MPA Director’s Letter
MPA Program Newsletter
Spring 2024
Greetings Friends and Alumni of Evergreen’s Master of Public Administration Program,
As we come to the end of the 2023-24 academic year, I am pleased to let you know that 38 new Evergreen MPA graduates (22 Olympia and 16 Tribal Governance) join us as proud alumni of our program and as changemakers in Washington and beyond. They join the over one-thousand alumni of our program who work to make our communities better and more equitable places for us all. We celebrate their accomplishments at this year’s Commencement and MPA hooding ceremonies on June 13 and 14.
In addition to our graduates’ successes, Evergreen’s MPA program recognizes Virginia Cross of Muckleshoot as our 2024 MPA Public Official of the Year. For over four decades, Virginia’s service in such roles as Councilmember and Chairperson of the Muckleshoot Tribe and as Director of Native Education Programs for the Auburn School District have directly benefitted students, Muckleshoot citizens, and the greater Puget Sound region as a whole. Virginia’s service models the dedication to public service to which our graduates aspire, and thus we are pleased to recognize her accomplishments at this year’s MPA hooding ceremony as well. You will find more details Virginia’s accomplishments further down in this newsletter.
I am also eager to share news about change in our MPA program staff. In February, our program said farewell to MPA Assistant Director and program alum Marcia Zitzelman. Marcia is putting her MPA to excellent use now as human resources consultant for SCJ Alliance, a civil engineering firm headquartered in Lacey that carries out many public infrastructure projects across the Puget Sound region. In addition to supporting MPA applicants and students for four years as assistant director, Marcia served Evergreen in multiple roles over the past 15 years, including as administrative assistant to both Evergreen’s Provost and President.
While we were sad to see Marcia leave, we are very happy to welcome Justin “JC” Core as the new MPA Assistant Director supporting the Olympia cohorts. JC brings decades of experience in higher education student affairs, most recently as the director and lead faculty for Lower Columbia College’s bachelors program in Organizational Leadership and Technical Management. JC is already hard at work supporting MPA program applicants for our final deadline of July 1, and getting to know our current MPA students in both Olympia cohorts.
I would also like to take the opportunity in this letter to welcome Dr. Meghan Doughty as our new MPA program director beginning July 1! Many of you know Meghan as a one of our core MPA faculty members since 2017, specializing in public administration ethics, social policy, and criminal justice policy, among other areas. Over the past two years, Meghan has served as the MPA program’s Associate Director. As I conclude my five years of service as the MPA program director, I can think of no one better suited to guide our program moving forward. I am very much looking forward to resuming my duties in the classroom under Meghan’s leadership.
As always, we remain grateful for your engagement with and support of Evergreen’s Master of Public Administration program. If you have news to share or if you know someone who could be an excellent addition to our Fall 2024 cohort, please let us know at mpa@evergreen.edu. You, our alumni, play a huge role in the continued success of our MPA program and in making sure that we continue to “be the change” that Washington and our communities need.
Sincerely,
Michael Craw
MPA Director