Carolina MPA Student Digest 5/7/21: |
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Featured in this Digest:
- Upcoming Calendar Dates
- MPA News & Resource Highlights
- Campus & Beyond Events
- Professional Development & Volunteer Opportunities
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Carolina MPA Calendar
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May 15: University Commencement
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May 16, 11 am EDT: MPA Virtual Commencement
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June 1: Fall registration opens for on-campus classes
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June 28: September term registration opens for online classes
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July 25: Online May term classes end
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MPA Faculty Honored with Public Service Awards |
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Chapel Hill, N.C. — On April 15, at the annual Public Service Awards event, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill honored 11 individuals and one organization for outstanding contributions to the campus and broader communities. This year’s event was held virtually; you can watch and share the video recording on this page.
CCPS Director Lynn Blanchard noted that UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz often says, “While we are formally known as the University of North Carolina … We might better be known as the University for North Carolina.”
“That is apparent in considering the many individuals and communities across North Carolina who have benefitted from the teaching, research and service of this year’s award winners,” Blanchard said. “They, in turn, represent the many other students, faculty and staff who engage in some way with the state every day to make a difference.”
At the ceremony, the Carolina Center for Public Service presented the following awards: Ned Brooks Award for Public Service, Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Awards and Robert E. Bryan Public Service Awards.
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NED BROOKS AWARD
Honoring a distinguished and sustained record of service to Carolina and the larger community
Anita Brown-Graham’s history with UNC-Chapel Hill reveals a deep dedication to service through her varied roles as student, professor, alumnus and director. After graduating from the UNC School of Law in 1991, she spent three years working in private practice before making her return to the University at what was then the Institute of Government (now the School of Government). For 13 years, she worked tirelessly to serve the state’s public officials on a range of governmental liability and community and economic development issues, becoming a nationally recognized authority on developing strategies to lead communities out of economic distress. Notably, Brown-Graham became the first African American faculty member to be tenured at the School. She left Carolina in 2007 to serve as the director of the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University, but she rejoined the School of Government in 2016 to launch the ncIMPACT Initiative. As director of the Initiative, Brown-Graham has spent the last five years leading the effort to expand the School’s capacity to work with public officials on complex policy issues. She works with her colleagues to devise programs to support communities across the state tackling issues including economic mobility, homelessness, workforce preparedness, the opioid crisis, expansion of education and more. Most recently, Brown-Graham was named to head Carolina Across 100, the Chancellor’s five-year initiative to engage with communities throughout the state to make a meaningful impact in the wake of COVID-19.
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ROBERT E. BRYAN PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD: Faculty
Recognizing students, staff and faculty for exemplary public service efforts
Shannon Tufts, for direction of the Center for Public Technology (CPT) and specifically work on the Public Sector Cybersecurity Response Teams. Tufts has spent the last two decades addressing the needs of information technology professionals working in local and state government. The CPT was founded in 2000, and through that organization Tufts has worked closely with the North Carolina Local Government Information Systems Association to provide collaborative educational opportunities for government IT officials, with the goal of strengthening North Carolina communities through the appropriate use of information technology. Early on in her time at Carolina, Tufts also designed and implemented the first local government Certified Government Chief Information Officers (CGCIO™) program in the United States and continues to run CGCIO™ programs for local government, state agency, K-12 and community college IT professionals across the United States. The various CGCIO™ programs have graduated hundreds of IT professionals across the country. Tufts additionally teaches courses on public sector information systems, including IT investment strategies, embracing technology, project management and stakeholder engagement in technology-enabled government. She teaches as a core faculty member in the UNC Master of Public Administration program and serves on several federal, state and local government committees to promote the effective use of technology in the public sector.
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Tiffany Oliva, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Named Global First-Runner Up of the 2021 NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition
The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) and the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy have announced the “All-Star”winners of the 2021 NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition. Tiffany Oliva representing the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill belonged to the Second Place Team at the All-Star Round Championship on April 17,2021.
Tiffany’s teammates are as follows:
Darshan Parikh, Virginia Commonwealth University, U.S.A.
Ma Fides Talania, New York University, U.S.A.
Adam Thorp, University of Missouri, U.S.A.
