Alumni Association Newsletter Issue 1, June 13, 2011

Bringing alumni together for social networking, knowledge sharing, and professional development

Issue 1, June 10, 2011

Message for new alumni: Congratulations graduates! It is a significant achievement to earn your Masters or Doctorate degree in the field of Public Administration or Public Health. You are joining professionals around the world who have the distinct privilege of claiming the Portland State University, Hatfield School of Government as their alma mater. You are to be congratulated for all the hard work you have put in to accomplish this goal.

However, this is not an easy environment in which to transition from academia to a professional career in the public sector. You learned skills in your MPA, MPA:HA, MPH:HMP, or PhD program that leave you well equipped to succeed in a competitive job market. But success requires not only skills, but also a significant amount of additional effort to make you a standout candidate.

Luckily, you have an amazing network of fellow alumni to support and assist you in this journey. This Alumni Association was started, not only to reconnect with old friends, but also to solidify a vast network of professionals and practitioners. We are far stronger as a group than as individuals. I encourage new graduates, and indeed all alumni, to harness

the power of that group. Welcome to the Alumni Association.

ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER

This is the first official Alumni Association newsletter, to be published quarterly according to PSU’s academic calendar. The topics and authors will vary, but will always be relevant to the study and practice of public administration and public health. Drawing from all degree tracts, we look forward to bringing you additional relevant content, and are always seeking input on the newsletter (format and substance) as well as article contributions. For more information, see page 6.

In this Issue

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Alumni Spotlight: Kelsey Lewis, MPA, Assistant to the City Manager

Public Administration in Practice: Finding solutions

to domestic violence

Building Your Network: Tips to finding a job in a

difficult environment

How to Get Involved in the

Alumni Association

Division of Public Administration

Alumni Association Portland State University

Mark O. Hatfield School of Government

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Alumni Spotlight: Kelsey Lewis, MPA

After I finished my MPA in the

spring of 2010 I worked on a series of short-term research projects and internships. For those graduating now without a job, I highly recommend taking advantage of your academic advisor’s resources after graduation to find a project to keep your skills fresh while you are still looking for work in your field. I also recommend attending an OCCMA conference (Oregon City/County Management Association) during or after the MPA program to meet current local government managers. The connections I made as a result of attending OCCMA conferences helped me find out where to look for job opportunities and gave me the information I needed to confirm that local government is the right place for me.

I have been working for the City of Mt. Angel for six months as the Assistant to the City Administrator. I am pleasantly surprised all the time by how directly the skills and experience I developed during the MPA program translates into my

The Road to Mt. Angel: How a recent graduate of the MPA program found success in local

government

daily work. The courses I took in policy analysis, intergovernmental relations, land use implementation, and financial management in the public sector gave me the context for understanding the world of local government in a way I never would have before I went to graduate school. The MPA program also gave me the skills to research the City and ask important and relevant questions during the interview.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job is the broad range of activities I work on. Recently I assisted in creating the city budget document in a new format. Right now I am working together with my regional COG (council of governments) to apply for CDBG funding, and I regularly research and answer questions about the City’s planning and development code. I have the opportunity to touch almost all the functions of my city. This is the benefit of working in a small city, especially as the Assistant to the City Administrator.

If you took any courses in the local government specialty, you may have heard that the “Assistant to”

position is a common first step into local government work. It is very different from my previous specialized internships and jobs because of the scope of my responsibility. In a larger city there is usually a public information officer, a policy analyst, a city planner, a technology manager. In Mt. Angel I get to play all of these roles at least in part. A recent day in my work life included helping to write the final resolutions to adopt this year’s budget, advertising a job opening, updating the city website, explaining our development code as it pertains to putting up signs in the Bavarian Theme District, issuing a building permit, and preparing the packet for this month’s City Council meeting. Doing all of these things gives me the rare opportunity to make a difference in this community in an immediate way. It is very gratifying to take part in the entire process of identifying a community issue and be there to implementing policy to address it.

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When most people hear the

word audit, the first things that come to mind are the Internal Revenue Service and financial audits. Performance auditing is much more than that. We identify methods for testing the impact of problem practices and recommend solutions to management. We consider financial impact, but we also evaluate operations that may not be within the intent of the law or the program goals. Performance auditors have a broad appreciation for government policies and procedure, management theory as it applies to government practices, and the impact of political and social pressures on management decisions.

As the Public Safety Performance Auditor for Multnomah County, I evaluate the programs, services, and functions in criminal justice and public safety departments. My recently released audit report, Multnomah County Domestic Violence System: More Effective Collaboration will Enhance System Capacity, demonstrates one model of thinking broadly about the work of government functions that operate across programs and jurisdictions.

