Q: What was the path you took to get to where you are now?
A: Out of the MPA program, I came to Washington to work at the GAO. I had a great 5 years there and applied everything I learned in the program including data analysis, public speaking, and writing. From there I had the privilege of working on budget issues in the US Senate, at the US Department of Transportation and Treasury on high level issues helping to manage large departments of tens of thousands of people. I am now a consultant and teach at American University. The path I took in short was not direct, but I did always want to serve and hope to continue to do that in the future.
Q: Have you pursued any other certifications since your MPA?
A: I am a National Association of Public Administration fellow, a Strategic Advisor to Government Executives (SAGE) with the Partnership for Public Service, and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute.
Q: Is the field you are working in now relevant to your MPA degree?
A: Yes, I currently teach government executives about leadership at American University. In my consulting work, I have led large nonprofit projects, advised companies how to make their products more applicable to the public sector, and written on topics of public policy.
Q: How did the MPA program specifically prepare you for future work experiences or inform what you do now?
A: The MPA program’s multi-disciplinary approach to public sector management was the best training I could have hoped. Not only did I have the analysis background to support decision-makers, I also used the writing and public speaking skills central to the MPA program to clearly communicate the results and implications of the proposed course of action in an understandable way. The MPA program made me ready day one and I still use lessons from the program more than 20 years later.
Q: Have you been able to fulfill goals formulated while in the MPA program? If so, how?
A: Great question. I came to the program to understand how to make public organizations run better to serve citizens in the most effective way. I have had multiple opportunities to do that, and I hope I have many more.
Jennifer Barnhill is using her experiences with the online Master of Public Administration at UNC to create a new pathway for military families with special education needs—and leaders at all levels are taking notice.
After 15 years of relocations, deployments, and dealing with military bureaucracy, Barnhill took solace and found great camaraderie in her military spouse support group but couldn’t shake the idea that it wasn’t checking all the boxes.
“The purpose of the organization was to support us while our spouses were deployed or working,” Barnhill said. “But I realized this structure built around us no longer supported the needs of our military families. We could fix a problem at the local level, but the systemic issues still existed.”
Barnhill had the passion and the motivation but knew she needed further education to tackle such a looming challenge.
She explained that while there were programs and groups in place to support military families, they were based on an outdated definition of who a military spouse is, often thinking of them as stay-at-home wives, not the career-driven men and women they are.
“There are a lot of volunteer expectations that fall on military spouses,” she said. “This structure sets us up for failure. I began asking how a nonprofit organization could address these challenges.”
At first, Barnhill was unsure if her military lifestyle could sustain a master’s program—during her husband’s time in the military, the family had moved to Japan not once but twice—so she pursued a certificate program as a testing ground.
Upon completing the certificate, Barnhill decided to pursue an MPA to improve systems that were not serving military families to the fullest. She chose UNC’s online MPA program because of its high rankings as well as the ability to be completed from anywhere in the world.
Barnhill was impressed that the online MPA admissions team took the time to understand her skills and background. This is crucial for military spouses, whose résumés may look different than other applicants.
“Military spouses are extremely capable, but our lifestyle makes it difficult to seize career opportunities,” she said. “We have a unique ability to pivot quickly based on our circumstances, and this skillset is transferable to professional life.”
As she started the program in January 2020, Barnhill had a discussion with the executive director of Partners in PROMISE (Protecting the Rights of Military Children in Special Education), and something clicked.
“I could tell she was working hard to help military-dependent kids in the special education system,” Barnhill said, “but the organization had no structure, even though they had a lot of traction in Capitol Hill.”
Barnhill offered to help the newly formed organization. Using the skills she learned in the classroom, —specifically in the Nonprofit Management course—she helped refine their 501c3 application and business plan. The real work, however, came as Barnhill began the Public Administration Analysis and Evaluation II course. Her research topic aligned with her Partners in PROMISE work, asking why military-affiliated special education students do or do not pursue legal solutions in disputes with services or possible violations.
“We wanted to know whether the transient military lifestyle was affecting their ability to access the legal system,” Barnhill said.
She frequently met with her PUBA 720 professor, Dr. Chris Cody, to share her survey instrument and seek guidance on collecting data that would later be shared with military leadership.
“Dr. Cody always made himself available to answer questions in class or during office hours,” she said. “His assistance helped me feel confident and trust our findings—especially since the data we collected would be presented in front of a congressional caucus.”
In fact, many of the recommendations in Partners in PROMISE’s survey became law, and the White House cited information from the survey websiteExternal link:open_in_new in their own reportsExternal link:open_in_new.
“Dr. Cody is still helping me, reviewing this year’s findingsExternal link:open_in_new, and giving me advice as I seek to continue my research after graduation,” Barnhill said.
Today, Barnhill serves as the chief operating officer for Partners in PROMISE, and her dedication to helping military families remains. However, her passion has expanded to include mental health and special education services within the military, in the hope of removing stigmas and elevating voices to fix systemic problems.
“My MPA@UNC(link sends e-mail) experience taught me that if something works well in local government, it may translate to the state or federal level—this is also true with the military’s ability to implement new programs and change regulations,” Barnhill said. “If we can use that ability to remove hurdles for military families, we could also do that within the larger population.”
Barnhill added that she is grateful for the level of attention and understanding UNC offered every step of the way.
“They truly understood the challenges of military life,” she said. “Military families make many sacrifices, and we’re starting to bridge that divide.”
In addition to her work for Partners in PROMISE, Barnhill has published articles about military spouse life, is writing a book about military spouse volunteerism, and hosts a podcast, Disrupting Storytelling with Military Changemakers, seeking to combat military stigmas.
Adrienne Simonson ’00 had her eyes set on law school after undergrad when her political science professor complained that she should get a Master of Public Administration degree instead.
“I had never heard of an MPA degree, but as I learned more, I realized good government really spoke to me,” Simonson shares. “So, I decided to apply to both the MPA and JD degrees at UNC, a decision that has really worked for me.”
Distinguishable from the JD, Simonson found the MPA curriculum to provide a foundation for people management, offering coursework and experiential learning opportunities that exposed her to the challenges of working in small groups. The MPA program provided strategies for management, which she explains accounts for the “bulk of her career in government.” The small group experiences helped her appreciate that the individuals involved are as important as the material at issue.
Since obtaining her JD and MPA degrees as a single mother, Simonson spent the last 15 years working in public service for the federal government. She supported Congress on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and played a significant role in ensuring that the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (2006) requirements were fully funded. The Act and Reauthorization has been particularly successful, resulting in 41 fish stocks having been rebuilt, 84 percent of which are no longer overfished.
“I have been honored to lead committed teams of truly remarkable individuals,” Simonson says. “I also made critical decisions and recommendations that ensured a more efficient method for sharing government data would persist to the benefit of the taxpayer: the Big Data Program.”
When asked how the UNC MPA program has impacted her success, Simonson highlighted the value of not only the program’s substance but the network she joined. For example, as a Presidential Management Fellow in the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Budget, it was MPA colleagues that provided her with rotational opportunities in the Senate and the House, the latter of which she chose to pursue. She admits that the pace of the MPA was initially frustrating, and while she complained incessantly through all those classes and assignments, she has “been grateful ever since.
“Moreover, the MPA reinforced my confidence in my ability to grasp complicated concepts and work to resolve issues without being the subject matter expert in the room,” Simonson said. “That’s how I became acting director of the NOAA Data Program within the Office of the Chief Information Officer, without having significant data science or information technology skills.”