Government Administration (GAFL)
GAFL 5000 Half-Term Electives
----- GAFL 5000 - 025: Empowering Communities through Real Estate Development---- This course introduces students to residential and commercial real estate development and its inherent risks and benefits. By understanding the development process, students will be better able to enact public policy that promotes the advantages brought by development while slowing the gentrification process. Using the successful Jumpstart Germantown model, students will learn the 7 JumpSteps of real estate development beginning with creating a development strategy and ending with leasing or selling the property. JumpStart is a successful alternative to the boom and bust cycle of real estate development. It encourages slow growth, scattered site development, and a mix of price points - all of which act to slow gentrification and encourage healthy development that sustains and attracts real economic diversity. This course will include presentations by experts in the real estate industry, in-class discussions and projects, and a visit to a local construction site. Students interested in becoming real estate developers or wanting to learn the ins and outs of the development process will benefit from this course. The 7 JumpSteps of real estate development: 1. Create a Development Strategy & Identify Your Team; 2. Source a Property; 3. Do Your Due Diligence; 4. Find Your Financing; 5. Develop Design & Procure Permits; 6. Customize Construction; 7. Lease/Sell Your Property ----GAFL 5000 - 026: Economic Development, Equity and Inclusion---- Virtually every US city experienced a great decline in the second half of the twentieth century. As the manufacturing base of the industrial city deteriorated, as factories moved to the suburbs in search of cheaper land, a vicious cycle ensued. Following the jobs and taking advantage of racial preferences in the suburbs, working and middle class residents fled; as the tax base shrunk, cities were forced to raise taxes to support city services, leading to more job and residential flight. The "inner city" became synonymous with blight and decline, with ominous racial undertones, as urban and suburban political priorities and sentiments began to diverge sharply. Yet by the turn of the 21st century, this process had bottomed out and in many so-called "post-industrial" cities, some of these trends were beginning to reverse. In the 1990s and early 2000s in particular, civic and political leaders had to make tough decisions about prioritizing scarce public resources. Should they focus on revitalizing the downtown core to create jobs, create amenities to induce people with higher incomes to choose their city, grow a tourism economy? Or on rebuilding the most distressed and disinvested inner city neighborhoods? Or on shoring up the so-called "middle neighborhoods" that were able to maintain some stability during the great decline? Layered on top of these issues were (and are) critical questions about who does and should benefit from economic development. Should we prefer "trickle down" policies that focus on high-end development and presume that they will eventually lead to benefit for the less advantaged in the form of service sector or indirect jobs? Or should cities be more proactive and ensure that public and publicly-enabled investments leverage increases in human capital development, in public goods like parks and schools? This course will focus on case studies from several cities to explore the policy options available to leaders, to assess their decisions, and to consider whether it is possible to promote economic development that is robust and sustainable at the same time as it is equitable and inclusive. This is a half-credit course (0.5 CU) that meets in the first half of the semester. The first class session will meet on January 23, and the last class session will meet on March 13.
Fall or Spring
.5 Course Units
GAFL 5020 Public Communications
Successful leaders must be able to convey their integrity and their ideas, their vision and their values clearly and convincingly in public settings. By analyzing great political speeches and affording students the opportunity to prepare and deliver different types of speeches, this course teaches the fundamentals of persuasive public speaking while encouraging students to develop their own voice. This is a performance course. Students will gain skill and confidence in their speech writing and public speaking skills through practice, peer feedback, and extensive professional coaching. Class lectures and discussions will focus on persuasive strategies and techniques for handling community meetings, Q and A sessions, and interactions with the media.
Fall, Spring, and Summer Terms
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5060 The Problem of Jobs: The Philadelphia Story
Once the "workshop of the world" with a diverse manufacturing economy, the City of Philadelphia has lost a huge proportion of its historical economic base in the past 60 years. Today, Philadelphia struggles to find its competitive advantage. Yet, it has tremendous assets that can be leveraged. This course will explore the rise and fall of Philadelphia's manufacturing economy, efforts to forestall its decline in the 1960s and 70s, the racial and gender dynamics of its employment ecosystem, and contemporary strategies to create a sustainable local economy. We will focus on the emerging national recognition of place-based economic development strategies, including the revival of downtown residential living, tourism, and hospitality, and the role of institutions, such as universities and hospitals, in the revitalization of urban America. The course will combine readings in economic and social history and urban economics with case study analyses of local policies aimed at stimulating growth.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5110 Reinventing Nonprofits
Three nonprofit leaders walk into a bar. What's the conversation? cross fields, focus, size, and target audiences, nonprofits often face similar challenges: public policy changes, evolving stakeholder expectations, new modalities to service requiring investment, rising competition, fickle funders and demographic shifts, all in a world where culture eats strategy for breakfast. Against this backdrop, nonprofits need to re-assess their mission, approach, position, organizational structure and revenue model. Why are some organizations able to pivot and reinvent themselves while others languish? Through readings to frame the issues, speakers offering firsthand accounts of successes and disappointments, projects with practitioners wrestling with real-ime issues, and group discussions to tie it all together,this course is intended to provide students with an intellectual construct, ideas, and experience to be better prepared to enter and advance in the field, and be part of the conversation.
