A HUGE shout out to our MPA panel – Steve, Kelly, Lavonya Leonard, James Mills, Rolonda Smith, Sandra Onate Munoz, and Jeremy Worley – who participated in the second annual Public Service Career Day! They shared their academic and career stories, answered questions from the audience, and stuck around for one-on-one conversations with students. So much networking in one room!
The American Society for Public Administration’s Greater Cincinnati Chapter (ASPA-GCC) and the NKU MPA program celebrated the 2020 and 2024 Outstanding Public Service Award recipients on October 22nd at Northwood Cider Co. It was a positive and fun night shining a light on the best public service professionals and initiatives in our region. Congratulations to all!
MPA students, alumni, and faculty attended the Ohio Economic Development Association (OEDA) Young Professionals "Leadership in Action" panel. Thanks to Brooke Rapp (MPA 2020) of Uptown Cincinnati Inc. and other event organizers for including the NKU MPA program! Kimm Lauterbach, President/CEO of REDI Cincinnati, and Jeanne Schroer, President/CEO of Catalytic Development Funding Corp of Northern Kentucky, discussed economic trends in our region as well as their career paths, leadership styles, and challenges they've faced.
Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us at the 2024 MPA Spring Banquet at Northern Kentucky University! Congratulations to our most recent MPA graduates, LaNora Godfrey (Distinguished MPA Alumna), Matt Jaksetic (Distinguished MPA Graduate), P.J. Ginty (Outstanding MPA Student), and the Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society Inductees – Kyle Beck, Rachel Carman, Sylvia Jones-Hamm, Amara Kinney, Chris Lauer, Sandra Onate Munoz, Andi Sharp, Sam Shelton, and LaNora Godfrey.
It was such an honor to host the first Appointed event on a college campus! There was so much positive and inspiring energy from all of the women in the room including our wonderful speakers -- President Cady Short-Thompson, Dr. Jennifer Mooney, Lisa Desmarais, Rajani Menon, Christian Davis, and others.
Many thanks to the organizations that worked together to bring "Appointed 101" to Northern Kentucky University, particularly the Women's Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation and the NKY Chamber Women's Initiative. The purpose of the Appointed initiative is to empower and prepare more women to serve on civic and community boards. While women comprise more than 50% of our region's population, they occupy only 30% of civic board seats, and 25% of civic boards have no women at all.
Dr. Shamima Ahmed led the development of this international panel -- based on her experience in Tajikistan with the Fulbright Program -- and she served as moderator. Panelists included: Professor Amy Halbrook of NKU’s Chase College of Law; Judge Kari Bloom of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court; and Professor Alisherjon Saidmukhtorov of the Academy of Public Administration Under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan.
Many thanks to the panelists and moderator for leading the virtual conversation on child protection services in the United States and Tajikistan. It was wonderful that Professor Saidmukhtorov joined us with a group of his law students in Tajikistan. For those who were not able to take part in the live event, you can watch the recording here.
The first “Public Service in Action” event was held on Tuesday, November 14 at the Hamilton County Courthouse and Administration Building. Amy Humphrey (MPA 2017), Chief Deputy Auditor for Hamilton County, organized a panel discussion on recruiting and retaining “the next generation” of public servants, managers, and leaders. We had a great conversation – among county officials and MPA alums, students, and faculty – about challenges and ideas related to the next generation of public service professionals. Afterwards, we enjoyed a fascinating tour of the courthouse including a courtroom with a jury trial, the "Rookwood Room," and the law library where we learned about some interesting Cincinnati history.
Very special thanks to the Hamilton County folks for their efforts: Chief Deputy Auditor Amy Humphrey (MPA 2017) for hosting the event and inviting colleagues, Chief Human Resources Officer Greg Muenchen for arranging the courthouse tour, and Central Services Division Manager Jason Alexander for leading the tour. Click on the Facebook post to see all the photos!
The inaugural Public Service Career Day at Northern Kentucky University was a huge success! Thanks to our guest speakers – Chris Moriconi (2018), Tom Haggard (2019), Sherri Jones (2019), Anson Turley (2022), Amy Martin (MPA student), and Alynn Reinecke (2013) – for discussing their unique pathways toward public service careers and their meaningful work in local government and nonprofit organizations. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from undergraduate students who participated in these sessions.
