Concurrent Masters Degree Program: Public Administration and Urban Planning

In this concurrent degree program, students will earn their MUEP and a MPA, the professional degree for people who want a public service career in management. Students develop the skills and techniques used by leaders and managers to implement policies, projects, and programs that resolve important societal problems while addressing organizational, human resource, and budgetary challenges. This concurrent degree program builds powerful qualifications for a public service career, exposing students to a broad expertise of policy and land use planning methods and policies.

ASU offers an opportunity to become a part of the next generation of public service professionals that can successfully address problems of democratic governance and urban planning issues facing communities. Through the concurrent degree program, students will earn both a Master in Urban and Environmental Planning (MUEP) and a Master’s in Public Administration in a 3 year period.

How to apply

Concurrent applicants will need to apply to each degree program separately, and must meet the admissions criteria for each program. If you are considering a concurrent degree you should apply to both programs as soon as possible, because course work in a degree program completed before admission to that degree program will not be counted towards the concurrent degree unless you are enrolled in both programs.

If you are already enrolled in one program and are interested in pursuing the other degree, you only need to complete the application for the second degree program. To facilitate the admissions process, let the advisor in your current program know that you are interested in earning concurrent degrees, and are applying to the second program.

MUEP - Application Requirements

MPA – Application Requirements

After being admitted

After you have been admitted to both programs, notify both schools. Each school will then send a letter informing Graduate College that you have approval to pursue the concurrent degrees. The Graduate College will then register you in the Concurrent Degree Program.

Degree requirements

The concurrent degree curriculum is intended to be completed within 3 academic years. The concurrent degree requirements are as follows:

Credit Hours

MPA degree credit hours

42

MUEP degree credit hours

+47

MPA/MUEP concurrently in total requires

89

Credit hours shared by concurrent arrangement (20%)

18

Total credit hours required for MPA/MUEP

71

The following are the courses which will be shared concurrently between the MUEP and the MPA degree programs.

PAF 501 Public Service Research I

3.0 credits

Year One

PAF graduate elective

3.0 credits

Year One

PUP 642 Urban and Regional Land Economics;
OR PAF 504 Microeconomics of Public Policy I

3.0 credits

Year Two

Approved PAF or MUEP Graduate Elective

3.0 credits

Year Three

Approved PAF or MUEP Graduate Elective

3.0 credits

Year Three

MUEP Graduate Elective

3.0 credits

Year Three

Please refer to these resources to be sure you are aware of the degree requirements for each degree program for the year in which you enroll.

MUEP - Degree Requirements

MPA - Degree Requirements

MUEP/MPA Plan of Study

More information

For more information about each respective program, contact:

School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning 
sgsup.gradprograms@asu.edu

School of Public Affairs
spaadvising@asu.edu