Message from the Dean

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University-Newark. Founded in 2006, Rutgers SPAA continues a long tradition of public affairs and administration education on the Rutgers–Newark Campus. This tradition began in the 1970s with a master of public administration (M.P.A.) degree. An executive master of public administration (E.M.P.A.) was added in the 1980s, along with a Ph.D. in public administration and, more recently, an undergraduate major in public and nonprofit administration (2010). In addition to these programs, SPAA collaborates with the School of Public Health offering an M.P.H. degree and partners with many other schools and colleges throughout Rutgers and just recently added a dual degree with Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

The SPAA mission rests on four equal pillars: competence, diversity, knowledge, and service.

Competence expresses our commitment to preparing graduates for positions in governments, nonprofit organizations, and international sectors. The curriculum combines theory with applied learning. Competence is supported when in career, precareer, and career-changing students explore career options in volunteer internships as varied as hazard abatement, museum management, teen mentoring, or performance measurement and analysis. Partnerships enhance student internship options and desirable career positions in the urban milieu and Newark settings. Students may combine internships to build stronger résumés.

The diversity mission is both our reality and a goal of all that we do. SPAA students join the Rutgers–Newark Campus, which is ranked the most diverse urban campus in the United States. SPAA programs contribute to campus diversity by welcoming international and first-generation U.S. students from around the globe. Age and gender diversity are evident in our student mix of pre- and in-career students. We invite students to consider their classes as learning networks for future career destinations. Opportunities for experiencing diversity are also provided by faculty who invite students to accompany them on international research trips. Our students rate diversity as a treasured resource of their experiences at Rutgers SPAA.

Knowledge is an obvious purpose and goal for an academic institution and SPAA makes knowledge central to its endeavors. Knowledge in the form of teaching, learning, scholarship, development, codification, and diffusion is what we do, and we do it in traditional and innovative ways as already described. As our faculty and students interact in processes of knowledge production, exchange, and dissemination, we generate value that benefits those directly involved and those who benefit indirectly.

The fourth mission pillar is service. We believe that service is the defining value in public administration. We believe that the service value motivates faculty, staff, students, and alumni to achieve so that others can thrive. Our faculty, alumni, and students demonstrate the service value in their home communities, at SPAA and campus levels, and more broadly as leaders in the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and other professional service organizations in their fields of study and interest, locally, nationally and internationally.

The following pages describe our programs in greater detail. We hope these descriptions convince you of our unique qualities and the potential they represent for your career. We welcome your inquiries, encourage your applications, and anticipate your contributions to our missions of competence, diversity, knowledge, and service.

Welcome to SPAA.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Marc Holzer
mholzer@rutgers.edu
Dean and Board of Governors Professor