Norma M. Riccucci, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration, virtually delivered the 2021 Deil S. Wright Lecture at the UNC School of Government on Thursday, April 8, speaking on the topic of “Preparing People of Color for 21st Century Jobs: Unfulfilled Promises and Lost Opportunities.”

In her presentation, Riccucci provided numerous statistics regarding the growth of jobs in the traditional workforce, including in the sectors of computer science and information technology due to the continued shift from manufacturing-based jobs to service and technology-based jobs.

While she noted there is a significant increase across different races and ethnicities, there are still large systemic and institutional discrepancies preventing Black workers from benefiting from this increase. Production, transportation, and material moving occupations remain most populated by African Americans, which Riccucci attributed to the lack of resources for public education in low-income communities and inadequate job training among this demographic.

“The pervasive institutional and structural biases in the workforce must be addressed if people of color are to achieve social, political, and economic equality,” she said.

Riccucci expressed that in order to sustain this shift from industrial jobs to service and technology jobs for workers of color, the federal government should invest more into training and public education. This effort must be a federal initiative, she stated, as there are large inequities in public education spending among states. Riccucci proffered that systemic failures to train and educate people of color has directly contributed to employment prospects for communities of color.

Riccucci is the author of numerous publications and books, including most recently, Policy Drift: Shared Powers and the Making of U.S. Law and Policy (New York University Press, 2018). Riccucci’s research interests lie in the broad area of public management, with specific interests in social equity policies and representative bureaucracy.

In 2002, the MPA Alumni Association honored Professor Deil Wright for his 34 years of teaching MPA students by creating the Deil S. Wright Lecture in Public Administration. Each year, a distinguished professional from the field of public administration enriches the educational experience of students, alumni, faculty, and interested members of the community.

To watch the stream of Riccucci’s 2021 lecture, please click here.

Big congratulations are in order to current online format student Tiffany Oliva and her team for winning 1st place in the North America NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Challenge competition held last month. Her team will compete in the global competition tomorrow, Friday, April 16th. You can watch her team compete in the final round of this year’s competition, which will be live-streamed here.

Oliva, along with current MPA online format students Jeana Taylor, Meredith Marlier, Jane Kaufmann, and on-campus format student Chase Loudermelt were selected to represent the UNC MPA program at the 2021 Student Simulation, a day-long event that allows graduate students in public policy and related fields across the world to test their skills on real-world data.

Each year, the Center for Leadership Simulation and Gaming develops an original participatory simulation on a topic of relevance. This year’s topic was, not surprisingly, pandemic oriented. Past topics have included Global Migration and Sustainable Cities. The simulations employ a realistic situation, and participating students are randomly place in teams of five. Each team, under limited time, is provided information on the problem. They are then tasked with creating a policy memo and giving a presentation, which is judged and scored by subject area experts.

Professional development opportunities like this allow for skill building in areas of negotiation, decision making, and teamwork. “We encourage students to participate in professional development opportunities such as the NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Challenge because it helps students apply theory to practice and gain important skills to support career growth,” said Allison Binkley, Associate Director for Career Services and Professional Development for the MPA program.

We appreciate all of our UNC MPA students, and we would like to especially recognize our four online students and one on-campus student who participated in this opportunity even though the competition was held virtually.

Oliva was placed with students from VCU, the University of Missouri, and NYU.

“The NASPAA-Batten competition was an opportunity for me to apply some of the skills I have learned in UNC’s MPA program to make quick, team decisions about economic, health, and equity policy to contain a pandemic outbreak,” she said. “It was a fun learning experience, and I am excited to have moved on to compete in the global round of the competition with our team of students from NYU, VCU, and the University of Missouri.”

Tune in Friday, April 16, 2021 to watch the top four teams compete in the final round of this year’s NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition on Pandemic 2.0. This event will be live-streamed here via YouTube.

The UNC Master of Public Administration program has once again been named one of “America’s Best Graduate Schools” by U.S. News & World Report.

The program is among the top 20 public affairs programs in the nation, maintaining its 19^th ranking overall in 2022 and remaining the top-ranked public MPA graduate program in North Carolina. In addition, the program retained its prestigious second-ranked position in the nation for its local government specialty area and improved two spots to 13^th-best in the public management and leadership field.

