UNC MPA Student Digest | May 3, 2024

UNC MPA News and Events

Congrats, MPA Soccer Team!

A big congratulations to the MPA soccer team, winners of this year's co-ed UNC intramural championships!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Bureaucrats' Ball!

Special thanks to the Organizing Committee: Chandler Briggs, Ben King, Breanna Beadle, Chris Bouzane, James Hirsch, Kinsey Beauclair, Neal Duncan, Matt Sutton, Reilly Stahl, & Elizabeth Langefeld

New Publications from MPA Students and Faculty

Dual MPA/Law student Mallory Verez recently published "An Ever-Narrowing Divide: Morality and Decriminalizing Sex Work in North Carolina" in The North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review.

Online MPA student Dr. Amro Ilaiwy and faculty member Dr. Maureen Berner just published "Who Gets What? Drivers of Emergency Room Use and Access Medication Assistance Programs in North Carolina" in The North Carolina Pharmacist.

Congratulations to you all!

Even our Website is getting Accolades...

The MPA Website team at Chariot Creative were recently named 2024 Webby Award Honorees in the School/University Websites and Mobile Sites category for their design. As they said in an email to us, "Taylor Swift & Snoop Dogg won Webby awards, so this is nothing to sneeze at!"

UNC MPA Calendar

May 11: MPA department graduation ceremony and lunch (10:00 am - 2:00 pm)
May 11: UNC Commencement (7:00 pm)
May 27: Memorial Day; university closed and classes cancelled
June 18: wellbeing day for online summer classes
July 3-5: Wellbeing days for online summer classes
July 4: Independence Day; university closed
August 4: Last day of classes for summer online courses
August 24: MPA Alumni Picnic - all students are invited! Details TBA

You may also find all calendar events on the MPA Intranet calendar or by adding "UNC MPA Student Calendar" on Outlook.

UNC events and beyond

Policy Proposal Summit: Tackling Wicked Problems in Local Government

The Policy Proposal Summit brings together students, local government professionals, and experts to collaboratively address the complex challenges faced by our communities. Students will connect classroom theory to practice by taking on real-world challenges in real time to achieve skills that will prepare them for their roles as future public service professionals. Students will engage in critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and policy development to find solutions for wicked problems that transcend traditional boundaries.

This is a great opportunity for graduate students to engage with practitioners, academics, and other graduate students as we collaborate to find ways to improve the quality of life of communities through effective government administration.

Proposals are due May 13!!!

FREN 601: French for Reading Knowledge to be offered this Fall

The department of Romance Studies is offering FREN 601: French for Reading Knowledge (Monday 4:40–6:10 pm) next semester, Fall 2024.

This course is designed to:

prepare students to succeed on the Foreign Language Proficiency Assessment (FLPA) exam (a requirement for many grad programs), and
help any students interested in translation and language studies develop skills in reading French and French-to-English translation. Many bodies of scholarly research include works written in French, so this course is applicable to most fields and programs.

FREN 601 is a 3-credit course, but it meets in person just once a week, so it also entails a significant asynchronous online component. The purpose of this schedule is to provide flexibility to graduate students with a wide variety of schedules.

Any questions about the course may be directed to ldemsey@unc.edu.

NCLGBA Conference & Scholarship Details

The North Carolina Local Government Budget Association is excited to announce the Summer 2024 Conference Scholarship opportunity.

The Conference Scholarship provides registration and accommodations for the upcoming Summer Conference to be held in Beaufort, July 10-12, 2024. Eligible applicants include first-time professional attendees or student attendees. Interested individuals should submit their application via e-mail to scholarship@nclgba.org with the subject line “#NCLGBA Scholarship Program”. Applications for the conference scholarship are due no later than Friday, May 24, 2024 at 11:59pm EST. Scholarship recipient(s) will receive registration and lodging accommodations for the 2024 Summer Conference.

Government Finance Officers Association Conference Coming UP

What’s Trending at #GFOA2024?

GFOA’s 118th Annual Conference is next month and we’re excited to offer quality sessions covering trending topics that finance professionals have been talking about all year. Topics like AI, cybersecurity, the Federal Data Transparency Act, new GASB Guidance, Rethinking Budgeting, workforce retention, and more.

Join thousands of attendees for 70 + sessions with speakers from across the country and around the world.

View sessions, keynote speakers, exhibitors, and more →

Links and resources