Fall, Spring, and Summer Terms
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5120 Advocacy and Communicating Change
The skills used by leaders to advocate for change involve a seemingly random collection of behaviors: the ability to simplify a complex idea, the application of precise well-focused language to define a problem and its solution, the ability to tell a compelling and relevant story in human terms, and the skill to spin logic and emotion into an ethically coherent narrative that leads to new thinking and collective action. The effective application of these skills can mark the difference between a successful policy change, a successful political campaign and even, as demonstrated in history, the difference between war and peace. This course will explore the tools and strategies employed by leaders, policymakers, and thought leaders to impact the decision making process, build support for ideas and to navigate interactions with media and other sources of influence on public opinion that shape our world. Students will be challenged to identify their own topic of change and then to use the communication theories and paradigms discussed in class and presented by guest speakers to expand their leadership communication proficiency. They will learn from peer and instructor feedback to enhance their advocacy skills and to better understand the processes that underlie organizational and policy change.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5140 Public Finance and Public Policy
This course deals with how governments tax and spend. Students become familiar with the theoretical, empirical, and practical tools and methods used to createand analyze government budgets, as well as the flow of public resources. The course examines public revenues and expenditures within the context of fiscal federalism, in addition to budgeting and resource management and the social, economic, and political forces that shape the fiscal environment within which governments (particularly state and local governments) operate. Significant attention is paid to tax policy analysis and the fiscal crises confronting manylarge cities and states. Additional special topics covered include health care & social security, public education finance, public finance and the environment, bond markets & municipal finance, and public pensions.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5150 Public Finance Leadership in the New Fiscal Reality
Several factors are intersecting upon U.S. local governments including: muted economic growth, demographics, technological change, ineffective monetary & fiscal policy, and political shenanigans. These are having a profound impact on local government financial health. Many local governments are struggling to structurally balance their budgets, even now several years into one of the longest U.S. post-WWII economic recoveries. Expenditure demand, especially because of rising employee pension and OPEB benefits, is rising faster than expected. Revenues are not rising as quickly as they have historically. This New Fiscal Reality is redefining the concept of municipal distress. Further, the options local governments have to respond to distress may be changing. It might be necessary for local governments to move away from typical solutions like distressed municipality programs and other state level aid. If the current financial trajectory continues, some local governments will not be able to deliver the same service-level they have in the past. New solutions are required. This class will 1) define the New Fiscal Reality; 2) review essential public finance concepts and relationships; 3) study past and recent examples of financial distress and prescribed solutions; 4) survey the current local government financial landscape; and 5) identify solutions public finance leaders can institute for the future. Several local government finance, political and policy experts will speak during the semester. A heavy amount of student engagement is expected to be completed in the form of research, group work, writing, and the critiquing of other students/ work.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5170 Quantitative Tools for Consulting
The purpose of the course is to study the theory and application of certain, key quantitative methods utilized in financial and fiscal decision-making in state and local governments: defining and measuring efficiency and equity; statistical analysis, multivariate analysis, linear and multipole regression; inter-temporal decision-making; and cost-benefit analysis. Primary emphasis will be on understanding the context and quantitative basics of these methods to prepare students for effective careers in state and local governments. Each student should have a basic understanding of market economics, the roles of government in our market economy, accounting/budgeting basics, and the Philadelphia metro area economy and government.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5200 Marketing & Fundraising for Non-Profit Organizations
Fundraising and marketing are complementary tools for building revenue streams and fulfilling the program objectives of nearly every nonprofit organization. This course develops students' ability to market a nonprofit to mission recipients and prospective donors and to solicit funds from individuals and organizations. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and assignments, students are actively engaged in learning how to help an organization achieve its mission and objectives. This includes but is not limited to the assessing an organization's marketing and fundraising capabilities; identifying, segmenting,and creating relationships with target markets and donors; building infrastructure to properly seek and steward gifts; using technology to fulfill marketing and fundraising objectives; and focusing on fundraising and marketing methods such as social media, direct response, events, major gifts, planned giving, and others. This course emphasizes applications. Each student will complete a fundraising and/or marketing plan for a specific organization of their choosing, the structure of which will be derived from the term's assignments. This course will meet in-person from 2:00-5:30pm on the following Fridays and Saturdays: September 9-10, October 14-15, November 18-19, December 2-3.This course will meet virtually Wednesdays 9:00-10:00pm.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5210 Advanced Public Management
A wait list will be kept for this course. To be added to the wait list, please email Josh Power at joshuarp@upenn.edu. This is a "hybrid" course, withsynchronous, online meetings and once-monthly,on-campus meetings. Synchronous online meetings will be held on Mondays 6:30-7:30pm. On-campus meetings for Spring 2018 will be held on the following Friday afternoons (2-5:30pm) and Saturday mornings (9:30am-1pm): January 12-13, February 9-10, March 16-17, April 20-21. This course is designed to provide students with a scientific foundation of management and leadership theory to inform their actions as current and aspiring public leaders. We will draw from diverse disciplines within applied social science, including management science, positive psychology, organizational psychology, system thinking, and change management. Students will learn these theoretical frameworks and management strategies by applying these theoretical frameworks to their specific professional interests.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5260 Municipal Bonds