“We are delighted that UNC MPA continues to be ranked as one of the best programs in the nation by our peers, including our stellar reputation in local government management,” said Program Director Bill Rivenbark. “Our rankings play a major role in helping us recruit the very best students to our program, which is fundamental to accomplishing our mission of preparing public service leaders.”

The 2022 list marks the third consecutive improvement or maintenance of a highly-ranked specialty area offered by UNC MPA.

This year’s rankings included updated rankings for graduate programs in public affairs; public health schools and programs; business; engineering; and library and information studies, as well as doctoral program rankings in economics, English, history, sociology, political science, and criminology and criminal justice. In addition, the Report released its first-ever standalone ranking on student diversity for medical and law schools.

Find all of the U.S. News & World Report rankings online and learn more about other graduate programs at UNC-Chapel Hill and their rankings.

The UNC School of Government’s Master of Public Administration program is ranked among “America’s Best Graduate Schools” by U.S. News & World Report. The program improved two positions since the 2020 rankings, ranking 19th overall in the public affairs category and maintaining its ranking as second in the nation in the local government specialty area.

The program also retained its status as 15th best in the public management field. The 2021 list marks the third consecutive improvement for the program’s overall ranking in the public affairs category.

In addition to ranking master’s degree programs in public affairs, this year U.S. News & World Report ranked master’s degree programs in social work, public health, health care management, physician assistant and rehabilitation counseling, and doctorate degrees in veterinary medicine.

Find all of the U.S. News & World Report rankings online and learn more about other graduate programs at UNC-Chapel Hill and their rankings.

On Tuesday, March 23, the UNC MPA program hosted “Celebrating Black Public Service Leadership,” a special topics webinar featuring panelists Jonathan Morgan, Albert and Gladys Coates Distinguished Term Professor of Public Administration and Government; Monica Allen, Director of Strategic Planning and Evaluation for Mecklenburg County and MPA adjunct faculty member; Adrienne Woods, Executive Director of Safe Passages, Inc. and current UNC MPA student; and Darren Allison, Program Analyst for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and UNC MPA class of 2017 alumnus.

The conversation included topics ranging from panelists’ motivations for choosing a public service career, the figures that inspire them in their daily work, and their thoughts on the challenging but crucial task of improving equity and inclusion in the public sector.

“During the early years of my career, I often found myself being the youngest – and in many cases, the only – person of color sitting around the table in certain meetings and settings,” Morgan said. “I think that just by showing up, we as people of color contribute to equity and diversity.”

Allen highlighted the importance of embedding equity in organizational processes, pointing to the creation of an equity and inclusion office in Mecklenburg County in response to the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in 2016. “As Director of Strategic Planning and Evaluation, my contribution is the means to the end in terms of determining the strategies that we need to put in place, and the data and metrics we need to help us track success,” Allen said.

Woods mentioned the importance of applying an equity lens to hiring processes, underscoring the importance of being intentional about bringing on team members who will contribute to an environment of inclusion. She cautioned attendees not to look only at what’s on paper when making hiring decisions, “but to hear what a candidate is saying and what they’re not saying.”

While Allison used to believe the creed of “treat others the way you want to be treated” was enough in terms of a guiding value for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, he told attendees that a recent unconscious bias course he took helped him realize he may have been missing the mark. “I think that taking a targeted, more active approach to DEI, and seeking out training opportunities to gain concrete skills, has allowed me to learn and be more self-reflective,” he said. “I think that has helped me become a better co-worker, leader, and public servant, and ultimately produce better work.”

The event was one of many recent efforts undertaken to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the UNC MPA program. Other efforts have included a special reading assignment and discussion on DEI in public service during the class of 2022’s summer orientation, a fall 2020 five-workshop DEI training series for faculty, and a spring 2021 faculty and staff DEI training session. The School of Government is currently in the process of hiring a faculty member specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the public sector, who will further enrich SOG and MPA course offerings.

“There is so much I think attendees gained through listening to our panelists – that a public service career is a great way for a person to contribute to making places better,” Cara Robinson, Director of Admissions in the UNC MPA program, and panel facilitator, said. “I hope they were able to see the program’s commitment to improving efforts in the DEI space, to recognize and celebrate our long lineage of diverse public service leaders who are out there doing great things, and most importantly, I hope they found meaning and motivation in the panelists’ words for themselves and their work.”

