UNC-Chapel Hill Master of Public Administration

Transcription

Hi, I'm Dean Mike Smith at the UNC School of Government. And I'm really proud to welcome you to MPA@UNC. [MUSIC PLAYING] The School of Government has been training public service leaders in North Carolina and across the country for over 80 years. We have decided to offer our MPA online, because we believe we can offer the highest quality program possible. If you work in public interest, or if you do public interest law like I do, everyone knows that the School of Government is the premier institution not just in our state but nationwide. We have alums in public leadership positions all over the country, incredibly successful in state, local, and federal government. And our program is aimed at creating leaders and giving them the skills to be successful anywhere in the country, frankly, anywhere in the world. In my particular case, I'm at the tail end of my military career. And I'm looking to have to make a transition. So the MPA@UNC program presented a tremendous opportunity to set myself up for a transition of continued public service and to be able to continue to perform at a high level in my day-to-day duties, which is very important. What makes MPA@UNC unique is the experience of the faculty and their tight connections with practitioners. If they bring the education from a real-world perspective, that makes it more readily usable and helpful. To me, the ability to take that same material, that same faculty, and deliver it to anyone anywhere in the world has been an absolute wonderful outcome. Does anybody have any questions so far? The technology is amazing. It brings students together with faculty in a setting that really kind of captures face-to-face interactions. I just have a few questions about the pay-for-performances item that we had yesterday. There is no back row. You're going to get more out of this class than you are going to get if you're in the back row of a class of 50 people. So reading was really what's called a meta-analysis. Adding to the deck of materials that students review in advance of the live session is bringing to life PowerPoint presentations, of video clips that bring theories and concepts and literature to life. This morning, I want to talk to you about models. The two different kinds of models we're going to be talking about-- There hasn't been a class I have taken that I haven't been able to immediately use in my field of work. Having experienced students in the classroom really creates a dynamic, where not only are they taking what they're learning in the classroom and applying it, but they are also bringing their considerable experience into that classroom. Mike, you look like you have a counterargument. What are you thinking about this issue? Well, you know, the compliance rates vary, but-- Every single one of my classmates is rock-solid. And they bring a degree of professional experience to the program, which I feel is one of the great benefits of our program. And that's part of the experience. And that's what I love most about it. My management style has gotten better. And the people I supervise say, hey, Mike, we really like that you're in this program. So it's not just that I'm getting the benefit. But, I think, holistically, our office is improving. So I think it's a win-win, not just for me but for my entire office. We do a lot of great things in public service and help a lot of lives, most of which people will never know. And if you're doing it right, people don't know. And I'd like for people to remember that there is someone working to make life better and make things work the way that we all feel that it should. Well, we've got a lot of local issues, that I read about, that public officials are grappling with. And I would like to be part of the solution to deal with some of those things. And this program is tailored for that. It's custom-built for that. [MUSIC PLAYING]