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Katie Moran: On Blended Learning and Management Skills

“I think there is no replacement for that in-person collaboration. I really feel it was instrumental in my learning process”.

Katie Moran, MPA(M), Class of 2022

 

Republished from Faculty of Management, News & Events

So much to learn: Katie Moran

Posted by Suzanne Bowness on June 22, 2022 in Students, Alumni & Friends

MPA(M) graduate appreciates blended learning and the opportunity to formalize management skills

Katie Moran, a white woman with wavy blonde highlighted hair wearing a turquoise shirt, in front of an Indigenous wood carving. When Katie Moran began to research masters’ programs, she was interested in finding one that would allow her to keep working full-time, and that combined online learning with face-to-face opportunities. “I attended an information session and what really drew me to Dalhousie was the blended online delivery, because I find online training pretty dull. To me, the real learning happens when you’re able to engage with others and collaborate,” says Katie.

Levelling up

Choosing the Master of Public Administration (Management) helped her move up several levels in the federal public service: when she started the program in 2017, she was a supervisor at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Today she’s Funding Manager for the Terrestrial Cumulative Effects Initiative (TCEI), an interdepartmental initiative led by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The TCEI is an accommodation measure for the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project, which funds Indigenous-led projects that study the cumulative effects of natural resource development. Katie is a key lead on the design, implementation and delivery of project funding.

Even though she was already in middle management when she started the program (and an employee of the federal government since 2005), Katie says that the MPA helped her increase her knowledge about management within the public service. “If you want to be in management, or even on the policy side, there’s just so much that you can learn. I’m always, even with lots of thought, just hitting the tip of the iceberg,” she says, adding that the courses in the MPA even helped her to formalize her knowledge of some of the latest terminology and buzzwords in the public service. The classes also gave her a new connection to a range of public servants in different areas, a helpful expansion of her network.

While in the program, Katie was pleased to discover many opportunities to apply her learning through assignments that she could base on her work. In her Intergovernmental Relations course, she wrote an intergovernmental framework on collaborative development. “I was able to write it on my own initiative, which helped me not just learning the course material, but being able to dive deeper into what I was doing in my actual job,” she says.

Collaborative learning

In her Public Service Leadership course, a group project explored Indigenous leadership, something that relates directly to her new position. “Again, that was super helpful for the work that I do because I’m often working with Indigenous leaders,” she says. Today her work with the TCEI has her doing both of these things, working collaboratively with Indigenous communities.

Katie also engaged with the in-person intensives, travelling to Calgary and Ottawa to meet with her cohort until that element went virtual after 2019 due to the pandemic. “It gave me a great chance to meet people from different levels of government, as well as in the private sector. We had lots of really great discussions, and it’s harder to have those online. I think there is no replacement for that in-person collaboration. I really feel it was instrumental in my learning process,” she says.

For Katie, the opportunity to meet other public servants was a real bonus of the program, and her advice for fellow students is to lean into both the programs and those relationships, to get as much out of the experience as they can. “Really being able to understand and get an appreciation for the different kinds of work that public servants do at the different levels of government, like municipal and provincial, that I was really grateful for, being able to meet and really just understand more from other classmates,” she says.

CEGE Reflections – Buddy Walzak

“Over the years, I have promoted the value of the program to other public servants and have had the opportunity to regularly share my experiences with MPA students at the School of Public Administration.  I am grateful for my learning experiences at Dalhousie University and fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to give back a little – which I will continue to do.”

– Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak, Dalhousie University (BA ’85, BSW ’87, MPA(M) ’01) –

Buddy Walzak, Chief of Staff, Pivotal Growth Inc.
(formerly, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs)
Photo from LinkedIn

Read Buddy Walzak’s full article here

 

Research Profile: Kevin Quigley

Republished from Faculty of Management, Research, Research Profile

FoM Research Profile

RESEARCH PROFILE: KEVIN QUIGLEY

Kevin Quigley, School of Public Administration

Understanding and improving mass evacuations

 

People who are responsible for mass evacuations during natural disasters are confronted with significant challenges: they must allocate and coordinate limited resources in a dynamic context, often in degraded conditions, and their decisions are consequential, time-constrained and often irreversible.

