City Fellows

City of Seattle Evans School Municipal Government Fellows

Congratulations to the five students chosen to work this summer for the City of Seattle as Evans School Municipal Government Fellows (pictured left to right):

• Dante Taylor: Community Development Project, Office of Policy and Management
• Leah Tivoli: Parks Department Project, Department of Finance
• Allison Patzwald: Mayor's Office for Senior Citizens
• Chelsea Levy: Streetcar Project, Department of Transportation
• Craig Benjamin: Center City Open Space Plan, Department of Planning and Development

CRPE Media

Center on Reinventing Public Education Research Gains National Attention

Teacher Salary Gaps

A study documenting significant teacher salary gaps by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington has bolstered a new proposal in Congress regarding how the No Child Left Behind Act distributes money to school districts.

Kevin Carey, manager of the nonpartisan think tank Education Sector, mentioned this study on September 10 during his Congressional testimony. Two days later CRPE Director Paul T. Hill was quoted about the study's effect on Capitol Hill in an article in Education Week, a nonprofit trade paper based in Washington, D.C. (Note: Education Week's website requires free registration to view articles.)

Charter Schools

Hill was also recently quoted in a different Education Week article about how to compare the academic merits of a charter school with regular public schools.

Teacher Certification and Pay Reform

CRPE Research Associate Professor Dan Goldhaber was also quoted recently about required teacher certification and pay reform in an August article in Education Week, a blog entry on Huffington Post, and an online article in The American, a magazine project by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

District Funding of Individual Schools

CRPE researchers Marguerita Roza, Kacey Guin, Betheny Gross, and Scott Deburgomaster also had an article published in the most recent edition of Education Next discussing a research project on the discrepancies in funding among Texas public school districts. Education Next is a publication of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Graduation 2007

Congratulations Evans School Class of 2007

Congratulations to the more than 170 graduates and fellows in the Evans School Class of 2007. Held June 8, the Convocation Ceremony in Kane Hall featured a convocation address from City of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Congratulations to our award winners!

• Leslie Dozono and Brian Chung: Daniel J. Evans Student Leadership Award
• Wendy Inoyue: Betty Jane Narver Award for the best Public Service Clinic degree project
• Amy Webb and Sophia Namy: Pealey Prize for the best degree project

Photos from Convocation are available to view, download, or print.

Hickey Video

Evans School Student Jon Hickey Wins Big on YouTube

Jon Hickey, an Evans School MPA (Masters in Public Administration) student, was selected as the winner of the "MPA/MPP You Tube Public Policy Challenge: Change the World in 1 Minute" contest sponsored by NASPAA, the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.

Jon's cartoon video discusses one of today's hottest political topics, immigration. Read NASPAA's press release for more information on the contest, judges, and other winners.

As the winner of this contest, Jon will receive a $1,000 cash prize and will be invited to attend NASPAA's Annual Conference in Seattle this October, where his video will be shown during the awards luncheon.

For more information, please contact Molly McCarthy.

Mayorship for Two Alums

Two Puget Sound Cities Choose MPA Alums as Mayor

Alum John Marchione (MPA '87) recently took office after being elected the mayor of Redmond. In an interview with The Seattle Times, Marchione talked about how he wants to encourage open government and plans he has for the city.

Alum Jim Pearman (MPA '05) was recently appointed mayor of Mercer Island by its city council. Pearman, a graduate of the first Executive MPA cohort and a recruiter for the program, served on the Mercer Island City Council for six years prior to becoming mayor. Read the city's announcement of his appointment.

Nancy Bell Evans Professorship Installation

Steven Rathgeb Smith was installed as the Nancy Bell Evans Professor of Public Affairs on June 5, 2008. Smith is an internationally recognized scholar of nonprofit organizations, public and nonprofit management, and the changing roles of nonprofit organizations and government in civil society. A prolific author, his many books and articles include Nonprofits for Hire: The Welfare State in the Age of Contracting, Adjusting the Balance: Federal Policy and Victim Services, and Public Policy for Democracy.

Smith serves as the director of the Evans School's Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy and the Electronic Hallway and served as associate dean of the Evans School from 2005-2007. He is currently president of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), and was editor of ARNOVA's journal, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, from 1998-2004.

Congratulations, Professor Smith!

Presidential Management & Mayor’s Fellows

Master of Public Administration (MPA) students Saira Abbasey, Angela Grout, Denise Rodriguez, Judy Suing, and Jana Wright were chosen as 2008 Presidential Management Fellowship finalists. All five traveled to Washington, D.C., to interview with federal agencies for these two-year fellowships.

Seven MPA students were chosen for the competitive 2008 City of Seattle Mayor’s Fellows program - Emiko Atherton, Jessica Farmer, Bradley Ritter, Stephanie Jones, Shane Updike, John VanderSluis, and Michelle Zeidman.

The seven students will be working in the following city departments and agencies:

• Seattle Public Utilities
• Seattle Animal Shelter
• Parks and Recreation
• Department of Neighborhoods
• Office of Policy and Management
• Department of Transportation
• Office of Civil Rights

Ranked #3 for Faculty Scholarship

Evans School Ranked #3 for Faculty Scholarship in Public Policy by The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington (UW) was ranked third among all U.S. universities for faculty scholarly productivity in public policy in a recent index published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The ranking examines a range of factors for faculty members, including books published, journal publications, citations of journal articles, grant dollars awarded, and honors and awards.

Only Harvard University and Duke University outranked the UW Evans School in this study. The Evans School outranked several other nationally-recognized programs, including University of California at Berkeley, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Carnegie Mellon University.

• See the rankings for public policy
• See the rankings for all University of Washington programs
• Read The Chronicle of Higher Education article (Subscription required)

Value of an MPA

Norm Rice on the Value of an MPA Degree

Norman B. Rice, an Evans School alum, former Mayor of the City of Seattle, and current Distinguished Visiting Practitioner-in-Residence at the Evans School, speaks about the value of an MPA in this YouTube video created by Evans School student Jon Hickey.

This video was shot at the 2007 NASPAA Annual Conference, where Rice was inducted as an honorary member of Pi Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for public affairs and administration.

At the conference, Hickey also received an award for best video in the NASPAA/YouTube Public Policy Challenge.

Zhender Chief of Staff

Cindy Zehnder Appointed Chief of Staff for Gov. Gregoire

Governor Christine Gregoire appointed Cindy Zehnder to be her new chief of staff on September 20. Both Gregoire and Zehnder are members of the Visiting Committee for the Evans School of Public Affairs.

Zehnder, who is President and CEO of TVW, Washington's equivalent of C-Span, will replace outgoing chief of staff Tom Fitzsimmons on October 1.

"There is only one person who could have convinced me to leave TVW, and that is the governor," Zehnder said in a press release issued by Gregoire's office.

Zehnder has served as chief clerk for the Washington State House of Representatives, deputy commissioner of the Washington Employment Security Department, and numerous positions with the Teamsters Union.

Gregoire referred to Zehnder as a long-time friend in the press release from her office, and said, "Cindy's breadth of experience in the Executive Branch, the Legislature, labor, business, and media will serve Washingtonians well."

Zehnder is a two-time graduate of the University of Washington, holding a bachelor's degree in anthropology and a master's degree in educational psychology. Aside from serving on the Visiting Committee for the Evans School of Public Affairs, Zehnder previously served as a member, vice president, and president of the University of Washington (UW) Board of Regents and on the advisory boards of UW-Tacoma and the William D. Ruckelshaus Center.

Read the media coverage of Zehnder's appointment in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and The Seattle Times.