Public Administration
Prepare for a career in public service. Develop the leadership tools and knowledge you need to serve, manage and lead public or nonprofit organizations or to conduct cutting-edge academic research.
What We Offer
Public Administration students at NC State enjoy an extraordinary faculty recognized for its research productivity, a highly-ranked graduate program with great flexibility in its elective courses, and North Carolina’s capital city location and proximity to the world-renowned Research Triangle Park.
We offer two advanced degrees: a Master of Public Administration (MPA) and a Ph.D. in public administration. Many public administration professionals working part- or full-time pursue their MPA degree to study public administration, policy and theory and apply what they’re learning.
You’ll get a rich classroom experience that enhances real-world needs in one of the top-ranked MPA programs and the only public administration Ph.D. program in North Carolina.
Our Faculty
The department of Public Administration is proud of its dedicated faculty and their commitment to student success. We have 14 full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty who are all academically qualified, possessing doctoral degrees in relevant disciplines and serve in a variety of roles on both the campus, state as well as national agencies. They understand the complex challenges that government and nonprofit sectors face in a rapidly changing world and enjoy engaging with our students. Our faculty specializes in subjects such as: collaborative governance, emergency and natural disaster response, public safety leadership, public management, public policy, sustainable energy systems and policy, genetic engineering, multi-agent collaboration and inter-organizational relationships, wicked problem solving, phosphorous sustainability, international non-governmental organizations, and nonprofit management and leadership. You can read more about them on our faculty webpage.
Recent Faculty Research
- Graham Ambrose on Transitioning from planning to implementation: comparing collaborative governance and developmental dynamics in 4 watersheds
- Graham Ambrose on Evaluating Conflict, Interest Advancement, and Representation in Collaborative Governance
- Thomas Birkland on Policy Entrepreneurs, Crisis and Policy Change: Elements in Public Policy.
- Thomas Birkland on COVID-19 Memorable Messages as Internal Narratives: Stability and Change over Time.
- Thomas Birkland studies the impact of memorable messages during the first year of COVID-19
- Thomas Birkland on Learning from Crisis: COVID-19 Agenda and Policy Change and What It Means for a Future Research Agenda.
- Thomas Birkland on A Conceptual Framework for Knowledge Integration in Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations.
- Thomas Birkland on Characterizing the Social-Ecological System for Inland Freshwater Salinization Using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps: Implications for Collective Management.
- Thomas Birkland on Narrative Power in the Narrative Policy Framework
- Jerrell Coggburn on Volunteers in Name Only: Implications of Court-Ordered Service
- Serena Kim on Predicting Energy Peaks to Save Costs and Advance Campus Sustainability
- Serena Kim on Sentiment Analysis of Solar Energy in U.S. Cities
- Jennifer Kuzma on Beyond the Hype: Stakeholder Perceptions of Nanotechnology and Genetic Engineering for Sustainable Food Production
- Jennifer Kuzma on Environmental assessment and regulatory oversight of genetically engineered crops in the United States.
- Jennifer Kuzma on Public Perceptions and Support for Introduced Microbes to Combat Hospital-Acquired Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance.
- Jennifer Kuzma on Natural vs. Genetically Engineered Microbiomes: Understanding Public Attitudes for Indoor Applications
- Jennifer Kuzma on Taking the Temperature of U.S. Public Regarding Microbiome Engineering
- Branda Nowell on The Weakness of Weak Ties: Do Social Capital Investments Among Leaders Pay Off During Times of Disaster?
- Jay Rickabaugh on Research-to-action multidisciplinary projects: an undergraduate convergence research course
- Jay Rickabaugh on How North Carolinians Cooperate to Rebuild After Hurricane Helene
- Jay Rickabaugh on Teaching Early Undergraduate Transdisciplinary Education in Public Affairs for Non-Majors
- Hans Peter Schmitz on A Framework for Understanding and Evaluating Localization: The Care of HelpAge International
- Amanda Stewart on Not all wine and roses: Nonprofit consulting as nonprofit-sector adjacent work.
Wellness and Belonging
The Department of Public Administration faculty affirm the inherent dignity of all people. We are committed to creating an inclusive and engaging working and learning environment, free from discrimination based on age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender orientation, racial/ethnic background and/or religion.
Degree Programs
NC State is ranked among the top schools with graduate public affairs programs
U.S. News and World Report
