Master of Public Policy

Rona Jobe, MPP ’13, Named Rising Star by National Association of Women Business Owners

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 20:19:22 +0000

Rona Jobe, MPP ’13, Named Rising Star by National Association of Women Business Owners Andrew J Schappert Tue, 06/25/2024 - 16:19

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Rona Jobe, a 2013 graduate of the Schar School of Policy and Government’s Master of Public Policy Program at ��ӽ紫ý, has been presented the Deborah Farnell Rising Star Award by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), a nonprofit organization advocating for more than 10.6 million women entrepreneurs and business owners around the country.

Rona Jobe: The Master of Public Policy program ‘helped me understand the intersection of policy and business practices.’ Photo provided

“The award recognizes entrepreneurs who excel at strategy, operations, finances, problem solving, innovating, overcoming adversity, and giving back to her community,” NAWBO said in the announcement.

Jobe is the CEO of LVL-Up Strategies, a consulting firm based in Arlington, Virginia, that works to help women-owned enterprises reach the next level of success. As a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines and the wife of a U.S. Foreign Service employee, her company employs U.S. military spouses and Foreign Service spouses while partnering with minority-owned businesses. It helps that she’s fluent in Tagalog, Kapampangan, and Brazilian Portuguese.

While at the Schar School, Jobe worked as a management consultant with a focus on policy implementation. Her work involved technology, data governance, and assisting health practitioners in transitioning to electronic records.

With such a varied client portfolio of widely varied goals and needs, LVL-Up Strategies needs to be tactical and calculated in how they achieve success for their clientele. That’s where the Master of Public Policy degree comes in, she said.

“The program helped me understand the intersection of policy and business practices,” she said. “It gave me a deep understanding of how policies impact business practices. Courses in tech-based policy, statistics, and survey methodologies were instrumental in developing goal-oriented metrics.”

The program also taught her how to “guide and manage projects effectively, even without being the expert in every detail,” which she said is a crucial skill as a consultant. “And the practical project management advice from professors was invaluable in shaping business strategies,” she said.

As for the Rising Star award, Rona said, “This award is a validation that we, foreign service and military spouses, have the support of fellow women leaders as we pursue our own career and business and personal development.”

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Award-Winning Restaurateur and Alumna Rose Previte to Address Schar School Graduates

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 13:57:23 +0000

Award-Winning Restaurateur and Alumna Rose Previte to Address Schar School Graduates Andrew J Schappert Mon, 04/15/2024 - 09:57

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Rose Previte: ‘One thing I always appreciated about Mason in my graduate studies was the diversity of the classroom.‘ Photo by Jennifer Chase

Rose Previte, the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s Restaurateur of the Year, is the keynote speaker for the Schar School of Policy and Government’s 2024 Degree Celebration taking place Friday, May 10, at ��ӽ紫ý’s EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia.

The sea of green caps and gowns at the arena will be a familiar one to Previte: In 2007, she graduated from the Schar School with a Master of Public Policy degree that she credits for her early success in opening her first restaurant in 2014, Washington, D.C.,’s famed Compass Rose, a perennial entry on major “best restaurants” lists.

Since then, her No White Plates company includes, in addition to Compass Rose, the Michelin-starred, fire-based cuisine of Maydān, the Middle East-themed Medina, and the Eastern Mediterranean Kirby Club in the Mosaic District of Fairfax, Virginia, as well as Go There Wines, which brings to market wines created by women and underrepresented winemakers.

For Previte (it rhymes with “edit”), all of her businesses tell stories through food and wine, reflecting her Ohio upbringing and her marriage to former NPR anchor and reporter David Greene. Her Lebanese mother ran a catering company while her Sicilian father sold Italian sausage sandwiches at street fairs and festivals. She traveled with her husband to some 30 countries during his radio career, where she sampled the wares of street and stall vendors, not realizing those tasty memories would be the eventual menu of Compass Rose.

