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When friends ask me why I got into urban planning, my response normally includes a love for cities, a desire to tackle...

This post was written by current student Wes Merritt. I’m Wes Merritt-an MPA candidate at the UNC Chapel Hill...

This post was written by current student Rachel Werz....

This post was written by current student Delaney King....

This post was written by current student Elisabeth...

This post was written by current student Jennifer Taylor-Monteagudo. As a City of Richmond Mayor’s Fellow, I have...

This post was written by current UNC MPA student Jennifer Taylor-Monteagudo...

This post was written by current student Ben Lasley. Hi Everyone! This week marks my 7th week at EPA, and the...

This post was written by current student Delaney King....

Current UNC MPA student Elisabeth Butler writes about her summer work experience with Race for Equity. You can read...

This post was written by current MPA student Delaney King....

This post was written by UNC MPA current student Elisabeth...

This post was written by current student Ben...

This post was written by current student Stephen Thompson. Through this blog I’ve gotten to delve into the Raleigh...

This post was written by current student, Stephen Thompson....

This blog post was written by current MPA student Stephen Thompson....

This post was written by current #uncmpa student Stephen Thompson....

This post was written by current MPA student, Stephen Thompson....

This post was written by current MPA student Stephen Thompson....

This post was written by current student Stephen...

This post was written by current MPA student Stephen Thompson If you’re like me, you have only a cursory...

This post was written by current MPA student Stephen Thompson Keeping up with the local news is something that’s...

This post was written by current MPA student Stephen Thompson. In my last post I started to explore one of the...

This post was written by current MPA Student Stephen Thomson....

This post was written by Stephen Thompson, MPA Current Student In 1986, Lyman Collins was finishing his Master of...

September 15th is the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, a 30-day period which runs from September to October. If you’re...

Q:  What has been the most surprising thing about being back in school?  A: The most surprising thing back at school...

Stephen Thompson, a current UNC MPA student will be offering his take as he navigates the public service field and...

This year, in 2021, I was so thankful to have taken the leap to apply and be selected as one of two scholarship...

Current MPA student Wayne Banks Jr. is from High Point, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at...

Current MPA student Francesco Tassi writes about his Professional Work Experience this summer.  Francesco is a current...

Current oncampus student Carly Lappas writes about her PWE this summer with Rural Forward NC, a nonprofit ogranization...

Current oncampus student MaryBeth Spoehr writes about her PWE this summer with the Town of Holly's Budget and Finance...

If you have ever looked into obtaining your MPA at UNC, you may have come across the acronym 'PWE' while browsing our...

This post was written by current UNC MPA student Corinne Burda about her professional work experience with Cybercrime...

Hi Everyone! It is an exciting time in the UNC MPA program! This is the final week of classes, which means the...

Written by Current MPA Student: John WilliamsonIn 2018, I entered the UNC MPA program. To be honest, I had no idea...

Hello again everyone! We are one month away from the end of the semester, which is always a busy and stressful time...

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all doing well! This time last year was a weird time for my cohort and many other...

Occasionally, we like to feature current MPA students who are in the midst of completing the Professional Work...

Hi Everyone,Is it just me or has February felt like the longest month of the year so far? Anyway, in this blog post, I...

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to my first blog post after an extended—and much needed—winter break. I used this...

A couple of weeks ago, we had 22 bright and eager students begin our online MPA program, and we couldn't be more...

The spring semester for MPA students is always an exciting time. The first-year students are exploring different...

Now that the semester is coming to an end and the residential MPA students have visions of finals dancing in their...

    Over the weekend, online and residential UNC MPA students came together virtually to spend two days...

This weekend, I had the pleasure of traveling to our nation’s capital city for a few days. While in Washington D.C., I...

Hi again, With the beginning of a new academic year comes new experiences and people. This is particularly true for...

Hi everyone! My name is Clay Fleming and I am a second-year student in the residential MPA program here at the UNC...

On Day 1, the public forum, things went forward nearly seamlessly in our virtual environment. SOG faculty and staff...

What do a Director of Community and Economic Development for a California city, a Marketing Manager for BNSF Railway...

As my PWE enters its final few weeks, I have been working on finishing several long-term projects, including the...

In theory, helping the teams create a 5-minute, multimedia presentation would have been fairly easy before COVID. They...

This week was my eighth in my PWE, and I have just over a month to go to finish my MSW-required field hours, as well as...

This week, I was fortunate to be able to attend the NC League of Municipalities CityVision Virtual Summit, their...

Equity is a word that is floating around more in media coverage and professional discussions as Black Lives Matter...

Writing this blog has been difficult this week, as our country cries out in pain and anger and demands change of our...

