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summer 2003 newsletter

A Newsletter
For UNCP Political Science & Public Administration Alumni

Summer 2003

Vol. 5 No.1

 

POLITICAL SCIENCE TODAY AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT PEMBROKE

From The Chair
Dr. Robert Schneider

It has been well over two years since we have communicated with our alumni in the form of a new edition of the departmental newsletter. The major reason for that is we have been incredibly involved in historic departmental and program related growth.

The department has grown to nine faculty members with one or two more new positions expected over the next couple of years. We have experienced enrollment growth as both the university and the department are at all time highs. In addition, our graduate program in
public administration continues to expand, all the way to China in fact!
UNCP and your Department of Political Science and Public Administration began an international program of historic proportions in the fall of 2002.

We are offering our master’s degree in public administration at the Chinese University of Mining and Technology (CUMT). This university is located in Central China (Xuzhou,
population six million). We will be offering the MPA at a second university in China
(China Institute of Science and Technology in Beijing) beginning in the fall of 2003. A third university in China is already negotiating to acquire the program as well.

Dr. Giannatasio and I made our first trip to China during the summer of 2002 to do some administrative work associated with the startup of our program. All of our faculty will be traveling to and teaching courses in China as a part of this program. For more information about this exciting development, read the story in this newsletter.

As always, we invite all of our alumni to keep us informed on their activities so that we can share them in these newsletters.
We sincerely want to know what you are doing in your careers and lives. We also hope that you continue to have an interest in your old department. It is an exciting time, a time of growth, and a time of historic accomplishment for us. I am proud of our progress and the work of our faculty. I hope you are too! It is surely the most exciting time in the life of this department.

Enjoy this edition of your PSPA Newsletter!

New Faculty

Two new colleagues have joined the Political Science and Public Administration faculty since our last newsletter two and one-half years ago.

Dr. William Albrecht joined the PSPA faculty as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2002. Dr. Albrecht is a new Ph.D. from Southern University with an expertise in public policy. He will teach undergraduate and graduate courses in public policy and public finance. He earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Southern University. Bill and his wife Dawn have moved to Lumberton and are thrilled to be a part of the UNCP and PSPA family. Bill, whose present scholarship focuses on research in the public pension arena, has very quickly established himself as a popular professor and colleague.

Dr. Carolyn Thompson joined the PSPA faculty as a Full Professor in the fall of 2000. Dr. Thompson earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1990. Prior to her arrival at UNCP, she was a professor and Founding Director of the Master of Health Administration program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Carolyn also serves as the Dean of the UNCP Honors College. Her record of research and publication in the field of public health policy is an impressive addition to the department. Carolyn teaches undergraduate courses in the American Government sub-field and graduate courses in Health Administration and Organizational Behavior.

Joining us in the fall of 2003 will be
Dr. Andreas Broscheid. Look for his profile in the next PSPA newsletter.

Faculty News

Dr. Nicholas R. Giannatasio was named as the new Director of the Masters Program in Public Administration in the fall 2001. He replaced the Founding Director of the MPA program,
Dr. Dan Barbee. Dr. Barbee has decided to devote himself to teaching and research as he moves into the next phase of his career. PSPA wishes to express its gratitude to Dan for his hard work to establish the graduate program. In a short time, it has become one of the most successful and exciting programs on campus.

Dr. Mike Hawthorne, Dr. Frank Trapp, and Dr. Nick Giannatasio have completed preparation and training to provide Certified Public Management Training at UNCP for the state of North Carolina. CPM is a national certificate program, and UNCP is now one of only three places in the state where state and local administrators may receive such certification.

Dr. Robert Schneider and Dr. Nick Giannatasio went to Mainland China in June 2002 to complete the arrangements for offering the MPA at the China University of Mining and Technology in Xuzhou. There trip, which began with a stop in Hong Kong, ended in Beijing where they began negotiations to offer the MPA at the China Institute of Science and Technology.

Dr. Robert Schneider has a new publication. His article entitled “Hazard Mitigation and Sustainable Community Development” appeared in the International Journal of Disaster Prevention and Management (vol. 11, no. 2), June 2002.

Dr. Carolyn Thompson published a coauthored article with Rosemary Chaudry and William P. Brandon. The article, entitled “Caring for Patients Under Medicaid Managed Care: Perspectives of Primary Care Physicians,” appeared in the Journal of Qualitative Health Research
(vol. 13) 2002.

Dr. Nick Giannatasio has a 2002 publication as well. His article “Worms and Coffee: Municipal Consolidation in the South” was published in the Public Administration Quarterly, fall 2002.

PSPA AND MPA ARE GOING TO CHINA!