Her first cookbook, Maydān: Recipes from Lebanon and Beyond (Abrams Books, 2023), which debuted in November, is an extension of that storytelling. ”It’s all the home recipes from the last 10 years as well as recipes from the restaurants,” she said. “The base of it actually is all the stuff I grew up eating with my mom and my family.”

Her arrival to Washington after completing undergraduate studies at Ohio Northern University in 2003 came with the determination to change what she could in the public realm.

“I was there for the [George W.] Bush years and we had the Iraq war, and Afghanistan was on everybody’s minds, and Bush was very unpopular. And here I am moving to D.C. from very conservative Ohio and I want to, like, fight ‘the man.’”

To win that figurative fight, she needed to know how. A degree in public policy made sense, so she enrolled for graduate courses at the Schar School.

“One thing I always appreciated about Mason in my graduate studies was the diversity of the classroom,” she said. “I ended up appreciating the range of opinions in every classroom, which I don’t think is common at other schools in the area where there’s so much leaning one way or another.

“And the fact that we had super liberals, military officers, people in nonprofit—it was just such a range of people in the room. That was just such a cool experience, with the conversations, the debates, the group projects—no one thought the same way, and to me, that's what school is for, right?

“As the world's become more polarized, that's probably more important than it ever has been.”

The engaging classroom experience led to real-life public policy work. While at Mason, she traveled to New Orleans to assist on an independent study on how the city could recover after Hurricane Katrina. She also interned for D.C. City Council member Jack Evans, who was leading the effort to fund a new Major League Baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals.

After completing her Mason degree, Previte earned a fellowship that allowed her to work for the Arlington County manager for a year. From there she relocated to New York City and worked for the speaker of the city council before moving to Russia with her husband, who became NPR’s Moscow correspondent.

The somewhat peculiar idea of a famed restaurateur earning a master’s degree in public policy isn’t lost on her.

“I get asked this a lot when I’m invited on panels,” she said. “But ask yourself, what are the challenges of opening a business? Being a first-time, young, female business owner in D.C. was excruciatingly hard.”

Obtaining a liquor license, for instance. Neighbors, many of whom happened to be Washington lawyers and bold face names, “they were very—I’m trying to think of a nice word—persnickety, if you will, about who was coming into the neighborhood in 2014. And they did not want Compass Rose there.”

She fought “the man.” And won.

“I always tell everybody how helpful it was to have a policy degree at that point because I had to navigate the bureaucracy of D.C. permits: Liquor license hearings in front of the ABC Board. I had to go in front of the community and to city council hearings and things like that.”

The Schar School degree and her real-world experience came in handy when it was time to obtain the building permits and the business license, she says.

“I didn't have enough money to hire someone to get my permits for me,” she said. “I had to go down to City Hall all of the time. I did all that by hand, which a lot of people don't do, and I actually kind of enjoyed it because I got to see the policy in action.

“After working for the City Council and after working in my fellowship in Arlington County, I got to be on the other side of it. And I was like, ‘I know why you guys made this law. And actually, I don't agree.’ And now here I am on the other side of the laws that I helped write.

“So that was an interesting experience.”

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Schar Study Abroad Immerses Students in U.S. Mexico Border Policy, Security, and Immigration

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:04:50 +0000

Schar Study Abroad Immerses Students in U.S. Mexico Border Policy, Security, and Immigration Andrew J Schappert Mon, 04/08/2024 - 16:04

In This Story

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera

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Members of the Schar School study abroad contingent gather in front of a mural at the National Autónomous University of México. Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is at center.

Following the coattails of President Biden’s highly publicized visit to Brownsville, Texas, a cadre of graduate students from ��ӽ紫ý’s Schar School of Policy and Government arrived for a week of academic activity along the U.S.-Mexico border and in Mexico City.

Unlike a parallel trip to the same region at the same time by the Schar School’s International Relations Policy Task Force (you can read their story at this page), “our trip was about the U.S.-Mexico relations during a time of elections,” said Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a foremost expert on border and immigration policy who accompanied the students.

