Joint Juris Doctor/Master of Public Policy and Administration, JD/MPPA
Program Directors: Leah W. Jackson, Associate Dean and Professor, Baylor Law School; Timothy W. Burns, Graduate Program Director, Department of Political Science
Admission
Students are required to fulfill admission requirements for both the Law School and the MPPA program. The Baylor University School of Law web site at http://law.baylor.edu/ contains the most current information about the admissions standards of that school.
Program of Study
Students receive twelve quarter hours of credit on a pass/fail basis toward their JD upon successful completion of the MPPA degree requirements and twelve semester hours of credit on a pass/fail basis toward their elective requirements for the MPPA upon successful completion of JD degree requirements. Thus, JD/MPPA students complete 114 quarter hours of Law and 24 semester hours of Political Science course work. A minimum of one-half of the semester hours required for the master’s program, exclusive of thesis credits, must be in courses numbered at the 5000-level. Neither degree may be awarded until all course work is complete. Therefore, all requirements of both schools must be finished before the candidate may receive either degree.
- Upon commencing law studies, the student is required to take the first three quarters consecutively. After the first three quarters, students may set individual schedules for law school and the MPPA courses. In the Law School, JD/MPPA students must complete the following elective courses:
Course List Code Title Hours LAW 9359 3 LAW 9265 Municipal Government 2 - JD/MPPA students must also fulfill the following Political Science requirements:
Course List Code Title Hours Core Courses Select 15 semester hours from the following: 15 Political Behavior International Law Environmental Law Politics and Communication Grand Strategy Seminar in Public Administration Urban Political Processes Public Discourse and Foreign Policy Public Policy and the Courts Intelligence and Covert Action Political Parties Power, Morality, and International Relations Diplomacy in Theory and Practice Seminar in American Politics Seminar in Public Law Research Design and Research Methods American Political Development The American Founding Comparative Constitutional Law American Foreign Policy Seminar in Presidential Rhetoric Reading Course in Political Science (Public Policy and Administration topics, may only be taken once) Elective Courses Select six semester hours (including at least one 5000-level graduate course) from the following: 6 Courses listed above.Other Political Science courses.Relevant graduate-level courses in cognate fields (e.g., Accounting, Economics, Environmental Studies, History, Management, Quantitative Business Analysis, Sociology).Professional Internship/Research Select one of the following options: 6 Graduate Internship (A student must complete three semester hours of the Graduate Internship. This involves supervised, full-time employment that combines practical field experience and research. Completion of the course requires a written report of the work done during the internship. Students must work in a public sector agency. Both the Graduate Program Director for the Political Science department and the Associate Dean of the Law School must approve all internships.) Professional Paper in Public Policy and Administration Total Hours 27