The Evergreen State College

Masters Program in Public Administration

2003-2004

Annual Report

Message from the Coordinator

The Evergreen State College Masters Program in Public Administration completed a highly successful 2003-2004 academic year. We began the year with 45 new students at our orientation on September 15, 2003, with State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler giving a fine address on the importance of public service. On June 13, 2004 we celebrated the graduation of 32 students, including 13 from our first cohort of students in the tribal governance concentration. Pearl Capoeman-Baller, leader of the Quinault Indian Nation, gave a thoughtful address to our graduates at a very successful hooding ceremony.

This report summarizes our important accomplishments last year as well as data from student surveys that provide a snapshot of their satisfaction with and feedback about the program. A list of the key accomplishments is included on page 2, and our organizational goals for last year, and the upcoming academic year 2004-05 are included on page **.. I am pleased with the progress we have made in implementing our revised curriculum and new organizational structure. Our faculty, staff, and advisory board members have worked hard on the redesign and redirection of the program, and our high enrollment figures and strong levels of student satisfaction suggest that these changes are moving us in the right direction.

My thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the program this year, and specifically thank Dave Finnell and Mary McGhee for their assistance with this report.

If you have any questions about the program or feedback on this report, please contact me at 360-867-6616 or geril@evergreen.edu.

Larry Geri

MPA Coordinator

Program Mission

The mission of The Evergreen State College Master of Public Administration (MPA) program is to provide high-quality professional education to students pursuing careers within government agencies, tribal governments and non-profit organizations. We are committed to preparing students to seek democratic, equitable, and practical solutions to public problems by embedding issues of social justice, social change, and democratic governance throughout our program. We seek to develop leaders who think analytically, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively as they strive to make a difference in public service. Toward those ends, we offer an academic program leading to the degree of Master of Public Administration.

Primary Accomplishments in 2003-2004

People

We hired a new Associate Coordinator, Mary McGhee, who learned the job quickly and is performing at a high level.

We brought in several fine new faculty to teach in the program. Dick Cushing taught Financial Management, and Joan LaFrance taught Human Resources.

For the upcoming academic year, we have hired Marc Baldwin to fill in for Gail Johnson while she is on leave during the upcoming year; he will teach 2nd year core with Cheryl Simrell King. Colleen Gillespie, former executive director of the Community Foundation for South Sound, will teach nonprofit management. Ann Daley of Evergreen will teach a course on collective bargaining, and Faith Trimble (an MPA grad) and Jeanne Ward will teach project management.

Publications and Scholarship

Cheryl Simrell King completed her latest book, Transformational Public Service: Portraits of Theory in Practice, which will be published by M.E. Sharpe in January, 2005. Congratulations, Cheryl!

Cheryl also published an article in Administrative Theory and Praxis entitled, “The scholastic is political: A response to Michael Spicer.”

Enrollment and Program Data

By early May of this year we completed our admissions for the regular cohort, the earliest we have closed admissions in the last 10 years.

Student satisfaction with our course offerings and with their overall experience in the program remained high.

Program Administration

Our advisory board met twice and gave us fine counsel on the current and future direction of the program. We thank them for the support they have provided to the program.

We completed an overhaul of the MPA webpage, thanks to the assistance of Susan Bustetter and her assistants. Check it out at: http://www.evergreen.edu/mpa/home.htm.

We began a planning process that will provide incoming students each year with two years of known curricula in the program, plus a tentative plan for a third year. Thanks to Gail Johnson for her work on this process.

Our Research Assistant this year, MPA student Dave Finnell, consistently provided outstanding assistance to me, Mary and our other faculty.

Other Activities

We began a relationship with the Hyogo Prefecture Policy Studies Association (HPPSA), in conjunction with the Evergreen Chapter of ASPA. We will devote a portion of our website to cataloging websites and academic studies on policy and public administration issues of interest to HPPSA members.

We had an effective presence at the ASPA conference in Portland, Oregon. Gail Johnson and I participated in a panel on human resources in the public sector; Cheryl Simrell King also facilitated a panel.

Our alumni group sponsored several activities and began to raise funds for student scholarships, thanks to their time and energy and Nita Rinehart’s guidance.

We successfully sponsored several public events, including a symposium on “Women and Balance” (in conjunction with ASPA) organized by Gail Johnson and Joan Bantz.

