The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance joins five other top schools of public affairs to launch the Public Affairs Diversity Alliance, a joint commitment to encourage, train, mentor, and promote scholars of public affairs and policy from underrepresented groups.
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President Ana Mari Cauce Discusses Racial Inclusion and Equity with Evans School Students
On February 25, President Ana Mari Cauce visited the Evans School’s Race and Equity in Policy and Governance class (PUBPOL 572), an elective for first-year MPA students. In her interview with Associate Professor Crystal Hall, she highlighted the University of Washington’s institutional initiatives to promote racial equity, as well as her personal and professional path to leadership in that area. In a dynamic Q&A following the interview, students were interested in how President Cauce balances the institutional focus on racial equity with other types of diversity; her recommendations for combating impostor syndrome; and, how the UW creates accountability for the academic units to meet goals of racial inclusion and equity.
Thank you, President Cauce, for having an open dialogue with our students on such an important topic.
UW News Featured Two New Studies About Seattle’s Minimum Wage
UW News today featured two new studies today about Seattle’s minimum wage.
The first study is from Evans School co-authors Heather Hill and Scott Allard (“Responding to an Increased Minimum Wage: A Mixed Methods Study of Child Care Businesses during the Implementation of Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance”), which was published in the December issue of Social Work and Society International Online Journal, “found that more than half of Seattle child care businesses were affected by increased labor costs as the policy increased to $13 per hour, and that the majority will be impacted as the policy increases to $15 per hour between 2019 and 2021.”
The second study featured today, from Evans School co-author Mark Long (“The Impact of a City-Level Minimum Wage Policy on Supermarket Food Prices by Food Quality Metrics: A Two-Year Follow Up Study”), was published last month in the online International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, overall found no significant evidence of price increases on local area supermarket food prices associated with the minimum wage ordinance.
Congrats to Professors Hill, Allard, and Long for these important bodies of research.
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Evans School Alumni Assume Prominent City Management Roles Across Pacific Northwest
Equipped with the skills and expertise they gained at the Evans School, our alumni go on to impact communities across our state and beyond. Alumna Ana Cortez (MPA ‘91) was newly sworn in as City Manager for the city of Helena, Montana, and she delivers on the Evans School’s values of integrity and collaboration. Congrats, Ana!
Cortez reflected on her new role:
“One of the wonderful things about my job is that my goals are irrelevant,” she said. “I’m here to execute the goals of the commission and the mayor. Their goals are my goals. Their vision is my vision.”
Evans School alumni can be found in city management leadership roles across the Pacific Northwest. Ray Towry (MPA ’15), City Manager of Sweet Home, Oregon; Dave Zabell (MPA ‘05), City Manager of Pasco, Washington; Michael Jones (EMPA ’15) in Blaine, Washington; and, Annette Spickard (EMPA ’16), City Manager of McCall, Idaho are just a few of our many exemplary alumni who make everyday connections between theory and practice.
From improving city infrastructure to driving initiatives that improve equity and inclusion, Evans School alumni are driving meaningful change across the Pacific Northwest.
Curious how other Evans School alumni make an impact in their fields? Explore our LinkedIn Group here.
Professor Hill Elected to APPAM Policy Council
Professor Heather Hill was elected to the Policy Council of the Association of Policy Analysis and Management. The Policy Council is APPAM’s governing board and is responsible for setting policy and creating strategy for the Association. It currently consists of four elected cohorts serving staggered, four-year terms of office. This is a terrific honor and recognition of Hill’s research and leadership contributions to our field.
Congratulations, Professor Hill!
Meeting the Challenges of Heading One of Nigeria’s Largest State-owned Hospitals
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: IKRAMA HASSAN
I learnt about the IPPHL program through Abdulkarim, a Cohort 1 participant. I was one of his raters in the 360 By Design feedback tool. With encouragement from him, I read up on the program and became captivated.
At the time of my application I was the Director of Health Planning, Research and Statistics at the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health, North Central Nigeria. My department had just started some preliminary work on the conceptual framework for a social health insurance scheme for the state; but, no one was clear on how to go about it. I therefore decided to work on that for my Policy Paper.
I had never written a policy paper nor had any leadership training prior to IPPHL. The program therefore could not have come at a better time for me. I learnt the rudiments of policy paper drafting and already had a good draft before the Seattle Residency. By the end of the Residency, my mentor was happy with the work and declared it ready for implementation. I went through the processes back home, and two months later, the bill for setting up a social health insurance scheme for Nasarawa state, Nigeria, was passed by the State House of Assembly!
