Aloha kākou. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break and is excited about the Spring 2025 semester. Before I begin, I want to (again) congratulate our Fall 2024 MPA and GCERT graduates (pic). The MPA students completed two Capstone projects, the culminating experience of the master’s degree. The first was with the City and County of Honolulu titled, “Public Procurement: Diagnosis of the City and County of Honolulu’s Procurement Process.” The second was with the Hawai’i Food Bank titled, “Food is Medicine.” I am excited to see what our future public leaders will achieve next!
As for PUBA, the program has changed slightly in both curriculum and faculty. First, the new GCERT in Public Policy is now active, effective Spring 2025. Our initial cohort consists of 4 students. Second, our GCERT in Public Administration will be renamed to the GCERT in Nonprofit Management, effective Fall 2025. Both 15-credit GCERTs can be taken concurrently with the MPA for those students interested in public policy and nonprofit management respectively. Finally, we had a successful faculty search in Fall 2024. Dr. Soyun Jeong from the University at Albany, SUNY, will join the PUBA team in August 2025. Her research and teaching specializations are in social safety nets, heath policy, state politics and policy, and administrative burdens. We welcome our new colleague to the PUBA ‘ohana!
In closing, I look forward to working with the PUBA faculty, staff, and students to ensure we maintain the highest standards in our MPA and GCERT programs. Mahalo!