Faculty Contact Information:
Archie J. Twitchell, DPA
Mailing Address: 18735 Martin?s Landing, Germantown, Md. 20874
Telephone and fax: 301 528 7968
Email Address: atwitche@cs.com ,atwitchell@faculty.ed.umuc.edu | |
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 (4th ed.). Belmont, CA :Thomson Wadsworth.
Stillman, R.J. (2000). Public administration: Concepts and cases (7th ed.). Houghton Miflin.
Text used in multiple courses:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington D.C.: Author. | |
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/2002pubs/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
All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online 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. | |
Recommended Journals:
| A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the PA Webboard (http://webboard.ed.umuc.edu/~pa). Public Administration Review, the lead journal in the discipline,is especially useful for this course. | |
Course Description:
| 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. | |
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 partsof public administration.
- Current standards and best practices in public sector management.
- Major theories, models, and concepts of public administration
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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
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Grading Information:
Grades for the course will be assigned as follows:
450 - 500 points equals an A
400 - 449 points equals a B
350 - 399 points equals a C?
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. | |
Description of Course Requirements:
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Exams: The exams are composed of six essay questions from which three are selected to answer.
Written Projects: shall follow the APA Publication Manual 5th Ed. Plagiarism is grounds for failure of the class. 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 form 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 decision theories. Incremental choice is compared to Mixed Scanning and to Rationalism. The purpose is for the student to recognize the importance of the decision structure in his/her organization to outcomes. The paper is limited to four pages of 12 point type.
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Course Schedule:
Session Date Topics Reading Assignments
1. Apr. 5-10 Establish communication, introductions, get organized, Assign first project due Apr 17 Stillman 1, case 1
2. Apr 11-17 Personal Action in Public Organizations, Review of US Constitution, Denhardt Chap 1 & US Constitution (Articles I-III, Amendments 1-10, 14)
3. Apr. 18-24 The Political Context of Public Administration, The Study of Administration; Denhardt chap. 2 Stillman Reading 1 Case 1
4 Apr. 25-May 1 The Interorganizational Context of Public Administration, Denhardt Chap 3, Stillman 5 & Case 5, The Articles of Confederation Articles I-111, VI, VIII
5. May 2-8 The Ethics of Public Service, Denhardt Chap 4 Stillman 16 Case 16
6. May 9-15 Budgeting and Financial Management; Deficits Denhardt Chap 5, www.omb.gov, www.cbpp.org
7. May 16-22 Midterm exam
Term Break May 23-June 5
8. June 6-12 Budgeting (cond?t), Decision-making Stillman 8, 12 Cases 8 & 12, Second project due June 8
9. June 13-19 The Management of Human Resources Denhardt Chap 6, Discussion of the Hawthorne and Western Electric Company Stillman 6 Case 6
10. June 20-26 Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation Denhardt Chap 7 Stillman 10 Case 10
11. June 27-July 3 Managing Organizational Dynamics Denhardt Chap 8 Stillman 11 Cases 2, 11
12. July 4-10 Personal Skills in Public Management Denhardt Chap 10 Discussion of The Political Environment Stillman Reading 4 Case 4
13. July 11-17 Interpersonal Skills and Group Dynamics Denhardt Chap 11 Stillman 9, Case 9
14. July 18-24 The Future of the Public Service Denhardt Chap 12 Stillman 13-14 Cases 13-14
15. July 25-31 Paper due July midnight July 25, Final Examination due midnight 29 July | |
Academic Policies:
Please refer 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. | |
Faculty Bio:
| Dr. Archie Twitchell is a Collegiate Professor at UMUC. He earned an M.P.A. from the University of Denver and the D.P.A. from the University of Southern California. He served as a City Manager for 11 years and as a Senior Program manager (GS-14) prior to undertaking an academic career. Dr. Twitchell served as Academic Director of Graduate Programs and Program Coordinator of Public Administration for UMUC Europe for a number of years. | |