The course provides a comprehensive overview of the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market, with a focus on public finance investment banking; capital project financing for state and local governments including water, sewer, mass transit and road projects, and non-profit financing for educational and healthcare institutions; the legal and regulatory framework governing the municipal bonds market; rating agency analysis; quantitative modeling; and investor perspectives.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5270 Community Development and Qualitative Methods
Urban planning and community development involve attempting to understand (and then propose methods for solving) complex problems arising from our shared experience of living together in communities. These wicked problems (Rittel & Weber, 1973) often arise from multiple co-occurring influences; economic, socio-cultural, political, geographic/geological, psychological, etc. The fluid and multi-dimensional nature of these problems, therefore, calls for a fluid and multi-dimensional approach to understanding them. Nonetheless, for the better part of the last half a century the majority of efforts to approach such dilemmas has relied largely on quantitative research methods. While quantitative approaches to understanding community dynamics certainly have a demonstrated value, an over-reliance on such methods can come at the expense of the more nuanced understanding available through qualitative research approaches. Quantitative methods are useful in exploring questions such as where, when, who and how many. They are less effective, however, in answering questions of why and how. For answers to these sorts of questions we must turn to qualitative research methods. This course will introduce students to qualitative research approaches currently used in urban planning/community development, along with methods NOT currently in use, but that hold the potential to yield insights into community dynamics. In addition, this course will teach students how to apply these research techniques in the service of producing a professional-quality outcome, as opposed to producing a purely academic end result. To this end, attention will be given to the process by which these research methods are applied, or would be applied, in the professional consulting world and the language and concepts that would be used in that process and setting. Each student will leave the course with a firm understanding of terms and concepts such as: project scope; sub-deliverable(s); final deliverable(s); benchmarks; Notice to Proceed (NTP); project kick-off; out of scope services, front-end and best practices research; and other related professional concepts/terms.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5280 Critical Issues in Public Finance
The Course, Critical Issues in Public Finance will consider contemporary issuesaffecting the fiscal state of local governments. Covered will be issues that have distressed municipalities; the policies/initiatives that seek to rectify such including privatization/public private partnerships; reformation of municipal pensions; sustainable education funding alternatives; and tax policies aimed at promoting economic growth. Students will be assigned to a team, which will identify and provide a solution for an issue or issues plaguing a fictional government. Each team will prepare a written report and make a presentation all of which will constitute the final project. Assignments will serve as the building blocks for the final written work product and presentation developed by each team. The class is divided into four modules. The first module will take a historical look at events behind fiscal distress in municipalities and then explore current day drivers that are causing the same today. Modules two, three and four will examine some of the tools that have been used successfully or otherwise to remediate the drivers of fiscal distress. In each module case studies will be used to further analyze the particular fiscal challenge of a municipality. Written assignments will be based on case studies.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5290 Nonprofit Financial Management
The course is designed to provide the student with an understanding of the primary financial management issues and decisions that confront senior management in nonprofits and government. Students will examine financial analysis techniques from both a practical and strategic perspective as they examine operating and capital decisions. The objective of the course is to allow the student to understand how managers integrate the various discrete financial decisions within a broader framework that allows them to analyze, develop and execute a coherent overall financial strategy.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5300 Evidence Based Policies of Economic and Political Development
This class provides a "hands-on" introduction to the promises and limitations of using Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) to inform policy makers, practitioners, and academics of the conditions under which policies likely would have a positive effect on economic and political outcomes, in the context of international development. This course has three parts: the first is devoted to understanding the "nuts and bolts" of running field experiments / RCTs in developing countries. In part, we will be reading Glennester and Takavarasha's Running Randomized Evaluations: A Practical Guide. In addition, we will discuss core behavioral concepts from both behavioral economics and social psychology (prospect theory). The second part of the course will be devoted to demonstrating how schools have used RCTs to inform core policy debates (e.g. What are some effective ways to reduce corruption? How can we improve the performance of frontline service providers? How can politicians be more responsive to their constituents?) In the third part, students will be presenting their own research proposals, explicitly designed to address either a core policy question in the developing world or--for those interested--in the USA. Here students will have an opportunity to partner with the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (https://sbst.gov), which is under the National Science and Technology Council.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5310 Data Science for Public Policy
In the 21st century, Big Data surround us. Data are being collected about all aspects of our daily lives. To improve transparency and accountability an increasing number of public organizations are sharing their data with the public. But data are not information. You need good information to make sound decisions. To be an effective public leader, you will need to learn how to harness information from available data. This course will introduce you to key elements of data science, including data transformation, analysis, visualization, and presentation. An emphasis is placed on manipulating data to create informative and compelling analyses that provide valuable evidence in public policy debates. We will teach you how to present information using interactive apps that feature software packages. As in all courses at Fels, we will concentrate on more practical skills than theoretical concepts behind the techniques. This course is designed to expand upon core concepts in data management and analysis that you learned in GAFL 6400: Program Evaluation and Data Analysis. This is a graduate level course and while GAFL 6400 is not a pre-requisite, students are expected to have a foundation of data management and analysis before beginning this course.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5340 Infrastructure Investment and Economic Growth: Why, How, and When
