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This year, we are hosting the competition at five simulation sites in the United States and three sites internationally -- Universidad de los Andes in
Bogotá, Colombia; Maastricht School of Governance in Maastricht, Netherlands; and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
FOOD SECURITY is this year's global simulation competition theme -- a fundamental aspect of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) "to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030."
As the global organization of more than 300 graduate schools of public policy and administration, we know our students have the
potential to address the critical problems of hunger and malnutrition, and can make a huge difference globally.
Through using the simulation on February 25/26, students will ultimately learn how to address complex problems associated with food security and will be able to apply these to real life situations. They will present their findings to a panel of judges who are experts on the topic. The list of judges will be finalized this upcoming Friday, January 27. We are excited to introduce these judges to you and welcome them into the NASPAA community.
There are only 30 days until the competition. Hundreds of students have already been nominated by their deans and Pi Alpha Alpha Advisors to participate. Hundreds more have applied on their own.
We look forward to working with you to empower our students on the topic of food security!
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PRESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT FELLOWSHIP
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This Year's Presidential Management Fellowship
Finalists have been Announced, at an Uncertain Time 
By Laurel McFarland,
NASPAA Executive Director
The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) 2017 Finalists have been announced. The PMF Finalists have been announced at a time of great uncertainty, however,
following the US president's announcement of a hiring freeze, it appears that most federal agencies will not be able to honor their PMF postings, at least in the short run, though defense agencies and perhaps other critical positions in areas such as cyber, may be allowed to proceed. The US Office of Management and Budget Director, and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director are required to work together to create an attrition-based hiring plan within 90 days of the hiring freeze.
NASPAA will be actively engaging with OPM, and will do our best to keep you informed, and to remain a vocal advocate for continued PMF opportunities for grad students.
If the program is not frozen, or if it receives a sudden thaw, students will have an appointment eligibility period of 12 months, dating from January 11, 2017, or some alternate date posted by the PMF program. According to OPM, "Approximately 6,370 applications were received and 417 Finalists selected. Selection of Finalists is based on eligibility, as well as candidates' application and assessment scores, and Federal agencies' projected skill needs. The pool of 417 Finalists represents 59 disciplines, 141 academic institutions, and 41 veterans." Applicants can view policy updates on the hiring freeze, and their application status by logging into their applicant user account at https://apply.pmf.gov. The official list of all Finalists is published under the "Become a PMF\Current Finalists" section on the PMF website at www.pmf.gov. To view a sortable list of Finalists by name, academic institution, and advanced degree, go to the Apply Site at https://apply.pmf.gov and click on the "Finalists" button.
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NASPAA Global: Doha Conference
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Doha Conference Call for Proposal
Deadline: January 30th, 2017
NASPAA is holding, in partnership with our member school Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, an international conference on the
"Quality of Public Affairs Education in the Middle East" to be held in Doha, Qatar this April 4-5. The Call for Proposal is now open and submissions are due January 30th.
For more information regarding the Call for Proposal and the Conference,
click here
or contact
drudy@naspaa.org
for further information.
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2017 NASPAA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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2017 NASPAA Conference Theme Announced
NASPAA President David Birdsell and 2017 NASPAA Conference Chair Roger Hartley have announced the October 2017 NASPAA Conference theme will be:
Confidence in Public and Nonprofit Institutions: How is it Built, How is it Lost, and How is it Regained?
The call for presentations will be sent out in early March, but in the meantime, please mark your calendars for October 11-13, the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC.
