Presenters:
Otis J. White - Faculty Chair Business & Public
Administration, Rio Salado College
Christopher Hiryak, Manager, Academic Programs,
School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University

• In late fall 2011, ASU Vice Provost for Academic Partnerships Maria Hesse and College of
Public Programs Dean Jonathan Koppell called a meeting to discuss with the community colleges the opportunity to work together on a transfer program for students interested in public service as a career.
• Two colleges from MCCCD responded and Rio Salado took the lead in developing the courses and revamping the already existing Public Administration CCL and AAS programs to match up with the lower division requirements of the School of Public Affairs
• Margaretha Warnicke & Melissa Kovacs were the faculty developers from ASU/SPA. Tim
Dahlstrom and Otis White were the developers from MCCCD aided by Gina Pinch, Rio
Salado Instructional Designer. Chris Hiryak was the staff representative from SPA. Otis
White oversaw the project from the community college side.

The ASU School of Public Affairs and Maricopa Community
Colleges worked together to develop a unique partnership for students interested in public service careers.
• Faculty from ASU & Rio Salado College worked together to build two new courses for the community colleges which would directly articulate to two courses in the prerequisites for the SPA program
• Faculty from ASU & Rio Salado College taught the courses on each others campuses
• Each faculty and staff worked the courses and programs through their respective curriculum systems

• ASU and Rio have made a commitment to quality and consistency across both programs.
• The new Rio course titles, descriptions and content for PAD 100 and PAD 200 were adjusted to align with those from ASU: PAF 200 and PAF 201.
• MAPPs for each of the new programs were also created to provide for a seamless transfer between MCCCD and ASU.
• Starting with the Spring 2013 semester, Rio instructors taught ASU courses and
ASU instructors taught Rio courses.

 American Indian Studies
 Business
 Criminology
 Emergency Management & Homeland
Security (proposed)
 Health Policy
 Law and Policy
 Nonprofit Leadership and
Management
 Parks and Recreation Management
 Public Service & Public Policy
 Science and Technology Policy
 Social Services Delivery
 Sustainability
12 Choices for our students as they pursue a career in Public Service

Year
AAS
CCL
2012
21
31
2013
16
32
2014
(expected)
22
35

PSPP Programs
American Indian Studies
2011-
12
-
2012-
13
-
2013-
14
2
Public Service & Public Policy 67 75
Business -
Criminology
Health Policy
-
-
14
-
Sustainability
Nonprofit Leadership &
Management
Parks & Recreation
Management
Total
-
-
-
67
-
4
8
101
6
17
1
180
86
4
60
4

Jennifer Papworth is in her second year at ASU.
She is studying Public Service and Public Policy after transferring from Rio Salado College with an
Associate’s degree in Public Administration. A 4th generation Arizona native, Jennifer believes that a long-term strategic vision and a commitment to invest in public education are essential to
Arizona’s future. The mother of three boys,
Jennifer currently lives in Goodyear, Arizona.
Jennifer’s long-term goal is to directly shape state legislative policy and enhance opportunities for creative public policy collaborations, particularly in the area of education.

This team effort has paid off for our students, our departments and our schools. The changes and additions to these programs makes this a much more robust and current educational track for students, as well as bringing new perspectives, and resources to the courses and the program through the addition of Public Affairs/Public Service studies as a significant portion of the community college curriculum.
Several colleges in the Maricopa system have now signed on to offer the
PAD curriculum as a shared program for the first time and I am sure the future looks bright for enrollments across the Valley in this important curriculum.