Infrastructure is widely acknowledged to be critical for economic success, and infrastructure investments are promoted as leading to economic growth, either at the local or national level. Yet, investments in telecommunications, transportation, energy, or other infrastructure do not always yield the hoped public benefit. This course will help answer the question: Under what circumstances does infrastructure investment contribute to economic growth, and how do we know? Because government resources are limited, advocates often must be creative to find sufficient funding to get desirable projects completed. This course will also help answer the question: How do we pay for the infrastructure projects we want to build? The course will illustrate approaches to answering these questions using case studies of past and proposed investments.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5350 International Policy and Security Seminar
This course provides a practical survey on the underpinnings of the idea of the “international order” and how it affects trade, politics, and security for the United States and the world. Students will be able to consider and analyze what states mean when they appeal to the international community, to a putative liberal order, and why other states may contest it. The course will also provide a basic survey of key policy and security challenges in the contemporary international environment related to international policy and security. Does an international community really exist? Why does it matter? What’s the difference between the Yalta Agreement and the Helsinki principles, and how does this interact with the United Nations charter? Students will examine primary source texts, key analyses, and will have the opportunity reflect upon and develop policy advisories around international policy. Aligned with the Fels’ mission in service of praxis, the course will also allow students the opportunity interact with guest speakers involved in foreign and national security policy and present their policy recommendations on a key international public policy issue.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5380 Human Rights, Access To Justice, and Public Policy
Law is central to effective and legitimate governance at all levels (local, national, regional, global). Law not only serves as a basis and frames governance and policy-making processes; it also offers tools and opportunities for public policy, as well as accountability mechanisms. Familiarity and understanding of legal frameworks , mechanisms and dynamics is thus essential for public and private actors involved in policy-making. This course combines theoretical insights as well as practical components. During the first portionof each class students will examine a wide spectrum of international legal frameworks and instruments which set standards for good governance on a variety of themes: eg. Children, women, refugees. This comparative perspective lays the context for US policies. During the second major portion of each class, students will explore how statutes, regulations and case law serve as tools for social change. Students will gain familiarity with relevant US legal frameworks at the Federal, State and Municipal level and at all three branches of government: legislative, executive and judicial. The third portion of every class will explore the role of the non government sectorin public policy. Students will learn about core competencies needed to non profits effective such as: Boards, management leadership, and program
Fall, Spring, and Summer Terms
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5460 Social Enterprise Models and Social Impact Locally and Globally
If you believe in finding innovative ways to make a difference and solve social issues locally and globally, you will benefit from the Social Enterprise and Impact Locally and Globally Course (Social Enterprise). Social Enterprise is designed for those who have a practitioner's interest in the development, leadership, and management of the evolving nonprofit sector and their intersection with the socially conscious private sector and government. The course takes the student through the process of developing a mock social enterprise including idea exploration, testing and plan execution and provides the student with essential strategies and tools to conduct in-depth analysis of a social enterprise leading to their application to a regional social enterprise. This course fulfills an elective for the MPA and the Certificate in Nonprofit Administration.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5480 Grant Writing
This is a "hybrid" course, with synchronous, online meetings and once-monthly, on-campus meetings in Philadelphia, PA. Also, please note there is an additional $150 online course fee. Spring 2019 on-campus meetings will be held on the following Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30 AM - 1:00 PM: January 18 & 19;February 15 & 16, March 15 & 16, and April 26 & 27. Class will meet online on Monday evenings from 7:45 PM - 8:45 PM. This course will provide students with the role of the foundation in philanthropy, what it does, how it does it, and what you need to know to be both an effective foundation manager and foundation grant seeker. From the foundation side, the course will include strategic planning, assessment of project results, and the responsibilities of the foundation grant program officer. From the grant seeker side, it will include identifying the appropriate foundations, making the connection to the foundation, grant writing, and relationship management.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5490 Leading Nonprofits
Leading Nonprofit Organizations is designed for those interested in leading and managing a nonprofit organization. It takes a practitioners perspective on strategic realities of modern practice. Each section will seek to rapidly orient a new manager to the complexities, strategic issues, & politics. The course is taught through a combination of theory and practice using selected readings, lectures, guest presentations, group activities (Mock senior staff discussions) and field assignments (pairing with area nonprofit leader and attendance at one of the organizations board meetings.) This course has seats reserved for Fels students and NPLD students, and gives priority to grad students.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5500 Organizational Diagnosis
