Welcome to the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program, a unique alternative to other
graduate school options. The core focus of our program is about developing your public service skills.
Our dynamic, practical program enhances your general management and administrative qualifications while
you also develop specific expertise in one of our three concentration areas: general public administration,
human resource management, and nonprofit management. At the same time, many of our students have
earned graduate certificates in urban and regional planning, sport management and athletics, and
health care management.
Launched in 1979, the program continues to attract and graduate professionals from all types of organizations.
Whether your career path is in a public, private or not-for-profit setting, our program meets your needs if
you are ready to enhance your general management skills and upgrade your expertise in a specific career area.
Oriented toward emerging public service leaders and midcareer professionals, our program setting, structure
and culture serve individuals who seek to learn alongside working professionals. Indeed, an important
strength of our program is the caliber and diversity of our student body and, as a result, the quality
of peer learning from which you will benefit as a student in our program.
Our program has a healthy balance of students who are midcareer professionals attending our classes one
or two evenings per week and emerging public service leaders who enroll in three or more classes per week.
One of the strengths of our program is our faculty who all have experience working in the fields of public
administration and nonprofit management. In addition to our regular faculty, we have an excellent group of
practitioners who bring to the classroom an extensive amount of practical experience. In this way, our
students are always taught by individuals who have worked or continue to work in the field of public service.
To learn more about our program, we encourage you to explore this website. We trust that it will prove a
useful source of information for you and answer many of your initial questions. In addition, we'd be happy
to talk with you at anytime; please contact us.
Thank you for your interest in the MPA program at West Chester University.
Enjoy your visit,
Dr. R. Lorraine Bernotsky
Director, MPA Program