Despite the risks that underpin these decisions and the real-world experience that exists in this domain, there is a dearth of study and knowledge concerning how those responsible for mass evacuation carry out their jobs, and how it might be generalized and improved. There is reason to be concerned. The increasing frequency with which mass evacuation occurs and the human, financial and environmental costs associated with it suggest that this field requires more urgent attention. Bureaucratic constraints and competing incentives frequently prevent a broad-based, multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach to understanding and addressing these risks.

This research project brings together a group of practitioners and scholars with expertise and experience in risk and evacuation. The project will be structured according to two interdisciplinary risk frameworks to allow us to examine the interplay between social context and risk characterization to determine the combined impact the two have on government risk regulation regimes. Contextual factors include dynamics such as the role of law and insurance, media and popular opinion, and the role of organized interests. Risk characterization distinguishes between those events, which are complex, uncertain and ambiguous.

Dalhousie co-investigators: Ahsan Habib and Ronald Pelot

 

Research Profile: Isabelle Caron

Republished from Faculty of Management, Research, Research Profile

FoM Research Profile

RESEARCH PROFILE: ISABELLE CARON

Isabelle Caron, School of Public Administration

Women’s perception of the Canadian Armed Forces as a barrier to female retention

I was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to study military women’s perception of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as an obstacle to female retention. From a human resource management perspective, this research project addresses female underrepresentation in the CAF. The Department of National Defence (DND) and the CAF committed in the 2017 Canada’s Defence Policy to increase the proportion of women in the military by one percent annually in the next ten years. Despite efforts to increase the proportion of women through recruitment and retention strategies, the impact on the proportion of women in the CAF is barely noticeable—women still make up only 15% of CAF members. This research project explores the perception military women hold of the CAF culture and aims to identify the beliefs and perceptions that can hinder female retention. Although the project was delayed due to the pandemic, we have just completed 32 inspiring interviews with former military personnel who shared their experiences as women in the CAF. They spoke about the constant struggles and discrimination they faced, but despite all of this, they were still able to find a place for themselves in a male-dominated organization and were eager to make it a more inclusive organizational culture. We are now in the transcription and data analysis phase. Phase 2 of the project, a survey of more military women, will be launched this winter. This research contributes to enhancing knowledge about obstacles to women’s retention in traditionally male roles and increases understanding of the levers that could contribute to making an organizational culture more inclusive.

Dr. Jeffrey Roy, School of Public Administration (Faculty of Management)

Covid-19, Digitization & Hybrid Workspaces:

Implications and Opportunities for Public Sector Organizations

(Image source: Bogdan Udrea, www.1e.com)

Dr. Jeffrey Roy examines “the emerging contours and prospects for hybrid workforce and workspace strategies within the Canadian public sector” in his latest report (Click on the link below to view the full report).

Report Overview:

