Delaware Association for Public Administration DAPA Speed-Networking Event
Every fall, DAPA hosts an on-campus event for students to experience DAPA’s greatest resource—its professional members. Last October, DAPA held a Brown Bag Lunch Panel at the University of Delaware with its first-year MPA students and five DAPA members who are public administration professionals. The event was a success, but this year, the Program-Planning Committee wanted to try something new and exciting to attract graduate and undergraduate students—a Speed-Networking Event.
On Thursday, November 17, 2011, DAPA members, professionals, and students gathered at Perkins Student Center Gallery on the University of Delaware’s Newark campus. Many of the professionals were excited to see one another; several were MPA alumni who hadn’t seen former classmates since graduation. The students were enthusiastic but poised and professional, and, after some initial instructions, everyone began speed-networking. The number of students nearly equaled that of the professionals who came, so the students were able to meet and discuss goals with professionals on a one-on-one basis, which was a truly unique opportunity for the students. Each rotation lasted between six and seven minutes, and many participants said they wish they had had even more time to chat, having benefitted greatly from meeting with everyone else. Students were able to discuss career development with professionals while expanding their own horizons in relation to the breadth of possibilities within the public administration field.
The students were also interested in an additional incentive—two tickets to the DAPA Annual Awards Dinner. Through a generous donation by the University of Delaware’s Institute of Public Administration, the students could go after a big-ticket raffle item. The tickets were won by DAPA member Stephanie Patterson.
The feedback from students and professionals about the event was overwhelmingly positive, and we hope to bring students and professionals together again in the years to come.
The following professionals who participated in the Speed-Networking Event represented the diverse areas of public administration that the MPA students had identified as interests in their internship class, which was led by DAPA member and UD School of Public Policy & Administration Internship Program Coordinator Doug Tuttle.
Leah Jones Woodwall
Maternal and Child Health Bureau Chief with the Delaware Health and Social Services’ Division of Public Health
Dr. Susan K. Haberstroh
Education Associate, Regulation Review and Legislative Liaison for the Delaware Department of Education
Jonathan Kirch
Regional Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association & American Stroke Association
Martha Corrozi Narvaez
Associate Policy Scientist with the Water Resources Agency of the University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration and former President of the Delaware chapter of the American Water Resources Association
Nicole Quinn
Preparedness Director for the Office of Emergency Medical Services and Preparedness Section within the Division of Public Health
Jennifer Ranji
Delaware Governor Jack Markell’s Policy Advisor on Education and Children’s Issues
Courie Foster
Credit Clinic Director for the Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council (DCRAC)
Albert Shields
Delaware Congressman John Carney’s Delaware Press & Policy Advisor
Carlos Herrera
Housing Clinic Director for DCRAC’s fair housing and foreclosure prevention programs
Brian Yin
Program Associate for the Policy Team at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware and former teacher with Teach for America
Molly Magarik
Delaware Congressman John Carney’s Deputy State Director and former Executive Director of the Delaware Democratic Party
Rony Peralta
Tax Clinic Director for DCRAC
Kim Gomes
Lobbyist for The Byrd Group, focusing on state and local issues
Emily Falcon
Director of Financial Reform Resources for the Delaware Department of Education
—by Corinne O’Connor
photos by Mark Deshon