Curriculum update

This was the first year in which we fully implemented our revised curriculum, which features first and second year core programs plus a series of electives (for full details on the new curriculum, see http://www.evergreen.edu/mpa/progoverview.htm). The curriculum is shown in Table 1 below. Dick Cushing, former City of Olympia City Manager (financial management) and Joan LaFrance, an evaluation consultant (Human Resources) taught new electives for us that were fine additions to our course line up.

We began a planning process that will enable us to have two years of curriculum thoroughly planned at the start of each academic year, which will greatly ease student curriculum planning. Thanks to Gail Johnson for her work on that planning project.

This year for the first time we offered the second year core as a three-quarter, 12-credit program. Students reaction to this model was generally very favorable.

For the upcoming academic year we hired Marc Baldwin, Associate Commissioner of Washington State Employment Security, as a visitor to teach second year core with Cheryl Simrell King. Marc is currently Associate Commissioner of the Washington Employment Security Department. He holds an MPA from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Table 1. MPA Program Curriculum 2003-2004. All programs/courses are for 4 credits unless noted otherwise.

Fall 2003	Winter 2004	Spring 2004	Summer 2004
Geri & King & Egawa Tribal: Moon-Stumpff & Geri	Geri & King & Egawa Tribal: Moon-Stumpff & Geri	Johnson & King Tribal: King/Moon-Stumpff	N/A
Johnson & Rinehart	Johnson & Bantz	Johnson & Bantz	N/A
Foundations of Public Policy: Bantz So You Want to Run a Non-Profit? Bantz Public Law: Rinehart Tribal Concentration IV: Moon-Stumpff & Parker Human Resources: Johnson Political Context of State Government: Karen Fraser	Health Care Reform: Bantz Advanced Research Methods: King Fiscal Policy: Rinehart Tribal Concentration V : Moon-Stumpff & Parker Organizational Development & Change: Johnson Conflict Resolution: Helena Meyer-Knapp	Tribal Capstone: Moon-Stumpff & Parker On-Campus Capstone: Rinehart & King Comparative Health Care: Bantz Financial Management: Dick Cushing Poverty Policy: Johnson	Tribes & Natural Resources: Moon-Stumpff Grant Writing: Geri Putting Practices to Work, King

We will also welcome Colleen Gillespie, former executive director of the Community Foundation for South Sound, and currently a broker for Smith Barney, Inc. to teach nonprofit management. and Faith Trimble, a consultant and graduate of our program, will teach a course on project management as well as our first offering in the Extended Education program. Ann Daley, Vice President for Finance and Administration at Evergreen, will also teach a course on collective bargaining.

Enrollment Data

Table 1 shows data on enrollments and the number of program graduates last year.

Our enrollments have continued to increase, particularly measured on a headcount, or per student basis. We believe this reflects several factors. These include the additional students in the tribal concentration, the very positive image of the program in the community and region, and the effects of the changes in the program implemented over the past two years

Table 1. Enrollment, faculty and degree data. (Note: Faculty data reflect only FULL-TIME faculty assigned to the program and includes director at .5 FTE; degrees awarded in 2002-2003 are pending). FTE= Full time equivalent, calculated at 1=10 credits.

*Spring quarter data not included.

1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004
Average FTE enrollment	59	57	47	52	71	70*
Average quarterly headcount	72	72	57	58	96	101*
Degrees granted	26	39	30	24	33	32
Faculty	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	5.5	5.5

We continue to define full time enrollment as 8-credits per quarter. The state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board defines full time at the graduate level as 10 credits. In addition, we have a high and fluctuating proportion of our students attending part-time, at 4 credits per quarter. As a result of these factors, our “headcount” versus “FTE” enrollment figures diverge significantly.

Student Surveys

This year we extensively surveyed both cohorts of students. The goal was to gather demographic data, discover how satisfied they are with the program, and search for areas in need of improvement. This year’s survey instruments were extensively revised from earlier versions and should provide useful baseline data for comparison in subsequent years. Surveys were administered in late spring quarter 2004; we obtained responses from 14 members of the tribal cohort, 27 first year students, and 17 second year students.

The survey data suggest a high level of student satisfaction with the program and our faculty. Table 3 shows responses to the question, “How satisfied are you with the MPA program so far?” Student satisfaction is particularly high in the tribal cohort and was somewhat lower in the 1st year cohort.

