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NASPAA Accredited

Key Executive Leadership MPA Program is the only Executive MPA designed specifically for leaders in the federal sector and accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation.

Key MPA Mission

The mission of the Key Executive Leadership MPA is to foster a collaborative, rigorous and inclusive learning environment to initiate the purposeful transformation of good managers into extraordinary leaders who possess the emotional and intellectual capacity to create, embody, and sustain vital public service and nonprofit organizations that meet the needs of a diverse society. (Revised / Approved April 20, 2022 by the Department of Public Administration and Policy). 

Key MPA Goals/Objectives

We will achieve our mission by ensuring that each program graduate: 

1. Applies substantive public administration principles, values and skills to lead organizations and implement public policy effectively and efficiently.   

2. Demonstrates increased leadership capacity to facilitate transformation from good managers to extraordinary leaders. 

3. Exhibits the capability to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems and make decisions that enhance organizational and policy effectiveness. 

Key MPA Vision

Key is the global public sector leadership program of choice because it challenges good managers to become extraordinary leaders who build an environment for organizational success. 

Key MPA Values

All values in the Key program have as their foundation inclusiveness, diversity, equity, respect, and fairness not only in our classroom but importantly in our personal and professional lives. They are also built on the constitutional values of democracy and equality. The following represent extraordinary leader core values, grounded in the above, and associated with the challenges of leading change, leading people, achieving results, developing business acumen, and building coalitions.  

1.    Exhibit a passion for improving public and nonprofit service  

2.    Lead authentically  

3.    Learn and work collaboratively  

4.    Become a force for personal and organizational change  

5.    Act with integrity  

6.    Model the behavior sought  

7.    Empower others to action 

 

Our mission is fulfilled by providing a program that teaches the application of substantive public administration principles, values, and skills to lead public, nonprofit, and related organizations toward evidence-based decision making and implementing public policy effectively and efficiently. We also seek to focus our students on demonstrating an increased leadership and thinking capacity to facilitate their transformation from good managers to extraordinary leaders. Finally, we achieve our mission by ensuring our students exhibit the capability to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, and make decisions that enhance organizational and policy effectiveness in the public and nonprofit sectors. 

In achieving our mission, we strive to integrate the elements of an outstanding faculty, challenging and dynamic course content, and superior administrative support to generate a learning environment where public sector and nonprofit leaders enjoy the freedom and safety to make an intellectual choice to think and behave differently. The creation of this environment is, we believe, essential for public service and nonprofit leaders to be able to actively engage in the journey to becoming extraordinary leaders.   

Our focus in accomplishing this mission is directed toward creating and maintaining an integrated program that measures success on two levels—increased capacity to deal with complexity and the achievement of increased thinking capacity resulting in long-term, positive behavioral change. Toward succeeding in these two measures of success, participants are challenged to understand themselves and the way they conceptualize, learn effective behaviors, and unlearn ineffective behaviors. We also endeavor to realize our mission through contributions to the advancement of the field of public and nonprofit administration and policy through effective teaching, impactful publications, speaking, and public service.