Mike’s Blog

If you are not vaccinated, please, please reconsider and get the shot.  It is so easy.  Here is a link to the Carolina Vaccine Clinic, which is located on the top floor of Student Stores in the Student Stores Pharmacy.  It is easy to make an appointment, or you can walk in—you only need your ONYEN, password, and insurance card.  Please take care of yourself and help take care of everyone else. 

Tomorrow marks our return to the Knapp-Sanders building.  Not our return to work.  Everyone has been working incredibly hard during the pandemic, and some of our colleagues never stopped working in the building.  In fact, we have been working harder, and under more challenging conditions, than at any time in our history.  Faculty and staff have done an amazing job, and we have had our most productive year in terms of reaching public officials.

Kevin’s commitment to the bus tour reflects his larger commitment to ensuring that the University is focused on helping address the challenges facing North Carolina.  It is an exciting time for public service at Carolina.

Carolina celebrated University Day on Saturday, which commemorates the laying of the cornerstone of Old East on October 12, 1793.  The theme of yesterday’s celebration was service to North Carolina.

One School means a lot of things. It means not worrying about status or where you are in the organization when it comes to getting things done. Everyone has a role to play, and none of it happens without both faculty and professional staff. One School also means that once we have made an institutional commitment, such as LFNC, then all of us will do whatever we can to make it successful. The culture of One School happens because we hire talented and generous people who are dedicated to the School’s public service mission.

This past week the School hosted the Public Management Research Conference (PMRC), which is the leading research conference in the field of public management and administration.  The conference brings together scholars from across the country and the world.  PMRC was a great opportunity to showcase the School of Government for our peers in the field.  […]

John Sanders received a much-deserved honorary degree at Carolina’s commencement in Kenan Stadium on Sunday, May 12.   It recognized his extraordinary service to the University and to the State of North Carolina.  The Secretary of the Faculty read a citation that included some of the highlights of John’s service (a more complete description of his […]

I’m writing with an update about several good things that have happened recently involving the MPA Program.  You already may have heard about some of them.  In any event, these things made me feel good and I wanted to share them with you. MPA Rankings.  The U.S. News & World Report ranking of academic programs […]

Last Friday the School hosted the NC Criminal Justice Summit at the Carolina Club, and it had the feel of a landmark event.  Jessie Smith organized a program that was innovative in its approach as well as in the composition of the audience.  There was a strong indication of broad support from a diverse audience […]

The North Carolina City-County Management Association (NCCCMA) has decided to enter into an expanded partnership with the School of Government. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with municipal and county managers in new ways that will improve the quality of local government in North Carolina.

A few years ago our strategic foresight process identified expanding our work on public policy issues as one of our highest programmatic priorities.  Building on earlier work by Aimee Wall and others, Anita Brown-Graham is leading our policy initiative—ncIMPACT.  It is a statewide initiative to help local communities use data and evidence to improve conditions […]

Last week I spent two days in Asheville with School colleagues and our partners from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (affectionately known as “the Association”). We have partnered for many years to deliver one of the School’s most important courses—Essentials of County Government—an orientation program for newly-elected county commissioners. Two years ago the […]