In addition to our report, read the press release (including photos) from University Newswire
http://www.uncp.edu/news/2002/china_masters_prog.htm

Below: Dr. Schneider and Dr. Giannatasio at China University of Mining and Technology

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and the Department of Political Science and Public Administration will offer UNCP’s Master of Public Administration degree at two Chinese universities beginning in the fall of 2002. The first courses taught in China will be at the China University of Mining and Technology in Xuzhou, a large city in Central China. Beginning in the fall of 2003, the program will also be offered at the China Institute of Science and Technology in Beijing.

PSPA Chair Robert Schneider is quoted in the UNCP news release as saying “China is a developing country in the process of modernization…It is a society in transition. Our task is to assist in the training of Chinese public management professionals and to thereby ease this transition through the introduction of public sector techniques appropriate for a thriving market economy.”

Dr. Carolyn Thompson, who will teach one of the first courses in China, said “Chinese students are eager to learn about Western practices in public management and to apply them to their rapidly changing governmental system.”

MPA Director, Dr. Nicholas Giannatasio notes that the “faculty are very excited about teaching in China. The teaching facilities are state of the art,” he said. “They have high-tech lecture facilities. We will be able to utilize Power Point presentations in a theater-like environment.”

China, as it transforms itself to a market based economy and becomes a more open society, has decided that it needs to learn Western management techniques in both business and public administration. A shortage of trained academics, and an absence of such programs in China, has resulted in efforts by China to import the expertise it needs in these critical management areas. This is a time of historic change in China, and PSPA is thrilled to be a part of it.

Eight courses will be taught by your PSPA faculty over a two-year period, and four courses will be offered by Chinese faculty. Two PSPA faculty will offer courses each semester. The semester will begin with ten weeks of online instruction and conclude with a three-week visit to China by the faculty to conduct intensive class sessions with their Chinese students.
This method of product delivery may be considered a combination of online instruction and traditional seminar.

Dr. Schneider and Dr. Giannatasio traveled to China over the summer of 2002 to handle administrative matters associated with the startup of the program at China University of Mining and Technology and to tour the second site in Beijing. They also traveled extensively throughout the country. Highlights included a brief stop over in Hong Kong, a meeting with business and provincial leaders in Nanjing, and taking in the sights from Hong Kong to Central China all the way to Beijing in the North.

Visit the departmental homepage and see a Power Point slide show of photographs from the Schneider/Giannatasio trip to China. www.uncp.edu/pspa

Dr. Schneider at the Great Wall

Alumni News

We want to encourage you to submit your news and tell us how you are doing in your careers and lives. You may submit these online to departmental secretary Effie Locklear at effie.locklear@uncp.edu or by snail mail to Ms. Effie Locklear, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, UNCP. P.O. Box 1510, Pembroke, NC 28372-1510.

The Department of Political Science and Public Administration is pleased to announce and CONGRATULATES the following graduates:

Brian Andrew Bell – Public Administration
Brian R. Brock – Political Science
Derek Miles Cole – Political Science
Misty Fernandez – Public Administration
David Graham – PreLaw
Rennie Harrington – Political Science
Danielle Vedette Hiraldo – PreLaw
Raquel Monice Leake –
Public Administration
Sophia Ann Lopez Klesener – PreLaw
Teresa Martin – International Studies
Tamara A. Oxendine – Political Science
Jennifer Prevost – Public Administration
Dana Katherine Reece – PreLaw

Outstanding Senior Award

Rennie Harrington of Windsor, NC is the recipient of the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award. A Political Science major, Rennie is currently living at home with her family. She enjoys reading and relaxing in her free time. Her plans are to attend graduate school in the near future.

If you would like to be a partner in the department’s efforts to serve today’s students, please contribute to the political science fund. Your check, made payable to the UNCP FOUNDATION INC. should also carry the notation POLITICAL SCIENCE FUND. You will receive a receipt for tax purposes. NOTE: For CHANCELLOR’S CLUB MEMBERS, or future members, any and all monies designated to the political science fund will count toward the $1,000 per year club membership requirement. Thank you for your generosity.

Money contributed to the political science fund will be used to:

• Help fund student travel for academic competitions (e.g. Model UN) or academic conferences
• Provide stipends for students serving as research assistants
• Purchase computer software or materials for a department resource center
• Support student learning and scholarly activities
• Help, where needed and possible, defray cost of student publications.

----------------------------Detach Here-----------------------------------------
POLITICAL SCIENCE FUND

Name _____________ Date_________ Class ______________

Address ___________________________________________________

Amount:      $25          $50             $75            $100               Other

Make Check payable to: UNCP FOUNDATION INC/political science fund

Mail To:
UNCP FOUNDATION INC
UNC PEMBROKE
PO BOX 1510
PEMBROKE, NC 28372-1510

Updated: Monday, June 30, 2008

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