Table 3. Responses to survey question 18 on satisfaction with the MPA program. (Note: no respondents checked the “not very satisfied or not at all satisfied or no opinion categories).

Tribal, n=14	First year, n=27 Second year, n=17

Very Satisfied	61.5% (8)	22.2% (6)	23.5% (4)
Satisfied	38.5 % (5)	55.6% (15)	70.6% (12)
Neutral	0.0%	22.2% (6)	5.9% (1)
No response	1	0	0

Over 90 percent of respondents (from all 3 groups) said that they are satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of instruction; 84% said they are satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of faculty feedback on their work. Further, 86% said they are satisfied or very satisfied with the timeliness of faculty feedback on their work. This latter accomplishment is quite impressive when you consider that faculty may have up to 75 students in one quarter!

Other highlights from the survey results:

Our part-time option has proved popular. 53% of all current MPA students said that they will take three to four years to complete the program, indicating that they are on a part-time track.

84% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their own progress in reaching their academic goals.

67% of respondents believe that the ability to create some aspects of course content greatly help them meet their learning goals.

The MPA program, in step with Evergreen’s multicultural philosophy, strives to improve cross-cultural communication. The survey results suggest that this is important to students as well. When asked to what extent students from diverse backgrounds have helped the respondents meet their learning goals, 60% said either a great or very great extent.

This year’s survey also showed us areas requiring improvement. In the non-tribal cohorts, 74% of first-year students and 94% of second-year students revealed that they expected more material on tribal governance. Responding to this result, in a separate survey administered by tribal program faculty to the tribal cohort, students were asked about options for interacting with non-tribal cohorts. Suggestions ranged from combining selected Saturday classes, sharing special lectures/workshops or opening certain quarters of the tribal concentration to non-tribal cohort members as an elective. In response to these concerns, we are planning a joint Saturday class session during fall quarter, and will consider similar events for winter and spring.

Tribal Governance Concentration

The tribal governance concentration concluded a productive year with the graduation of 13 students from the program in June. This continues to be the only program of its kind in the U.S. Linda Moon Stumpff taught the second year core to the cohort along with Larry Geri (fall and winter) and Cheryl Simrell King, and the concentration and capstone courses along with Alan Parker. As was noted in the survey responses section above, the students were generally highly satisfied with the program and faculty performance.

We are now completing recruitment of the second cohort of tribal students, who will complete the program during the 2004-05 and 2005-05 academic years. In late July we received the exciting news that the concentration would be granted funds through the Higher Education Coordinating Board’s high-demand enrollments initiative. They initially funded the program for an enrollment of 25 FTE (about 31 students). The initial commitment to the concentration through this funding mechanism is for one-year; with sufficient enrollment the funding is likely to be extended.

Faculty Issues

Our faculty self-directed workteam completed a second successful year. We continued to learn more about what was required to effectively and efficiently operate and make decisions using this form of governance. In particular, we learned that we need shorter, more frequent meetings, more communication from the Coordinator to team members about what is happening on a week-to-week basis, and

During the 2002-03 year we found that a 28-credit faculty workload was not sustainable, particularly given the additional governance responsibilities we collectively and individually took on at the beginning of the year. We returned the level to 24 credits; most faculty will teach two, 4-credit programs/courses per quarter. We also agreed to leave the coordinator’s workload at half that level, or 12 credits per year.

We discovered late in the year that the position description for the MPA Director has not been changed to reflect our preferred title, MPA Coordinator. We will work with the agenda committee this year to make this change in the Faculty Handbook.

FACULTY PROJECTS

In addition to their instructional duties, MPA faculty led projects outside the classroom.

Nita Rinehart delivered a workshop entitled “Effective Communication with Legislators” to several groups, including government and nonprofit agency staff, volunteer advocates and interested citizens. Topics included: how the legislature makes decisions, communicating with legislators and their staff, and how to write and deliver effective testimony. She also held this workshop at the Washington State Public Ports Conference. All proceeds from the workshops went to the MPA scholarship fund.

The MPA program and the Evergreen Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration offered a day-long workshop entitled, “Today’s Women! Balancing the Personal, Community and Work.” Sixty participants attended and participated in one of four concurrent seminars, led by local civic and nonprofit leaders and MPA faculty. The keynote speaker was Ann Daley, Evergreen’s Vice President for Finance and Administration. Thanks to Gail Johnson, Joan Bantz and Mary McGhee for organizing this event.