Here are a few comments:
“I enjoyed getting to see people from my local government in person. I liked learning about their school experiences and felt inspired to take initiative.”
"As someone who is struggling to figure out what I want to do with my degree, I really enjoyed hearing about everyone’s career and HOW they came to be in that career. I appreciated being able to learn the steps each person took to get where they are now."
"I really enjoyed getting to hear from different people about their experiences and advice in different fields. I thought it was really interesting hearing how many different jobs there are in public service that I had no idea about."
Click on the Facebook post to see all the photos!
Northern Kentucky University Men's Basketball put on a show for us with a 79-76 comeback win over Youngstown State on Thursday, January 4. The MPA crowd had a great time cheering on the Norse!
Click on the Facebook post to see all the photos!
Mark your calendars for the following upcoming MPA events:
MPA Spring Banquet: Monday, March 25 in HE 102 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Celebrate the 2024 Distinguished MPA Alumna, LaNora Godfrey, MPA student award winners, Pi Alpha Alpha (PAA) inductees, and soon-to-be graduates. RSVP to Missy Gish at gishm@nku.edu.
NKU Graduate Education Open House: Tuesday, March 26 in SU 107A from 4-6:30 p.m. virtual and in-person format. MPA experts Missy Gish and Julie Olberding will beavailable to answer any and all questions about the program and application process. Please share with any friends and colleagues who might be interested in earning their MPA!
International Children's Rights Webinar: Thursday, April 25, 8 to 9:30 a.m., virtual format. The MPA program is co-hosting this event with the Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council (WAC), based on Shamima Ahmed's Fulbright experience in Tajikstan. Panelists will be: 1) Kari Bloom, Administrative Judge of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court; 2) Amy Halbrook, Professor of NKU's Chase College of Law and Director of the Children's Law Center Clinic; and 3) Alisherjon Saidmukhtorov, Head of the International Law Program at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan with legal/court experience in Tajikistan and Russia. Dr. Shamima Ahmed will moderate the panel. If interested in attending, email Missy Gish at gishm@nku.edu.
The next Public Service in Action event is tentatively scheduled on Wednesday, May 8, starting at 4:30 p.m. at Newport on the Levee. More info to come!
MPA Summer Celebration is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, May 16 at Dr. Olberding’s house. This is a casual, pleasant and fun gathering of MPA students, alums, faculty, staff, and significant others. Save the date, and make plans to attend!
NKU MPA folks gathered at The Gruff in Covington on July 27. We loved catching up with our alums and students!
You and a guest are invited to attend the NKU Men’s Basketball game versus Youngstown State on Thursday, January 4th. MPA has reserved a block of tickets for the game. Email mpa@nku.edu to reserve your FREE tickets today. We hope to see you there!
Save the date for the MPA Spring Banquet – Monday, March 25 from 5:30-7 p.m. Celebrate the 2024 MPA award recipients, graduates and new Pi Alpha Alpha inductees with us. More information to come.
Join us on Thursday, July 27 at The Gruff (Covington, KY) from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. for our next MPA Happy Hour!
The MPA Spring Awards Banquet was held on April 6. It was the first in-person banquet since 2019, and we had a great time catching up with our award winners and PAA inductees. Click on the Facebook link below to see a few photos from the event.
The MPA Summer Celebration was on June 8 at Julie and Doug Olberding’s
house. About 35 students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered to
celebrate our newest MPA graduates and the 2022-23 academic year with
food, drinks, yard games and socialization. Click on the group photo (left) to see more photos from the event.
The MPA Spring Banquet is back! Save the date and join us on Thursday, April 6 at 5:30 p.m. to celebrate this year’s MPA award recipients, along with Pi Alpha Alpha inductees and Spring 2023 graduates. Paula Brehm-Heeger (2016), the 2023 Distinguished Alumna, will be the guest speaker. RSVP to Missy at gishm@nku.edu.
Jill and Abby are a mentor/mentee pair in the MPA Mentoring program!
The NKU International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Student Chapter hosted the Northern Kentucky City/County Management Association’s (NKCCMA) monthly meeting on campus in August. The guest speaker was Jennifer Inman from the Kentucky Financial Empowerment Commission. It was a great opportunity for members of the ICMA student chapter to network with local city and county managers!