If 2022 brings about even the beginnings of an evolution of Covid-19 from pandemic to endemic, governments will face a critical choice: to facilitate a safe revival of physical office settings as the nucleus of government operations and public servant interactions, or to embrace hybrid strategies as the centrepiece of innovative workspace redesign. The essence of hybrid goes beyond a binary choice between working in a physical office or working from home. An ideal hybrid model enables the seamless alignment of both in-person and virtual processes across innovative and flexible workspaces designed to strengthen individual and collective performance capacities. Even with the optimistic presumption of Covid-19 gradually subsiding, and even with appropriate safety measures and layers of protection in place (i.e. vaccines, masking, distancing etc.), there is a growing view, explored in this report that a full-scale return to physical office settings would be less than optimal. Yet in line with the choice presented above, it remains to be seen whether hybrid work arrangements will be mainly tolerated as transitional phases for some workers – or more fully embraced as a strategic opportunity. This report delves into the tensions and reasons behind this uncertainty and how they reflect wider evolutionary trends in public sector reform and recent and ongoing digital government efforts especially. To pursue a hybrid path as a strategic opportunity, this report presents three key design principles to guide such efforts: differentiation, engagement, and inclusion. In addition, six broad research directions are offered as some of the most likely themes and determinants that will shape hybrid’s acceptance and evolution going forward. As such, they merit further investigation by scholars and governments alike. With respect to inclusion specifically, the potential exists for hybrid workspaces to both widen diversity and deepen inclusion through more varied career progressions. In place of the traditional ‘corporate ladder’ with locational and scheduling work patterns that have reinforced historical biases and systemic barriers, hybrid models can democratize participation and professional advancement. Nevertheless, any potential is just that. To be realized, governments must first recognize hybrid’s promise and the unique occasion at hand for human ingenuity, digital innovation, and leadership and governance renewal. Insights from this report were gathered from both direct and indirect sourcing: published surveys, studies, commentaries, and media stories; interviews with senior public servants; virtual classroom interactions with mid-career government managers and next generation, aspiring managers; as well as several professional development and conference forums over the past two years. I am grateful to all participants for the stimulation, feedback, and learning. My hope is that this report can help to spark and sustain the crucial conversations needed within governments to meaningfully appreciate and exploit the hybrid opportunity as the basis for a brighter future.

REPORT_Dr.Jeffrey Roy_Covid-19_Digitalization and Hybrid Workspaces_Jan2022

Christine Szarmes: On Finding Fulfillment and Joy in Public Service

“Thinking about these big-picture issues, and how to make changes to programs, services and policies to better help people—that brings me joy” – Christine Szarmes, MPA(M), Class of 2021

Republished from Faculty of Management, News & Events

Suzanne Bowness – Alumni & Friends, October 26, 2021

Grad profile: Enriching her public service

Posted by Suzanne Bowness on October 26, 2021 in Alumni & Friends

A photo of Christine Szarmes wearing a blue turtleneck, smiling at the camera.

Christine Szarmes learned early in her career that public service would be her path. After working for her hometown of Orangeville, Ontario, she landed her first career position as a research assistant at the Regional Municipality of York while she was in between completing her undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Western University and her graduate certificate in Marketing Management from Humber College. Now, with over eight years of experience at the municipality and having advanced to senior policy analyst, Szarmes’ next goal is to continue to move up, likely into a management role.

And that ambition meant finding a program that would complement the learning she was doing on the job. “I became entrenched in the public service without that formal public policy education, so I had been thinking about going back to school for a while,” says Szarmes about her decision to enrol in Dalhousie’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. She adds that most of her coworkers already had a master’s degree, so it was important to her to stay competitive by formalizing her education.

Szarmes says she chose the MPA for several reasons: the courses covered a broad range of topics from research to economics to policy, the career experience requirement meant that she would be networking with other established professionals, and the MPA was offered online. “The program is really designed for people who are working full time. You’re able to make the schedule your own and complete the course work when it works for you. The profs were great at knowing you are working full time and a lot of the assignments tie back to things you are doing at work,” says Szarmes. She took two courses at a time to complete the program in two and a half years.

Szarmes appreciated that class discussions gave her time to think about professional issues more theoretically and that assignments were relevant to her current work. In terms of favourite courses, Szarmes identified Local Government as helpful in formalizing what she’d learned on the job, while Business and Government provided a fresh perspective on how the public and private sector could work together. Both helped in her current role, which focuses on housing management. The Management Skills Development course helped her reflect on her next steps. “It got me thinking about the type of leader I want to be and the skills I want to foster.”

