Career Advice From a Recently Graduated MPA Student

Mary Ann Triest

Dear Aquaina, Please post on JJCO Blog: http://jjcccpd.blogspot.com/ , I have attached Melia’s phone which is a separate upload in the post. I look forward to seeing it online – thank you! Career Advice From a Recently Graduated MPA Student Melia Polynice,

Wed 1:38 PM

  Melia Polynice, Former President of MPASA

We would like to profile Ms. Melia Polynice and share her career advice with you as a recently graduated MPA student. She is past 2011- 2012 President of the Masters of Public Administration Student Association (MPASA) and May 2012 MPA Program Graduate and winner of the Graduate Student Award.Melia Polynice recently graduated with an MPA-IG degree with a dual concentration in organization assessment and monitoring and fiscal policy analysis. She was also the immediate past-president of the MPA Student Association, an organization that received the Phoenix Award from the Office of Student Life for efforts in revitalizing club and engaging graduate students.

She is also the recipient of the 2012 Graduate Student Service Award for dedication to inspiring and engaging students of public administration. She considers herself a role model at John Jay, emphasizing the importance professionalism and compassion in public service. Melia was inducted in to Pi Alpha Alpha National Honor Society for Public Administration June 2011. She is a graduate of City College of New York with Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. While attending City College, she received the Professor Abraham Bernstein Class of 1930 Award in Creative Writing.

Ms. Polynice has over five years of professional experience working in the public sector. As a Project Administrator at the Center for Practice Innovations, she provides support for OMH policy driven mental health training initiatives; she participates in both a learning management system and website design workgroup; in addition she is the main technical support staff for NYS Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams. Before joining the Center for Practice Innovations, she was a Grants Associate at Program Design and Development, LLC. She was responsible for daily office administration duties, grant evaluation and compliance, grant proposal development, and collaborations on special projects. The experience of working with professional in the public and private sector motivated her to pursue a Master of Public Administration.

1) As a recently graduated MPA student, what advice would you offer new and continuing students?

• New students: Set goals – Have clear goals, what is the exact thing that you want from this program? Being specific helps you to stay on track and keep focused.
• Continuing students: Re-evaluate the goals you set when you started your program, are they the same, or have they changed? If they have changed, how will you meet your new goals?

2) What are some of your more memorable moments from the program?

Spring 2011 was my most memorable semester in the MPA Program. I had just joined the MPASA leadership team and immediately doors began to open. I had the opportunity to attend the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA) Conference in Baltimore. During that semester, I took one the most challenging, yet rewarding classes- PAD 740 with Professor Palm, who retired this year. The final project, a meta-analysis of Inspector General Reports, helped me gain a new perspective on how to address chronic systematic deficiencies that increase vulnerability. My project focused on the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). I reviewed their auditing process and how limited audit scopes did not address medical necessity on excessive (increase) claims. What’s the connection between the ASPA Conference and PAD 740? I was steadily working to finish my meta-analysis on the trip.

3) Tell us a little about what do you now – how has the MPA helped you in your current role? How do you see the program affecting your future?

I am a Project Administrator at the Center for Practice Innovations at the NYS Psychiatric Institute, which is a part of the Division for Mental Health Services and Policy Research. Simplified, I provide administrative and operational support for the Center.

- One of my main roles is assisting with the implementation and daily support of a learning management system, which educates mental health professionals on national scale. The MPA program has helped me in my current role in many ways. For example, my current position is grant-funded, and when my grant location was switched from a small non-for-profit to a large organization, the information I learned in the Organizational Performance Assessment and Human Resource Management courses helped me to adapt to this new transition. These courses also helped to clarify the importance of having a holistic perspective of human capital and the importance of performance management in understanding how organizations function.

4) Were there any resources at John Jay that you would recommend that students take advantage of?

Using the library, especially the online journals and databases. When you are down to the wire and you need to conduct research all night, it’s a life saver to know how to conduct searches.

5) Any final advice for students?

• Assess your top skills and apply to internships and jobs that utilize these skills and strengths. Research the culture of the organization to ensure that there is a strong fit.
• Get involved in organizations like MPASA, a leadership role will prepare you for a role in managing and administering programs in any sector or industry. This is a great training ground. If you make a mistake, you are not going to get fired!