Elective Courses
January 2025
Spring 2025 (Grid View)
- EXEC-GP 2170 Performance Measurement & Management for Public, Nonprofit, & Healthcare Organizations
- EXEC-GP 2413 Strategic Philanthropy
- EXEC-GP 2430 Cross-Sector Collaborations
- EXEC-GP 4137 Communications and Branding for Nonprofits
- EXEC-GP 4154 Management Consulting for Public Service Organizations
- EXEC-GP 4503 Introduction to Data Analytics for Public Policy, Administration, and Management
Fall 2025 (Grid View)
- EXEC-GP 2135 Human Resources: Leading Talent Development
- EXEC-GP 2141 Financial Decision Making and Management
- EXEC-GP 2201 Institutions, Governance, and Public Sector Reform
- EXEC-GP 4101 Conflict Management and Negotiation
- EXEC-GP 4503 Introduction to Data Analytics for Public Policy, Administration, and Management
Search across the Wagner curriculum for courses that tend to be offered in the fall, January, spring, or summer term.
Fall:
January:
Spring:
Summer:
Cities
Communication Skills
Data Science & Data Management
Education
Environment, Climate Change, & Sustainability
Health Policy & Management
Inequality, Race, & Poverty
International Development and Humanitarian Action
Nonprofit & Government Organizations
Philanthropy & Fundraising
Program Evaluation
Social Justice & Democracy
Transportation
MPA-PNP: Advocacy & Political Action Specialization
Core Courses
MPA-PNP: Advocacy & Political Action Specialization
Tools & Skills Focus Area
Develop the core elements of successful advocacy campaigns, including research, strategic planning, and data-driven decision-making. These courses provide the essential frameworks needed to plan and execute effective advocacy efforts.
MPA-PNP: Advocacy & Political Action Specialization
Policies & Issues Focus Area
Gain specialized knowledge in key issue areas like criminal justice, human rights, or environmental policy. These courses prepare you to apply your expertise to advocacy campaigns and political action.
MPA-PNP: Financial Management & Public Finance Specialization
Public Economics & Finance Focus Area
The Public Economics and Finance focus area allows students to apply the principles of economics to specific sectors, topics, or issues concerned specifically with resource allocation, generation, and distribution.
MPA-PNP: Financial Management & Public Finance Specialization
Financial Management Focus Area
The Financial Management focus area allows students to concentrate on planning and controlling organizational resources and is designed to cover both short-term operating and long-term capital financing topics applied to nonprofits, governments, and healthcare organizations.
MPA-PNP: International Development Policy & Management Specialization
Growth, Sustainability, & Inequality Focus Area
Global relationships are being reshaped by economic growth together with widening inequalities. Building from PADM-GP 2203 Economics of International Development, these courses explore growth and inequality among countries and regions.
MPA-PNP: International Development Policy & Management Specialization
Organizations & Management in International Contexts Focus Area
Courses in this focal area draw on theory and practice from organization and management studies to explore the human, behavioral, functional and operational dynamics of organizations operating in a global context or focusing on development goals within an international political economy. Clusters below allow students to concentrate on particular entry points or to mix and match in ways that help address career preferences.
MPA-PNP: International Development Policy & Management Specialization
International Finance Focus Area
Courses in this focal area draw on theory and practice from public and social finance and social impact investment. Many of the courses have some international focus and all have international relevance. There are two clusters, one which focuses more on public sector finance and one which covers social enterprises and social impact investment.
MPA-PNP: International Development Policy & Management Specialization
Health, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Aid Focus Area
Courses in this focal area focus on operational challenges to operating in fragile, conflict, and disaster settings, supporting advocacy to advance health, human rights and humanitarian concerns, and understanding the contextual factors that shape operational and policy success.
MPA-PNP: Management & Leadership Specialization
Core Courses
MPA-PNP: Management & Leadership Specialization
Relationships Across Difference Focus Area
Build the skills necessary to navigate social identities, manage partnerships, and foster equitable organizations.
MPA-PNP: Management & Leadership Specialization
Organizational Performance Focus Area
Learn to manage day-to-day operations, measure organizational performance, and report outcomes effectively.
MPA-PNP: Management & Leadership Specialization
Strategy & Leadership Focus Area
Design strategies that anticipate and respond to dynamic environments, fostering collaboration and leadership.
MPA-PNP: Public Policy Analysis Specialization
Core Courses
MPA-PNP: Public Policy Analysis Specialization
Policy Advocacy & Creation Focus Area
This focus area equips students to shape policy from the ground up—preparing them to craft, advocate for, and implement transformative public solutions in government, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations.
MPA-PNP: Public Policy Analysis Specialization
Policy Design and Implementation Focus Area
Grounded in economics, behavioral insights, and policy analysis, this focus area prepares students to design policies that are economically sound, politically informed, socially responsive, and ready for real-world implementation.
MPA-PNP: Public Policy Analysis Specialization
Policy Analysis & Program Evaluation Focus Area
This focus area equips students with the analytical tools to assess which policies work, why they succeed or fail, and for whom. Students learn a range of skills and evaluation methods from process evaluation, data collection, causal inference, and impact assessment to cost-effectiveness analysis.
PADM-GP.2875, Estimating Impacts in Policy Research, and PADM-GP 2172, Advanced Empirical Methods for Policy Analysis, are strongly recommended courses in this focus area.
MPA-PNP: Public Policy Analysis Specialization
Data Science Focus Area
This focus area prepares students to work at the intersection of data and public policy. Students develop skills in data collection, analysis, visualization, coding, and machine learning—gaining the tools to transform complex data into actionable insights for policy, management, and social impact.
