West Virginia University Master of Public Administration (MPA) students have taken the initiative and developed their first graduate student conference.
The conference, Status of America: Changing Priorities, will be held in conjunction with the West Virginia Political Science Association and the West Virginia Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration’s annual conference held Sept. 24-25. The event registration and opening luncheon will be held at historic Hotel Morgan in downtown Morgantown. The remainder of the events will be held in the Mountainlair.
The conference will provide an opportunity for students, faculty and practitioners to present new research addressing the extensive changes that are occurring throughout aspects of American governance.
“It’s important to have events like this so that we can share information we have researched with other scholars and students,” said Maryann Meza, the MPA student who came up with the idea for the graduate student conference. “Students will get to learn about innovative research from scholars and students across the country. Faculty will get the same benefit.”
Meza was inspired by other department conferences on campus. She worked with various offices and MPA programs across the country to create the conference.
“Maryann developed the idea and voiced it to other students in the Student Association of Public Administrators,” said Jessica Weber, fellow MPA student and conference co-planner. “Maryann and I are the lead planners for the event. We plan everything from the conference budget to the meals. It’s a lot of work and takes almost a year to plan a good conference like this one.”
Research proposals supporting the conference theme have been organized into a combination of 16 panels and roundtable discussions. During the panels, each presenter will provide a 10-15 minute synopsis of their research.
Roundtable discussants will jointly address predetermined issues within a given topic.
All sessions will conclude with an audience question and answer session. Additionally, student enrichment workshops on portfolio development, interviewing techniques and conference presentation skills are planned for Friday (Sept. 25) afternoon.
“The panels will present a free flow of information,” said Karen Kunz, faculty advisor of the conference. “This is a chance for people to not only showcase their individual research but also network with other peers and scholars.”
Kunz said that having the graduate student and Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration conferences together will be more beneficial than if they had them individually. The combined keynote speakers will also add to the quality of the conference.
There will be three guest speakers at this year’s conference. Luncheon speakers will be Steven Estrada, director of the U.S. Diplomacy Center at the U.S. Department of State; and Wayne Slater, co-author of “Bush’s Brain” and senior political writer for the Dallas Morning News. The Thursday afternoon speaker will be Betty Ireland, West Virginia secretary of state from 2002 to 2006.
“This conference is meant to inspire young undergraduates, encourage graduates and connect established professionals to rising leaders. It is my hope that this conference will bring students at WVU and other universities together to continue to pursue research in their area of interest,” Weber said.
Online registration for the conference is available at the conference Web site. The cost is $25 for students and $50 for faculty and other professionals. Students and faculty should check with their departments about obtaining financial support for attendance. The deadline for registration is Sept. 21 at noon.
For more information or to submit proposals or register for the conference, visit http://publicadmin.wvu.edu/home/conference.
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jh/09/14/09
CONTACT: Maryann Meza, Student Association of Public Administrators
maryann.meza@mail.wvu.edu