by Michael Craw, MPA Director<\/p>\n\n\n\n
June 8, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are coming to the close of the academic year in a time that will surely be one of the most noteworthy in our lives. The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted how we work, relax, and relate to each other. As a public administration professor, one thing that stands out to me has been the public-spirited nature with which so many of us have embraced these changes and the accompanying challenges in our lives. The public and personal costs of social distancing are daunting and we may pay those costs for a long time. Yet we all bear these costs in recognition that we are not just protecting ourselves but protecting others. When we recognized that we had the health care skill and technology but not the capacity to save people affected by Covid-19, we have together taken the steps needed to keep our communities within that capacity so as many people could survive as our skill and technology allows. On behalf of Evergreen\u2019s MPA program, I thank all of our alumni, students, and their families who are mobilizing our efforts to care for each other and to continue vital public services during the pandemic. Recognizing our collective accomplishment in this heartens me and reminds us all what we can accomplish as public administration professionals when faced with a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is important to remember that while many of us are being tested we also have much to celebrate from the previous year. The Evergreen MPA Program has taught in remote format for all its courses for the spring quarter. Our Faculty, Staff, and Students had only two short weeks to make this transition happen and I am extraordinarily proud of the resilience we have all demonstrated in making the quarter a success. We are \u201cstill muddling, not yet through\u201d with changes that are not at all incremental. But if we have not yet optimized the remote learning experience, we have at least satisficed and have a basis for making improvements as we move into summer and our next academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are also proud to report that we are moving forward with our first-ever virtual MPA hooding ceremony<\/a> to honor the Spring 2020 graduating class. This spring we wished long-time Evergreen MPA faculty Cheryl Simrell King well on her retirement<\/a> and celebrate her new status as Faculty Emerita at Evergreen. We have also said farewell to MPA Assistant Director Anna Rhoads in her new position with the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, and welcomed soon-to-be MPA graduate Marcia Zitzelman<\/a> as the new Interim MPA Assistant Director for the Olympia PNAPP program. And our Faculty continue to make a difference not only to our students, but in public administration as a field of study, with new articles by Lucky Anguelov<\/a> and Meghan Doughty<\/a>, new books by Eric Trevan<\/a> and Doreen Swetkis<\/a>, completion of a fellowship in the doctoral program in public affairs at the University of Central Florida by Amy Gould<\/a> (where she also served on a dissertation committee), and public lectures by Cali Ellis<\/a> and myself<\/a>. And we join with you in celebrating the accomplishments of MPA Alumni and Students this year, including Mary Wahpat<\/a> (new Associate Judge for the Yakama Nation), Jennica Machado<\/a> (Thurston County\u2019s new economic development director), and Christine Bezanson<\/a> (new director of Results Washington).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evergreen\u2019s MPA program continues to play a leading role in shaping state, local, and tribal governments in Washington to become truly representative of the people we serve. We are proud to call all of you our alumni and continue to support you as you fulfill a mission to \u201cbe the change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Michael Craw, MPA Director June 8, 2020 We are coming to the close of the academic year in a time that will surely be one of the most noteworthy in our lives. The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted how… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1951,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions\/1951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}