This course will help participants learn the skills involved in conducting a systemic, organizational diagnosis. Applying organizational diagnosis skills can help organizations make more effective, evidence-based decisions; increase an organization's ability to learn and to apply these learnings; increase organizational effectiveness; and, often, save organizations from flawed and detrimental actions. The course places an emphasis on systems thinking, psychodynamic organizational theory, and appreciative inquiry as ways into understanding organizational issues and problems. Frequently, when organizations find themselves in trouble, e.g. problems in the system about such things as lack of leadership, poor communication, diminished productivity, low morale, etc., there is a tendency to frame the problem(s) simplistically and/or locate blame on a few difficult individuals or groups. However, upon closer examination, problematic issues are often found to be symptomatic and/or symbolic of multiple issues within the organization. This course will help participants to understand how problems, which appear, at one level of the system, (e.g. at the personal or interpersonal level) often represent problems at other levels of the system (e.g. at the group and/or institutional level), or signify a range of inter-related issues. Emphasis will be placed on the diagnostic skills needed to examine government agencies, non-profits, and bureaucracies. It will provide participants with the theoretical constructs and application skills necessary for identifying and framing problem areas, collecting data, and organizing feedback to client systems. Real-time examples will inform our discussions as we consider the relationship between diagnosis, organizational reflection, and appropriate action. Summer 2017 On-Campus Meetings: 9:00am-1:00pm Fridays June 23, July 21 and Saturdays May 20, June 24, and July 22.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5510 Government Relations
In a system of representative government, organizations and individuals with interests at stake often seek the support of a government relations professional. This course addresses government relations from the varying perspectives of the current or aspiring professional, the client, and the government official.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5550 Using the Political Process to Effect Organizational Change
At one time or another, each of us has said something like, "I know what to do to make some really effective--and possibly even profitable--changes in this organization,but the politics make it almost impossible to get anything done." The sense is that, althaough there are changes that should be made to improve organizational performance, politics (internal, external, governmental) simply obstructs our ability to make a difference. Frustrations notwithstanding, depending on how it is employed, politics can be either an impediment or, more importantly, a source of opportunities for improving organizations. Politics is the art and science of coordinating individuals, departments, management, markets--the entire organizational environment-to effect a balance between the organization's objectives and the methods used to achieve them. As with the other factors that are employed to affect organizational performance-the methods used to improve manufacturing, marketing, sales, finance, and so on-politics is a means that organizations can use to initiate and maintain critical personal and institutional relationships One of the seminar readings--Latimer's "Why Do They Call It Business If It's Mostly Politics?" is used to provide illustrations of the ambiguous nature of much of what is regarded as organizational politics. What is critical to understand and appreciate from the outset, however, is that politics is not an external factor that is imposed on organizations. Politics is not only a means for achieving personal or institutional power; it is also a method for developing and maintaining personal and institutional relationships within and among individuals and organizations of all types. This seminar will discuss organizational politics and the ways that it is used to identify, characterize, and effect change--both within and among organizations. After reviewing several perspectives on organizations and the roles that political processes play in decision-making, a series of cases is presented that illustrate the contexts and conditions for effective political communication and coordination. Prerequisite: Course Permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit
Fall or Spring
Also Offered As: DYNM 6550
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5590 Social Enterprise
With an increasing competitive market, the landscape for private, not-for-profits and government organizations nationally and globally is become more complex and diverse. Leaders across government, private, and not-for-profits are being challenged to lead differently given the diversity and complexity of organizations that cross and blend the traditional organizations that cross and blend the traditional organizational legal structures. The course includes providing students with the essential competencies and tools to create, lead, and influence system and policy change utilizing Social Enterprise, Social Finance, and Collective Impact strategies and tools. The knowledge accumulated through this course will be translated to a working level knowledge of a Critical Thinking that hat is important for any leader or manager in government, private, or the non-profit sectors. Critical thinking involves making judgments based on reasoning: leaders consider options; analyze these using specific criteria; and draw conclusions and make judgments. Critical thinking competency encompasses a set of abilities that leaders use to examine their own thinking, and that of others , about information that they receive through observation, experience, and various forms of communication. This course has seats reserved for Fels' students and gives priority to grad students. Non-Fels students should contact Vincent George at vigeorge@sas.upenn to request a permit. Seats are not guaranteed to post-bacc or undergraduate students.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5610 Media Relations
This course is designed to help you better understand the role and practice of media relations and messaging in corporate, non-profit, and government organizations in this new media era. You will learn how to research media and reporters, devleop messages, build strategic media plans, generate media coverage, serve as spokespeople, handle crisis situations, and use new media strategies. You will hear from public relations professionals on such topics as working with reporters, developing PR campaigns, and creating effective web outreach programs. Class discussions, reading assignments, research and writing projects, group projects, and case studies offer an engaging and interactive learning environment to expand and apply your knowledge of media relations and messaging. Summer 2017 On-Campus Meetings are 9:30am-1:00pm on Fridays--May 19, June 23, and July 21 and Saturdays--May 20, June 24, and July 22
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5690 The Politics of Housing and Community Development
This course offers an exploration of how legislative action, government policymaking, and citizen advocacy influence plans for the investment of public capital in distressed urban neighborhoods. Course topics this semester will include an evaluation of the results of City of Philadelphia development policies under the administration of former Mayor Michael A. Nutter, as well as onsideration of plans being undertaken by the administration of Mayor James F. Kenney, who took office in January. The course will also include an assessment of a large-scale property acquisition and development strategy being implemented by the Philadelphia Housing Authority in North Philadelphia and a review of recent and current reinvestment proposals for Camden's waterfront and downtown-area neighborhoods.