Tiffany and her teammates excelled during both the simulation-navigation and debate phases. You should be extremely proud of her," said Supriya Golas, Simulation Education Director for NASPAA. "The competition was very close, especially between the first and second place teams. The judges were truly amazed by Tiffany's team, and noted their "strength and balance, strong extemporaneous debate style, and the ability to stay true to their simulated roles.""
This year, over 400 students from 120 universities in 30 countries took part in the NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition. Participants competed virtually at one of the four virtual competitions hosted on February 27 and March 6, 2021. A total of four regional teams, the competition “All-Stars”, competed for the championship on April 17, 2021. To place in the top four of the competition is truly an accomplishment in itself.
The competition—a partnership between the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and NASPAA—annually connects public policy students from a vast network of universities worldwide through simulated gameplay. Developed by experts at the Batten School’s Center for Leadership Simulation and Gaming (CLSG) and backed by real-world data, the simulation places students in leadership roles within a time-sensitive, fast-paced environment where they must work together to minimize the impact of a deadly infectious disease.
“Simulation-based learning is incredibly valuable, as it applies theory to practice, and goes beyond conventional modes of learning,” said NASPAA Simulation Education Director Supriya Golas. “Through these simulations, students can take what they’ve learned in the classrooms and apply it to simulated real-world experiences. We hope these tools will prepare students for the next major global event, whether it’s a pandemic or climate crisis.”
100 participating teams were evaluated on simulation scores, teamwork, organization, policy decision making, and policy presentations. The winning team from each moved on to the global “All Star” round in which a panel of prominent judges identified the global champion.
“We’ve extensively updated our simulation to reflect the public health and economic crises brought on by COVID-19,” said CLSG Acting Manager Adam Roux. “It’s a great opportunity for aspiring policymakers to test their leadership, critical thinking, and communication skills against a scenario like the one we are all living through. Experiential learning tools such as the Pandemic Game can help bridge classroom learning and real-world experience, training future leaders to better navigate challenging situations.”
In the coming months, the CLSG will develop a classroom version of the simulation which will be available free of charge for the next three years. NASPAA will distribute the free classroom version to its 300 member schools.
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MPA Student's Class Project Makes Real World Impact |
Professor Whitney Afonso says we all know how great our MPA students are, but that she always enjoys hearing about the interesting and impactful things they do. This spring term, one of her students, Chrisy Hayden, wrote a memo for PUBA 731 on a proposed bill in the NC Legislature. She realized that there were some important aspects of the bill that had been overlooked and reached out to state legislators who ultimately integrated in her suggestions!
In PUBA 731, each student will pick a week to present a news article relevant to that particular week’s topic, such as the evolution of the budget. Aspects of that week’s lecture focus on formulaic budgets and also performance budgeting.
Chrisy says, "After speaking with my classmates about my memo and the news article, I came to the realization that H61 was injecting much needed funding into the state’s localities, but that the bill was like putting a band aid on an open artery. One quote in the article particularly grinded my gears,
“House Bill 61 would boost state funding to $36 million a year going forward, and the money wouldn't supplant local dollars, so county health departments would see their total budgets balloon after years of flat state spending and, in some years, cuts. The money would also be recurring, meaning it would stay in subsequent budgets unless lawmakers voted to take it out.
The underlined portion was particularly concerning because, thanks to PUBA 731 that week, I became aware that formulaic budgeting was a bad idea (we even had a great PA example about local schools and formulaic budget’s pitfalls as part of lecture that week).
I resolved that the bill needed to have at least a clear sunset date, and better yet, clear language emphasizing the need for public health benchmarking studies going forward so that NC knows when its public health spending falls behind or surpasses others."
Chrisy then emailed her state representative, Verla Insko, as well as every chair of the Appropriations Committee and their Legislative Assistants. The committee chairs told Chrisy they weren't likely to review any public comment on a budget bill, but Representative Insko responded that she liked the idea of a clear sunset date and would check with the bill drafters to see if it could be clearer.
Chrisy adds, "After two weeks, I logged onto the NCGA and saw that the bill had gained many bipartisan sponsors. I also noticed the bill had been removed from committee shortly after my influx of emails and then re-introduced with changes to make the bill MUCH clearer.... I am so happy that Professor Afonso gave me the knowledge to know why H61 had some fatal flaws, and then gave me the idea to contact someone at the NCGA about my thoughts in the first place!"
