About Us: Our Students
The Center for Public Administration and Policy is one department serving three campuses and three diverse student populations, together offering our MPA and PHD programs a range of perspectives on local, state, national, and cross-national public sector governance. Our MPA and PHD programs are small when compared with other top national programs, which helps to foster a strong sense of community. We pride ourselves on the strength of CPAP as a scholarly community with shared values rooted in the Constitution and traditions such as our annual High Table celebration. Most importantly, the knowledge and diversity of our students that we believe make the MPA and PHD programs exceptional. Below are profiles of a few of our current students:
MPA Students
Emily Cuykendall
Emily Cuykendall is a part-time MPA student with CPAP in Alexandria and senior analyst with Virginia Tech's Continuing and Professional Education program. CPE develops certificate programs, workshops, and graduate certificate programs geared primarily working adults. Originally from New Jersey ("Go Giants!"), she is a graduate of Miami University (Ohio) and has prior work experience in education and advertising. Emily says she chose to pursue an MPA after researching other fields, because she believed it offered a good balance of practical knowledge, theory, and attention to current policy issues. "Courses in ethics grounded in the Constitution and public policy courses provide the real world backdrop for management courses in strategic planning, HR, budgeting and organizational development," she notes. She says that she's happy she chose CPAP, because of the program's balance of academic rigor and supportive community of peers. "CPAP is an extremely supportive environment," she says, noting that this environment has helped encourage her to challenge herself without fearing failure. "I've learned a lot from my classmates. I think they are the best part of the program…whether it's a group project or an anecdote in class. We are all busy working adults dedicated to learning what we can from coursework and from each other."
Tammi Ellis
Like many CPAP students, Tammi joined the MPA with an already impressive career in local government, working for much of her career in Virginia's Stafford County. Over more than two decades, she served first in the Department of Parks & Recreation first as Assistant Director then as Director; she then served for as Human Resources Director for the county; she currently serves in the County Administrator's Office as Acting Deputy County Administrator. "Getting a master's degree has always been a personal goal for me," she says, "however, given family obligations I was only able return to school a few years ago. Since I was working in local government, public administration seemed to be a natural course and it's been interesting to learn why we do the things we do in our work." She says several things helped her decide to join the CPAP MPA program in Richmond. "I liked the idea of being in a cohort atmosphere," she says, "I have enjoyed going through the program with many of the same classmates, getting to know them and learning more about them and the jobs they do. I also like the mixture of theory and practice. I think it's important to relate the public administration theory to the work experiences we have, whether our experiences are on the local, state or federal level or in the private sector. We learn from each other as much as we learn from the textbook."
Cristobal Mejia
Cristobal Mejia is a full-time MPA student with a graduate student assistantship. Prior to joining the CPAP MPA program, Cristobal worked in a variety of governmental sectors, focusing on agriculture, international trade, and the environment. In El Salvador, he worked as an environmental specialist at the Office of Politics and Strategies of the Agriculture Ministry, and as a national liaison for programs and projects. He also worked at the Organization of American States as a consultant for the Office of Sustainable Development. His work has taken him to Japan, Chile, the United States and all Central America countries on job missions. Cristobal is pursuing his MPA in order to develop the analytical and management skill essential for success in a competitive field. He notes, "The MPA offers an excellent complement to my science background and will strengthen my administrative and managerial skills." As he nears the completion of his MPA, Cristobal emphasizes the value of the CPAP program in his professional development. "CPAP is not only a center for public affairs and policy, but also an excellent school that helps shape up the leaders of tomorrow," he says. It provides leadership skills, knowledge, and discipline necessary for adapting to new work environments and facing new professional challenges. I recommend CPAP because of its excellent professors and friendly multicultural environment.
PHD Students
John L. O'Brien
John L. O'Brien
A PHD student at CPAP's campus in Northern Virginia, Lieutenant Colonel John O'Brien has a truly eclectic background. He received a BA in 1976 from Roosevelt University with a double major in Public Administration and Music with the goal of working in arts administration. "Like many plans made when one is young," he notes, "this never happened. I worked as a free-lance musician/teacher, toured, and finally enlisted in the Air Force band." He earned an MPA from Governors State University under the instruction of, "a wonderful teacher and scholar named Paul Green," whom he notes is a close friend of CPAP's own John Rohr and introduced him to the work of another CPAP faculty member Charles Goodsell. "During my 20+ years as an officer, I've been to war and worked for the Secretary of Defense but my best job is my current one, teaching at the National Defense University," O'Brien observes. "I've long wanted to pursue the Ph. D. but marriage, children and a military career made this impossible until my assignment to NDU. My early exposure to the works of Drs. Goodsell and Rohr made coming to CPAP a natural choice where I've been a student for three years. My scholarly interest are governemnt reform, accountability and performance management." An active member of the CPAP community, he says he appreciates the diversity of scholarship among CPAP faculty, "from inclusive mismanagement to entitlement programs. Overriding it all is a deep-rooted sense of normative public values. I always have my copy of the Constitution in my brief case."
