The BYU MPA program focuses on management and leadership skills and abilities. The program places specific emphasis on ethical leadership, professional communication, and collaboration while upholding public service values. BYU MPA students should: Embody Christlike characteristics (e.g., integrity, respect for all, humility, compassion, service- centered) in their actions as a leader and manager. Demonstrate skills in strategic leadership of public-service organizations, such as vision setting, long-term planning, and adapting to changing conditions to achieve a mission. Understand various contexts that affect leadership and management in public-service organizations (i.e., political, legal, constitutional, and sectoral differences) and tailoring actions and perspectives to respect different contexts. Express clear expectations with colleagues and subordinates to improve organizational performance. Skillfully engage in difficult conversations with the stakeholders of public-service organizations. Be prepared to make difficult managerial decisions, weighing technical and value-based merits.

The BYU MPA is a management program. There are elective opportunities for students to learn about all parts of the policy process, but the program places specific emphasis on ensuring its graduates are competent in the implementation and evaluation stages of the policy process (i.e., in public service delivery and program management).BYU MPA students should: Demonstrate awareness of current political, social, policy, and economic environments and how they affect the management environment. Identify the importance of organizational/policy/program purposes and able to operationalize the execution of those purposes in service provision. Be able to gather and evaluate complex information that informs the effectiveness of public organizations and programs. Be skilled at evaluating policies (services and program) and their alternatives. Be skilled at communicating evaluation findings with courage, clarity, and compassion. Be able to ethically engage in service delivery and program management. Be skilled in civic engagement, bridging the management of services and programs with its external stakeholders.

The BYU MPA program provides students with diverse analytical skills and abilities and teaches students how to apply that knowledge in value-based decision making.BYU MPA students should: Demonstrate technical skills in the tools and analytical techniques of quantitative and qualitative analysis (e.g., statistics, Excel use, interviewing). Effectively use the vocabulary of quantitative analysis (e.g., financial information, descriptive statistics, Excel formatting and functions). Be able to ask penetrating questions, evaluate evidence, choose the correct analytical methods, and effectively apply analytical tools to gain insights to inform managerial decisions. Be skilled at effectively communicating evidence-informed analysis in a manner that is appropriate for the intended stakeholders. Demonstrate a commitment to ethical standards of data management, information confidentiality, and analysis. Be knowledgeable in state-of-the-art analytical technology and able to learn and adapt to new technologies.

The BYU MPA program trains students to advance public service perspectives in the management of nonprofit and governmental organizations.BYU MPA students should: Be aware of and able to express their personal ethical standards for public services. Demonstrate and communicate an informed perspective on organizational and social values that are foundational to public services in governmental and nonprofit institutions. Demonstrate respect and awareness for tradeoffs and competing definitions for public service values such as equity, justice, accountability, and security. Demonstrate a commitment to preserving and enhancing public service values, especially those values embodied in the U.S. Constitution.

The BYU MPA program values professional communication that upholds and advances public service values.BYU MPA students should: Effectively collaborate, express clear expectations, initiate productive crucial conversations, productively engage people who have different perspectives, build partnerships and stakeholder relationships. Be skilled at formal (e.g., memos and slide-deck presentations) and informal communication (e.g., collaborating in groups, working with colleagues). Demonstrate love for one another by: respecting cultural and social differences; being aware of and sensitive to diverse interests, perspectives, and experiences; expressing compassion and inclusivity; and, communicating with civility and respect. Act with integrity, humility, ethics, and honor.