Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Master of Public Administration Program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records #40091, University Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Periodic transfer from the offices that create these records.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: University Archives Staff

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Education, Higher--North Carolina--History.
• Internship programs--North Carolina--History.
• Public administration--Study and teaching--North Carolina.
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--Departments.
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--Graduate work.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Curricula.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Graduate work.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Department of Political Science.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Institute of Government.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Master of Public Administration Program.

• Office of the Provost Records (#40039)
• Office of the Dean of the Graduate School Records (#40107)
• University Archives started archiving selected websites of the academic and business units of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina General Administration, and student groups and organizations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in January 2013. To see if websites for this department or related departments have been archived visit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Harvested Websites (#40417).

The roots of the graduate program in public administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can be traced to the early 1930s. A School of Public Administration was formed in June 1932 under the direction of Professor Walter C. Jackson, who was succeeded in 1934 by Howard W. Odum. The school's mission was defined vaguely as providing training for government service. Failure to obtain additional foundation support coupled with administrative problems led to its closure in 1936.

In the 1940s and early 1950s, the North Carolina City and County Managers Association petitioned the university to provide a more formal public service training program. In the fall of 1951, the Department of Political Science was authorized to offer a program in public administration that included classroom instruction and internship training leading to a Master of Arts degree in political science with a certificate of professional proficiency in public administration. Lack of departmental resources and the inability to offer the Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree hampered full implementation of the program's training aspect. Meanwhile, the Department of Political Science, the Institute of Government, and the North Carolina City and County Managers Association continued to press the need for a professional training program leading to the Master of Public Administration degree.

In the fall of 1965, the Department of Political Science requested approval from the Administrative Board of the Graduate School for a two-year public administration program. Approval was granted and the Master of Public Administration Program was inaugurated in the fall of 1966. The program was supervised by, and responsible to, the chairman of the Department of Political Science. A student-faculty MPA Policy Committee, appointed by the Political Science chairman and the director of the Institute of Government, advised the program's director on general administrative and curriculum matters. Decisions on program requirements were subject to the approval of the Political Science faculty and the Administrative Board of the Graduate School. The curriculum included three major components: first year on-campus classroom instruction; second year work experience/internship; and a research paper and oral defense before a review committee.

Funding for the MPA program came from state appropriations via the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Government. These funds were supplemented, especially in the area of student aid, by foundation support and federal aid. The R. J. Reynolds Company, the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company, the Burlington Foundation, the P. H. Hanes Foundation, the North Carolina Fund, the North Carolina City and County Managers Association, and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration are agencies in the private sector that have supplied funding. On the federal level, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have made grants directly or indirectly to the program. Funding from these has supported faculty and curriculum development as well as aid to MPA students.

In 1997, the Master of Public Administration Program became an integral part of the Institute of Government (later School of Government).

Records of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program consist of the director's files and date largely from the 1970s. They include correspondence and other files relating to the administration and curricula of the program, including many files on scholarships, fellowships, and internships for MPA students.