Hello! My name is Josh Rosenstein and I am a second year MPA student at the UNC School of Government. I’m excited to share my student experience with you, as well as to explore all the cool and amazing things that people are doing out in the real world with an MPA degree. In my first blog, I’m going to tell you a little about myself and how I got here.
I took a strange and interesting path into this degree program. I studied Cultural Anthropology and History at the University of Georgia. While in Athens, I was very involved in the music scene and volunteered as an organizer around higher education and immigration issues. After graduating, I moved to western North Carolina and worked for a nonprofit, resident school with an environmental focus. I was a dorm parent, outdoor leader, and taught music and history. During the summers, I ran teen leadership programs at summer camps in western North Carolina and the Bay Area of California. I then decided to focus on my creative ambitions in music and comedy while working as hotel front-desk agent and a door-to-door fundraiser for an environmental non-profit in Asheville. I also toured with some friends in Australia as a stand-up comedian and when I got back, eventually settled in Chapel Hill looking for something new.
I quickly found myself hosting a local open mic at a place called Zog’s on Henderson Street. I fell in love with running the show, creating a space for talented people to get a chance to hone their skills. The bar’s owner, Mandey Brown, is an artist and was serving on the Town’s Cultural Arts Commission (you may have seen her in local media recently for turning her business into an impromptu Hurricane Florence Supply Donation Center). The Commission was recruiting new members and she encouraged me to apply.
Josh Rosenstein aka Vice Chair of the @chapelhillgov Cultural Arts Commission aka @pholksinger stopped by the #redballproject to ham it up (and hold it up). @AcklandArt @RedBallProject #chapelhill pic.twitter.com/Yswp2LLZ18
— Chapel Hill Community Arts & Culture (@CHCommunityArts) September 25, 2018
Above are photos of me with a recent public art project at the Chapel Hill Public Library.
I joined the Commission in 2015, and got so much out of the work. I deeply enjoyed learning about the inner-workings of local government. While working on the Cultural Arts Master Plan, something clicked (what many MPA professors would refer to technically as an “a-ha moment”). I realized we were doing the same thing on the Commission as with open mic: helping create spaces for artists to engage with their communities. I starting talking to folks about careers in public art and realized I could do this for a living, not just as a hobby or a volunteer. I knew I wanted to work in a local or state government arts office or a non-profit. I knew I needed to know more about things like public and non-profit budgeting, human resources, program evaluation, and leadership and management skills.
With all that in my head, I went to an Open House for the MPA program and knew it was right for me. Everyone in my cohort has his or her own interesting journey taken to be here. Some of us want to run non-profits. Some want to be city managers or budget analysts. Others want to work for the federal government or in international policy. What binds all of us together is a desire to serve the public. Beyond that, we are in the program to gain technical skills and master the competencies required to serve the public well. We want to be folks who change organizations for the better and help fulfill the noble mission to make people’s lives better.
MPA Professor Leisha DeHart-Davis has been elected as a Fellow of the prestigious National Academy of Public Administration. Leisha is one of 41 new Fellows elected in 2018 for their exemplary contributions to the field of public administration. This is a wonderful and well-deserved honor for one of our best. Come to find out, she joins two other UNC School of Government faculty members Carl Stenberg and David Ammons and MPA alum Tom Lundy (former Catawba County Manager) as current NAPA Fellows. Now, what does this all mean?
Luckily, when this announcement came, it provided a little bit of background on what this organization and honor is all about. The National Academy of Public Administration is an independent, non-profit, and non-partisan organization established to assist government leaders in building more effective, efficient, accountable, and transparent organizations. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, but they work with all levels of government across the United States and world. 
One interesting feature of the Academy is that its members include practitioners and academics all focused on public administration. The Academy’s 850 Fellows include former cabinet officers, members of Congress, governors, mayors, senior federal and state government executives, city and county managers, prominent scholars, and nonprofit and foundation leaders. For example, its members include Sandra Day O’Connor and Colin Powell. In fact, Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director, joins Leisha as a Fellow in the class of 2018. The network of Fellows are at the top of their game and responsible for providing expert advice on current and emerging issues faced by government leaders.
It’s worth checking out this renowned group of leaders and consultants for public administration to find out what they have done in their careers. And UNC MPA’s program is proud to have representation from 4 (and counting!) of our faculty and alumni.
From time to time, we will be featuring alumni and students in our program. Mostly so you can hear about what people do with an MPA and what gets them ticking with regards to public service and public administration. Here is our first!
“Public service is a great way to extend the reach of those fighting for their communities, homes, and livelihood”
Stephanie came into the program passionate about public service and specifically affordable housing and housing insecurities. “Housing is more than a roof and four walls,” she said. “It involves your surroundings, the health of your environment, and what you have and don’t have access to. At home is where your identity takes root.”
Kim Nelson, Albert and Gladys Hall Coates Distinguished Term Associate Professor of Public Administration and Government
I sat in on a recent session with Professor Kim Nelson talking about what it takes to be a successful graduate student in our MPA program at UNC. I took some notes and decided to turn it into a blog post because I know there are many people out there wondering what graduate school and our MPA program is really like. Well, here they are coming straight from the MPA at UNC faculty.
This day has been coming for a while! It kept creeping up on us here at UNC, as we were finalizing new fall admissions for both our on-campus and online formats, and we were busy registering our returning students, taking our vacations, and working hard to prep for the academic year amid the quietness of the MPA hallway. Quick fact, our MPA program at UNC houses about 170 students who are currently enrolled! (more…)
As strange as it may seem, I didn’t REALLY know what a MPA degree was until I landed the role of Director of Admissions for the MPA program at UNC. I am pretty certain I could have told you it stood for ‘Master of Public Administration’, but I couldn’t really tell you what that meant. Sure, I knew it was government related, but I thought it was a degree for someone who wanted to run for public office eventually. Sometimes they do, but it is so much more than that. And sometimes, it’s not even government related. (more…)
MPA Matters seeks to explore and explain all the current happenings and pursuits of those interested in public administration and public service. Special focus will be put on highlighting careers in public administration and the current initiatives of the MPA at UNC program including our faculty, current students, and alumni.
A bvery mptrna; paragraph woth typos slots ;lots of them HYPERLINKS
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