The most important objective the program is designed to achieve is educating individuals on how to lead and manage government and nonprofit organizations. Upper Iowa University's Master of Public Administration degree involves the completion of twelve courses that push student's boundaries of knowledge about leading and managing non-profit and government organizations (2024). Students can also further tailor their experience by choosing an emphasis field. These fields of emphasis include criminal justice, emergency management and homeland security, general study, healthcare management, nonprofit organizational management, and public management. Many students can complete the degree within two years but can finish sooner if they take more than one course each session. Those who complete the program will have a greater grasp of how to lead, manage, think critically, and communicate with a diverse group of people in the public service industry (Upper Iowa University, 2024). They will also find that they qualify for higher positions and higher-paying jobs. According to Royse et al., operational definitions detail how the concept is defined and measured for evaluation (2015). The most important objective of the MPA program can be operationally defined as students completing assignments and tests to gain knowledge on how to lead and manage government and non-profit organizations. According to Mertens and Wilson, the theory of change deals with how and why a plan