Evaluating the Domestic Violence System: More than just the numbers

Public safety problems, such as the

issue of domestic violence, tend to be messy and stretch across many departments and services with no clear definition of exactly how the problems should be addressed by performance auditors. However, protecting public safety is a fundamental role of government. As such, it is the responsibility of government performance auditors to find ways to assess and make recommendations for improvement of public safety functions intended to improve community safety. The issue of domestic violence illustrates both why government should be involved and also why it is difficult to evaluate whether that involvement is effective.

Domestic violence is a public safety concern that harms victims and their families in devastating ways and also hurts the larger community. Approximately 28,000 women in Multnomah County are physically abused by an intimate partner ever year and 21,000 children are exposed to domestic violence. In 2009, domestic violence programs in Multnomah County received more than 34,000 calls for services. Arrests for domestic violence offenses resulted in 8,440 jail bookings. Almost 1,400 victims and their children received emergency shelter for nearly 33,800 nights in shelter. Across Oregon, the cost of domestic violence exceeds $50 million each year,

nearly $35 million of which is for direct medical and mental health care services.

No one individual or organization can solve the problem of domestic violence. The overlapping criminal justice and social service systems create an inter-connected web of operations whose outcomes seem to defy meaningful measurement and traditional performance auditing practices. In Multnomah County, almost 40 different government and non-profit agencies work together to protect victims in crisis and hold perpetrators accountable for their behavior.

Practicing Public Administration in Government and Nonprofit Systems

To conduct this audit, I used many of the skills I developed during my studies in public administration. I reviewed the governing laws, policies and procedures to identify standards regarding how the domestic violence system is supposed to be functioning. I researched organizational collaboration scholars to find best practices. Most importantly, I conducted extensive interviews to find out what the people who work in the system think is working well and what they believe gets in the way of success. Once I understood what was going on and the problems affecting the domestic violence system, I was able to make

Public Administration in Practice Alumna Dr. Shea Marshman describes how she used

knowledge and skills she gained in the Public Administration doctorate program in seeking solutions

to domestic violence in Multnomah County.

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recommendations about what to do to make things better.

I found two major problems. First, even though the people working in the domestic violence system are committed to coordinating their efforts, there are barriers to full collaboration. They compete with each other for funds, causing tension between groups. They also have trouble coming to agreement about how to solve problems. Further, not all potential community partners and resources are engaged in addressing domestic violence, in part, due to the barriers to collaboration.

Second, a holistic response to domestic violence requires crisis intervention, prevention, and outreach. Right now, almost all efforts are designed to respond to crisis. However, the only way to reduce the need for crisis intervention over time is to support more effective collaboration to build successful prevention and outreach efforts. Just doing what the system is already doing more effectively or giving it more money will never achieve the goal of ending domestic violence.

Collaboration Key to Successful System Enhancement

I discovered that the biggest problem is that, since the system partners work together extensively to provide services that are coordinated and funded collaboratively, they assume that they are collaborating successfully. Effective collaboration involves exchanging information, altering activities, sharing resources, and enhancing the capacity of another for mutual benefit to achieve a

common purpose. Most often, however, partners in the domestic violence system are only reaching the level of working cooperatively or coordinating services without ever truly building the new capacity by creating new ways to prevent domestic violence and reach the entire community.

To solve this problem, the members of the domestic violence system actually have to think differently about how they work together and explore new ways of addressing problems. This means building new collaboration skills. Improving the domestic violence system’s ability to collaborate effectively will require that elected leaders support and dedicate resources to effective strategic collaboration and build skills in inter-organization collaboration to enhance the County’s capacity to uncover new solutions to existing problems.

Conclusion

Most government functions are narrowly defined inside one department and are fairly easy to audit (e.g., fleet services). However, many problems and issues in government are not so clearly defined. Making sure the domestic violence system functions effectively requires thinking about large theoretical concepts that are not easy to measure. They are also not easy to get at through isolated program evaluations that identify concerns in programs. Auditing domestic violence programs requires evaluating how the system as a whole interacts. In order to successfully reduce the problem of domestic violence, partners in the system cannot focus solely on coordinating crisis intervention.

Instead, they must engage in strategic collaboration to build their collective capacity to engage in prevention and outreach. Applying broad theoretical concepts such as strategic collaboration has enabled me to not only produce more meaningful performance audits, but, more importantly, to provide tangible solutions to the problems facing government systems.

Shea Marshman holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy with an emphasis on Crime Policy from Portland State University. She is the Public Safety Auditor for Multnomah County and has also worked as a performance auditor for the City of Portland.