On February 3, 2020, the City of Durham’s Budget and Management Services division held interviews for their annual summer internship position at the UNC School of Government. Molly Gaskin ’21 was offered the position and excitedly accepted, looking forward to achieving her professional work experience (PWE) requirement and learning the inner workings of the City’s government through budget sessions, shadowing police officers, and going on solid waste ride-alongs. Then COVID-19 happened.

“Several parts of our job description and onboarding process instantly went out the window,” said Pat Madej ’16, Gaskin’s supervisor and senior budget and management analyst for the City of Durham. “The task of getting the actual work done felt easy, but clearing these hurdles to organically meet with other staff meant we needed to get creative as we brought Molly into the department and organization’s culture.” In order to ensure Gaskin was still able to integrate into the organization, Madej created an “open-door policy” on Zoom and led daily full-team check-ins.

Additionally, Gaskin had the opportunity to lead an original qualitative research project examining whether departments considered equity implications when making budget requests. Before beginning, Gaskin had never conducted her own qualitative research.

“It was really great to be able to practice some of the techniques that we learned in our research course in an actual project that I got to see through from start to finish,” Gaskin said.

“Molly’s thorough research and fresh perspective provided us with really useful data that we will use to build on our process in the future,” Madej said. “My goal with hosting the PWE has always been to create a win for everyone, and I think we achieved that again.”

While Durham has hosted UNC MPA interns for many years, the Town of Holly Springs took the leap for the first time in 2020, hosting Clay Fleming ’21. Like Madej, Corey Petersohn ‘16 had a vision for Fleming’s PWE experience that would require re-working after the pandemic began. However, by the time Fleming started the position in May, the state had moved into phase two, so he joined Petersohn and the rest of the team in person with safety precautions.

Fleming’s experience was shaped not only by the pandemic, but also by the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement after the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. As protests spread around the country, Holly Springs residents began a movement of their own to demand that funds be allocated to purchase body cameras for the police department.

“I got to sit in on conversations with council members, the town manager, police, and IT, and everyone had varying perspectives,” Fleming said. “One of the biggest skills I took away is the ability to step back and look at an issue with a bird’s eye view to investigate what’s at the heart of what’s going on and understand people’s motivation.”

Despite the curveballs thrown by the pandemic, Petersohn, like Madej, feels the PWE experience was extremely valuable.

“This was the first time Holly Springs hosted a PWE, and it was a great learning experience for both Clay and us,” Petersohn said. “In the long term, by hosting an MPA intern, we are building the next generation of public service leaders. By offering these developmental opportunities to students, we are contributing to the diversity of their experiences and skill sets, from which we all can benefit.”

Interested in hosting a summer intern or learning about best practices for remote internships? Contact Kristin Pawlowski at pawlowski@sog.unc.edu or visit tinyurl.com/HireCarolinaMPA.

UNC Master of Public Administration student Syrena Travis recently received The Hunt Institute’s John M. Belk Impact Fellowship. This honor is awarded to 14 outstanding students in North Carolina who are interested in educational equity and service in the state. Impact Fellows are placed in a 10-month internship, where they work with organizations toward increasing college access, completion, and workforce relevance in North Carolina.

Travis is a generalist in the MPA program and is interested in education policy in urban local government. At an early age, she learned how policymakers control the access, content, and quality of educational resources.

“Growing up, I learned how education is the key to escaping poverty and accessing social mobility,” said Travis. “However, obtaining a quality education is difficult for low-income students and minorities.”

Travis applied to the MPA program to develop the skills necessary for reaching her professional goals. With the leadership and analytical skills learned through the program, she hopes to ultimately remove the barriers that prevent students from receiving access to an equal and fair education.

After graduating from the program, Travis plans to work at the Office of Academic Policy and Systems in New York City’s Department of Education. Growing up in a rural area, she experienced different barriers to quality education. After moving to Brooklyn in the third grade, she said she found it increasingly difficult to catch up with the students in her class.

“I had to work twice as hard as my classmates to learn what I missed and to keep up with the material,” she recalled.