She also appreciated the intensives, which she completed at Dalhousie and in Ottawa. “I really enjoyed meeting people I’d been talking with over the past four months, and working alongside people who have worked in different sectors and have different experiences to share,” she says.

Having completed the program, Szarmes is even more convinced that she’s in the right field. “I guess it comes down to helping people,” she says when asked what attracts her to public service. “Every portfolio I’ve held has been in social services or in a human services field. It’s something that came up in the courses, this idea of wicked problems, problems that don’t have clear or easy solutions—like homelessness or poverty. Thinking about these big-picture issues, and how to make changes to programs, services and policies to better help people—that brings me joy. I find it really fulfilling.”

 

Katie Haigh: Leading and Leaning on Others

 

Katie Haigh MPA(M) Class of 2020
(Photo Credit: Danny Abriel )

Posted by Kim Humes on October 26, 2020

Republished from School of Public Administration

When Katie Haigh graduated from the Commerce program in 2006, it was a big deal for her entire family.

“I am a first-generation university graduate in my immediate family. I owe my love of learning to my parents. They wanted me to go to university to have opportunities they did not.” Now she’s earned her second degree—a Master of Public Administration (Management).

Katie wasn’t sure she had what it took to get one degree, let alone two. “My marks were not the best when I finished my undergraduate degree,” she explains. “I never considered myself master’s program material, but I wanted to move up in my career. A few terms of upgrading later, I was accepted, and here we are today!”

She was challenged from the first assignment of her very first class, MGMT 5135 (Managerial Economics). She was nervous, having failed her first attempt at economics during her undergraduate studies and “scraped through the second time.” She found herself in tears over a question that was worth one point. Confiding in her professor and leaning on her classmates led her to a final mark of A+. “Knowing that my classmates were also struggling was so reaffirming. It really is the people that make this program and I am so proud to share this moment with them.”

Katie credits the encouragement and guidance of colleagues in the Faculty of Management for her decision to pursue the MPA(M), and their much-needed support throughout her studies. She completed her degree while working full-time as an academic advisor in the Management Undergraduate Advising Office where she helps Bachelor of Commerce (Co-op) and Bachelor of Management students choose courses and navigate other academic matters. At peak times, advisors can communicate with hundreds of students in a day, but Katie is up for the challenge. As Margie Muise (BMgmt program administrator) explains, “Katie’s students are always her top priority. Her commitment to them is unwavering and an example for others to follow.”

Not only did Katie complete graduate school as a full-time employee, she did it while raising children. She gave birth to her second daughter two years ago, in the middle of her studies. Around the same time, her father-in-law became ill and moved in with her household so that they could help with his rehabilitation. Sometimes staying focused on graduating was a challenge. As with her first class, she found strength in her connections. “Start by assembling your support team. For me it was my husband, daughter and parents. They are the reason I had the time to complete assignments, and they acted as sounding boards.” Her husband completed his Bachelor of Education in May, so evenings and weekends were often spent in joint homework sessions.

Florence Tarrant (director of undergraduate programs in the Faculty of Management) says, “As a student, Katie demonstrated that grad school is not only a learning opportunity, but a path to personal growth and change.” Katie wanted to be a guidance counsellor or teacher growing up, and finds her current position is pretty close. “I’m just missing the summers off!” she jokes. For her next challenge, she hopes to move into senior administration and become a lecturer. She wants to share her love of learning and knowledge and hopes her enthusiasm for education translates to teaching.

Her advice for parents who wish to pursue higher education: “Just start it. Don’t wait for a ‘perfect’ moment or when you will have more time because that does not exist. The time you spend away from your kids will show them how important education is. It also shows them that hard work pays off.”

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak: The MPA(M) – my twenty-year reflection…has it been that long!

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs

As a proud graduate of Dalhousie University (BA ’85, BSW ’87, MPA(M) ’01) I am delighted to have the opportunity to share my perspectives of the MPA(M) program and how the School of Public Administration has shaped and influenced my professional practice and development.

