California State University, Sacramento
Minor in Public Policy and Administration

PPA 191
Culminating Project
Public Policy and Administration Minor

Fall 2004
Wednesday 1:45 - 3:00 p.m.
Alpine 205

Overview and expectations of students

The minor in PPA is designed to compliment majors from a variety of CSUS departments. The PPA minor is aimed at providing background and skills helpful for entry level positions in such organizations.  Prior to taking this culminating course, you should have had several courses in economics, public policy, and administration.  These courses provide grounding for this culminating project/course. 

Because this is the only the second time PPA 191 has been offered, we will be charting new territory together.  My expectation is that you will be flexible, engaged and responsible.  In turn, I will provide support, resources, advice and contacts as you work to finish your projects. 

We will not meet weekly but will develop a schedule together that insures all students are making progress towards their final project on a timely basis.  The first few classes we will spend time reviewing what you have learned and exploring interests.  By the third week of class you will need to have your topic narrowed down.

A few notes on other important topics.  First, I presume that all of you are familiar with and will adhere to the Universities policies on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism.  If not, please peruse them immediately at http://www.csus.edu/admbus/umanual/UMA00150.htm and http://www.csus.edu/admbus/umanual/UMP14150.htm.  Should you need assistance with portions of class due to disabilities, please let me know as soon as possible. 

Course objectives

1. Develop expertise in one issue or subject area.
2. Become facile and comfortable understanding multiple aspects of public issues including policy, administrative and political dimensions.
3. Integrate learning from previous courses into a comprehensive approach to understanding policy and administration.
4. Enhance research skills especially practitioner based information sources (using public sources as opposed to academic journals etc.).
5. Improve the capacity to make effective, succinct and analytical oral presentations to decision makers. 
6. Improve the capacity to make effective, succinct and analytical written presentations.

Project

The goal of this term is to develop expertise in either a subject matter or a particular issue that is of interest to you.  I encourage you to pick a topic related to either your major or a career option.  This project will be field based, that is, out there in the “real world” not in the library.  You will “map” the system involved, identify relevant decision makers, stakeholders and institutions, and then discuss the major policy issue(s) that are pertinent.  Along the way we will meet to answer questions such as why are the organizations structured the way they are?  How do the current policy options stack up against what we know about public policy development and structure?  What are appropriate venues for taking action on this issue? 

Your final project will be a comprehensive report on the issue, systems and your findings.  This will be structured as a briefing book and oral presentation (developed for a new member of a Legislative Committee).  We will work on these presentation techniques as the semester goes along. 

The final report will be no more than 30 minutes in length.  The final paper, not including any attachments or graphs, must be between 20 and 30 pages.  This may seem daunting right now but I believe you will ultimately have too much information, not too little. 

General structure of Briefing Books

We will work with this structure as a starting point, amending as we need to for individual projects.  Please remember that you may not actually develop the book in this order.  You should gather a lot of information before you begin doing any writing! 

1. Executive Summary (no more than 2 pages).
2. Introduction to the issue or topic area, why it is important, some relevant and memorable factoids.
3. Background including why this is a public issue, general history and funding.
4. Description and analysis of relevant organizations.
5. Description and analysis of stakeholders and interested parties.
6. Description and analysis of current issues including major options under discussion.
7. Upcoming decisions / timeline of possible actions (next 12-18 months).
8. Summary with concluding thoughts and observations. 

Grading

Reading

There are no assigned books for this course; however, you will be expected to develop a comprehensive bibliography of sources for your briefing.  I will help you to identify both academic and practitioner literature relevant to your topic. 

Schedule

We will develop a schedule to meet, sometimes as a group, sometimes individually, as we go along.  We will also develop due dates for portions of your project to keep you on track.  However, you should keep the following dates in mind:

October 6:                    First presentation

October 28:                   Second presentation

November 17:               Third presentation

December 8-10:            Final presentations

December 15:               Final papers due

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