Applicants for the JD/MPA program must meet admission requirements of the School of Law, the Department of Public Administration and the Graduate School. Applicants should apply and be admitted to each school separately prior to enrollment in the first year of the joint program. Students should begin their course work in the Department of Public Administration no sooner than the second year of the matriculation of the law school. The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is the only required entrance examination for applicants. A student who decides to enter the program while enrolled in the first year of the JD curriculum, must consult and obtain approval from the School of Law and the Department of Public Administration as soon as possible. 

	Credit Hours
	J.D.	M.P.A.
Law courses required of all J.D. candidates	43	0
MPA required courses	0	37
LAW elective courses	34	0
Law courses required for MPA	0	6
MPA credit allowed for JD	12
Law credit allowed for MPA		6
Minimum hours required	90	43

 

I. Law courses required of all J.D. candidates:

First Year
Course	Credit hours
Law 804 Civil Procedure	4
Law 806 Intro. to Constitutional Law	4
Law 809 Contracts	4
Law 814 Criminal Law	4
Law 820 Lawyering Skills I	2
Law 821 Lawyering Skills II	3
Law 826 Property	4
Law 831 Torts I	4
Upper Class
3 courses from among the following:
Law 865 Business Associations I	3
Law 892 Business Organizations	4
Law 881 Conflict of Laws	3
Law 878 Criminal Procedure	3
Law 909 Family Law	3
Law 845 Jurisdiction	3
Law 837 Contracts II/ UCC Sales	3
Law 873 Commercial Law: Secured Transactions	3
Law 996 Trusts and Estates	4
AND
Law 908 Evidence	3
Law 972 Professional Responsibility	2

II. Law courses required of all joint-degree candidates:

In addition to the 43 credit hours of coursework required of all law students JD/MPA students must complete an additional 6 credit hours from the following law courses:

Courses	Credit hours
Law 850 Administrative  Law	3
Law 939 Labor Law	3
Law 956 Local Government Law	3
Law 954 Legislation and Statutory Interpretation	3

Master of Public Administration Degree

The School of Public Affairs and Administration is home to the Edwin O. Stene Graduate Program in Public Administration and offers a Master of Public Administration degree. The Edwin O. Stene Master's program is one of the oldest and most respected programs in the United States, with our local government leadership program dating to 1948. Since 1998, our tradition of excellence in educating students at the masters’ level has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report with a #1 ranking in city management and urban policy. The MPA degree may be obtained through course work in Lawrence, Topeka, and the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park for the Kansas City area.

The KU MPA offers 2 tracks:

1. The Intern track is designed for students who are willing to commit to one year of full-time study and a second year in a full-time internship to prepare themselves for careers primarily in city, county, or non-profit management.
2. The Career track is designed for working professionals seeking to strengthen their leadership skills for careers in public service professions or advance in their current profession without a career interruption. Most career-track students attend part-time.

Intern track students begin the program in the summer semester, and complete the majority of their coursework over three semesters (summer, fall, spring). Career-track students usually begin in the fall or spring semester.

M.P.A. Degree Requirements

The master’s degree is awarded after successful completion of 43 credit hours of course work. This includes 31 hours (10 courses) of required core courses (listed below) that all students complete, and 12 hours (4 courses) tailored to the student's interests and/or track (intern or career). In addition, all students must pass a written master's examination (final paper) to complete the requirements for the M.P.A. degree which is part of the PUAD 897 core course. Once a student begins the program, all degree requirements must be completed within 7 years.

The MPA core coursework includes the following courses (31 credit hours):

Select 1		3
PUAD 824	Public Policy and Administration
PUAD 825	Urban Policy and Administration
PUAD 827	Health Care Policy and Administration
PUAD 828	Nonprofit Management and Policy
PUAD 834	Human Resource Management	3
PUAD 835	State and Local Public Finance	3
PUAD 836	Introduction to Quantitative Methods	4
PUAD 837	Budgeting and Resource Allocation	3
PUAD 841	The Role, Context, and Ethics of Public Administration in American Society	3
PUAD 842	Law and Public Management	3
PUAD 845	Organizational Analysis and Public Management	3
PUAD 853	Policy Analysis and Evaluation	3
PUAD 894	Professional Development Seminar I	3

 

Intern track students will take the following courses to complete the program:

PUAD 892	Public Administration Internship	3
PUAD 898	Leadership, Professionalism, and Citizen Engagement	3
2 Electives		6

Career track students will take 4 electives (12 hours) to complete the program.

	Law	MPA	Total
First Year	29	0	29
Second Year	31	0	31
Third Year	18	28	46
Fourth Year		6	6
Total Credits Earned	78	34	115
Law Credit Allowed		9	6
MPA Credit Allowed	12		12
Total Credit Required	90	43	133

The University of Kansas Graduate School Catalog states specifically that all course work toward any master’s degree requires a B (or 3.0) cumulative grade point average for the award of the degree. Students should understand that the grades received in any law courses that are credited toward fulfillment of the M.A. in Political Science degree requirements are incorporated into the M.A. grade point average, which ultimately must be B (3.0) for the award of the M.A. in Political Science degree.

All joint-degree students also must fulfill the Upper-Level Writing Intensive course requirements and the Experiential course requirements in the School of Law. Please see the current Law School Catalog for details.