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NASPAA Welcomes New Member
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Tarleton State University, Master of Public Administration Program
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By GM Cox, Assistant Professor & Director of Master of Public Administration
 The
MPA at Tarleton State University will inculcate our graduates with a unique skill set related to smart cities initiatives and comparative and futures studies in Public Affairs associated with innovative, effective and socially responsible governance. Our program will be one of the best generalists Public Affairs programs regionally, state wide and nationally. Our motto is "All communities deserve great leadership." This motto expresses the program's focus on creating a Public Affairs program that does not rely on an urban perspective while denying or downplaying the reality that many entities are smaller cities and communities, nongovernmental organizations, or nonprofit entities. Rather, our program is now and will continue to focus on developing leaders, street-level bureaucrats and other public servants who want to focus on skill sets associated with great governance and progressive, responsible public administration. The ideology of the Tarleton State University MPA program is to deliver a well-rounded Public Affairs curriculum that focuses on core topics, theories and courses with bridging objectives to smart cities/governance movement, futures, comparative PA and opportunities for "study away" and "study abroad." Tarleton State University's MPA program views joining this extraordinary organization as a natural progression in our continued commitment to such standards here in the State of Texas and the public administration landscape. NASPAA membership positions us for future accreditation and supports our goal of promoting excellence for public service professionals.
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National Journal Conference Recap
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NASPAA and Pi Alpha Alpha sponsored
5th Annual National Journal Conference
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From left to right, Editors in Chief of the Virginia Policy Review and the editors of the student Journals from William & Mary Public Policy Program, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, and Cornell Institute for Public Affairs
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NASPAA and Pi Alpha Alpha were sponsors of the Fifth Annual National Journal Conference at UVA's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy on January 14 and 15, 2017. In addition to the Batten School, three other schools participated - The College of William and Mary's Program in Public Policy, George Washington University's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, and Cornell University's Institute for Public Affairs. The students heard from speakers and participated in panels to discuss trends and best practices concerned with writing, editing, and publishing student journals of public affairs. Veteran Washington, DC political reporter, television pundit and author Eleanor Clift was the keynote speaker. She discussed how she started as a secretary working for Newsweek in the 1960s and covering every Presidential administration since President Carter's in the 1970s to the present. Columnist and contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report, Mary Kate Cary spoke of her experiences as a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1992. Professors David Schultz of Hamline University and Jeff South of Virginia Commonwealth University gave students useful strategies on managing the logistics of running a student journal as well as tips for writing concise stories on very data-heavy technical topics.
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Keynote Speaker Eleanor Clift with David Marshall, NASPAA, Director of Membership Development
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Professor David Schultz, Hamline University, and David Marshall
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PPIA-NASPAA Public Service Weekend
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Indiana Public Service Weekend in October
Recap
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Group shoot of participants
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On October 20-23, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University hosted Moving the World Forward: Exploring a Future in Public Service, a conference created by the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) program in
partnership with NASPAA. PPIA aims to promote the inclusion of underrepresented groups in public service. This nationally competitive conference offered 80 high-achieving, diverse undergraduate students from across the country with a four-day trip to SPEA to explore graduate studies and career opportunities in public service. This year's conferees hailed from 44 universities located in 23 states and reflected a diverse set of backgrounds, majors, and professional experiences. The conference featured keynote addresses by immigrant rights activist Gaby Pacheco, policy research and NAACP Legal Defense Fund fellow Richard Rothstein, and SPEA alumnus and Northwestern PhD student Julian
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Keynote Speaker immigrant rights activist Gaby Pacheco
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Glover, as well as talks by several SPEA faculty and alumni on substantive topics relevant to public affairs. Students also experienced a field trip to the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, where they participated in a tour and dinner, learned about the Center's significance to refugees, and participated in a workshop on evidence-based strategies for managing stress and anxiety. The conference provided a platform for rich, critical conversations that are so important to public service work. Several conferees described the conference as amazing, empowering, and life-changing.
UC San Diego PPIA Public Service Weekend
UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy announces their
PPIA Public Service Weekend, April, 22-23, 2017
. This interactive weekend will expose students to the many options for a public service career through speaking with faculty and public sector experts, engage students in a case-study in the policy-making process, and provide students with real world skills - like how to write a policy brief, construct the best resume possible and apply to graduate school. All on the beautiful UC San Diego campus, just minutes from the beach.
Apply online here
. Priority deadline -
January 30
. Final deadline -
February 20
.
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Program Director's Corner
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NASPAA Alumni Survey 2017-Start Compiling your list of Alumni!
