UCONN MPA ALUMNI COUNCIL
Friday, April 17
Department of Public Policy Office
Draft Minutes
Members Present: Michelle Burge (phone) Eric Gray, Catherine Guarino, Kasia Janik, Alissa Johnston, Larisa
Kottke, Jessica Legnos (phone) Aaron McGarry (phone), Amanda Miller (phone) Rebecca Myshrall, Rob Phillips,
Scott Simoneau, Julia Yakovich (phone)
Students and Staff Present: Natalie Laven, Val Rogers
The meeting was called to order at 12:15pm.
I. Approval of Minutes
Gray made a motion to accept the minutes of the 02/20/15 meeting minutes, seconded by Simoneau and
approved unanimously.
II. Award Banquet
The Distinguished Alumni Award will be given to Jon DeStafano, and the Recent Alumni award recipient is Julia
Yakovich. The Annual award banquet will take place Friday, May 1, 2015 at the Town and County Club in
Hartford. Phillips asked for a replacement on the committee. He stepped down and Kasia Janik said she would
be a committee member. There will be a reception at 5:00pm for alumni and donor, and banquet begins at
6:00pm. Gray stated that in the past, there was a program that if you could not attend, you could buy a ticket
and donate it to a student to attend. If you would like to sponsor a student, or if you have suggestions for next
year’s venue please email Natalie Laven and Val Rogers. Kasia will update the FB page about the event.
III. Nominating Committee
A motion to approve the offers elections and renew council members was made by Scott, seconded and passed
unanimously. The new officers are:
o Alissa Johnston – President
o Alyssa Goduti – Vice President
o Rebecca Myshrall – Secretary
Michelle Burge, Jeff Halin, Scott Simoneau and Julia Yakovich are renewed.
We still need another Alternate member. Deneen will check with Anne Alzapiedi to be able to serve as an
alternate, she works in Human Resources in GE. We had talked in past about finding some older alumni, that
would be good to find them.
Guarino has set up the alumni-student matches. We may need to update our list of alum who are willing to
participate via a survey. The last survey was in 2012. The deadline for this semester’s match ups in March 2 nd.
The council members with terms expiring June 2015 will be moved to June 2018.
Send your updated contact info to Becca and she will send to Deneen to update the website.
VI. Program Update
Deneen talked about the accreditation process. We have focus groups, SWOT analysis, etc. We specifically need
to know what skills are needed to be successful in the working world. We are working on our internal
competencies, doing exit surveys, etc. We had our 4th MPA professional development seminar. This last one was
on Negotiating the Job Offer. Brandon Robertson and a consultant came in to talk about benefits.
Other topics covered were Professional Ethics, Multi-Generational Work Force, and Interview Skills. They
wanted a 5th but they ran out of time in the semester. Alissa said if we have any ideas, let her know. Maybe a
session on the role of the professional association and how that can help your career. Please let Alissa, Linda or
Deneen know. Alumni should feel free to come to them, and observe. It was really interesting to hear the
information and meet some of the students.
Public Policy Fellows program- Jason Jakubowski helped this with DAS. Melody Curry was supportive of the
effort, and offered to set up a meeting with other state agency heads, however funding is an issue. If this effort
continues, it could be a great leadership opportunity, especially with our Leadership Management certification
program.
Admission update- for the first round in March, it’s low, but programs elsewhere are low as well. We are doing
well with fast track (have 12), with another 14 coming in as first year. We are currently below the target of 40.
We’ve contracted with UConn’s marketing firm to have banner ads pop up. Not to sound negative, this is just
the beginning of the recruiting.
Deneen will be on sabbatical in the Fall. Bill is also on sabbatical. Eric and Mark will handle and make sure there
is coverage.
OTHER BUSINESS
Student match upCatherine said they were successful and had 13 of them. We had 21 alumni willing to participate. Most students
were about to get 2 matches. The survey data was from 2012, so we may need to survey once every three years
for updated data. Val may have a better list, and Deneen said we have access to Qualtrax as well. A GA can help.
Date and time of next year’s meetings:
Fridays in:
September 18
November 13
February 5
April 8
12:00pm
3:00pm
12:00pm (includes meet and greet with faculty)
3:00pm
Alissa reminded for those who are on the subcommittee, be proactive about what you need to do the next year.
Feel free to schedule your own meetings if needed and email the group if you need answers. In response to the
Alissa asked Deneen what her vision was for the Alumni Council, and support for students is the most important.
The meeting adjourned at 1:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Rebecca Myshrall, Secretary