Carolina MPA Student Digest 10/1/21:
Carolina MPA Calendar
  • October 3-6: ICMA Conference in Portland, Oregon
  • October 4, 5:30-7:30 PDT: MPA ICMA Portland Happy Hour Hub (details below)
  • October 10: Drop deadline for August term students
  • October 12: University Day Events
  • October 17: Fall Portfolio due date, 11:55 pm
  • October 21-22: UNC Fall break; On-campus sections cancelled; online sections meet
  • October 22: Registration opens for January/Spring 2022 terms
  • November 14: drop deadline for September term students
  • November 18: drop deadline for on-campus students
  • December 10-12: Fall Graduation Events
  • March 3-5, 2022: TENTATIVE date for the MPA Immersion

NOTE: Check out other dates on the MPA Intranet!

Bell tower photo courtesy of Elizabeth Langefeld.
MPA News
 
Monday, October 4, 2021
5:30-7:30 PM PDT
 
710 SE 6th Ave
Portland, OR 97232
 




 
Carolina MPA will be in Portland for the return of an in-person ICMA conference! For those attending the conference or in the area, come join us for a Carolina MPA in-person happy hour! 
 
Less than a mile from the conference center, we will connect around outdoor tables, and if it rains, we've got space inside. Like the conference, masks and vaccines are required. Catch-up with fellow alumni, faculty, and staff and meet current students.
 
Enjoy some snacks and drinks and great conversation - our treat! Let us know you're coming, register today!
Welcome Dr. Kimalee Dickerson!
This month, we welcome Dr. Kimalee Dickerson to the School of Government. She is joining the faculty as a member of the Management, Administration, and Leadership Division where she will work with public officials and MPA students on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She earned a J.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill and a Ph.D in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia.
New Members for MPA Student Leadership Councils
Congratulations to the following students for selection on the MPA Student Leadership Councils!

For the On-Campus SLC:
  • Danielle Badaki is a first-year student from Dacula, GA, who will serve as the Alumni Council representative for the Class of 2023
  • Ben Lasley is a first-year student from Stokesdale, NC, elected to The UNC Graduate and Professional Student Government to serve as a senator representing the MPA Program.
  • Jamie Andrews is a first-year student from Allegan, MI, elected to the UNC Graduate and Professional Student Government to serve as a senator representing the MPA Program.
For the Online SLC:
  • Ilene Do is a third-term online student residing in Santa Ana, CA, and chosen to serve as an at-large SLC member. Ilene and all members of the online SLC can be reached at mpaatunc_slc@sog.unc.edu.
ELGL and the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) created the PAFR Fellowship Program to connect graduate students with local governments looking to create a Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) for submission to the GFOA award program. Congratulations to MPA on-campus second-year student Daisy Calixtro for being named a 2020-2021 Fellow!
MPA Students are the New Faces at ncImpact Initative
ncIMPACT Initiative welcomes two new members to the team, Charlie Chapman and Patrick Bradey!
Charlie is a first year on-campus MPA student from Mocksville, North Carolina, interested in local government and city/county management. He graduated in May from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Public Policy and History. Charlie aspires to be a manager in North Carolina and is looking forward to working with the ncIMPACT team to provide policy solutions that benefit the state and its people.
Patrick is a first year on-campus MPA student from Charlotte, North Carolina, with a strong interest in municipal government and local elections. Patrick earned his BA in Political Science and Hispanic Linguistics from UNC-Chapel Hill and brings experience from city halls and the state legislature to the team.

The ncIMPACT Initiative (ncIMPACT) is a statewide initiative launched by the UNC School of Government in 2017 to help local communities use data and evidence to improve conditions and inform decision making. Over the next 10 years, ncIMPACT will touch tens of thousands of lives across North Carolina, some in every one of the state’s 100 counties. Our fingerprint will be found in the expanded capacities, and program and policy innovations, of civic leaders who will use new strategies and tools to better meet their community needs.
Dr. Maureen Berner Looking for Student Participation in Study
College Student Food Access and COVID-19
Has the coronavirus pandemic impacted your ability to access food? If so, you are invited to participate in a research study.

You are invited to take part in a research study about your access to food and how it has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. This study is being conducted by Dr. Jessica Soldavini, Dr. Maureen Berner, and Dr. Hazael Andrew, and about college student food access and the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you are 18 years or older, an enrolled student at UNC-CH, and COVID-19 has impacted your food access, you are eligible to participate. Please use the Qualtrics link to schedule an interview time: https://bit.ly/3qcLmHg. Before the interview, we will ask you to fill out a short survey with some background information that should take about 5 minutes. Then we will ask you some questions over Zoom about how COVID-19 has impacted your ability to access food. This interview should take about thirty to sixty minutes, depending on how much information you would like to share. You will be entered to win a $25 gift card.
This research study has been reviewed by the UNC Wilmington's Institutional Review Board #21-0014.
For Information, please contact: Jessica Soldavini, PhD, MPH, RD, LDN; Jessica6@live.unc.edu
University & Beyond Events
  • September 15- October 15: Latinx Heritage Month
  • October 6: Social Media and Democracy - Helping or Hurting?
  • Starting October 14: Gillings on the Ground: Disaster Response Training Programs
  • October 14, 21, 22: Professional Communication Skills Boot Camps for Graduate Students
  • October 16: Sometimes I Sing Virtual Screening
  • Due October 25: 2022 Impact Award Nominations
Pa’lante is a Spanish slang term that combines the words, “para adelante”, meaning moving forward. This year our theme focuses on how our community learns to move forward from pandemics, from missed opportunities, and from hardships; and uses those roadblocks as lessons for a brighter future.
 