Dr. Marshman will be presenting on her recent audit, Multnomah County Domestic Violence System: More Effective Collaboration will Enhance System Capacity, at the International Conference on Government Performance Measurement and Leadership. On October 1-2, 2011. The conference will be hosted by the Hatfield School of Government of Portland State University.

Continued

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A quick Internet search of

“how to get a job” can yield thousands of helpful tips. They range from the very obvious, such as remember not to use curse words in your resume and not to wear jeans to an interview. Others are only slightly more subtle, including keeping your cover letter under one page, have a firm handshake, maintain eye contact in an interview, and always follow-up with a hand-written thank you note.

Having just completed a Masters or Doctorate program, it is likely that you are beyond these tips and tricks. Yet in spite of all of your knowledge of what to do and not to do during and after the interview, many still struggle to become one of those illusive “1 FTE”. In fact, one of the biggest challenges lies in securing that interview.

The Power of Your Network

You have heard it before and you will hear it again: getting a job is about who you know. That is not to say you should attach yourself to the most politically powerful person you can get close to and hope she or he will stronghold a position for you. What building a network means is making yourself available for opportunities to impress and make an impression on as many professionals in your field as possible.

Building a network can either be daunting or sound incredibly simple, depending on your personality type. Both impressions are wrong. Building your network is a very rewarding experience, which enables you to highlight your strength, ask for advice from

professionals, and get a better idea of what you might want to do with your life. And it is very hard work. For a time, you may feel as though your full-time job is building a network.

You may ask yourself whether or not all of this is worth it. Is it not true that most applications are online, so focusing your energies on filling out forms might serve you better? The answer is no for two reasons. First, although many government and non-profit jobs are advertized online, that is not universal. Those that are not tend to be temporary or internship positions, which, in many organizations, do not require a full recruitment process. Additionally, someone in your network might (or might know someone who) have a need that needs fulfilled, but have just been waiting for the right person to come along. Well, here you are!

Second, though filling out applications online for a regular recruitment is the only way to get to the interview process, once you are finished with the interview your potential employer will be calling your references. This is when your network as a whole becomes invaluable. Given how much time and effort you have put into your network, you now have several handfuls of well-respected professionals who, if you have made a strong and positive impression, will be willing to attest to your initiative, inquisitiveness, and professionalism.

My best advice for building a successful network: join the Alumni Association (see page 6).

Quick Tips: Building Your Network

1.) Find out what you want: First you have to ask yourself “Where might I want to work?” Government or non-profit? What level of government or type of non-profit would I prefer?

2.) Research: Once you can focus on the type of organization you would like to work for, conduct extensive research. Figure out who works in positions you would eventually like to be in. If you can, research their profile on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn.

3.) Request an informational interview: Most professionals love the opportunity to talk to others who are passionate about the type of work they do. In other words, though they tend to be very busy, I have yet to hear of any professional refusing a request for an informational interview.

4.) Prepare for the interview: You have already done the research, but now you need to prepare your interview questions. Ask them what you want to know: What do you do? How did you get to this position? What is your advice for others who want to be in similar positions? Never forgot to ask the question that people rarely ask, but interviewees love to answer: What is your favorite part of this job?

5.) Follow up: Not only should you send a hand-written thank you note to your interviewee, but also maintain contact with him or her well after the interview. Again, professional networking sites are great ways to maintain your connection. You never know when your network will come in handy.

To the Point: Getting the Job MPA Alumna and newsletter Editor Amanda Lamb describes how building a vast network of professional

can help you find success in the job market

Email Amanda Lamb, MPA ‘10 Newsletter Editor paalumni@pdx.edu

Alumni Association Newsletter Issue 1, June 10, 2011

How can I get involved? There are no dues or official responsibilities involved with joining; the value of the Association depends on the effort you put into your membership. There are several ways you can get involved:

• Join our group on LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a fantastic professional networking website. Joining the site not only allows you to join our group, but also is a powerful general professional networking tool. The Alumni Association LinkedIn page allows you to connect with hundreds of alumni, remain informed of upcoming events, and receive the newsletter.

• Join the listserv: You will receive no more than one email per month (usually less), which will contain information regarding upcoming alumni or PSU events and/or the latest issue of this newsletter.

• Attend alumni events: As the Association grows, there will be more opportunities for in-person social and professional networking events. Stay tuned!

• Provide feedback: This Alumni Association is OURS. We can build it the way we want. Make sure your voice is heard.

Ideas for the next issue? Want to contribute to the content?

All of this can be done by emailing paalumni@pdx.edu