Marywood’s Public Administration program will go completely online in the fall of 2015.

“Online education is an ongoing trend and many programs at the institutions of higher learning are moving toward that path,” said Alexander R. Dawoody, Ph.D., associate professor of administrative studies.

The idea to take the program online came from “students, consultants, our accreditation board” and Dawoody himself.

With the transition comes a change in the program’s curriculum, according to Mark. E. Rodgers, Ph.D., dean of the College of Health & Human Services.

“We want to make sure that the quality of the program that is there now will continue,” said Rodgers.

The curriculum will be reduced from 42 to 36 credit hours. According to Dawoody, many outdated and repeated courses were eliminated from the new curriculum while new courses are being introduced.

The new program will also offer a specialization in Homeland Security.

The reaction from students and faculty so far has been “all supportive,” said Dawoody.

“The thing we need to be concerned with is how to market something that’s online. How do you inform the public that this program exists? That’s what we are working on now,” said Rodgers.

When the program officially launches in the Fall of 2015, it will no longer be a part of the School of Social Work and Administrative Studies. Because of accreditation standards, the School of Social Work needs to stand on its own as an independent unit with no other program drawing attention from it.

“We decided not to make this particular program a stand-alone program, but to combine it with social sciences. It needs some approval yet, but the thought is that if the approvals are offered, this program would move over there around the first of July,” said Rodgers.

When the program officially launches, all classes will be taught through Moodle.

“By offering an online program with affordable cost and more convenient delivery method, students can pursue their academic goals without allowing cost or schedule to be an obstacle to their progress,” concluded Dawoody.

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