Midway through the IPPHL program, I was made the Chief Medical Director of the State Specialist Hospital. This is a 200 -bed tertiary hospital with a staff strength of 1400. It is the biggest state-owned hospital in Nasarawa. After the pre-residency lectures and engagements on Zoom and Canvas and Slack and passing through the furnace in Seattle, I felt ready for such a huge responsibility. IPPHL became my compass. I studied all the reading materials several times over. I contacted some of the faculty individually for clarification of some concepts. I was constantly looking forward to my executive coaching session as the coach was interested and following every single step I was taking.
So far there is hardly anything I learnt from IPPHL that I have not had a cause to practice in my current role. I will illustrate a few.
My first assignment on resumption of duty was a review of the hospital’s ‘strategic triangle framework’! The Mission, the Capacity and the Support. This really gave me nearly all I needed to begin the work with high degree of focus.
The next challenge was selecting the core team with which to work. My first choice as my deputy was a hot-headed gentlemen who like me, was an ‘originator’ in change style leadership. I would never have had a second thought in picking him if I had not gone to Seattle. The person I ended up choosing instead was a ‘conserver’ and, therefore, on the opposite end of the change style spectrum. I had to run most of my decisions by him, and it has saved me a lot of trouble!
However, IPPHL did not emphasize the importance of stakeholder analysis enough! The higher you climb on the leadership ladder, the more important this tool becomes. You will spend more time and energy planning and engaging with stakeholders of all hues and colors than on anything else if you are to succeed. At the initial stage, I could not understand why my coach as laying so much emphasis on it. Now I know better.
One of the most important reading materials we were given during the program was an article titled: A surviving Guide for Leaders. It is a must read for every leader! One of the many concepts discussed in the article is for a leader to ‘operate in and above the fray.’ The long trip to Cape Town for the Capstone seminar offered me an opportunity to get up to the balcony to take a look on the dance floor. I came back to Nigeria with 15 pages of handwritten ideas on how to improve what we had started! And now, I look forward to putting it all in practice.
Reflections on my IPPHL journey: Joel Mubiligi
I found the IPPHL program extremely insightful and very practical. I believe that the choice of content and principles that it taught provided me with a set of frameworks to think through my leadership skills, decision making process, and the activities we implement.
In the middle of my training, during the two-week residency in Seattle, I got confirmed as the next Executive Director of my organization. In the five months that I have been in this new position, I found that the use of strategic triangle framework and the different leadership concepts around team-building such as Direction Alignment and Commitment (DAC), and communication such as Situation Behavior and Impact (SBI), were extremely helpful in setting and communicating my priorities, guiding my daily decisions, and developing a leadership style that emphasize on team work. The opportunity to have an executive coach from Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) to accompany me for the past 6 months have also been a treat!
I was also amazed by the openness and follow up of the UW, BMGF, and CCL teams for feedback and willingness to improve the course. Above all, it was very inspiring to meet with Chris Elias, who despite his heavy schedule, makes sure that he meets Alumni when he travels in their countries. Last November, when he attended the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) that took place in Kigali- Rwanda, we were able to meet, and to discuss the program, its impact on my work, and what could be improved. An amazing person.
Note from IPPHL: We are now taking volunteers to submit an Alumni Spotlight Update for the upcoming 2019 newsletters! If you are interested and would like update your fellow alumni on what you’ve been up to since IPPHL, please contact Anastasia Pantelias at anastasiapantelias@gmail.com
We look forward to hearing from you!
Ph.D. Candidate Sarah Charnes Named to APPAM Student Activities Committee
Evans School Ph.D. candidate Sarah Charnes has been selected to serve on the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM)’s Student Activities Committee for 2019-2020. The Student Activities Committee directs student programming for APPAM’s annual fall conference, as well determining content for brown bags and other activities for students at APPAM’s member institutions.
Congratulations, Sarah!
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Senior Lecturer Erica Barnhart Featured in WalletHub Article on Volunteerism
Erica Barnhart, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Nancy Bell Evans Center for Nonprofits & Philanthropy, was recently featured in a WalletHub piece about volunteerism that asks the question, “Should you donate time or money?”
In the article, Barnhart speaks to the competing priorities young people must balance when considering whether or not to volunteer for a cause, as well as to the impact that volunteering can have in connecting people to the mission of an organization. Barnhart also lists one way that charitable organizations can retain volunteers over time.
IPPHL Alumni, Elizabeth Wangia (Cohort #1), Interviewed by Chris Elias
In the last Alumni Newsletter, you read about Chris Elias’s visit to Kenya and his dinner with IPPHL fellows. As part of this visit, Chris’s team interviewed Dr. Elizabeth Wangia, an alumni from the first IPPHL cohort. Chris recently published a short article highlighting the conversation with Liz. Read about Liz’s experience as an IPPHL fellow, what she learned, and what she sees as the key challenges as a leader in public health. A huge thank you to Liz for taking the time to answer Chris’s questions and provide some information and encouragement to others who are thinking of applying to IPPHL! Read the article here.