Today, more than ever, I have come to appreciate and value the opportunity I had in 1999.  I’ve gained extensively from the MPA(M) program and pleased to see how it has evolved to its leading stature today.

In 1999, I was a member of the first cohort of the Province of Nova Scotia sponsored MPA(M) class. The newly created MPA(M) program was a joint initiative between the Province of Nova Scotia and Dalhousie University that recognized the province’s goal of promoting and investing in advanced learning for its senior ranks.  Since graduating, my learning outcomes and observations of the program have held true and remain relevant some twenty years later.

There are three key aspects that I wish to highlight: high-quality learning; benefits of the teaching model; and achieving results.

  1. A win-win-win learning experience: Dalhousie University is recognized globally as a leading research and teaching institution.  As such, I had access to and was taught by some of Canada’s expert public administration researchers and professors whose expertise and knowledge I deeply valued.   The program components and course work addressed actual public policy issues and had immediate application.  The learning throughout the program was compounded. This was a win-win-win situation for Dalhousie, the province and the student.  The knowledge and tools that I gained from the program twenty years ago help me in managing the public policy issues I experience in my current work setting.  My journey of experiential learning was shaped by the School of Public Administration and its professors.  The two-way feedback and interactions resulted in high quality learning outcomes for me which by extension benefited the Province of Nova Scotia and helped inform enhancements to the program.
  1. Dynamic “classroom” environment: E-learning and distance learning was emerging in the late 90’s which meant that my learning was primarily face-to-face.  Admittedly, this was my preference.  For those who were fortunate to have had the privilege of receiving a chalkboard lecture from the highly respected and late Dr. Peter Aucoin – who could easily fill four boards twice over during a two-hour lecture – will never forget the experience which for me was a highlight and an honour. But more importantly, was the climate that was created at the School of Public Administration.  The classroom interactions were dynamic.  Fellow students, expert speakers and professors alike were often respectfully challenged which added to the learning experience.  The networking and team building helped me develop invaluable contacts and lasting partnerships both with Dalhousie faculty and management and senior officials in government which I am grateful for.   Today, MPA programs emphasize e-learning supported through classroom intensives and similar outcomes are being accomplished because of Dalhousie’s commitment to the modernization of distance learning models.
  1. Transferring education into success:The post-graduate credentials and qualifications of the MPA(M) were/are a transferable skillset.  I was a practicing social worker during my program and today I’m helping the province build meaningful and impactful government relations in my role of Executive Director with the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs.  Undeniably, the MPA(M) was instrumental in my professional development and helped me progress to a senior position in government.  But for me, success was measured by my ability to apply the elements of the program in a meaningful way knowing I had also gained the confidence that would help me address challenging issues as they occurred.  A positive mindset and a commitment to continuous learning were also key factors in my development.

Over the years, I have promoted the value of the program to other public servants and have had the opportunity to regularly share my experiences with MPA students at the School of Public Administration.  I am grateful for my learning experiences at Dalhousie University and fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to give back a little – which I will continue to do.

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak is the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs. He is responsible for the general administration and operations of the department. He helps lead the coordination and advancement of the province’s interests and works to maintain productive relationships with regional, national and international partners.  Through these relationships, he helps advance the province’s economic, government and international objectives.

Dr. Isabelle Caron: Employee Engagement and Motivation

I believe that employee engagement and motivation are crucial to any organization. You can change an organizational structure, your processes, your policies, you can talk about leadership as much as you want, you can increase salaries and benefits, if your employees are not engaged and motivated, your organization will never perform.

Dr. Isabelle Caron, Assistant Professor, School of Public Administration, Dalhousie University

Dr. Isabelle Caron, Assistant Professor, School of Public Administration has graciously shared her insights on research with our readers of CEGE Connection. Dr. Caron focuses on the exercise of administrative control and accountability in public institutions.  The includes exploring diversity and inclusion in the public sector, including recruitment and retention of women in the armed forces.

