Welcome & Welcome Back!

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! 

With fall comes the end of summer (sigh) and the beginning of a new school year (re-energized and ready to take on our responsibilities).  We have 44 new students starting this fall: 23 on campus students and 21 online students.  I love hearing about where these new students come from and what they’re interested in.  It helps provide perspective on how this degree attracts people from all kinds of academic majors with all types of future career goals.  And don’t worry, there are plenty who aren’t quite sure what they want to do yet…it’s a generalist advanced leadership degree that can be applicable in any environment!

Our on-campus students joined us last Friday for their orientation.  It was a jam packed day welcoming them to UNC starting at 8:30am and ending with a happy hour at 7:30pm!  We ate every meal that day together, and it was so much fun getting to know them and watching them get to know each other.  Here’s some snippets of the day, and a few of the things that stood out to me about our new cohort:

• Academic majors represented include History, Spanish, Peace, War & Defense, Social Work, Public Health, and International Studies
• States represented include Georgia, Mississippi, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia, and, of course, North Carolina!
• Interests are varied and diverse and always include some unique ones like Hospitality Management and Food Access/Nutrition, Mental Health, Military Leadership, and Ecology and Environmental Climate Change.
• 1 student holds a J.D. and wishes to transition from private practice to government work
• 1 student attended orientation upon return from her honeymoon (she literally came straight from the airport to orientation)
• They are all eager and happy and ready to begin their MPA journey as a Tar Heel!

Don’t worry, we’ll hear more from these students and more later!