Memorial Day weekend was a welcome break from a busy two weeks at my PWE. One of ncIMPACT’s staff members is ill,...

ncIMPACT Initiative is an applied public policy team that works with public officials to develop collaborative...

The Public Administration Leadership (PAL) Challenge was created in 2013 by Master of Public Administration students....

Still trying to decide what type of graduate degree best suits you? Well, here’s a list of FIVE perks of pursuing a...

With National Census Day (April 1) upon us, I wanted to talk about how important Census responses and data are for...

My PWE wraps up this week. Though I am sad to leave my position at town hall, I am grateful to have benefited from...

We’ve all been inundated with news about the coronavirus crisis that the world is coping with these days. Throughout...

This week, I saw a governor being interviewed about the coronavirus. He described his state’s response to the...

warning: this post discusses emergencies and coronavirus Public crises are scary, challenging, and unpredictable. As a...

This week I wandered over to the Canton Historical Museum, conveniently located beside town hall. As a history major,...

Throughout February, my posts have featured women in local government, focusing on their roles and highlighting their...

During the month of February, my posts will feature Women in Local Government, focusing on their roles and highlighting...

If you thought of a  Carolina MPA professor, you guessed it!  Meet adjunct professor Kody H. Kinsley, who is part of...

On Saturday, Canton drew crowds of superheroes, daredevils, and ballerinas for the town’s 8th Annual Polar Plunge....

I have often heard local government employees explain that they love their jobs because each day brings new challenges...

Week two has been filled with research. Lots of research. In my first day on the job, I was handed a large binder...

Hello everyone! Happy New Year & welcome back to the school year! I am not sure about y'all, but the MPA program...

On Monday, I began my PWE in the office of the town manager in Canton, North Carolina. Canton is located in Haywood...

As a current graduate student, one of my favorite things about this program is the fact that we have such a small...

As an extension of our last post, we wanted to share another perspective with you about pursuing an MPA and/or a JD. As...

The MPA program recruits students with varied academic interests and backgrounds. One of these academic areas is law....

Given the recent challenges across the United States with confederate statues, building names, and town names, public...

Today is October 21, 2019 - this puts us 3/4ths of the way through hurricane season.  Chapel Hill, even though...

Welcome to the MPA team, Krisitin! Kristin Pawlowski is our new Associate Director of Alumni and Employer Relations...

When most people think MPA at UNC-Chapel Hill, they think local government. Rightfully so, we are ranked #2 in the...

Did you know that the MPA program offers a few weekend-intensive courses? They sure do! The weekend intensive...

Welcome back!!! As I mentioned in my previous post, I am taking on a new role this year! I will be working with our...

Welcome & welcome back!  I am back with the MPA Matters blog! Since the start of the new academic year, I have...

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I finished up my internship with the City of Salisbury, and I can honestly...

With still no movement on the budget and little conversation about the continuing resolution from last year’s budget,...

This is my last post for the summer, and it is very bittersweet for me. I have loved working for the City of Durham,...

Hello blog readers! I am sad to say that this is my last blog post, so I'm here to say farewell to the EPA. I...

What a summer it has been! This will (unfortunately) be my last blog post of the summer. But rest assured, my work with...

My supervisors have been incredibly supportive of me getting a well-rounded local government experience. One of their...

Welcome back! This week, the 9 OAQPS interns presented their summer projects and research to staff and management. Each...

The saddest news to report is that we said goodbye to the Superintendent's Legislative Director- my boss referred to in...

Is Salisbury Parks and Recreation anything like the show Parks and Recreation? While I don’t think real life can live...

Yep, you heard that right - we got new County Commissioners outside of the election cycle. Ok, so maybe they weren't...

I've spent nearly the entire summer trying to come up with an air pun to no avail, so if any of y'all can think of one,...

Thank you all for coming back to my blog, despite a lapse since my last post. I was on vacation back home! Although it...

I will preface this week’s post by saying that Public Services does A LOT around the City of Salisbury. What I describe...

Meet Chatham County's Human Resources Director, Carolyn Miller. On Thursday last week, I had the opportunity to...

Happy Monday! It's hard to believe we are already 7 weeks into our PWEs. Time is going by so quickly and I'm trying to...

For those of you either disappointed that I didn’t post last week or because I didn’t post about Transit, hopefully...

For the first time in history, North Carolina does not have an approved budget as operations of the new fiscal year are...

**DIsclaimer: if you recently finished year 1 of the mpa program, it may be too soon to see another memo. if this post...

This week at the Urban Institute I had the privilege to bond with the other interns and meet other...

Ok, so I don't actually have an Uncle Sam, I just work for him. But I do have an Uncle Chip (see below), and he loves...

Following Governor Cooper’s Veto of HB 966 Budget Conference Report last week, education bills that have made crossover...

