Graduate Students
The Department of Public Policy and Administration offers the following Graduate degrees:
- Master of Public Administration (MPA)
The MPA provides an important academic nucleus of the University’s designated area of emphasis in public affairs. As the urban university in Idaho, located in the capital city, Boise State has been given the mandate to provide educational opportunities related to public affairs education. The Department of Public Policy and Administration offers the master’s degree in public administration to help fulfill that mandate. It is the only MPA accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration in Idaho and one of only eight in the Northwest and surrounding states; including Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming.
The MPA is designed to prepare pre-service students and in-service professionals for positions of leadership in public service. Administrators and other staff members in all levels of government, non-profit organizations and private sector governmental affairs departments take advantage of the general administrative and policy analysis curriculum offered. The MPA provides the theoretical and practical dimensions of public management necessary to assist students seeking public service careers. MPA students can study in one of three important concentrations: environmental and natural resource policy and administration, state and local government policy and administration, and general public administration.
Based upon its lead role in public policy, the Master of Public Administration plays an important role in the administration and in the delivery of courses in the Master of Health Policy and in a variety of other graduate programs at Boise State University.
- Certificate of Conflict Management