Fall
Also Offered As: CPLN 6250
Mutually Exclusive: URBS 4510
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5710 Children and Law Seminar
This seminar will draw on Prof. Hamilton's distinguished career as one of the nation's leading advocates for the civil rights of children. Materials for class discussion will be derived from her textbook, Children and the Law, and other publications. Topics include the rights of a child in relation to the family, school, society, and the justice system. Law students and graduate students welcome. Undergraduate students must obtain permission
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5810 Law, Religion, and Politics
This course addresses the contemporary interplay between government, religion, and politics with focus on issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. Due to the rise in statutory religious liberty statutes at the federal and state levels over the last 20 years--which have placed constraints on government beyond the First Amendment--adjustments between the government's interest and religious liberty have become complicated. Public administrators need to anticipate challenges to government action, including the limits imposed by the First Amendment and these relatively new statutory constraints. This course will teach future public policy administrators how to assess the myriad of instances where policy determinations must take into account the likely impact of politically powerful and connected religious leaders and organizations on the public interest. This knowledge has never been more important than it is now with the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election occurring at the same time, both of which entail fascinating questions related to religious liberty and public safety.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5830 Religion, Public Policy, and Law
We will address the ways in which religious Liberty claims interact with public policies involving health care, reproductive rights, anti-discrimination laws, vaccination, and child protection among other issues. We will also examine how the changes to the landscape of religious devotion in the US is affecting public policy debates and policies.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5900 Use and Misuse of Data for Policy Challenges
"Data-Driven Policy Making" has become a popular phrase, but what does it actually mean and how can aspiring policy-makers meet its lofty goals? This class will help students understand how data of all sorts (administrative, observational, experimental, "big") can be used to shed light on various policy issues. To do this, the class teaches students a set of computational tools (centered on the R statistical programming language), and shows them how to gather, analyze, and present data in useful ways. It does so by working through a number of important policy issues, including policing, campaign finance, public health, political polling, and many others. No prior statistical or technical knowledge is assumed, though basic statistical literacy is helpful. This class was previously called "Using Big Data for Policy Challenges."
1 Course Unit
GAFL 5999 Independent Study
Independent study course.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6110 Statistics for Public Policy
This course is GAFL 6110, the required course in statistical analysis for students in the Fels school. This is the required course in statistical analysis for public policy/public administration. Increasingly, this is a quantitative field. Even if you think you'll someday just be (say) a city manager, and not likely to use quantitative analysis yourself, you will likely find yourself working with quantitative data. For example, "policy evaluation" has become a buzzword in recent years in public management and examples involving Fels graduates-or their equivalents-abound. Did giving low-income children after-school tutoring improve their academic performance? Does expanding a free-lunch program reduce the number of student outbursts in classrooms? Did Philadelphia's "big belly" trash cans actually reduce the amount of litter on our streets? Answering any of these questions requires statistical analysis. This course aims to lay the groundwork for you to answer these (and many more!) questions. The point here is not to convince you to adopt a quantitative design for your own work, or that quantitative designs are the "best" designs for answering all questions. Rather, the goal is to give you a set of tools that will enable you to read, critique and eventually produce your own quantitative research. The course will introduce you to the logic of social scientific inquiry, and the basic statistical tools used to analyze politics and public policy.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6120 Quantitative Methods for Policy Analysis
This course will help students learn how to make evidence-based decisions in a public sector context. The course will introduce important data analysis skills and help students evaluate the quality of studies undertaken to measure the impact of public policies and programs. This course has seats reserved for Fels' students and gives priority to grad students. Post-bacc students, contact Vincent George (vigeorge@upenn.edu) for a permit.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6210 Public Economics
