The End?

So... I may have fallen a bit behind on this blog over the last half of the semester. It's pretty easy to get caught up in projects and thinking about life after graduation.

Speaking of graduation... I graduated! This program has been an amazing journey as I'm sure many of you know or will find out. The knowledge and connections I've acquired throughout the program has been so rewarding.

If there's one thing I can leave you with, its perhaps my favorite quote (and one that was used in our graduation ceremony): ‎"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

In the meantime, my post-graduation job hunt continues. 

-James 

Reading List!

Hey everyone!

Things have been a little slow lately, I added a second job at Children's Hospital as a community relations intern so that's kept me pretty busy. Regardless, I've got a new post to write! 

Recently (and with some faculty contributions), I created a suggested reading list for MPA students looking to pick up a good book in our field. I took the idea from the UK Patterson School of Diplomacy which puts out an annual reading list every summer for its students. I'm always taking books off their list to read and figured it was about time for us to have a reading list as well. The challenge is, of course, trying to read for fun when many of us are bogged down with class readings, assignments and work. 

Best of luck on midterms!

James 

Updates from the Road to Graduation

Hello everybody!

It's getting to be about time for another update. Hopefully everyone is making it through their classes this semester; if you need any help or advice, feel free to stop by the office! I've just recently completed a project to tame the shelves of past capstone projects and portfolios--should help those of you who stop by looking for a particular thing. I've also pulled together a list of capstone projects for the past 7 years--either myself, Julie or Beth has a copy of the list, which is of great use if you're looking for particular subjects, organizations, or previous students who have worked on a certain topic. My need for organization seems to have gotten then better of me.

In other news, last week we had an amazing guest speaker in Human Resource Management--Lori Zombeck from NKADD. If you haven't had that class already, she's been one of the most valuable resources in terms of resume/cover letter development. I highly recommend talking with her!

Until next time,
James

The Beginning of the End!

Well, the first week of my last semester is in the books! It seems that this is shaping up to be a smooth sailing semester for me... just have to complete my Capstone project/portfolio and get the last bit of knowledge I need from Human Resource Management. I can't believe the end is near. 

Something I did notice from my courses though is that this semester seems to be all about expanding my "how to find a job after graduation" skills... Admittedly, they could probably use a little work. I've been keeping my eye out for opportunities, but what I really like to start doing is looking at cities on the East and West coast for opportunities. Time for a change. 

Anyhoo, the new edition of the MPA newsletter is out. You should be getting them in your classes, but if not stop by the MPA office to pick up a copy!

Until next time,

James

Winter Break is just a couple days away!

Good Morning!

Hope everyone is doing well and not having too stressful of a finals week. This is my last week working as a GA until the Spring semester starts up again, but thanks to Julie, I am able to take advantage of an awesome opportunity writing for a local city's website as they look to update and make it more attractive to residents/businesses.

How bout those finals, eh? I had a budgeting final due Monday, and though there was some procrastination mixed in there, I was able to get it done... it was definitely a challenge so hopefully that turns out okay. Otherwise, I've got Admin Law on Thursday with my (ever-growing) study guide. Should be fun. haha.

By the way, if any one out there is looking for a good book, I recommend Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. An interviewer once recommended it to me as it's a book about how to effectively community organize/effect social change and has been utilized by Obama, Clinton, and the Tea Party (among others).

Have a great winter break!

The Semester's Almost Over!

Phew. I keep being reminded that the semester is almost over... where did the time go? Pretty soon it'll be time for papers and exams to be due, somehow this semester I got lucky enough to only have exams. Personally, I'd rather have papers so much easier to write than an exam and wonder if I failed or passed.

Is any one else nearing the end of the program? When Dr. Olberding sent out the email about Capstone, another reality set in--I only have one semester left! I've talked with a few people who are finishing the program with me and everyone's still trying to figure out what they'll submit their capstone proposal about. I've been developing my idea for a while now, so I was able to submit my proposal the other day. In the spring, I will be working with a nonprofit that I volunteer for, the Nurse Advocacy Center for the Underserved (NACU), to be developing a standardized emergency management plan that can be utilized by each of the eight non-profit agencies they serve (and who are lacking in emergency management planning).

It's my hope that when I'm done either myself or future capstone students can take the project and work on developing emergency management tools that can be utilized by the underserved populations that NACU and the other nonprofits serve. Many of the underserved individuals do not have immediate access to TV or the Internet, which is where I keep being told to check for disaster planning tips/tools. There's also perhaps the opportunity to take the basic emergency management plan that I'll have created and continuously improve/update it. If this interests you and you're thinking ahead for capstone, feel free to come see me.

And lastly, I promised I'd give a shout out to Paula for always wondering when I'm going to write a new post to my blog. Thanks for the reminder!

Midterms down... What's next?

Hey everyone! Hope your semesters are off to a good start!

Can we go back to fall break? I don't know about you, but those couple of days off were quite nice! Most of us should have finished midterms by now and are eagerly anticipating our grades if we haven't gotten them back already... I can definitely say that the administrative law and budgeting exams were a challenge and I definitely thought I did terrible, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did well. Just a hint for anyone taking the courses in the future, don't neglect your readings. Your study guides should definitely focus the most on what the readings have to say about the subject.

Now that midterms are over, I've been helping Dr. Lambert pull casino revenue data to build a database of tax amounts, attendance, casino revenue, and individual payouts for the past 16 years. It's quite a daunting task as every state gaming commission has their own way of conveying the information, but it's definitely interesting to see just how profitable casinos are for municipalities.

Lastly, I just put in my graduation application the other day. It's a scary, yet exciting thought... I'll be graduating this coming May! Time has just flown by in the program, it seems like I just started it yesterday.

Stay tuned for future posts!

-James