historical perspectives on the field.
• Assess current issues facing the profession. Access the scholarly literature of the field.
• Introduce the inventory of skills that students must master in order to complete the MPA Program.

PAD 701 Fraud, Waste and Abuse
Professor Jay Hamilton

• Assess the nature and prevalence of fraud, abuse, waste and corruption.
• Apply political, economic, legal and philosophical perspectives.
• Examine approaches to investigating, monitoring, deterring and controlling these phenomena.

PAD 723 Assessments, Audits and Investigations in Human Resources
Professor Roddick Colvin

• Examine purposes and techniques of assessment, audit, and investigation in the human resources context.
• Students will learn to how determine the current and future needs of employees and organizations using needs assessments.
• Examine specialized audits relating to affirmative action, ADA, and general EEO-related issues.
• Examine standards and practices relating to case documentation, claimant and subject interviews, and report writing.

Year One Spring Semester

PAD 706 Bureaupathology

• Reviews theories of organizational structure and behavior.
• Explores corruption, waste, favoritism, excessive secrecy, arbitrary and
  illegal exercises of power and other “pathologies” of bureaucracies.
• Examines the organizational situations and social contexts conducive to
  departures from the laws, rules and regulations that define the formal
  mission of an agency.
• Considers the remedial and preventative actions available to elected officials, organizational managers, line employees
  and clients, customers and citizens.

PAD 740 Public Sector Inspection and Oversight
Professor Fred Palm

• Survey the role and function of inspection and oversight in the public, independent and private sectors.
• Review the standards of practice in the field.
• Introduce techniques of internal investigation, policy oversight, operational auditing and the auditor-agency relationship.
• Assess methods of fraud monitoring and prevention.

PAD 715 Research Methods
Professor Richard Schwester

• Examines the logic and techniques of research, evaluation and quantitative analysis in public administration.
• Introduce the concepts of measurement and data collection, approaches to the presentation of quantitative information, and designs for policy research and operational analysis.
• Examine the application of research methods in inspection and oversight such as sampling of cases and construction of performance indices.
• A prerequisite to this course is an undergraduate course in statistics. Students who have not completed such a course should make arrangements to complete one at a local college or university.

Year One Summer

• Elective course to be determined

Year Two Fall Semester

PAD 713 Management of Information and Technology
Professor Adam Wandt

• Examine technologies for case management .
• Assess standards and assessment methods to determine the information security
• Assess legal requirements for information security and privacy.
• Review data-mining and related technologies for risk assessment and evidence discovery.

PAD 742 Public Sector Accounting and Auditing
Professor David Shapiro

• Introduce the principles of accounting and the techniques of auditing for governmental and not-for-profit agencies.
• Review GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), summary financial statements, and financial audit guidelines.
• Address accounting reform and electronic auditing.

PAD 758 Ethics for Public Administration
Professor Daniel Feldman

• Explore the role of ethics in the public service.
• Analyze ethical issues through the use of case studies and critical incidents.
• Examine codes of ethics and other policies designed to guarantee that public officials and employees faithfully discharge their duties and fulfill their fiduciary obligations to the public.

Year Two Spring Semester

PAD 749 Public Sector Accounting and Auditing II
Professor David Shapiro

• A second course in forensic accounting and auditing, with emphasis on the audit of financial statements.
• Topics include methods and
  skills associated with auditing, including report writing, sampling and analytical tests and risk assessment.
• Special attention is given to
  methods of examination relating to prevention and detection of fraud.

PAD 754 Investigative Techniques
Professor Daniel Feldman

• Review techniques for the discovery and documentation of corrupt practices in
  politics and administration.
• Examine the public employee’s obligations and rights and of the laws and regulations governing criminal investigations.
• Assess case studies of white-collar crimes
  and scandals involving public officials.

PAD 771 Capstone Seminar
Professor Warren Benton

• Apply knowledge and skills from MPA-IG studies to a project
• Complete a structured assignment which is assessed by a panel of faculty members.
• See the Capstone Project Guidelines for more information about this project.