The NKU MPA Road Show was out and about around town in June. We realize it's challenging, if not impossible, for many of you to get to NKU's campus for an evening event, so we came to you this Summer!
We decided to organize these networking/socializing events across the region to bring together MPA alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends. They were successful and we plan on scheduling more in the future.
The MPA program hosted three "community conversations" focused on grantmaking in our region, especially during the past year or so of the COVID-19 pandemic and reckoning with racial and social inequities. These virtual talks were part of the Grant Research, Writing, & Management class (PAD 623), but were open to all MPA students and alumni. Speakers represented key regional foundations/funders including the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and Scripps Howard Foundation.
About 50 students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends attended the MPA Spring Celebration! We celebrated our Spring 2021 graduates, our newest Pi Alpha Alpha inductees and our MPA student and alum awards. We were so happy to see a lot of you there. (Here's one screen of some smiling faces.)
The guest speaker was our 2021 Distinguished Alumna Jennifer Steele (MPA 2010), who shared her experiences about leading Meals on Wheels Southwest OH & Northern KY through significant changes (aka "pivoting before pivoting was cool"). These changes included a major rebranding and a merger with another nonprofit ... and a global pandemic that dramatically increased need for their services among a vulnerable population. Meals on Wheels now serves 1.4 million meals per year to 10,000 seniors in 12 counties in our region.
After more than a year of virtual events and classes, we talked to some MPA students and alumni about our first in-person event in the Fall. Based on their input, we’ve decided to make it personal, social, and fun and to do it about a month into the semester so everyone is in a groove. On Wednesday, September 22, we’ll meet at Dr. Julie Olberding’s house for a casual dinner, drinks, outdoor games, and catching up. Look for more information soon, or contact Missy Gish at gishm@nku.edu.
We’ve organized NKU MPA Online Lecture Series this semester since we cannot hold in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some speakers have already taken place but there are some others coming up soon. We would love to see you at one or more!
Mark Wendling, City Manager, Fairfield, Ohio and 2020 Distinguished MPA Alumnus kicked off the series on September 30. Recruiting great employees to local government is critical, but it can be challenging, especially now. Mark Wendling discussed experiences, mistakes, successes, and lessons learned during his 30-year career in city management.
Learn more about the City of Fairfield here.
Tim Barr of Mortar Cincinnati was next up on October 1. He discussed Mortar’s creative and successful efforts to help historically marginalized entrepreneurs, initially in Cincinnati, OH, and now in Covington, KY.
Learn more about MORTAR here.
The MPA Virtual Graduation Celebration turned out to be much more fun than expected! It was great to take some time to recognize our new graduates, recent award winners, and Pi Alpha Alpha inductees ... and to catch up and share some laughs.
About 30 faculty, staff, students and alumni showed up throughout the evening with a few special appearances by kids and pets. Many thanks to all who came including NKU President Ashish Vaidya and Dean Diana McGill!
On Saturday, January 18, the MPA program gathered to watch the NKU Men's Basketball team defeat Cleveland State, 75-49 in a party suite at BB&T Arena! It was a perfect way to cheer on the Norse, continue celebrating our 30th anniversary, and catch up with fellow MPA students, alumni, and faculty. Check out some fun photos!
SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday, March 24 is the 2020 Spring Awards Banquet. We will honor the Distinguished Alumnus, Mark Wendling, and the student award winners. We will also induct the 19 new Pi Alpha Alpha members.
Thank you to all those who made it out to celebrate with us at the 2019 MPA Fall Reception! As most of you know, we are celebrating our 30th anniversary and our recent re-accreditation this year.
We enjoyed the evening eating, drinking, and networking with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators. In addition, 30th anniversary t-shirts were available for a minimum donation and other MPA swag was given out.
An extra thank you to alumni from each of the three decades who shared stories about the MPA program and their experience in the public and nonprofit sectors:
1990s
Melissa Williams (1990), Former Assistant County Manager, Campbell County, Ohio (one of the first two NKU MPA grads)
Mark Wendling (1992), City Manager, City of Fairfield, Ohio
Joe Shriver (1996), County Administrator, Kenton County, Kentucky
2000s
Thomas Fromme (2001), City Manager, City of Newport, Kentucky
Rolonda Smith (2008), Employee Experience Manager, Cincinnati Public Schools
T.J. White (2008), Executive Director, Center for Local Governments (serving 50+ jurisdictions in SW Ohio)
2010s
John Paul Scott (2013), Vice President, Accelerate Great Schools
Paula Brehm-Heeger (2016), Executive Director, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
We still have a few MPA 30 anniversary t-shirts available for a minimum $15 donation. If interested, please contact Missy at gishm@nku.edu.