Congratulations, Chrisy, and thank you for inspiring our MPA Community to use our knowledge and study to make lasting impacts!
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University & Beyond Events |
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- COVID Resources
- UNC Student Vaccination Clinic Pivots to Moderna
- Virtual Opportunities to Connect
- Culture of Care: Racial Trauma, Healing, & Community Resilience
- Professional Development Opportunities
- John M. Belk Impact Fellowship Applications Open
- Institute of Politics Fellowship Program Nominations Now Open
- Schwarzman Scholars Applications are Open
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July 12-23: Government Finance Officer's Association Virtual Conference
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UNC Student Vaccination Clinic Pivots to Moderna |
UNC undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and eligible partners/spouses can be vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Carolina Student Vaccination Clinic.
An abrupt call by federal health officials to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine prompted clinics around the country to halt injections of the single-shot vaccine, but other vaccines are still available to protect people from the coronavirus. The Carolina Student Vaccination Clinic, which had been administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, reacted quickly and paused its operations April 13. The decision was made out of an abundance of caution, said UNC-Chapel Hill Campus Health Executive Director Ken Pittman. The clinic will reopen April 16 using Moderna vaccinations. More information on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause can be found here: https://www.unc.edu/posts/2021/04/14/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-johnson-johnson-pause/
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The IOP Fellows Program has begun the nomination process for our 2021-22 Fellows, and we want your input!
The Fellows Program aims to bring experienced political practitioners from across North Carolina and the nation to UNC. Once here, they lead an eight-week seminar series of their own design, along with weekly office hours. Please fill out this form if you have suggestions about who you would like to see on campus in the Fall! You may fill out the form multiple times, for as many suggestions as you have. For more information on the Fellows Program, visit www.unciop.org.
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The Schwarzman Scholars Application Is Open
I’m thrilled to announce that the application for the seventh cohort of Schwarzman Scholars is officially open. As the world’s focus on China continues to grow, our Scholars have a front-row seat to the importance that collaboration and mutual understanding play in tackling global challenges. The complex geopolitical developments of the last year serve as further proof that the world needs Schwarzman Scholars – and more quickly than we could have predicted.
I would like to ask for your help in sharing the news of our application launch with compelling candidates for our program: exceptional leaders with integrity, creativity and a drive to succeed. With your support, we can continue to fulfill our mission of bringing together the best young minds to better understand the economic, political and cultural factors that contribute to China’s growing importance as a global power.
As you know, we are currently hosting our fifth cohort, who have demonstrated enormous resilience, flexibility and willingness to learn in the face of the global pandemic. Though they have not yet been able to come together in Beijing, I have watched them engage in classes virtually, get to know one another and participate in many collaborative activities.
Our incoming sixth cohort, announced this past December, features 154 remarkable Scholars chosen from more than 3,600 applicants and includes students from 39 countries and 99 universities. We have quickly become one of the most prestigious graduate fellowships globally, with admission rates consistently below 5%.
We were also thrilled to announce a new addition to our team this year, Executive Director Lara Tiedens. Lara will join us in May from Scripps College, where she currently serves as President. Amy Stursberg will become the new CEO of Schwarzman Scholars and deserves our greatest thanks and recognition. Amy has been with us since the very beginning, and Schwarzman Scholars would not exist without her tireless efforts.
To access the application and learn more about requirements, candidates can visit our website at The Schwarzman Scholars. The deadline for U.S. and other non-China candidates is September 21, 2021. Interviews will be held virtually in late October and early November, and candidates selected for admission will be notified in mid-November 2021.
Thank you for your continued support of the program. I look forward to keeping you updated.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Founding Trustee, Schwarzman Scholars
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We continue to live through unprecedented times: the crisis of COVID-19, economic uncertainty, social and racial unrest, and weather catastrophes. How do we lead during these turbulent times? How do we lead beyond them? Join GFOA for our 2021 Virtual Conference, July 12‒23, to hear from leading practitioners, recognized industry experts, researchers, and your peers how to effectively prioritize the current needs of your community and prepare for any future challenges.
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Carolina MPA | UNC School of Government | carolinampa.sog.unc.edu | Website | Intranet
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