Chapman University’s adult education unit has started offering a master’s of public administration degree and recruited some big government names as teachers.
Brandman University, which offers degrees, certificates and credentials in business, healthcare, education and other areas, expects big demand for public administrators after a wave of expected retirements in the next few years.
“Even though we’re going through layoffs and cutbacks now, there are still a huge number of people who are going to retire and take a huge amount of expertise with them,” said Fred Smoller, director of the master’s program at Brandman and a political science professor at Chapman University.
Smoller and David Morgan, retired city manager of Anaheim, are teaching public administration courses at Brandman’s Irvine facility.
“I’m going to bring the theory,” Smoller said. “Dave is going to bring the tales from the trenches—the specific things he did and the mistakes he made and the practical stories from his past.”
Working Professionals
The school’s public administration program is geared toward working professionals in the local city and county governments, estimated at 31,000, who are looking to advance their careers.
Local government leaders helped design the program. They’re also serving as teachers.
In addition to Morgan, classes will be taught by Curt Pringle, outgoing mayor of Anaheim, Allison Hart, retired city manager of Irvine, Nick Berardino, the head of the Orange County Employees Association, Alan Slater, former clerk of the court and jury commissioner for the Superior Court of Cali-
fornia, County of Orange, and retired Judge Jim Gray.
Others are expected to help out as the program develops, according to Smoller.
“I spoke to the city managers about the program at a meeting a few months ago and of the 30 managers there, nearly 10 of them pulled me aside and asked how they could help,” he said. “There has been a swell of support for the program because it will teach students how to run OC.”
Students are set to be taught about land-use planning, water management, labor relations and collective bargaining, in addition to more traditional topics such as public finance and public policy analysis.
“I wanted to create a very different type of program that was contoured particularly for the needs of OC,” Smoller said.
The program will focus on the five “P”s of government, according to Smoller: “people, policy, principle, politics and pennies.”
The program comprises five nine-week sessions per year with classes meeting one night per week. The program can be completed in about 18 months.
All classes will include online components and assignments to reduce the amount of time students will spend on campus. Classes started this month.