All of our events have been added to our CLC calendar for easy access!

History of Latinx Heritage Month
From September 15 to October 15 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill celebrates Latinx Heritage Month. This event recognizes the contributions made by Latinx Americans to the United States and celebrates their heritage and cultures. Latinx people have had a profound and positive influence on our country through their strong commitment to family, hard work, service, and religious values. Latinxs have enhanced and shaped our national character with their traditions that reflect the multiethnic and multinational customs.
In 2010, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill began hosting events throughout the month to celebrate the Latinx community. The month-long celebration includes annual events, such as a kick-off celebration, a distinguished keynote speaker, and Carnaval, a student-led show showcase. Other events vary per year and may include guest lectures, dance lessons, and discussions about current political issues.
On October 6th at 5:30 pm, the UNC Program for Public Discourse's Abbey Speaker Series returns with an online event: Social Media and Democracy – Helping or Hurting?. Join us as we bring together leaders from the tech sector and academia to discuss whether social media can promote – or at least co-exist with – democracy. The event features the following contributors:
Moderator: 
  • Yascha Mounk, contributing editor at The Atlantic and associate professor of practice at Johns Hopkins University 
 
Panelists: 
  • Rumman Chowdhury, director of the Machine-learning ethics, transparency, and accountability (META) team at Twitter 
  • Siva Vaidhyanathan, director of the Deliberative Media Lab at the University of Virginia 
 
This discussion will be livestreamed via Zoom, and registration* is available here.
 
*Registration for this and all other Abbey Speaker Series events is free and open to the public.
Gillings on the Ground combines cohort-based learning with interdisciplinary training to develop a team of students primed with the skills – and the structure and coordination within the Gillings School – to work with communities in disaster preparedness and relief.
The program features a 5-week training program or “mini-course” that cultivates skills focused on various aspects of disaster relief and community engagement. Following the completion of the training program, trainees will be awarded a certificate of completion and connected with community partners to complete disaster-related service opportunities as a cohort, both locally and in areas hit by disaster. Trainees will also gain access to an exclusive listserv of curated disaster-related service opportunities submitted by our community partners.
We welcome any UNC students, faculty, staff and alumni to join us this fall! Interested? Fill out this form. All sessions will be via Zoom.
 
As we continue to navigate both old and new challenges, members can depend on ASPA to provide needed resources for building careers, keeping up with the latest issues in the field and continuously focusing on professional development. Student members, especially, benefit from services and resources focused on their unique needs. Here are just a few examples of what you can expect from an ASPA membership:
·        Local Chapters with which they can engage to meet others in the field
·        A Student and New Professionals Section to help them connect with others who are new to public administration
·        An archive of premium webinar and e-learning programs to help jumpstart students’ careers and give them new ideas—like creative research options, mentoring options, job-search assistance and more
·        Presentation opportunities at the Annual Conference next spring—and the Student and New Professionals Summit to help them focus on the next steps in their career
·        Access to Public Administration Review—the premier professional public administration journal in the field—and PA TIMES magazine, the premier resource for practitioner-based learning
·        An e-news digest of public administration news to help inform the rest of their scholarship
 
ASPA membership for students also will foster community building within our program, as students collaborate to make the most of our ASPA and integrate them into their ongoing learning experience.
 
Students can apply for membership online at www.aspanet.org/join. You also can access a PDF of our membership application, which you can distribute to your students, here (https://www.aspanet.org/ASPADocs/membership/ASPAMembershipApplication.pdf). ASPA Offers group memberships (made up of 10+ new/renewing members) that enables students to join as a cohort and get a membership discount, if you would like to organize a group! 
Professional Communication Skills Boot Camp for Graduate Students (Oct 14, 21, 22)
The Communications Boot Camp is a three-part series intended to increase students’ confidence communicating to broader audiences and practice developing persuasive skills that will create effective messaging and relay the importance of one’s research. 
 
Full details are listed on the Registration page. This event will be held in person and online.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Combining the distance of history with emotional immediacy, Sometimes I Sing indicts the systems that still keep battered women in abusive environments, even today. Chapel Hill’s master storyteller Dr. Milbre Burch presents her one-act monodrama and leads a panel discussion. The panel includes Jenny Lopez, immigrant outreach program director in rural western NC, UNC Law Professor Patricia Bryan, Chapel Hill Police Crisis Unit officer Megan Johnson, and Compass Center volunteer and survivor, “Nancy.” The event is FREE, open to the public, and is co-sponsored by AAUW-Orange-Durham-Chatham branch, AAUW-NC and the Orange County Arts Commission. REGISTER NOW for this Zoom program. Date: Sat., Oct. 16, 10:30 – Noon. (Please log into Zoom by 10:15.)

The Graduate School is currently accepting nominations for the 2022 Impact Awards, recognizing graduate students whose research contributes to the well-being of North Carolina communities and citizens. Impact Awards are sponsored by the Graduate Education Advancement Board and recognize research that is of high quality with significant and direct impact on specific North Carolina citizens, communities, problems, and issues. The Impact Award includes a $500 cash prize, a certificate, and recognition at the Annual Graduate Student Recognition Celebration.
 
Each graduate program may nominate two graduate students. We encourage students in all academic areas to apply; a diversity of research is imperative in demonstrating the importance of Carolina graduate student research to North Carolina.

Nominations are due October 25, 2021. Students interested in being nominated should consult with their program leadership regarding any internal deadlines.
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