This course provides students with the knowledge required to understand government operations in relation to the market economy. In theory of supply and demand, students explore the pricing mechanism, price elasticity, and the effects of price controls on markets. Efficiency is examined in connection with competition and again in connection with equity, and market failure is considered as a reason for government intervention. Cost-benefit analysis is examined in the context of selecting among public investment alternatives. The course also assists students in addressing issues connected with local public goods and economic development.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6222 Economic Principles of Public Policy
This course will introduce students to key economic concepts such as scarcity, efficiency, monopolies and cost-benefit. Students will practice applying these principles to the range of decisions that public sector executives have to make in order to understand the trade-offs inherent in any public policy or program.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6230 Leading People
Leading Diverse Organizations focuses on Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), the combination of human resource management (HRM) and the strategic direction of the organization, whether public or non-profit. This course will examine the theory and principles of SHRM as they relate to job analysis , recruitment and selection, compensation, benefits, training and career development, performance management, and labor-management relations. Learning to deal with the daily SHRM challenges makes leaders and managers more effective and more valuable to the organization. This course has seats reserved for Fels' students and gives priority to grad students. Post-bacc students, contact Vincent George at vigeorge@sas.upenn.edu for a permit. Undergraduate students, contact Vincent George 2 weeks before the start of the pertinent term to request a seat. Seats are not guaranteed to post-bacc or undergraduate students.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6300 Public Law and Public Process (Executive)
This class introduces students to the processes by which ideas of public policy make their way into public law. The course will examine a variety of case studies involving the interaction between public policy initiatives and how they evolve into public law. It will also involve critical examination of the processes that lead to the creation of law intended to serve the public interest. The class requires students to read accounts of public law battles and to analyze them through different metrics, including assigned reading, independent research, class discussion, papers, and a final presentation. This is a "hybrid" course, with synchronous, online meetings and once-monthly, on-campus meetings in Philadelphia, PA. This course has seats reserved for Fels students and gives priority to grad students.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6310 Public Law and Process
This course introduces students to the theories and practice of the policy- making process. There are four primary learning objectives. First, understanding how the structure of political institutions matter for the policies that they produce. Second, recognizing the constraints that policy makers face when making decisions on behalf of the public. Third, identifying the strategies that can be used to overcome these constraints. Fourth, knowing the toolbox that is available to participants in the policy-making process to help get their preferred strategies implemented. While our focus will primarily be on American political institutions, many of the idas and topics discussed in the class apply broadly to other democratic systems of goverment. The class will be a mix of lecture and cases. Cases are on a diverse set of policy topics, with a goal of illustrating braod themes about the policy-making process rather than the specifics of certain policy areas.
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6400 Program Evaluations and Data Analysis
One of the trademarks of the 21st century public management is the usage of data and analysis in the decision-making process. A successful public leader will use empirical evidence to guide her decisions. She knows what types of data and analysis she should ask her analysts to collect and conduct, how to consume the results they generate, and how to transform the analytical results into effective communication with stakeholders. This class will help you become that 21st century public leader. At the end of this course, you willunderstand key principals of performance measures and program evaluation. In addition, you will be able to process, manage, and analyze quantitative data using R, a modern programming language optimized for statistical analysis. I picked R for many reasons: it is free, has many open-source visualization techniques and statistical models, and many statistical and quantitative method courses on campus use it as the language of choice. More importantly, knowing how to use R can be a unique and attractive skill for your employer.
Spring
Prerequisite: GAFL 6110
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6410 Program Evaluations & Data Analysis
This is a "hybrid" course, with synchronous, online meetings and once-monthly, on-campus meetings in Philadelphia, PA. Also, please note there is an additional $150 online course fee. This course introduces program evaluation in the context of research methods. Students learn about design and the application of data collection skills to all phases of program/service delivery from needs assessment to analysis of findings to implementation of changes based on results. Students learn to appreciate how these skills can be used as practical tools for identifying problems to developing and implementing programs. This applied course provides students with practical experiences to apply guidelines of evaluation and research methods in actual program evaluation projects in Philadelphia.
