{"id":2430,"date":"2024-06-03T09:01:45","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T16:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/?p=2430"},"modified":"2024-06-03T09:01:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T16:01:45","slug":"spring-2024-directors-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/spring-2024-directors-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring 2024 Director&#8217;s Message"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">MPA Director\u2019s Letter<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">MPA Program Newsletter<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Spring 2024<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Greetings Friends and Alumni of Evergreen\u2019s Master of Public Administration Program,<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">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.\u00a0 They join the over one-thousand alumni of our program who work to make our communities better and more equitable places for us all.\u00a0 We celebrate their accomplishments at this year\u2019s Commencement and MPA hooding ceremonies on June 13 and 14.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In addition to our graduates\u2019 successes, Evergreen\u2019s MPA program recognizes Virginia Cross of Muckleshoot as our 2024 MPA Public Official of the Year.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0 For over four decades, Virginia\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Virginia\u2019s service models the dedication to public service to which our graduates aspire, and thus we are pleased to recognize her accomplishments at this year\u2019s MPA hooding ceremony as well. You will find more details Virginia\u2019s accomplishments further down in this newsletter.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I am also eager to share news about change in our MPA program staff.\u00a0 In February, our program said farewell to MPA Assistant Director and program alum Marcia Zitzelman.\u00a0 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\u2019s Provost and President.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">While we were sad to see Marcia leave, we are very happy to welcome Justin \u201cJC\u201d Core as the new MPA Assistant Director supporting the Olympia cohorts.\u00a0 JC brings decades of experience in higher education student affairs, most recently as the director and lead faculty for Lower Columbia College\u2019s bachelors program in Organizational Leadership and Technical Management.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">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!\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Over the past two years, Meghan has served as the MPA program\u2019s 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.\u00a0 I am very much looking forward to resuming my duties in the classroom under Meghan\u2019s leadership.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">As always, we remain grateful for your engagement with and support of Evergreen\u2019s 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 <\/span><a href=\"mailto:mpa@evergreen.edu\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">mpa@evergreen.edu<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0 You, our alumni, play a huge role in the continued success of our MPA program and in making sure that we continue to \u201cbe the change\u201d that Washington and our communities need.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335559740&quot;:300}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Michael Craw<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">MPA Director<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335559740&quot;:300}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335559740&quot;:300}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MPA Director\u2019s Letter\u00a0 MPA Program Newsletter\u00a0 Spring 2024\u00a0 \u00a0 Greetings Friends and Alumni of Evergreen\u2019s Master of Public Administration Program,\u00a0 As we come to the end of the 2023-24 academic year, I am pleased to let you know that 38&#8230; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/spring-2024-directors-message\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/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":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430"}],"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=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2431,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions\/2431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}