The 2009- 2010 academic year was a busy time for the Center for Public Policy and Administration. We welcomed new students, new faculty, new research and projects, and, of course, got settled in our new office space in Gordon Hall. More information about all these new activities as well as other highlights from our faculty, students, and alumni from the past year are available in our annual newsletter, now available online.
Below, we reproduce the newsletter’s letter from the director as an introduction to the jam-packed annual report. To go directly to the newsletter, click here [PDF]
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Dear friends,
With my garden and local agricultural farm share overflowing with healthy food, I can’t resist gardening metaphors this time of year. Each year CPPA plants a new crop of students and research projects, sowing seeds of knowledge.
We see our students blossom over their first year. They grow during their summer internships—this year they completed internships all over the world, from the Philippines to Guatemala to New Orleans, and just up I-91 in Greenfield, MA—and produce exciting projects in their second year. We look forward to seeing these experiences ripen into capstone projects this spring.
In May, we sent another crop of new professionals out into the policy world to join our alumni. We’ll miss their engaging questions in class, their tireless energy, and their entrepreneurial spirit—this was the class that created and nurtured the Policy and Administration Graduate Council to provide a voice for CPPA students. Our incoming class carries on the tradition of geographical diversity, with students from China, Ukraine, Bolivia, and Japan, and from the US, from Mississippi to Massachusetts.
As always, our faculty are busy tending their own policy research gardens. Joya Misra and Susan Newton created an exciting grants workshop for UMass faculty. We also have a new crop of books, grants, and honors. Our faculty and their research have influenced environmental, science, economic, and social policy, with their research showing up in national and international advisory panels, prestigious research centers, and courtrooms. This fall we’re delighted to welcome Dr. Steven Boutcher to the CPPA faculty. He’ll teach a course on social movements and public policy next spring.
Some big news from this past academic year is already producing exciting new programs. A distinguished review panel complimented us on the quality of our program and the interdisciplinary connections we’ve created across campus. They inspired us to create an accelerated program that would allow talented undergraduates in the Five Colleges to get a BA and MPP in five years. We’re also working on online certificate programs.
As an amateur gardener, I am most excited when an improbable plant emerges. At CPPA, we are delighted to move into a wonderful building, Gordon Hall. Please stop by the next time you’re on campus to see what our center has grown into: a beautiful and lively place for students, faculty, and staff to grow and produce new ideas and research that will lead to action!
With your help, we are also planting seeds for long-run growth. The generosity of alumni, staff, and faculty has kept our scholarship fund growing over the past year. I encourage you to support the next generation of policy professionals by giving to this fund!
Yours,
Lee Badgett
Incoming CPPA graduate student