June 22, 2018 — Responding to a growing job market for nonprofit administrators and data analysis experts, Marist College has announced the addition of two new concentrations in its Master of Public Administration (MPA) program: Nonprofit Management and Analytics.

“By adding these concentrations, our program is both responding to a marketplace need and offering expanded career paths to professionals of all stripes,” said Jay Bainbridge, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration in Marist’s School of Management. “Research shows job growth is expected to be greater than average in these areas. These additions also allow us to continue to improve the MPA program and keep the curriculum current with the needs of professionals in the field.”

Nonprofit organizations play a crucial role in society, and their leaders now have the opportunity to enhance their professional competencies in a program geared specifically toward this sector. The nonprofit management concentration provides an overview of how nonprofit agencies differ from public and for-profit entities in mission, governance, funding, and staffing, and will consider current issues facing the nonprofit sector. As more public programs are operated by nonprofit organizations, public managers must understand this critical "third sector."

Today’s leaders need to make data-driven decisions, and the new analytics concentration allows for an in-depth study of the critical issues related to managing data in organizations. The concept of data as a resource, the data environment, the database approach, and the need for data modeling are all examined in detail. The analytics skills students learn in the program will help them manage their organizations in more strategic ways.

Both concentrations will be available in the fall 2018.

“These new offerings expand the Marist MPA program’s distinctiveness, while leveraging existing institutional strengths by providing additional concentrations targeted at different market niches,” said Bainbridge. Nonprofit Management and Analytics add to the existing popular concentrations in Public Management, Ethical Leadership, and Healthcare Administration.

The MPA degree program, which is offered in Poughkeepsie, Albany, and Queens as well as fully online, is accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA). NASPAA is the recognized global accreditor of master's degree programs in public administration. Its two-fold mission is to ensure excellence in education and training for public service and to promote the ideal of public service. The program is designed for working professionals and is fully flexible; students may opt for a full or part-time course of study and a hybrid of on-the-ground and online courses.

Read more about the new concentrations and the MPA program here.