Larry Geri, MPA Coordinator, held several training workshops on performance measurement and evaluation. He spoke to many local nonprofits who applied for funding from United Way of Thurston County as well as for the Washington Gear Up program. These training sessions, which were invaluable to those in attendance, helped agencies navigate increasingly comprehensive funding applications requiring performance measurement information.

MPA Alumni Association

Our department values outreach to the local community, and the MPA Alumni Association is a great help in this effort. Working together with MPA faculty, the MPA Alumni Association held its first professional development seminar on the evening of June 15, 2004. The event took place at Plenty Restaurant in Olympia and was attended by 17 people. The topic was the role of ethics in public service, with keynote speakers Dr. Cheryl Simrell-King (MPA faculty) and Captain Brian Jones, Commander of Washington State Highway Patrol Academy. The seminar was well-received and another is planned for September on Washington’s civil service reform process.

MPA Program Goals and Accomplishments for 2003-04

Goal	Status
1. Admit a full cohort of students for 2004-05 by May 1st, 2004	Accomplished, though technically we were a few days late.
2. Successful completion of the second year of our revised curriculum, including the second year of the first cohort of tribal students.	Accomplished.
3. We will continue to improve the marketing of the program. We will complete a marketing plan by late October.	In process. We have a draft marketing plan that will be updated. Next year we will do several recruiting sessions at state agencies.
4. Complete preliminary evaluation of pilot program by February 1, 2004, with a more thorough evaluation completed in summer 2004.	In process. We obtained survey results from the two cohorts of students in late May. These are being analyzed now and important findings included in the program annual report.
5. Continue progress on creating an alumni association.	Accomplished. We have had several alumni functions and interest on the part of recent graduates is strong.
6. Generate outside funds to support important MPA objectives.	This continues to be a challenge. We may be able to generate some funds next year through extended ed offerings.
7. Develop a plan for the implementation of an MPA Certificate program by May 1st.	We have opted against a certificate for the time being. We will offer a series of short courses through Ext. Ed instead.
8. Continue our efforts to make the program an attractive option for TESC faculty.	This is difficult to measure. I plan to work on this more during the upcoming year.
9. Plan and execute a second joint symposium with ASPA in spring of 2004, and continue to explore options for a major on-campus MPA symposium on a topic such as health care reform.	Accomplished. We sponsored a “Women and Balance” program successful in February. We are planning a symposium for the 2004-05 academic year on collective bargaining and related topics.
10. Develop a TESC MPA presence at the ASPA national conference in Portland, Oregon in spring 2004.	Accomplished. While we didn’t have a program booth, Cheryl, Gail and Larry took part in panels or presentations.

Tentative MPA Program Goals for 2004-2005

1. Recruit a full class by May 1, 2005.

2. Obtain long-term funding for the tribal concentration and hire an additional faculty to teach in that concentration.

3. Effectively implement agreed upon changes in the operations of the MPA team.

4. Formally change the title of program chair from Director to Coordinator.

5. Successfully offer several short courses through TESC’s Extended Education program.

6. Develop and deliver a symposium in mid-year that will be linked to our extended ed offerings, likely focused on collective bargaining.

7. Continue to provide a high quality academic program, as measured by student satisfaction and other indicators.

8. Hire a new MPA faculty member.

9. Continue to raise the profile of the program in the region.

10. Improve the integration between the two cohorts of students

Appendix: Faculty public service

Gail Johnson

1. Gail provided significant support for the Facing Our Future Forum held on October 27, 2003, an event sponsored by the Community Partnership group that sponsored the Community Assessment completed in June 2003. Over 200 people participated. She contracted with several MPA students to facilitate the action team sessions. Facilitated the health action team session. Continued on with several MPA students who served as scribes and organizers of the action teams. I continued with the poverty action team and facilitator of the education action team throughout the year. I wrote a grant proposal for the education action team that was funded. I also worked with FOFF organizers to plan the post- forum event and strategy.

Public Service Academy. Worked with several students throughout the year on this project. This included a trip to Franklin High School, Seattle, to observe and meet with the students at the public service academy. Two students organized a community meeting, held in the legislature, as part of their capstone.

ASPA: continued as board member of the ASPA Evergreen chapter; maintained the website. Panel member at a pre-conference HR workshop at the national annual APSA conference in Portland. Co-organized a Women’s Workshop event in February at TESC.