The NKU MPA mentoring program hosted a gathering at Braxton Brewing Company’s new rooftop space. We are honored and excited to have a great group of MPA students or recent alums as mentees and a stellar group of public and nonprofit leaders as mentors.
If you are a current MPA student or alumni interested in participating in the
mentor program, email Missy Gish at gishm@nku.edu.
Celebrating another successful academic year!
Our annual summer celebration was held on Thursday, May 23, for students, alumni, and faculty. It was great catching up with everyone.
The MPA-ASPA Dinner was held on Tuesday, February 19 from in NKU's Student Union 104. Many thanks to the American Society for Public Administration Greater Cincinnati Chapter for supporting this event!
The guest speaker was Patrick Duhaney, City Manager for the City of Cincinnati. Mr. Duhaney shared the opportunities and challenges he has experienced working in the public sector.
Over 65 people enjoyed listening to Mr. Duhaney’s presentation and eating the (seemingly!) endless taco bar. See some pics below.
Save the date for our next event: MPA Spring Banquet, Wednesday, April 3 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Room 104 of NKU’s Student Union. The featured speaker will be Lisa Cooper, Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Area Development District (NKADD), who will be honored with the 2019 Distinguished MPA Alumna Award. We will also be honoring our outstanding MPA students and hope you can celebrate them with us!
Check out a few pics from the MPA Spring Awards Banquet and Happy Hour at Braxton Brewery that took place on Wednesday, April 4! Congratulations to all our 2018 award recipients -- Alisa Berry (Distinguished MPA Alumna), Chris Moriconi (Distinguished MPA Graduate), and Rachel Staley (Outstanding MPA Student)! You can read more about their awards in the “Regional Awards” section of the newsletter.
The MPA-ASPA Dinner was held on Tuesday, February 20 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in NKU's Student Union 104. More than 50 MPA students, alumni, faculty and ASPA members attended the annual event. Many thanks to the American Society for Public Administration Greater Cincinnati Chapter (ASPA-GCC) for supporting this event.
The guest speaker was Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, a visiting scholar and diplomat from Sri Lanka. Recognized as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum, Asanga recently published a book Towards a Better World Order.
Asanga discussed the 2004 Tsunami and the assassination of his political activist father as reasons for transitioning from the private to public sector. He shared lessons learned in leadership and diplomacy throughout his career that can be applied to all levels of public service. In addition, those in attendance saw a video and photos of Sri Lanka’s beautiful geography and culture as well as a handwritten letter from Nelson Mandela to Asanga’s father, both of whom were serving as political prisoners in the 1980s.
The 2017 Fall Reception was held on Thursday, October 12 in the Rieveschl Digitorium which is house in Griffin Hall at NKU. About 50 MPA students, alumni, faculty and prospective students were in attendance to hear the guest speaker’s presentations.
Emi Randall, Director of Planning and Zoning and Trisha Brush, Director of LINK-GIS, both from Planning and Development Services (PDS) of Kenton County presented the Northern Kentucky mapLAB project. This is an initiative that analyzes a wide variety of tabular data and presents them in a visual format that facilitates understanding by the public and its elected leaders. A few projects they touched on in their presentation included solar potential in Kenton County, traffic flow and congestion on Dixie Highway and accessibility to healthy food.
David Johnston, Homicide Commander and Jen Mitsch, Homicide Detective for the Cincinnati Police Department, discussed the latest technologies used to address crime, such as body cameras, binary intelligence (cell phone/computer forensics), NIBIN (a national database of digital images of spent bullets and cartridge cases that were found at crime scenes or test-fired from confiscated weapons) and a real-time gunshot detection system known as ShotSpotter.
Save the date for the Spring Awards Banquet – Wednesday, April 4, 5:30-7 p.m. in SU 104.
CONTACT US
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice & Organizational Leadership
Founders Hall 555
859-572-5321
psc@nku.edu
