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.

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.

Allison Hawkins is a first-year MPA student with a passion for public service. Her father, Transylvania County Commissioner Mike Hawkins, says his commitment to service began with the birth of his daughter. They’ve learned a lot from each other.

Once again, the Carolina MPA program has ranked among the top 25 programs in the country according to US News and World Report’s 2017 Best Graduate School Rankings. The program’s ranking in the public affairs category improved in some of its areas of expertise including city management (5th), public management administration (16th), and public finance and budgeting (17th). The program is also ranked 15th in the area of environmental policy and management.

Save the date for the Carolina MPA 50th Anniversary Alumni Celebration on March 31, 2017 in Chapel Hill. We’ll have a great half-day that will include an educational event, the Deil S. Wright Lecture, networking time with students, and a celebratory anniversary dinner! Details are being finalized now.

“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.