Career Details

Management skills are broadly applicable and our graduates go on to a wide range of professions in both the public and private sector. The major is also designed to help those thinking of starting their own business or aiding a family business. Finally, many students find the broad business training of the management major a helpful foundation for future graduate study.

The major in public administration provides students with a general foundation in the nature of public policy, the public workplace and its political, legal and managerial environments. This major prepares students for professional employment and leadership in government and nonprofit organizations. The program consists of a core of courses offering general knowledge essential for understanding and working in the public arena. This core provides students with an appreciation of the political culture and economic environment of public work, measurement techniques and a basic understanding of the policy process.

Students are offered a choice between two concentration options: public policy or public management.

In the public policy concentration students acquire knowledge of the nature, dynamics, implementation and substance of public policy and its analysis. Courses address:

• Policy processes.
• Techniques for analyzing policy options.
• The dynamics and substance of particular policy issues.

The public management concentration emphasizes management and management-related skills. Courses address:

• The legal environment of public work.
• Organization theories.
• Management theories and applications.
• Management best practices.

In addition, courses in both concentrations heighten students' critical, analytical and communication skills through case studies, exercises and the intensive writing requirement. The public policy concentration requires a senior seminar experience that seeks to bring policy theory and analytical skills to bear on a practical issue of public policy. Public management students must complete the dual capstone requirements of a public management seminar and an internship, requiring an integration of knowledge from both general studies and major studies by focusing students on specific cases and workplace applications.

Because the public administration major develops techniques and skills applicable to varied career paths in public service, students are encouraged to choose a complementary minor with a narrower, substantive focus. The minors recommended for students' consideration include criminal justice, environmental information systems, environmental management, environmental studies, family studies, gerontology, health information systems, nonprofit studies, political communication, substance abuse intervention, telecommunications, urban and regional studies, communication studies, conflict analysis and intervention, sociology, technical and scientific communication, economics, human resource development, computer science, public health and integrated science and technology.

Interested students may apply to participate in the Fifth Year Master of Public Administration degree program, which allows qualified students to earn an M.P.A. degree with one additional year of study. Students should apply for this program in their sophomore year. See the Graduate Catalog for more information.

The social work program prepares students to become social workers who are committed to strengthening community life for diverse individuals, families and organizations while promoting social justice through advocacy and action. The social work program equips graduates with the knowledge, values and skills needed for the development of professional ethics and competence. The program prepares graduates to work effectively in a broad spectrum of social service settings that address poverty, multiple forms of oppression, social injustice and other human rights violations. The program also prepares students for graduate study in social work.

In addition to lecture and class discussion, the social work program utilizes a variety of teaching strategies, including case-based and experiential approaches to enhance learning. Students are exposed to issues and organizations at local, state, and national levels through policy forums, conferences, interviews and service-learning. All majors use the interviewing labs for case simulations and interviewing to develop their practice skills. The department offers minors in family studies, gerontology and nonprofit Studies.

The curriculum is designed for persons who seek employment in the accounting field or for those presently in accounting who wish to increase their knowledge and update their skills. Job opportunities include accounting trainee, accounting technician, junior accountant, and accountant.

This degree is excellent for those interested in the organization and reporting of financial data. Upon completion of the program, students can take an additional three courses for the Accounting Career Studies Certificate, and then are eligible to proceed to the CPA exam, if other education requirements are satisfied. Contact the Virginia Board of Accountancy for all education requirements.

The curriculum is designed for individuals who seek employment in business management or for those presently in management who are seeking promotion. Job opportunities include administrative assistant, management trainee, department head, branch manager, office manager, manager of small business, and supervisor.

This curriculum is designed for individuals who plan to seek employment in contract management positions and for those presently in contract management positions who seek career advancement. The program is designed to create opportunities for positions in contract management for both government agencies and private industry. Instruction includes both the theoretical concepts and the practical applications needed for future success in the contract management field. This will provide a greater understanding of acquisition, life cycle management, and contracting processes. Job opportunities include project manager, procurement analyst, contract administrator, contract specialist, contract negotiator, contract price analyst, and contract termination specialist.

This program is designed for individuals who plan to transfer to a four-year institution to complete a bachelor of arts (B.A.).

This curriculum is designed for individuals who plan to transfer to a four-year college or university to complete a baccalaureate degree program in business administration with a major in accounting, business management, decision science and management, information systems, finance, marketing, etc.

This program is a flexible associate degree. For students who plan to transfer, the degree can parallel the first two years of a four-year bachelor of science program if they choose courses that match the transfer institution's requirements. For those students who do not plan to transfer, the degree allows them to structure a program to suit their needs using accumulated credits from a variety of formal and experiential sources.

This program is designed for individuals who plan to transfer to a four-year college or university to complete a bachelor of science in a program that requires a background in American Sign Language and the Deaf community. Graduates may use their skills to work in human service fields such as daycare settings and as teacher assistants. Graduates from the program can also transfer to 4-year institutions and major in a wide variety of fields, including ASL instruction, Deaf education, linguistics, Deaf studies (e.g. history, literature, research, etc.), speech-language pathology and audiology, human services, communication sciences and disorders, and social work.

This powerful, marketable credential is a point of entry into the paralegal profession or law school. Study with the nation's leading legal experts in the nation's capital at GW's Alexandria Education Center. The B.P.S. in Paralegal Studies is an ABA-approved, 60-credit bachelor's degree completion program.

If you are transferring courses from other than Northern Virginia Community College, please contact GWCPS Admission Specialist Thanh Tran at tntran2@gwu.edu .

The management/entrepreneurship concentration empowers students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and complementary skill set needed to provide creative solutions for new ventures and existing organizations. Students gain knowledge of entrepreneurial and design concepts useful for questioning assumptions, exploring alternatives and developing creative solutions.

The management/international management concentration allows students to pursue an interest in the global nature of today's business world. A variety of opportunities for international study within and outside the university are available. Students in the management/international management concentration are encouraged to enrich their learning experience by pursuing a minor in international studies or foreign language, studying abroad or taking approved courses outside the School of Business.

The management/business administration concentration provides students with a broad-based study of management and other business disciplines. The course options in the curriculum give students flexibility in developing a program of study that can lead to a variety of entry-level positions in private and public organizations.