A Welcome from the Director
The School of Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg is a comprehensive unit, with programs ranging from bachelor’s degrees in Criminal Justice, Political Science, and Public Policy, to master’s degrees in Public Administration, Health Administration, and Criminal Justice, to a Ph.D. in Public Administration. In addition, the undergraduate Criminal Justice program is also offered online through Penn State’s World Campus. We are in the process of developing online graduate programming in Homeland Security and Defense. Finally, the School offers several post-baccalaureate certificate programs, in Policy Analysis and Evaluation, Non-Profit Management, Long-Term Care, Public Sector Human Resource Management, and Public Budgeting and Financial Management.
I invite you to visit our Web pages to learn more about the School of Public Affairs, our academic programs, and the wealth of opportunities that exist for our graduates. Visit campus and get a first-hand look at Penn State Harrisburg.
The master’s program in Public Administration, fully accredited by NASPAA, was ranked 51st in the 2008 US News & World Report rating of over 269 graduate schools of public affairs throughout the country. This places the school’s program in the top quintile of comparator institutions. This ranking is encouraging, but it also creates a challenge for the school. Our strategic vision calls for us to increase the quality of our work. We now have one benchmark against which any progress can be measured – and that will be a difficult task indeed.
The School of Public Affairs has also been designated the University’s flagship school of public affairs.
The school has defined itself as oriented toward the larger community (the central Pennsylvania region) and, at the graduate level, toward professional, part-time students (state employees, for example). A large percentage of graduate students work full-time. However, as Penn State Harrisburg has come to admit first-year students, this picture is rapidly changing at the undergraduate level.
Penn State Harrisburg features five academic schools – Behavioral Sciences and Education; Business Administration; Science, Engineering and Technology; Humanities; and Public Affairs. As a college, Penn State Harrisburg offers two associate, 32 bachelor’s, 22 master’s, and 3 doctoral programs along with the first two years of study leading to more than 160 Penn State undergraduate majors available throughout the Commonwealth – including 31 of its own.
Recent accomplishments:
- The Criminal Justice program has placed its bachelor’s degree program online, with increasing enrollments each year.
- We have funded one endowed student award – The Hand Award in State and Local Affairs (for a graduate student with an interest in state and local affairs).
- We have also funded a second endowed award – The HFMA Book Scholarship (for a graduate student in health policy or administration).
- In addition, two other awards for health policy and management students have been endowed—The HealthAmerica Graduate Fellowship in Health Care Policy and Management and the Highmark Blue Shield Fellowship in Health Care Policy and Management.
- The school, working within the Penn State system, was involved in the development of a multi-university, international graduate program in Public Policy (through the Worldwide Universities Network).
- The University approved a new certificate program in the MPA – Policy Analysis.
- The University approved a new certificate program in Nonprofit Management.
- We have developed a structured undergraduate internship program in public affairs and public service for the Penn State system – The Harrisburg Semester.
- The Master of Health Administration program has created a Leadership Council, which includes leading figures in the region’s health care community; in addition there is an advisory board for the Long-Term Care certificate program.
- Bringing the college's first BA, The College of Liberal Arts Political Science degree, to Penn State Harrisburg
- Partnered with the School of Business Administration to offer the major in Security and Risk Analysis.
In the future, we are looking forward to exploring a number of initiatives, including seeking certification of our Criminal Justice and Master of Health Administration programs and developing online Homeland Security programming at the graduate level.
The School of Public Affairs family is actively looking forward to the future to enhance the quality of our students’ education, to provide service to the larger community, and to use our research skills to advance knowledge in the public affairs arena.
Steven A. Peterson, Ph.D.
Professor of Politics and Public Affairs
Director of the School of Public Affairs