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.

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.

Nearly 200 are enrolled in MPA@UNC, the online format of the Master of Public Administration program housed at the UNC School of Government. One of those students, Lorrie Fair Allen, is returning to UNC more than a decade after her undergraduate tenure at Carolina, which included three NCAA women’s soccer championships.

Allen, an olympic silver medalist and FIFA World Cup champion, works for the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project and volunteers as a sports envoy for the U.S. State Department.  She expects to complete her master of public administration degree in the summer of 2019.

“This MPA will prepare me for life,” Allen said. “It’s preparing me for how to attack the advocacy side, the policy side. I know it’s going to help me be better at my job.”

The online format of the MPA program gives Allen flexibility to complete her degree while juggling a full-time job and a family. Allen had an opportunity to interact with students from both the online and on-campus formats at a special weekend of instruction in November 2017.

Learn more about Allen’s story at UNC’s YouTube channel.
To learn more about MPA@UNC, visit onlinempa.unc.edu.

On Thursday, March 8, the UNC School of Government will host a discussion on “Administrative Courts in the Polish Legal System” with Agata Hauser, PhD, a lecturer at the Constitutional Law Department of the Adam Mickiewicz University. Hauser’s research focuses on judicial protection of individuals by the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) and the European Court of Human Rights as well as interactions between the EU and the Council of Europe and application of the EU law by national courts of member states.

“This is a special opportunity to hear directly from a teacher and scholar in a country that has undergone and continues to see dramatic constitutional and institutional change,” said School of Government faculty member Charles Szypszak. “Hauser is among the brightest in Poland who daily consider fundamental issues that we often take for granted here in the United States.”

Hauser is visiting the University of North Carolina and participating in a series of events with support from UNC’s Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies. She will be speaking on Judiciary Reforms in Poland as a Threat to the Principle of the Rule of Law, 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 6 at the FedEx Global Education Center.

We all know that our MPA alumni believe in public service, so much in fact they are willing to spend their Saturday improving the homes and lives of low-income homeowners. Before the MPA Alumni Picnic, a group of 24 MPA alumni and students spent the day working with Rebuilding Together of the Triangle. Rebuilding Together is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods by providing home repair and renovation services free of charge to those in need.

The original idea for the Day of Service originated last year with Justin Amos (UNC MPA 2006) when he was seeking a way to celebrate his cohort’s 10th anniversary. Justin said his cohort wanted to “find a group event that would symbolize the reason we came to Chapel Hill for graduate school to begin with: to serve the public.”

After the success of the first Day of Service in 2016, Justin was determined to open this event up to all UNC MPA alumni. Justin partnered with Executive Director of Rebuilding Together of the Triangle and fellow MPA alumni, Dan Sargent (2010), to make this event a reality for students and alumni. Current student, Andrew Cutler enjoyed the opportunity to meet alumni and work beside them. Andrew said, “The recipients were super appreciative, and I think the work we did made some kind of valuable contribution to improving their circumstances.”

Justin believes the Day of Service “perfectly encapsulates the reasons many of us chose to get a Carolina MPA: to serve others, to meet new people, reconnect with friends, and to make a difference in their community.” Dan encouraged alumni that live and work in the triangle to “engage their workplaces, faith communities, and civic organizations to help serve homeowners in their neighborhoods to ensure low-income families in the Triangle have safe, healthy places to live.” Dan hopes that the Day of Service becomes an annual tradition that continues for many years.

By Sarah Dickson and Jim Hemphill

On Saturday, August 12, 2017, the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) honored the UNC School of Government with their Distinguished Service Award. Established in 1970, the award celebrates an individual or an entity that “has rendered a truly outstanding and distinctive service to the cause of improving local government above and beyond his usual duties or occupation.”

Dean Mike Smith accepted the award during the President’s Banquet at the conclusion of NCACC’s 110th Annual Conference, held at the Durham Convention Center.  “This award is intended to honor faculty and professional staff at the School for all of their work for counties over the years.  They deserve it, and so do many of our former colleagues.  I’m humbled to accept the award on their behalf and heartened by the strong partnership we have both with the Association and officials at all 100 counties,” said Smith.

Other award recipients included county commissioners, former NCACC board leadership, and Director of NC Emergency Management Michael Sprayberry. Durham County Commissioner Brenda Howerton—a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Corps, which is one of the School’s premiere leadership programs—was sworn in as president of the Association.

Founded in 1908, the NCACC serves as the counties’ advocate before the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government. The School partners with the NCACC and the NC League of Municipalities to offer leadership training for elected officials through the Local Elected Leaders Academy.

For more information, view the NCACC’s news release or Dean Mike Smith’s blog post.

Photo courtesy Chris Baucom/NCACC.

Today, the School of Government and University celebrate Veterans Day by honoring all those who have served in our nation’s armed forces.

The School is proud to recognize our faculty and students in the Master of Public Administration program who are veterans of the U.S. military. The School would also like to take this opportunity to thank those among us who are currently serving as active duty members of the U.S. military.

To the following, thank you for your service:

[row]
[column lg=”6″ md=”6″ sm=”11″ xs=”11″]
Michael Barclift

Hunter Brendel

Steven Bromir

Adam Caldwell

Richard Cloninger

Samuel Croom

Drepannon “Lex” Davis

Aigboje Enahoro

Larry Figgs

Ian Frady

Brandon Garay
[/column]
[column lg=”6″ md=”6″ sm=”11″ xs=”11″]

Miranda Leyshon

Gregoire Metellus

Tyler Mulligan

Nicholas Prieto

Carter Stapleton

Justin Stapleton

Charles Szypszak

Matthew Taylor

Matthew Van Epps

Charmetri Wrice-Bulluck
[/column]
[/row]