Crystal,
All else being equal, I'd vote for the MPA, but only if you can get some
classes in fundraising, nonprofit management, and grantwriting--all
essentials for museum work. I got my MPA from the University of
Pittsburgh, which was a terrific program for me. It was an MPA with a
Certificate in Nonprofit Management, through their Graduate School of
Public and International Affairs, or GSPIA ("GHISS-pee-uh"). I did
internships at several of Pittsburgh's museums, and I got great
experience out of it.
As part of my program, I took a marketing class in Pitt's business
school, sitting side-by-side with all the MBAs. I often recount the
story of speaking up in class one day: We were doing a case study about
a company that developed a drastically more effective toothbrush, and we
were discussing how the company could make the most profit from it. I
said I thought the company had a moral obligation to offer that
toothbrush at a low cost so more people could afford it... You should
have seen the dumbfounded look on my classmates' faces. Sacrifice profit
for "the public good"? I was clearly a space alien masquerading as a
human or something--what a ridiculous idea! Anyway, that day I was glad
I hadn't pursued an MBA.
Like in all graduate programs (and I've participated in more than my
share, unfortunately), there were a couple of my MPA classes that really
sucked, but there were more than enough that were excellent.
Plus, Pittsburgh's a great city.
Good luck,
brent
o o o o o o o o o o o o
A valentine Family Dino Day, Feb. 10:
www.texasmemorialmuseum.org
R. Brent Lyles
Director of Public Programs
Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History
2400 Trinity Street, D-1500
Austin, Texas 78705-5786
tel. (512) 471-3551
fax. (512) 471-4794
o o o o o o o o o o o o
-----Original Message-----
From: James Tichgelaar [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 1:47 PM
Subject: Re: MBA vs. MPA
Both can be good degrees. I ended up going with the MPA after talking
to people in both the Buisness and Political Science departments here at
ASU. I found that the backgrounds and research areas of the MPA faculty
more closely matched my interests and needs than the MBA program. If
you are not sure, talk to the faculty at both programs, and check out
their publications to see what the emphasis is of the programs you are
interested in. I also found that looking at peroidicals and books in
the libray gave more information about the research interests of the
departments (especially see if they are collecting recent books on
non-profit
administration: this will tell you what the faculty are requesting for
their current work, and if the school will have the resources for your
work).
1/31/2002 12:17:29 PM, Crystal Baranowski <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>To those on the more administrative side of things:
>
>If a person were planning on staying on the administrative side
>(management, development, marketing, membership, etc.) of museum life
>and a MA in Arts Administration was not an option, but both an MBA and
>MPA were, which route would you go and why? The pros and cons that I
>come up with for each tend to balance the scales and put me right back
>where I started.
>
>Crystal L. Baranowski
James H Tichgelaar
Assistant Director
Arkansas State University Museum
http://museum.astate.edu
"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture." (Laurie
Anderson)
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
