Leadership and Management Concentration

Leadership in the public arena

Leaders and managers of public and nonprofit organizations face unique challenges and mandates. In addition to supervising the daily operations of organizations large and small, they must cope with funding constraints; work closely with government, private, and public sector constituents, and often answer to volunteer boards of directors. The public and nonprofit leadership and management concentration trains students to navigate these issues through collaborative engagement with public and private partners.

What students in this concentration study

Courses in the public and nonprofit leadership concentration explore a broad range of issues, such as strategy formulation and implementation, governance, performance measurement, financial management, state and local finance, budgeting, human resources, organizational design and change, policy design and change, and inter-organizational relations. Several themes can tie coursework together into a coherent primary concentration. Three examples are: general management, nonprofit management, and public budgeting and financial management.

Possible courses in the concentration

Below is just a small sampling of the dozens of courses related to public and nonprofit leadership. You can find additional ideas on the concentration sheet.

• PA 5101 Management and Governance of Nonprofit Organizations 
• PA 5103 Leadership & Change in an Innovation Society
• PA 5113 State and Local Public Finance
• PA 5190 Board Services Practicum
• PA 5190 Contemporary Issues in Philanthropy

Research centers

Students in interested in public and nonprofit leadership and management may be interested in the work of the following Humphrey School research centers:

• Cedar-Humphrey Action for Neighborhood Collaborative Engagement (CHANCE)
• Center for Integrative Leadership
• Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center

Concentration forms

• Concentration sheet.
  Complete list of required courses
• Concentration exception request form
  Used to request an exception to the concentration requirements