James L. Vann
When he's not writing his dissertation, James L. Vann currently works a government analyst with the non-profit MITRE Corporation in McLean, VA. Beginning as a Presidential Management Intern with the federal government, Jim's career now spans over 25 years experience in both the public and private sectors. "Most of my professional experience has centered around government procurement programs and managing major government acquisitions," he writes. "I began the program at CPAP as a "sense-making" journey to enrich and reflect upon my professional experiences. Along the way, the program has served up a profound intellectual context for the management challenges I see facing the government every day. From CPAP's foundational context and theory courses in public administration through the capstone course and independent studies, I have developed a research interest in organizational sociology - especially how it relates to the ‘new public management.' In my dissertation research, I am seeking to develop concepts from institutional theory to help shed light on the pervasive problems of managing government contracts." Jim adds, "For me, the most valuable aspect of the CPAP program is its flexibility in offering students options to pursue studies relevant to their own interest. The program is highly recognized for its normative focus in ethics and constitutional governance. However, this is only an essential foundation from which students may continue or branch into other areas - politics, economics, program evaluation, policy analysis, management, organizational studies, and many other areas."
Beth Offenbacker
Beth Offenbacker is a CPAP PhD student in Northern Virginia and an active member of the CPAP community. “Pursuing my PhD has been a dream of mine since I was a girl,” she remembers. “I always liked reading and writing and discussing new ideas, so scholarly work seemed like a natural fit. Becoming a professional and subsequently a college instructor made me realize how much more there was to learn about social science. Progressing towards my PhD has provided me with a means for exploring new ideas and different paths to tackle complex challenges in my work. My scholarly interests include governance and public management, participatory practices and comparative public administration.” Prior to joining the PhD program, Beth established a consulting practice working primarily to local governments on participatory processes related to land use, transportation and environmental projects. She also started an online training company for people who do public involvement around the world as part of an emerging interest in comparative practice. Her professional experience also includes a variety of public affairs and public relations positions in the public and private sector. “By far the most valuable aspect of my experience at CPAP has been the ability to place the work that I do with citizens and stakeholders into the context of a constitutional republic,” she writes. “I have also very much enjoyed the supportive atmosphere in Northern Virginia that’s facilitated between faculty, alumni and students, and the ability to connect through speakers and other events with other public administration scholars. In my opinion, CPAP’s emphasis on ‘making democracy work in a constitutional republic’ is exactly what makes the program so distinctive. It makes the important connection between democratic principles and democratic practices.”
Kathryn Webb Farley
Kathryn Webb Farley was drawn to the CPAP PHD program in Blacksburg through questions raised by her previous career in fundraising at the Smithsonian Institution, University of Virginia, and Virginia's Fork Union Military Academy. She began as a part-time student in Virginia Tech's Masters in Public and International Affairs program in Alexandria. She is now a full-time student at the Blacksburg campus and a Graduate Assistant in the Office of the Senior Fellow for Resource Development. As a graduate assistant she works with the university's Arts Initiative to build a world-class Center for the Arts on the Blacksburg campus. "I'm pursuing a PhD to explore questions related to fundraising by public entities. Specifically, how do the financial and operating pressures on these public entities create multiple organizational identities, affect service provision, and ultimately relate to questions of democratic governance," she writes. "Academically, the normative foundations of CPAP make it distinctive as a scholarly institution. My education at CPAP has given me a deeper understanding of the issues administrators face in making policy decisions in a democratizing Republic." An active member of the CPAP community in Blacksburg, she notes, "I believe that the strength of CPAP as a community is its distinctive culture. I spoke about this at High Table, our premier cultural event, and I don't think I can say it any better than I did then - 'This culture is built from our willingness to listen to others and respect ideas which may stem from a paradigm different than our own. It comes from our ability to engage in lively debates about the field of public administration and shake hands as friends at the end of the discussion, although we may not agree. It comes from our enthusiasm for being radicals and pushing the envelope despite what others may think of us. It comes from our belief that we should not only talk about what is, but about what ought to be. It comes from the lasting friendships built over glasses of wine and, yes, maybe some CPAP kool-aid. This is what has made CPAP such a great place to learn from our faculty, from our predecessors and from each other as students. It is what has made us all "CPAPers" for life. It is a culture that truly believes in celebrating the life of the mind.'"
Susan Maybaumwisniewski
Susan Maybaumwisniewski is a part time doctoral candidate in Public Administration. Having spent over thirty years in public service, she is enjoying learning about the theory behind much of her practical experience. Her primary interest is in public management and leadership, perhaps a reflection of her experience as a retired Navy officer. She chose the Virginia Tech program because of their emphasis on both theory and practice, particularly with the diverse working student body population who bring a wide array of public management experience to the classroom. Presently employed in a not for profit, she finds the normative approach Virginia Tech uses is an excellent platform to frame this very diverse and useful field.