Farewell!

Hi, all! Wow, the end of the year was such a whirlwind: spring activities, classes ending, graduation. Whew! It’s hard to believe that was three months ago and that summer is almost over now. I have spent my summer working, volunteering, job hunting and all that entails, and traveling, lots of weddings and some just vacation. 

I have deferred my acceptance to UK. I decided I need to get out in the real world and figure out what I like and want to do! So I finally have some real plans. Plan A: I have a final interview next week for a position in NYC I’m very excited about. If that doesn't work out, Plan B is leaving for China in November to teach English with Disney. Either way, both are dreams of mine, to live in NYC and to travel abroad, and either one will be an adventure! 

There will be a new graduate assistant starting this school year. It’s been a wonderful two years, thanks for following along! Be sure to check out the MPA page for updates: http://artscience.nku.edu/departments/psccj/programs/publicadministration/mpa.html.

Until we meet again, Tori

Two weeks until Spring Break!

Not that I’m going anywhere, but it’ll be nice to have a chance to catch up on some things and hopefully it will mean warmer weather!

Classes are going well. I feel like I’m being very proactive this semester. Go figure, just when you feel like you’re getting really good at something, it’s over! Actually that may not be entirely true for me, I found out this week I have been accepted to UK’s Educational Policy doctoral program! I’m very excited about this opportunity and will be traveling down to Lexington early next week to meet with some faculty.

Ok, back to classes. In policy, I've had a slight change of direction on my term project. I will now be working with one classmate on early childhood HEALTH intervention. We have submitted our proposal and both done our individual mini-presentations. We both presented on articles related to our topic and the policy process as an installment toward our final paper.

In org. theory, my group and I presented our chapter on organizations as machines and used McDonald’s as an example. We were the first group to go (each group has to present for an hour and a half each week) and we felt like it went pretty well.

In capstone, we had a resume building session with members of the MPA advisory board. Overall, it was very helpful and informative. Some things that really resonated with me were their advice to “dig deeper” than your job description on your resume and they pointed out areas of my resume I could quantify, which I hadn't been able to see previously. We are also putting together our portfolio, which is a reflection of our MPA experience and is due next week. I have a good jump on this and am feeling really good about it. For our major project, our survey instrument is complete and we are just waiting for a signed statement from the agency we are working with before we can submit our packet to the Institutional Review Board.

The dinner with Rina Saperstein was very interesting and enjoyable. As I might have mentioned, she discussed social entrepreneurship. One thing that really got me thinking was that she talked about how nonprofit to for-profit has become less black and white and more of a continuum and along the way to you see cause related marketing, social conscious corporations, thrift stores, nonprofits that sell products, etc. Definitely a subject I’d be interested in hearing and learning more about!

Last semester!

Hello and welcome back to a new semester! This semester is extra-special for me because it is my LAST ONE! Crazy. One of my favorite authors, Gretchen Reuben, often comments that, “The days are long, but the years are short.” This applies to all areas of life and is no less true about my grad school experience.

I had a wonderful winter break, as I hope you all did, and I am already looking forward to Spring Break, if for no other reason than a break from the cold we’ve had here!

We are already two weeks into the semester now and I’m really enjoying all my classes. On Monday nights I have public policy, which I have been anticipating since I started the program. We had the option to do a research paper or a service learning project; I signed up for the project. Four team members and I will be working with an organization to evaluate the effectiveness of Early Childhood Education initiatives through cost-benefit analyses and possibly do some forecasting. I am really excited about this as this is one of my main areas of interest. Every couple of weeks the Capstone class meets on Tuesday nights. Capstone is usually associated with a major project but there are a couple of other components, as well, which include professional development, resume and interview techniques, and a portfolio reflecting on your MPA experience. In terms of the major project, my partner and I are (we think!) staying on top of things. Last week we met with the NAMI CC Executive Director, attended a support group meeting, and tomorrow, we are attending a different recovery group meeting for comparison and ideas. We have continued to work on our application to the Internal Review Board and drafting our survey questions. We hope to submit that next week. My last class of the week meets on Wednesday nights, Organizational Behavior and Theory. So far I am really enjoying the class and the instructor, who has a TON of international experience, so cool! My group wanted to get our presentation out of the way early, so we’re presenting organizations as machines next week.

In other news, the newsletter came out this week! Yay! You can check it out here: http://artscience.nku.edu/content/dam/psccj/docs/publicAdministration/2013%20Newsletter%2013.pdf. And, mark your calendars, the annual MPA-ASPA dinner is in two weeks on February 6. The guest speaker will be Rina Saperstein, Executive Director of Power Inspires Progress, 2006 MPA graduate and recipient of the 2012 PSC/CJ Outstanding Alumni Award.  Power Inspires Progress operates small businesses that provide paid on-the-job training to inner city residents who face obstacles pursuing and maintaining stable employment. Trainees gain the knowledge and experience necessary to be successful in the workforce. If you’re familiar with Venice on Vine, a delicious pizza eatery in OTR, Power Inspires Progress operates that!