Online Electives
These courses will be taught exclusively online in the Digital Campus LMS. On-campus students wishing to join these sections would need permission from the Director of Academic Advising & Student Life. Courses are typically offered 1-2 terms out of the 3 each calendar year and will be announced in the Registration Digest. Expand each course title for details on faculty, sample syllabi, and course descriptions.
PUBA 730 Government and Nonprofit Accounting and Reporting - 3 credits
- Faculty: Greg Allison, Sharon Edmundson
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: Teaches the principles of accounting and financial reporting in governmental and not-for-profit environment. Provides skills for analyzing the financial condition of governments and the efficiency and effectiveness of governmental programs.
PUBA 740 Decision Analysis - 3 credits
- Faculty: Dale Roenigk
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: Course will provide introduction to a process for systematically thinking about decisions and valuable techniques for analyzing decisions. Students will learn how to construct models for decision making and how to use these models to analyze decisions
PUBA 751 Local Government Management- 3 credits
- Faculty: Kimberly Nelson, John Crumpton, Colt Jensen
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: Nature of city or county manager’s job: expectations of elected body, staff, public and professional peers. Examines contemporary issues in departmental operations that have significant effect on how manager’s performance is perceived.
PUBA 752 Productivity Improvement in Local Government- 3 credits
- Faculty: Evans Ballard, William Rivenbark
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: This course will acquaint students with the concept of productivity, its importance in the public sector, principal techniques used to improve productivity in local government, and barriers to productivity improvement initiatives.
PUBA 756 Nonprofit Management - 3 credits
PUBA 764 Grant Writing and Management- 3 credits
- Faculty: Amy Wade, Blossom Barrett
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: This course is designed to acquaint students with the grant seeking process for not-for-profit and public sector agencies. Through a review of specific writing techniques, students will practice and learn how to produce proposals that are comprehensive, cogent, and accountable to the objectives of the grantor agency. Students may not receive credit for both PUBA 763 and PUBA 764.
PUBA 766 Boards & Governance - 1.5 hours
- Faculty: Tracy Miles
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: In this course we will examine theories and concepts of nonprofit organizational governance structures. Through this course, students will develop a foundational understanding of board governance fundamentals, board development, board leadership, and common practices of high performing boards.
PUBA 767 The Practice of Systems Thinking and Collaboration: Mapping Cross-Sector Relations- 1.5 hours
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- Sample Syllabus
- Description: PUBA 767 will look at the relationship between Government, Nonprofit, and Private sector organizations through collaboration theory and a system thinking framework that allows for a deeper look at what influences how these networks of relationships work, to challenge how we think it works, and bring awareness and understanding to develop the public service leadership skills and strategies needed for effective community level collaboration.
PUBA 771 Managing Economic Development - 3 credits
- Faculty: Jonathan Morgan, JoyLea Wilkins
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: Emphasizes the practical application and implementation of various approaches to economic development. Students will apply tools/strategies by doing case studies and small group projects based on real-world scenarios faced by local practitioners.
PUBA 772 Mediation Skills for Public Managers 3 credits
- Faculty: John Stephens, Ana-Laura Diaz
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: Examination of ombudsman and mediation principles, roles, ethics and techniques in public sector. Students expected to develop mediation skills through observation, in-class practice and feedback. Models of mediation are compared and students share in class their application and/or adaptation of mediation to their current or desired public sector duties. An introduction to dispute systems design frames how mediation, and its variants can benefit students’ public service. May not be taken in addition to PUBA 768.
PUBA 779 Strategic Fund Development for Nonprofit Leaders -1.5 credits
- Faculty: Tracy Miles, Alexandra Bartz
- Sample Syllabus
- Description: This course is designed to help students develop a deep understanding of concepts, techniques and theories of nonprofit fundraising. After an introduction to philanthropy, students will utilize tools and resources for fundraising and analyze and evaluate fundraising methods. This course is applied meaning it is important to have a relationship with a nonprofit organization where you can access current fundraising collateral and apply principles of fundraising to the improvement of fundraising methods/products.