Over the past few weeks, I have conducted 26 interviews and attended eleven community meetings in an attempt to gather...

Local government has many incredible leaders, but the 2020 Democratic debates showed just how many people are hoping to...

Hello! It was an eventful week here at EPA, filled with lots of meetings, mentoring sessions, and a news headline. I'll...

Boy oh boy has this week been an interesting one to say the least. Both of my bosses on the Legislative Team have been...

First off, congratulations for looking at a picture of a sidewalk and thinking “that looks interesting” – you may be...

One of the most important parts of any internship is the network you make along the way. Working with the Budget...

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become standard vocabulary for many organizations to include in their missions,...

There are a lot of acronyms ahead, so hang with me. This week, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the final ACE...

  Weeks of June 3-16. The quest for knowledge is at an all-time high and well suited at a place like Urban...

This was it – my week with Administration. I try not to play favorites, but I am earning a Master of Public...

It’s been a wild couple weeks meeting with legislators to ensure the necessary education provisions are included in the...

In my role at the Chatham County Manager's Office, I am learning about the different challenges that the community...

Hello everyone! This week I spent a lot of time talking about city planning, so it only feels appropriate that I dive...

In the MPA program, we learn a great deal about the importance of stakeholders and bringing various voices to the...

I know it may be hard, but try and ignore the impression of HR you got from Toby on The Office (okay, maybe I made it...

So, this won't be a gossip column talking about local government romantic relationships (well, more specifically...

Welcome to my weekly blog about life here in the Durham Budget & Management Services Department! This budget...

Welcome back to my blog! This week, I learned a lot about the organizational culture of the EPA. Like any large...

That’s right. It was my week with Planning! I had an amazing time with the many people and jobs that make up the...

Memphis, Baltimore, Kansas City, Montgomery, Prescott, Charlotte, Highlands Ranch, Savannah, Parkland—what do all of...

This week was one for the books. For everyone who has watched "Parks and Recreation," we all remember the moment Leslie...

Welcome back to my blog posts! Last week was a fairly short week for me given Memorial Day and being out of town on...

Greetings from Research Triangle Park! My first week at the Environmental Protection Agency was incredible, and I am so...

  Week 1 at the Urban Institute   Day 1 walking into the wide glass doors and spacious marble floor of...

Even the best public administrators make mistakes, which is why it is important to surround yourself with excellent...

Well, I finished my first day in the office of North Carolina Superintendent of Public Schools, Mark Johnson. It has...

It's week three and I am hitting the ground running! I found my two favorite Pittsboro coffee shops and a restaurant...

For many public servants, the democratic process is viewed as a key to success. Personally, I have always loved this...

As a small introduction, I am interning with the City of Salisbury this summer, and have the exciting opportunity to...

Ok, so maybe this blog title had a little bit of click bait, but I definitely consider these folks celebrities...public...

Hello again! This has been a whirlwind of a week, so I hope you enjoy following along as I explain all I was able to...

It’s May! And it has been too long since I’ve posted, but we have been doing so much work to get our Class of 2019...

Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog post! My name is Courtney Cooper-Lewter. I am a dual-degree student with the Public...

Hello there! For those of you who may not know me, my name is Hallee Haygood and I just finished my first-year of the...

Here on the blog I’ve talked a lot about the opportunities MPA students have to work and learn from fellow students...

There’s lots of energy around the MPA wing at the UNC School of Government right now. Many different people are working...

We often discuss on this blog that students come to the MPA program with a variety of career goals across all sectors...

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending a thought-provoking and inspiring event produced by the UNC MPA Program...

Recently, the UNC MPA program held its annual fall Immersion Course, focusing on the topic of Collaborative Governance....

The strategic use of data is everywhere in the field of Public Administration. For public service leaders to be...

This week's blog post looks at the MPA degree in the context of emergency management and shares the perspective of Max...

The last two weeks of work have given me an opportunity to step off campus and go out to different areas of the country...

Hello! My name is Josh Rosenstein and I am a second year MPA student at the UNC School of Government. I’m excited to...

MPA Professor Leisha DeHart-Davis has been elected as a Fellow of the prestigious National Academy of Public...

From time to time, we will be featuring alumni and students in our program.  Mostly so you can hear about what people...

I sat in on a recent session with Professor Kim Nelson talking about what it takes to be a successful graduate...

This day has been coming for a while!  It kept creeping up on us here at UNC, as we were finalizing new fall admissions...

As strange as it may seem, I didn’t REALLY know what a MPA degree was until I landed the role of Director of...

MPA Matters seeks to explore and explain all the current happenings and pursuits of those interested in public...

my role in collecting a history inventory, tours so far the court house burning down devil's stomping grounds...

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