Spring
Prerequisite: GAFL 6120
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6510 Public Finance & Public Policy
This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of accounting and budgeting for government and nonprofit organizations. The course is designed for students with little or no background in financial reporting, budgeting, and financial management. "Accounting and budgeting must be recognized as separate systems that must interact in a complementary manner if managers are to exercise control of the financial resources of their organizations" (Garner, 1991). Guided by the premise above, the course naturally divides into two parts: In the first, students are introduced to basic financial reporting concepts. The course will provide a foundation in the state and local government financial reporting model. Students will analyze Comprehensive Annual Fund Reprots (the main filings required for state and local governments) and focus on the aspects and objectives that make reporting for governments unique. Students will develop a framework for evaluating performance and operating results of governments. In the second part of the course, students will focus on budgeting, which is central to the successful operation of government organizations. Government budgets are expressions of public plicy and carry the authority of the law. The course examines budget formulation and development, forecasting, budget adoption, and budget evaluation. Students will be trained to determine whether organizations are effectively using their resoures while meeting their legal requirements and social responsibilities.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 6520 Financial Management of Public and Nonprofit Organizations
This course provides an introduction to financial management principles for public and nonprofit organizations. The primary objective of this course is to demystify financial information and improve students ability to effectively engage in financial discussions, regardless of their role in the organization. This course will be focused on the vocabulary and tools necessary to interpret, analyze, and properly communicate financial information in order to develop and execute an appropriate financial strategy.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
GAFL 7100 Negotiations
To influence public policy you need analytical skills to discover optimal solutions to problems, and good negotiation skills to tailor implementable solutions that address the needs and priorities of multiple stakeholders. What resources you want to invest, whom you engage in discussions, and what you expect to receive in return are open to explicit and implicit negotiations. This course will provide a working understanding of key negotiations concepts, including: Strategic elements of negotiations - interests, goals, positions, rights, power, value creation, high stakes, disputes; Preparation for and the details of negotiation processes; Ethical encounters and conundrums; Leveraging your strengths/understanding your negotiating personality. You will learn cooperative and competitive strategies, have a solid grasp of the decision-making science of negotiation, and better understand cognitive processes and emotional dynamics that affect the ways people negotiate. This is a "hybrid" course, with synchronous, online meetings and once-monthly, on-campus meetings in Philadelphia, PA. Also, please note there is an additional $150 online course fee
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 7190 Advanced Budgeting
The course will build on the fundamentals taught in the introductory budgeting unit to help build students' competence in budgetary analysis. Using detailed data from a major city as a course-long case study, and incorporating excel skill-building exercises, students will develop hands-on understanding of budgets by working through such factors as economic drivers of fiscal performance, revenue analysis and forecasting, including tax policy considerations; expenditure analysis and projection, with an emphasis on workforce costs; and capital budgeting and financing. Students will also be introduced to key fiscal policies, budget monitoring and performance measurement, and the development of effective budget communications for various audiences.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 7320 Public Management
This core MPA course is intended to help each student to learn more than he or she already knows about public management both as a profession and as a field of academic study and to enjoy the company of supportive peers, instructors, and special guests as he or she contemplates a post-MPA career in governance. This course satisfies a core requirement in the Master of Public Administration full-time program.
Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 7330 Public Management (MPA Executive Section)
This core MPA course is intended to help each student learn more than s/he already knows about public management, both as a profession and field of academic study, and to enjoy the company of supportive peers, instructors, and special guests as s/he contemplates a post-MPA career in governance. This course satisfies a core requirement in the Master of Public Administration program. Seats are reserved for Fels' students and this course gives priority to grad students.
Fall
1 Course Unit
GAFL 7350 The Performance Imperative
This course will examine the role of performance management within public organizations (government and nonprofit), including why measuring and managing performance is critically valuable to high-functioning organizations' success. With the increasing pressures on nonprofit and government organizations to continue to produce more with less, performance management systems are becoming a staple within organizations looking to drive better outcomes for their constituents. The goal of a highly functioning performance management system within a public organization is to establish a system of continuous monitoring designed to routinely measure specific quantitative and qualitative indicators in real-time- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - in order to improve the organization's ability to achieve specific outcomes through continuous improvement and timely, data-based decision-making. This course will use a diversity of course materials, including real-life examples and case studies to: (a) demonstrate how organizations have successfully implemented performance management systems, (b) indicate the importance of using real-time, valid and reliable data, and linking performance results with effective budget resource allocation (e.g., program and outcome-based budgeting) and constituent satisfaction, and (c) explore practices on how to best protect valuable aspects of performance management systems despite changes in leadership.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 7980 MPA Capstone I
This required non-credit class is the first part of the MPA Capstone, which is a requirement for the Master of Public Administration at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government. During MPA Capstone I, students will work through the early stages of their capstone projects, including project planning and project research and design. Examples of early stage work include conducting background research, creating a working bibliography, designing the project, and planning and executing data collection. Students will work with their Capstone instructor, advisor and Community Partner Organization. Full-time MPA students take MPA Capstone I during the Spring semester. Executive MPA students take MPA Capstone I during their second Fall semester.
0 Course Units
GAFL 7990 MPA Capstone II
Successful completion of a Capstone project is one of the academic requirements for the Master of Public Administration (MPA) at the University of Pennsylvanias Fels Institute of Government. This core course is designed to give students direct guidance as they apply and consolidate knowledge and skills gained across the curriculum through the completion of a rigorous Capstone project. Capstone students are responsible for designing and completing a public policy or public administration-related project and presenting a deliverable (described below) to the Fels community and other stakeholders.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
GAFL 8990 Public Administration Internship
Internship with a relevant nonprofit or government agency, chosen in consultation with a career services advisor. Students put their knowledge to use, develop vital skills, and build a professional network through an internship with a government or nonprofit organization. Our career advising team helps students identify internship opportunities to align with their professional goals.
Fall, Spring, and Summer Terms
0 Course Units