Dr. Isabelle Caron:

Over the past two years at Dalhousie University, I have realized that my favourite research topic is employee engagement and motivation. I am interested to understand what affects employee engagement and motivation (impact of diversity climate, impact of red tape and control, impact of trust, impact of cooperation, etc.). I believe that employee engagement and motivation are crucial to any organization. You can change an organizational structure, your processes, your policies, you can talk about leadership as much as you want, you can increase salaries and benefits, if your employees are not engaged and motivated, your organization will never perform. If your employees don’t feel that they are important and that their work is meaningful and if they are not treated with respect (this includes respect of diversity), they will not be engaged and will never be productive.

My interest for this topic probably comes from my own experience as a former federal public servant. I have seen so many times a new leader coming to an organization and changing the organizational structures, the processes, the policies, delivering amazing speeches to employees while employees didn’t understand their role in the whole system, the purpose of their work and were not treated respectfully. At the end, employees don’t care anymore, do minimum work and are frequently absent. This can kill an organization (even a public organization!). I hope my research will contribute to a better understanding of the importance of employee motivation and the crucial role of managers.

 My main projects for this year:

I was just awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant (SSHRC IDG) and Department of National Defence (DND) supplement to look at the retention of women in the Canadian Armed Forces. More specifically, it looks at how the perception that women have of the Canadian Armed Forces can be an obstacle to female retention. This project combines my interests for employee engagement and for diversity management as I will look at how the perception of the way diversity is being managed in this organization impacts women’s engagement and their decision to remain or to leave the organization.

I currently work on a joint research project entitled “Performance-Information Use in Switzerland, Germany and Canada: Do Organizational Climate and Cooperation Among Actors Matter” with a colleague from Switzerland and a colleague from Germany. This project examines the extent to which performance information use is developed and implemented in local governments (80 municipal governments in Canada). We are currently in Phase 1 of this project as we are developing the survey tool. I am in charge of the research done in Canada.

I am also part of a team who was awarded a grant from the Digital Ecosystem Research Awards entitled “The Attention Paid to Indigenous Issues in Twitter by Candidates in Federal Elections”. This project aims at understanding the determinants of Indigenous issues attention by election candidates on Twitter, with partisan affiliation and characteristics of local riding being the most salient hypotheses. As well, we will investigate if national advocacy groups representing Indigenous people and issues are able to set the agenda and compel political parties to position themselves on Indigenous issues, and if the overall priorities of Canadians are matching with the messages posted by candidates of the main political parties. My interest lies in the attention that will be given to Indigenous women on Twitter during the federal election campaign.

I also was just awarded a grant from the Government of Quebec to publish a book on the place of Francophonie in Canadian public policies. I will be the editor for this book. Nine authors located across Canada (including myself) have agreed to write a chapter. In addition, Graham Fraser, former Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada has agreed to write a preface for this book. The book should be released in June 2020.

I also collaborate with my colleagues from the faculty of management on a project that looks at the effects of household food culture and division of unpaid labour on Canadian women’s reliance on ultra-processed foods.

What are the broader implications of your research outside of academia?

My research contributes to understanding what factors impact performance and how managers and leaders can influence those factors. My main focus is on public organizations, although I believe it could easily apply to any type of organization.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself five years ago?

Don’t limit your collaborations to the people in your specific field of research, try to collaborate with people from very different fields. It opens your perspectives and pushes you to look at your research from a totally different angle. When I did my PhD, this is certainly not something I was encouraged to do. Faculty members always talk about the importance of multidisciplinary research, but I have realized over time that many of them are reluctant when comes the time to collaborate with people from different fields. Only few researchers are genuinely open to look at their research from a very different point of view.

If you had a magic wand, what would you do to support the research community in the Faculty of Management?