Success by 6: reviewed study design for grant application.

Center for Community Based Learning and Action. Attended meetings, including a daylong campus compact meeting: Dialogue for Democracy.

Nita Rinehart

* Senior mediator at Thurston County Dispute Resolution Center: average one or two mediations per month;

* Workshops on legislative process: fundraiser for MPA Scholarship; Association of Washington Cities; Washington Public Port Association (also honorarium to MPA scholarship).

* Washington State Oral History Development Committee.

Cheryl Simrell King

Scholarship:

Finished book! Transformational Public Service: Portraits of Theory in Practice. M.E. Sharpe. Expected publication: January, 2005.

Article: King. C.S. (2003). The scholastic is political: A response to Michael Spicer. Administrative Theory and Praxis, 25(4). 564-573.

Continued to work toward preparing an article (targeted for Public Administration Review) in collaboration with my colleagues in the Netherlands. We plan to present the first version at a conference in Denmark in October (I don’t plan to be there – too bad!).

Public Scholarship:

“Delivering on the Promise of Public Service.” Panelist. Governor’s Leadership Conference. Lacey, WA. June, 2004. Participated in a panel with Dave Ross, Stuart Elway and Lisa Samuelson) for 250+ state-level executives.

“Ethics in Public Service.” Speaker. TESC MPA Alumni Association. June, 2004.

Guest Lecturer: “Gear Up Project.” The Evergreen State College. Prepared and delivered lecture to 100+ seventh graders visiting campus to experience college life. May, 2004.

Guest lecturer for MPA classes: Joan Bantz’s policy class; First year Core.

Self-nominated for the community representative to the Olympian editorial board – don’t know what my chances are but I said I’d do it (six month term commencing in July).

Conferences:

Public Administration Theory Conference (PAT-Net). Omaha, NE. June, 2004.

Speaker, pre-conference session for doctoral students

Roundtable Panel Participant

ASPA National Conference

Panel convener and participant

Professional Service:

Co-Chair, Public Administration Theory Network (PAT-Net) annual conference. Omaha, NE. June, 2004

Member of the Program Committee, ASPA National Conference. Portland, OR. March, 2004.

Immediate Past Chair; Conference Chair – ASPA’s Section on Women in Public Administration (SWPA).

Special Issue Editor: The Innovations Journal (special issue on citizen engagement to be published Jan, 2005).

Editorial Board: Administrative Theory & Praxis.

Referee: Administrative Theory & Praxis, Public Administration Review; Public Productivity and Management Review; American Review of Public Administration, Administration and Society as well as several political science journals.

National Council: Pi Alpha Alpha (public administration national honor society).

Local Public Service

Facilitator/participant: United Way of Thurston County’s “Facing our Future Forum.” Facilitator of the Youth (11-17) Action Group. Took lead in writing the grant to United Way to fund website development project. Will supervise project.

Research Consultant: Developmental Disabilities Council (my only paid consulting work this year)

Russ Lehman/First American Education Project: grant writing and organizational development.

Larry Geri

* Offered 4 sessions of performance measurement training to local nonprofits on behalf of United Way of Thurston County

* Gave a presentation on volunteerism and strategic management at the United Way of Washington annual meeting in Ocean Shores.

* Became a member of the United Way of Thurston County Board of Directors. In that capacity, Larry facilitated a team building exercise at the board’s annual retreat in June. He also participated as a member of the team that proposed sweeping changes to the organization’s process of collecting and allocating contributions.

* Assisted with the planning for the Facing Our Future Forum held in October 2003.

* Presented a paper at the annual meeting of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, entitled, “Fire Your Boss: Can A Self Directed Workteam Successfully Lead an MPA Program?”

Linda Moon Stumpff

1. Completed a major study on tribal fire management operations for the tribes of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Study will come out in a report for the Center for Community and Watershed Sustainability at the University of Oregon. Findings reveal high fire risk connected to rural poverty with lowered federal support and contributions.

2. Wrote and presented a paper for the "National Environmental Professionals Association annual conference in Portland. "Reweaving Earth" connected traditional philosophy and ecological knowledge as expressed in current NEPA planning documents prepared by Tribes.

3. Two tours of SPIPA students who are interested in attending Evergreen.

4. Designed and implemented annual youth practicum for Native American youth interested in natural resources careers at the Turner Ranch in N.M>La