MPA Program at CCNY
New MPA Faculty Bring Firsthand Knowledge, Hands-on Experience into the Classroom
This spring, MPA students are taking a public budgeting course taught by a veteran analyst from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
They are also developing critical thinking skills with an instructor who works as a global intelligence analyst, and they are learning strategic management from the co-founder of a social impact consulting firm.
The newest MPA faculty members bring a combination of stellar academic accomplishment and ample professional experience in government, the nonprofit sector, academia, and the private sector.
Firsthand knowledge is especially important in a program that focuses on hands-on training for aspiring public managers.
“Our faculty members have cultivated expertise through both academic study and direct experience in public service,” said Acting Director Natalia Trujillo. “Their field experience helps them keep the course material current, relevant, clear, and engaged.”
Professor Jeff Holland, who holds degrees in economics and public administration, spent 26 years at the CBO in Washington, DC, where he headed the Projections Unit and oversaw many of the office’s major reports.
Holland’s course introduces core budgetary concepts and processes at the federal, state, and local level. Students learn through readings as well as group projects using online budgetary simulation software.
Professor Joel Mentor, a graduate of the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Policy at Georgetown University, is an intelligence analyst with experience in national security affairs.
Mentor teaches the students to engage skillfully in dialectical discussion, to thoroughly understand views that conflict with their own, and to structure and defend their own arguments both verbally and in writing.
“My aim is to work with students to hone their critical thinking skills and inspire them to pursue truth,” said Mentor, who is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
“I seek to get them to analyze their own assumptions, definitions, and ideas and to reflect on the differences between thinking, feeling, believing, and knowing. And, in doing so, I find that my own ideas are challenged,” Mentor said.
Strategic management, another core course in the MPA Program, introduces students to crucial skills such as leading successful teams, using innovative financial tools, and maximizing both social impact and financial sustainability.
This course is taught by Professor Carolyn Kim Allwin, a former tax attorney who co-founded the triple-bottom-line business consulting firm Elysian Advisers.
“I encourage my students to be innovative in crafting alternative solutions that disrupt traditional nonprofit and philanthropic models,” said Allwin, who holds an MBA from the Wharton School in addition to her law degree.
“I have been so inspired by the enthusiasm, insightfulness and energy with which the students approach the work of solving their communities’ greatest challenges,” Allwin said.
Another core competency for MPA students is quantitative analysis, taught by Professor Mustapha Camara, a City College-trained economist who has taught economics to students at several CUNY campuses.
Camara teaches a core set of research methods that are useful for public managers. He teaches students how to design theoretical models and compare them to empirical findings, analyze the effeciency and effectiveness of policies and programs, and communicate the results in clear, accessible language.
To prepare students for careers as public service managers requires not only knowledge and skills but also guidance from those who know what is needed to succeed in the field. These four new faculty members play this essential role for MPA students.
Interested in learning more about the MPA Program? Find out more about our faculty and courses, internship program, scholarships, and career development.