Master of Public Administration Online

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program is a dynamic, forward-looking, and transformative degree that enables graduates to drive change in the social and public sectors.

MPA Program Overview

Today’s urgent and complex economic, social, and environmental realities require a new type of leadership. Our public leaders must rethink policy and administration and engage business, nonprofit, and community constituencies like never before. We have designed this cutting-edge program to empower you with the mindset, tools, and network to address our most pressing sustainability and social justice challenges and opportunities. Built for changemakers seeking to build solutions, our program will prepare you to lead in the public and nonprofit sectors with boldness and vision.

Our public administration degree is unique because we integrate principles of sustainable and equitable solutions into all coursework and empower students to think and act holistically. Whether we’re discussing climate change, racial justice, healthcare, or urban planning, for example, you’ll learn how to apply a powerful systems-thinking lens to understand how to create true, lasting impact. You’ll emerge with the confidence and competencies to transform policy, program implementation, and public service that creates equitable social change.

Online MPA Program Format

Presidio’s online MPA program is a 45-credit curriculum with 10 required courses and a Capstone that center pressing, real-world issues like climate change, inequity, and public health. The part-time program (two courses per trimester) can be completed in 24 months, and the structure is supportive to professionals who need to balance multiple responsibilities.

You’ll experience your online courses in both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments, interacting with your professor, your peers, and critical information. You’ll benefit from the flexibility of interactive distance learning in an environment that employs cutting-edge, best-practice online learning techniques that engage and empower you to create communities, grow your network, tailor your learning experiences, and focus your passions.

In your MPA program, we utilize student-centered, inquiry-based experiential learning and case studies. You’ll master the ability to analyze real-world challenges like climate change, inequity, and public health effectively and be able to apply these learnings in real time. You’ll also benefit from personalized mentorship and career coaching throughout your program in order to prepare for an exciting change-making career in the social sector.

Please consult this State Authorizations web page to see if we are currently enrolling students from your state.

Sustainable Solutions

Are you looking to develop expertise relevant to the future of sustainability in business and public policy? Presidio Graduate School was the first graduate program to fully integrate sustainability into every course. Students here work collaboratively to equip themselves with the skills and experience to transform businesses, government, and not-for-profit organizations. They learn how to value non-financial assets like equity, social justice, vibrant communities, and a healthy environment. And they work within a systems thinking mindset that enables them to integrate social, environmental, and economic progress to create a more sustainable world. Graduates emerge prepared and eager to take on the toughest challenges facing society.

Our systems approach involves renewing professional disciplines by using tools to consider all the inputs and outputs of all stakeholders of a given situation. Not just the financials, but also the hard-to-quantify forces of workplace culture, societal costs and benefits, community well-being, supplier issues, and environmental stewardship.

The hallmark of the Presidian experience is sustainability. We look at all solutions through the lens of sustainable outcomes. At PGS, sustainability is not covered in an elective course or research paper. Sustainability for a flourishing future is at the core of everything we do to meet the new definitions of what success really means.

The PGS network is powerful. Since 2002, our graduates have made their mark on sustainable business management and public policy. Some made their way to the White House and Wall Street. Others are making a positive impact on everything from family farms to high tech startups.

The Presidian Advantage

PGS is an education pioneer, having offered the first graduate degrees focused on sustainability. With a track record of training business leaders for the challenges of tomorrow PGS remains the only school of its kind offering:

• The sustainable MBA program described by The New York Times as the school to go to “if you want to change the world.”
• The only Sustainable MPA in the country.
• The only fully-integrated, Dual-Degree MBA/MPA program—for careers that need to bridge commerce and government.

It’s a fun place to do serious work. Although we take on some of the hardest challenges of our time, we do so among like-minded colleagues, partners, and friends. Creativity, collaboration, and community combine to achieve exceptional real-world results.

Our Values

As individuals and as an institution we commit to the following values in support of our mission:

• Community

Presidians embrace our diverse, individual experiences and respect our common striving for understanding and knowledge.

• Innovation

Presidians redefine the standards of performance by nourishing unconventional views and challenging current models of doing and thinking.

• Integrity

Presidians act honestly, ethically, and courageously in all our personal and professional undertakings and in our relationships with students, alumni, and the broader community. We hold ourselves accountable for our words and our actions.

• Social Justice

Presidians champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work and help people of all races, genders, cultures, and socioeconomic status equally participate in society with opportunities to thrive.

• Environmental Sustainability

Presidians act in stewardship for the restoration of ecological systems. This means actions must enhance the ability of future generations to flourish.

The Presidian Way

How We Teach

Presidio Graduate School’s pioneering approach integrates management and leadership fundamentals with systems thinking.

Transforming ideas into actionable, sustainable solutions requires courage to lead people through change. Presidio Graduate School instills confidence, by equipping students with the technical knowledge and leadership skills they need to transform business and society. Concepts from the classroom are practiced in the real world as students learn by doing in Experiential Learning projects

Sustainable Solutions

Sustainable solutions create impact through innovation at the intersection of environmental, economic, and social systems. It is a comprehensive approach to management that builds value for businesses, individuals, and communities – while reducing future risk. We view sustainable solutions as critical to dramatically improving the execution of strategy, financial performance, and stakeholder value.

The financial consequences of decisions are important, but not the entire equation. Sustainable solutions seek to benefit all stakeholders – creating equitable prosperity for individuals, organizations, and communities. Teaching through a sustainability lens means accomplishing these goals and meeting these objectives in a manner that minimizes the potential for unintended consequences that lead to collateral damage — while optimizing economic, environmental, and social benefits.

Today’s Top Challenges are Complex

A major impact in one area always has consequences in other areas. Our systems-thinking approach views business, government, society, justice, and environment as an integrated whole. PGS students learn to design solutions that account for human, economic, and environmental concerns to create a holistically optimal and sustainable outcome and prosperity for all.

PGS embeds sustainability into every course. Through our leading Experiential Learning program, students apply sustainability and social responsibility frameworks and methods to real cases in large and small companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

At Presidio Graduate School, you learn to find opportunities for innovation and impact at the intersection of environmental, economic, and social systems. Our comprehensive leadership and management framework enables the design of more sustainable, healthy, and affordable products and services by applying the power of business and public policy to address global issues and attain the UN Sustainable Development Goals.