Bachelor of Arts, Minor in Public Administration

Regulations effective Sep. 1, 2024.

The Public Administration minor is designed for students who are seeking managerial careers at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government, as well as within non-profit and quasi-governmental organizations. Students can select a mix of Arts and Applied Studies courses in such areas as governance, political science, public policy, economics, public finance, budgeting, legal studies, human resources management, industrial relations, communications, health administration, and indigenous studies.

The role of public servants is becoming increasingly complex as the global economy becomes more integrated and the capacity of nation-states to act decisively is constrained by a multitude of factors. Public Administration professionals must possess strategic, analytic, and creative thinking skills. This minor prepares students to assume public sector managerial roles in the knowledge-based society; it provides them with exposure to administrative concepts, tools and practice, yet keeps them firmly grounded in the liberal arts education program.

Public Administration Minor (optional) - 30 credits

Required courses

(24 credits)

GOVN 301 – Governance, the Public Sector and Corporate Power	(3)
GOVN 380/HSRV 363 – Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Governance	(3)
or
GOVN/POLI 405 – Innovative Public Management
or
GOVN 450 – Public Budgeting and Financial Management in a Globalized World
GOVN/LGST 377 – Issues in Access to Information and Privacy Protection	(3)
or
GLST/GOVN/POLI 440 – Global Governance and Law
or
*LGST 331 – Administrative Law**
or
*INST 426 – Aboriginal Law and Government**
A Policy course, such as:
GOVN 390/POLI 392 – Public Policy and Administrative Governance	(3)
or
GOVN/POLI/GLST 403 – Public Policy in a Global Area
A Statistics course, such as:
CMNS 308 – Understanding Statistical Evidence	(3)
or
SOCI 301 – Social Statistics
A Professional Ethics course, such as:
PHIL 333 – Professional Ethics**	(3)
or
Other PHIL professional ethics course
Indigenous cultural competency course, such as:
INST 203 – Indigenous Studies I	(3)
or
INST 205 – Indigenous Studies II
or
POLI 311 – Aboriginal Politics and Governments
or
ANTH 362 – First Peoples of Canada
Women-focused of gender studies course, such as:
All WGST courses	(3)
or
ANTH 375 – The Anthropology of Gender
or
HSRV 421 – Advocacy from the Margins
or
POLI 350 – Women in Canadian Politics
or
LGST 390 – Women, Equality, and the Law *

Electives

(6 credits)

All GOVN courses that are not required courses
GLST 205 – Building Blocks of Global Studies: Overview of Approaches, Concepts, and Issues	(3)
GLST/ENVS 243 – Environmental Change in a Global Context	(3)
ENVS 305 – Environmental Impact Assessment	(3)
ENVS 435 – Transformative Change in Building Sustainable Communities	(3)
ECON 247 – Microeconomics	(3)
or
ECON 248 – Macroeconomics
ADMN 232* – Introduction to Management	(3)
or
SOCI 300 – How Humans Organize: From Primary Groups to the World Wide Web
or
*ORGB 326 – Organizational Theory**
or
*ORGB 364 – Organizational Behavior**
SOCI 381 – The Rich and the Rest: The Sociology of Wealth, Power, and Inequality	(3)
All IDRL* courses
All HRMT* courses
All LBST courses
All POEC courses
All POLI courses

Notes:

All courses above are designated Social Science, unless otherwise indicated by asterisks.

*Applied Studies courses. Note that students are only allowed to take 18 credits of Applied Studies towards an Arts degree.

**Humanities.

Language proficiency

Students who wish to pursue employment in the federal civil service or foreign affairs are strongly encouraged to take French for their Option courses. Students interested in North American integration should take Spanish. Students interested in governance capacity building for First Nations communities should consider taking an Indigenous language course.

Information effective Sep. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2025.

Updated July 11, 2024 by Office of the Registrar (calendar@athabascau.ca)