The Master of Public Administration program is designed to train persons to manage public agencies and programs and to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and agencies. Graduates of the program occupy a wide variety of jobs throughout the United States and abroad.

Students enrolling full-time should expect to spend two years completing the 42 credit hour degree program, which includes at least one semester-length full-time internship in a public agency.

Appalachian's MPA program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration and is one of seven NASPAA-accredited schools in North Carolina and one of approximately 125 programs nationally that meets NASPAA's standards for accreditation.

Appalachian State University, a member institution of the sixteen-campus University of North Carolina System, is a comprehensive university located in Boone, NC, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains with an enrollment of more than 15,000 students. Appalachian offers degrees in 130 undergraduate disciplines and over 70 graduate programs. Appalachian State University is consistently ranked among the top regional universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report and was named College of the Year by Time magazine in 2001.

The MPA program offers evening classes in Boone, Hickory, Winston-Salem, and Gastonia, North Carolina.