NASPAA's 2017 Alumni Survey will launch
May 15, 2017. Now is the time to start compiling your list of alumni contact information. This year we will be surveying the 2013-2014 cohort. For more information regarding the Alumni Survey and past year's results go to:
http://www.naspaa.org/datacenter/alumnisurvey.asp, or contact
Join COPRA at COMPA & ASPA!
COPRA will be hosting two site visitor trainings this March! If you plan to attend the 2017 COMPA and/or ASPA Annual Conferences in Atlanta, please join us:
- COMPA, Site Visitor Training: Friday, March 17, 2017, 1:45 pm - 3:15 pm
- ASPA, Site Visitor Training: Monday, March 20, 2017, 8:00 am - 9:30 am
Accreditation Upcoming Deadlines:
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April 15, 2017 - Eligibility Application due
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August 15, 2017 - Self-Study Report deadline for
2017-18
cohort - the form is now LIVE in the system!
In Case You Missed It!
COPRA released the
Self-Study Instructions, for programs in the 2017-18 cohort
. For the 2016 release, COPRA focused on completion rates, enhancing the quality and comparability of one of the most critical outcomes of public affairs programs and ensuring the comprehensive context of students continuing to graduation outside of four years.
COPRA also released a
policy statement announcing the implementation expectations of programs in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 cohorts, with regard to Standard 5, as well as additional information related to the completion rates data requirements.
Read Interesting Blogs from ICMA Initiative: Life, Well Run
- Two Success Stories highlight some of the issues and projects city/county managers work on and that recent grads may get experience with if they choose local government:
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Infographic: Fed Hiring Freeze
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NASPAA Welcomes New Staff
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Supriya Golas, Communications and Project Manager
After a stint in the corporate world, Supriya decided to devote her skills to a cause that more closely aligns with her interests in higher education and public policy. Supriya h
as lived in Washington, D.C. since 2009. She received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Public Policy, History and Political Management from the George Washington University. Supriya has worked at a number of organizations from the U.S. Department of Education to nonprofits advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. She is also passionate about international sustainable development. In 2012, Supriya initiated a honey harvesting and beekeeping operation in Kakamega, Kenya as part of a women's empowerment project. She worked closely with economically vulnerable women residing in Eastern Kenya to establish a honey production and distribution company so they could become financially independent. During her free time, Supriya enjoys listening to funky music, watching documentaries and playing competitive online scrabble.
Supriya is currently managing the 2017 NASPAA's Student Simulation Competition. She can be reached at
golas@naspaa.org or 202-628-8965 ext. 115.
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The LBJ Washington Center, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, hosted the inaugural LBJ School of Public Affairs DC Concentration graduation ceremony on December 10, 2016
2016 LBJ Washington Center 1st Commencement - Caption front row left to right, Tom O'Donnell, Director, LBJ Washington Center; Angela Evans, Dean, LBJ School; and Robin Boone, Deputy Director, LBJ Washington Center
The LBJ Washington Center hosted the inaugural LBJ School of Public Affairs DC Concentration graduation ceremony on December 10, 2016. LBJ School Dean Angela Evans and LBJ Washington Center Executive Director Tom O'Donnell presented remarks during the intimate ceremony for family and friends. The LBJ DC Fellows received a Master of Public Affairs or Master of Global Policy Studies degree after completing an accelerated program of study and work that required them to spend two semesters (fall, spring) studying in Austin, before moving immediately to Washington, DC for two semesters (summer, fall) to complete their studies and work simultaneously for 32 hours per week in Policy Apprenticeships at leading policy organizations, public and private, around the nation's capital. The formal grand opening of the non-partisan LBJ Washington Center in September was headlined by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan and Minority Leader of the House Nancy Pelosi.
In September 2016, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan and Minority Leader of the House Nancy Pelosi speak at the LBJ Washington Center's grand opening.
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Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew To Be Visiting Professor At Columbia University School Of International And Public Affairs
 January 19, 2017 -- Columbia University announced that outgoing Secretary of the Treasury Jacob "Jack" Lew would be joining its
School of International and Public Affairs faculty as a visiting professor in February. He will lecture, teach graduate students, and work with faculty members at the school and across the University on the subjects of international economics, fiscal and trade policy, and a range of other public policy issues.
Read full article >
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