I would make a lot of money appear to support faculty members’ research! I would also get rid of the structural barriers to allow more genuine research collaborations between the different fields!

Tell us a few words about yourself not related to research.

I am the mother of three children! In my free time, I like to run with my daughter, I love travelling and I love food (not so much the cooking part but mostly the eating part, which is why I run!).

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak: The MPA(M) – my twenty-year reflection…has it been that long!

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs

As a proud graduate of Dalhousie University (BA ’85, BSW ’87, MPA(M) ’01) I am delighted to have the opportunity to share my perspectives of the MPA(M) program and how the School of Public Administration has shaped and influenced my professional practice and development.

Today, more than ever, I have come to appreciate and value the opportunity I had in 1999.  I’ve gained extensively from the MPA(M) program and pleased to see how it has evolved to its leading stature today.

In 1999, I was a member of the first cohort of the Province of Nova Scotia sponsored MPA(M) class. The newly created MPA(M) program was a joint initiative between the Province of Nova Scotia and Dalhousie University that recognized the province’s goal of promoting and investing in advanced learning for its senior ranks.  Since graduating, my learning outcomes and observations of the program have held true and remain relevant some twenty years later.

There are three key aspects that I wish to highlight: high-quality learning; benefits of the teaching model; and achieving results.

  1. A win-win-win learning experience: Dalhousie University is recognized globally as a leading research and teaching institution.  As such, I had access to and was taught by some of Canada’s expert public administration researchers and professors whose expertise and knowledge I deeply valued.   The program components and course work addressed actual public policy issues and had immediate application.  The learning throughout the program was compounded. This was a win-win-win situation for Dalhousie, the province and the student.  The knowledge and tools that I gained from the program twenty years ago help me in managing the public policy issues I experience in my current work setting.  My journey of experiential learning was shaped by the School of Public Administration and its professors.  The two-way feedback and interactions resulted in high quality learning outcomes for me which by extension benefited the Province of Nova Scotia and helped inform enhancements to the program.
  1. Dynamic “classroom” environment: E-learning and distance learning was emerging in the late 90’s which meant that my learning was primarily face-to-face.  Admittedly, this was my preference.  For those who were fortunate to have had the privilege of receiving a chalkboard lecture from the highly respected and late Dr. Peter Aucoin – who could easily fill four boards twice over during a two-hour lecture – will never forget the experience which for me was a highlight and an honour. But more importantly, was the climate that was created at the School of Public Administration.  The classroom interactions were dynamic.  Fellow students, expert speakers and professors alike were often respectfully challenged which added to the learning experience.  The networking and team building helped me develop invaluable contacts and lasting partnerships both with Dalhousie faculty and management and senior officials in government which I am grateful for.   Today, MPA programs emphasize e-learning supported through classroom intensives and similar outcomes are being accomplished because of Dalhousie’s commitment to the modernization of distance learning models.
  1. Transferring education into success:The post-graduate credentials and qualifications of the MPA(M) were/are a transferable skillset.  I was a practicing social worker during my program and today I’m helping the province build meaningful and impactful government relations in my role of Executive Director with the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs.  Undeniably, the MPA(M) was instrumental in my professional development and helped me progress to a senior position in government.  But for me, success was measured by my ability to apply the elements of the program in a meaningful way knowing I had also gained the confidence that would help me address challenging issues as they occurred.  A positive mindset and a commitment to continuous learning were also key factors in my development.

Over the years, I have promoted the value of the program to other public servants and have had the opportunity to regularly share my experiences with MPA students at the School of Public Administration.  I am grateful for my learning experiences at Dalhousie University and fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to give back a little – which I will continue to do.

Albert ‘Buddy’ Walzak is the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs. He is responsible for the general administration and operations of the department. He helps lead the coordination and advancement of the province’s interests and works to maintain productive relationships with regional, national and international partners.  Through these relationships, he helps advance the province’s economic, government and international objectives.

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