In her professional career, she said she hopes to close this gap in learning outcomes and work to provide a free and quality education to all students–regardless of their background.

As an Impact Fellow, Travis works with different education leaders across the state. She currently works with MyFutureNC to research effective methods of education attainment. Although the virtual nature of this semester has made her studies difficult, she thanks the professors, faculty, and staff of the program for being supportive and listening to students’ individual needs during this unusual time. The School and MPA program return this gratitude to Travis and happily celebrate her dedication and work.

“We decided we wanted to do something significant in our lives in gratitude for what the University has meant to us and our children,” said Richard Vinroot of the $1 million pledge he and his wife, Judy Vinroot, made in 2009 to the School of Government.

Forty-five years of close personal, professional, and public friendship provided a focus for that decision: the funds would be endowed in honor of Richard and Judy’s long-time friend, Robert W. Bradshaw Jr.

The Gift
The Vinroots’ pledge of $334,000 established the Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Public Administration Fellowship, which fully funds tuition and expenses to attract the highest quality students to the School’s Master of Public Administration program.

They also pledged $666,000 to fund the Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Distinguished Professorship. This endowment will support a School of Government faculty member who teaches, advises, and publishes in local and state government fields such as taxation, courts and criminal justice, health and human services, school law, and public employment. This year, this fund reached the amount needed to begin the next phase of planning for its use.

Why Give?
The choice to make a financial gift to an institution can be highly personal, based on investment logic or family tradition, connection to an issue, gratitude for education or service, or any broad combination of these considerations. Institutions such as the School of Government rely on gifts of every size and frequency in order to fulfill their missions.

The Vinroots’ gift decision was layered. They wanted to do something for UNC-Chapel Hill, where they met as undergraduates. Richard attended college on a Morehead Scholarship, served as class president in his junior and senior years, and played basketball for Coach Dean Smith. He graduated in 1963 with a degree in business administration and earned a law degree in 1966. Judy graduated with a degree in education in 1965. She was a class officer and cheerleader. Their three children subsequently attended the University.

The Vinroots also wanted to honor their friend, and Richard’s partner and mentor, Bob Bradshaw. When Richard graduated from UNC School of Law, he became “the first UNC guy” to join Bradshaw’s seven-person, Duke-populated law firm in Charlotte (the firm now has more than 100 attorneys). Bradshaw mentored Richard in his law practice, when he entered public life as a member of the Charlotte City Council, and when he served as mayor of Charlotte. Bradshaw also chaired Richard’s campaign for governor of North Carolina in 1996.

“Bob Bradshaw spent many years encouraging good people to enter public service and then mentoring them once they did so,” said Richard. “Judy and I can think of no better way to honor Bob than at the School of Government, where public service is the essence of the mission. It pays homage to Bob’s involvement in government and how strongly he felt about good government.”

As with most UNC-Duke affiliations, this one is not without a certain bittersweet twist. “Bob Bradshaw was a committed Dukie, and there have been generations of Bradshaws ‘over there,’” said Richard. “When we made this pledge, I loved telling him I had associated him with UNC forever.”

Bradshaw passed away in January 2012, but his legacy will be perpetuated through School of Government faculty who teach and advise government officials every day and the graduate students who become public service leaders in North Carolina and throughout the country. “The Vinroots are known for their support of good government and an ever-stronger North Carolina,” said School of Government Dean Mike Smith. “This gift is clear evidence of their dedication.”

UNC President Margaret Spellings will deliver the 2017 Deil S. Wright Lecture on March 31 at the School of Government. The event is free and open to the public. Nationally known as an education thought leader and public policy expert, Spellings most recently served as president of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. Spellings previously served as president and CEO of Margaret Spellings & Company, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, US secretary of education, and chief domestic policy advisor for President George W. Bush. Spellings is a graduate of the University of Houston, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. She also received an honorary doctorate and Distinguished Alumna Award from the university in 2006.

The Deil S. Wright Lecture Series is hosted by the Master of Public Administration program at UNC-Chapel Hill and sponsored by Fidelity Investments and the MPA Alumni Association.

MPA student Jon Cheek and his classmates are learning to bridge the military/civilian leadership divide, thanks to a new course taught by faculty member Charles Szypszak.