PADM-GP 2172, Advanced Empirical Methods for Policy Analysis, and PADM-GP 4503, Introduction to Data Analytics, are strongly recommended courses in this focus area.
MPA-PNP: Social Impact, Innovation, and Investment Specialization
Social Enterprise Focus Area
The pursuit of social impact and innovation through entrepreneurship and formation of enterprises.
PADM-GP. 2132 Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation is the foundational course in this area.
MPA-PNP: Social Impact, Innovation, and Investment Specialization
Social Finance Focus Area
These courses explore the use the tools of finance to address societal changes, with a focus on sustainability, investing, and managing businesses with multiple social goals.
PADM-GP.2311, Impact Investing; PADM-GP.2142, Financial Management II; and PADM-GP.2147, Corporate Finance & Public Policy, are foundational courses in this area.
MPA-PNP: Social Impact, Innovation, and Investment Specialization
Social Innovation, Design, & Technology Focus Area
Courses that explore the process of ideation, and the use of data and technological tools to achieve social innovation.
PADM-GP.2145 Design Thinking: A Creative Approach to Problem Solving and Creating Impact is the foundational course in this area.
MPA-Health: Health Finance Specialization
Core Courses
MPA-Health: Health Finance Specialization
Health Services Financial Management
The Health Services Financial Management specialization prepares students to organize and interpret financial information as the basis of decision-making.
MPA-Health: Health Finance Specialization
Healthcare Public Finance
The Healthcare Public Finance specialization gives students the concepts and skills needed for careers that focus on the financial aspects of healthcare policy and the healthcare delivery system. You’ll take courses in public expenditure analysis, social insurance programs, taxation, and debt financing, among others.
MPA-Health: Health Policy Analysis Specialization
This specialization prepares students to develop and evaluate strategies to improve the efficiency of the healthcare delivery system. Topics include evaluation design, descriptive and multivariate statistics, program implementation analysis, policy formation assessment, and cost-benefit analysis.
MPA-Health: Health Services Management Specialization
This specialization prepares students for leadership roles in healthcare organizations. Topics include design and control in health organizations, management of service operations, personnel and human resources management, information systems, marketing, and strategic planning.
MPA-Health: International Policy & Management
This specialization prepares students to work worldwide in a variety of health settings and in diverse cultures.
MUP: City & Community Planning Specialization
Core Courses
MUP: International Development Planning Specialization
Core Courses
MUP
Environmental Planning Focus Area
Whether it is air pollution, deforestation or climate change, as urban regions grow, they continue to have dramatic effects on the global environment. The world's cities will also be dramatically impacted by the very changes that they induce, and these effects will be most felt by already vulnerable populations. It is imperative to the survival of humans society on earth that we understand how to plan cities and regions with the natural environment in mind. What can you do? This focus area will prepare you to make meaningful contributions to the world's most pressing environmental challenges through urban planning and policy.
URPL-GP.2625, Environmental Infrastructure is a key course in this area (recommended to build expertise).
MUP
Global Perspectives Focus Area
The majority of the world’s population now lives in urban areas though rapidly increasing rates of urbanization are most expected in countries and regions of the world least able to prepare for—much less manage—this growth in the face of climate change, changing geopolitical dynamics, and limited resources. This focus area includes courses that cover the institutional, political and economic challenges of planning in least-developed countries and also topics such as international aid effectiveness, local government finance, water management, project appraisal, and more.
PADM-GP.2214, Constructing National Development Strategies and PADM-GP.2245, Financing Local Government in Developing Countries are key courses in this area (recommended to build expertise).
MUP
Housing & Economic Development Focus Area
Learn to plan and build thriving, socially- and economically-diverse communities. The courses in this focus area cover the key elements of a healthy community ecosystem: from the economic theories behind real estate markets to the social theories underlying the importance of community organizations. The focus area also builds practical skills, including how to analyze current planning and policy issues and create new ones.
PADM-GP.2416, Segregation and Public Policy; URPL-GP.4636/38, Housing Policy I and II; URPL-GP.2639, Real Estate Finance; and URPL-GP. 2452, Public-Private Partnerships, are key courses in this area (recommended to build expertise).
MUP
Transportation & Infrastructure Focus Area
As the first point of contact in almost every citizen’s journey to an opportunity—be it healthcare, employment, or education—transportation sits at the heart of all major city planning decisions. This focus area emphasizes not only mobility—how quickly and efficiently transportation systems (streets, expressways, subways, buses, bike lanes, parking, ride-hailing) could move people or goods around, but also accessibility—namely the spatial distribution of all opportunities available. It will prepare you to be a new generation of transportation planners—technically savvy, policy sensitive, and socially responsible.
URPL-GP.2631, Transportation, Land Use, and Urban Form; and URPL-GP.2641, Urban Transportation Planning are key courses in this area (recommended to build expertise).
MUP
Urban Analytics Focus Area
Cities are becoming smarter: they’re using data to optimize services, infrastructure operation, and urban planning. Government agencies, nonprofits, consulting firms, and startups all recognize the importance of leveraging data to create effective public policy and urban plans but grapple with how to analyze large, complex datasets and apply the findings in urban planning environments. This focus area includes courses to help you understand data-driven approaches to tackle today’s most pressing urban challenges.
PADM-GP.2505, Big Data Analytics; URPL-GP.2618, GIS and Analysis; and URPL-GP.4650, Advanced GIS: Interactive Web Mapping are key courses in this area (recommended to build expertise).