Public Administration Bachelor's Degree

The UIU Advantage

Do you want to help others? The public administration degree is a practitioner-oriented degree that provides students with the necessary skills to manage and lead in government and nonprofit organizations. Public administrators work in a variety of specialty areas, such as healthcare, finance, psychology, emergency disaster management, and agriculture.

Why Public Administration at UIU?

• Develop skills to adapt to changing political and social conditions, and function as a well-informed and morally sensitive citizen.
• Program is available through blend of onsite and online courses.
• UIU’s Public Administration features emphases in law enforcement, policy, fire science, and emergency management.
• Learn from faculty who have real-world experience and are experts in the fields they teach; enjoy the support of helpful, caring staff who are there for you from start to finish.
• Minors are available in Political Science and Pre-Law.

Areas of Emphasis

• General: The general emphasis provides a foundation that will help students develop the skills to adapt to changing political and social conditions, and function as well-informed, politically and morally sensitive administrators and citizens who think critically and ethically about the purpose, design and function of government organizations. The focus of the emphasis is on but not limited to state and local administration of public programs and policy.
• Emergency Management: The purpose of the emergency management emphasis is to integrate theory and practice to help prepare student to understand and develop the skills and knowledge to manage and mitigate the physical and human consequences of natural and human-caused hazards.
• Fire Science or Law Enforcement: These areas of emphasis are designed to build on relevant prior learning in law enforcement and fire science by adding management and social science perspectives to prepare a student to understand public organizations and to utilize that knowledge to manage, plan and administer public policy in the areas of police and fire science. The public administration major with an emphasis in law enforcement or fire science is a unique program that is only available to those individuals who have completed related college courses, training in law enforcement or fire science, and/or who have extensive work experience in law enforcement or fire science. Eligibility for this emphasis is dependent upon documentation of completion of: an associate degree in a field related to law enforcement or fire science, a basic police recruit or fire science academy, or transfer or completion of 15 semester credits of related coursework. Eligibility may also be determined based on a combination of experiential learning and college credit.
• Policy & Politics: The policy/politics emphasis, like the general emphasis, provides a foundation that will help students develop the skills to adapt to changing political and social conditions, and function as well-informed, politically and morally sensitive administrators and citizens who think critically and ethically about the purpose, design and function of government organizations. However, this emphasis is broader, focusing not only on the development and implementation of public policy at the national level but providing a broader understanding of the practical aspects of politics and policy. This emphasis area works especially well with the UIU pre-law minor.