“Border developments are perhaps the most consequential policy issue of this time,” said Michal McElwain Malur, director of external programs at the Schar School, who assembled the itinerary and helped lead the trip to the border for a second year in a row.

“Since the inception of its study abroad program, the Schar School has prioritized providing students with opportunities to explore consequential policy problems facing the U.S. today.”

“We spent one whole day at the border, specifically at the border wall, and we spoke at length with a local editor about border security,” added Correa-Cabrera. “It was important to see this issue through the eyes of someone who covers it for newspapers for a population that relies on accurate information.”

Along the way they met with top industry and government leaders on both sides of the border, with whom they freely discussed the ongoing issues that keep the U.S.–Mexico affiliation at the top of international headlines.

“Putting a face to the border was fascinating,” said Davis Kaderli, a Master of Public Policy student and participant on the trip. “What I actually saw isn’t what the mass media often portrays. It is much more complex than the majority of Americans understand.”

For instance, while in Brownsville, Texas, the students heard harrowing stories of inadequate services provided to Americans in need along the border. In Boca Chica, during a visit to the sprawling SpaceX campus, students met with residents in government partnerships and discussed their views on how SpaceX impacts their community.

“The meetings we had gave insight and were candid discussions,” said Chris Williams, a student in the Schar School’s Master of Global Commerce program. Williams added that anybody immersing themselves in a degree with a global perspective should seek out study abroad opportunities.

A significant component of the trip was a visit to the political capital of Mexico City and the National Autónomous University of México (UNAM), where students engaged in conversations with decision makers and attended lectures.

“Mexico is having elections in June this year,” Correa-Cabrera said. “The U.S. is having them in November. We put these elections in context for the students.”

Upon arriving in Mexico City, the students received a briefing from Miguel Siliceo, the senior economic advisor to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

On International Women’s Day, the cohort of students was officially welcomed by the president of the federal senate of the Republic of Mexico, who recognized them from the Senate floor, followed by a meeting with a Mexican senator. The students said they gained insights from Mexican officials and policymakers on mutually shared challenges, as well as new avenues for cooperation and engagement.

“We had ridiculous access on this study abroad, from [President López Obrado’s] senior economic advisor to a legislative briefing at the Mexican federal senate by the vice president of the Senate,” said Willaims.

Students met with a panel of diplomatic staff at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and received an interactive briefing on the challenges in the upcoming presidential election.

“The five speakers at the embassy was my favorite session,” said Anduela Johnson, a student in the Schar School’s Master of International Security program. “It was interesting to hear how they are managing security issues and balancing economic implications.”

“They see the relationship with the U.S. and our shared border differently. The entire experience was a true joy,” said Johnson. On topics ranging from security and trade policy to the challenges of the upcoming election with two female candidates, each discussion sparked fascinating discussions and means for collaboration between the sets of students.

“My favorite part of this trip was hearing many perspectives,” said Gabe Dole, one of the undergraduates on the trip and a student in the Schar School’s Government and International Politics major. “I really valued the range of perspectives we heard.”

“The Schar School of Policy and Government offered two complimentary study abroad programs to the U.S. Mexico border this spring,” said Malur. “The fact they were both at the border is a testament to the Schar School being a policy school and offering our students the opportunity to hear and see firsthand policy debates and consequences of policies in action.“

Study abroad opportunities are important to a Schar School education, no matter the level or degree program. Trips include programs in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. To learn more about the school's study abroad programs, visit this site.

Not only did the Schar School students receive a shout out from the Senate floor, they were invited to a briefing in a committee room and to sit at Senate desks.

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Schar School ’06 MPP Alumna Lewis is 2023 ‘Washingtonian of the Year’

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 18:50:33 +0000

Schar School ’06 MPP Alumna Lewis is 2023 ‘Washingtonian of the Year’ Andrew J Schappert Tue, 02/20/2024 - 13:50

Studies show that one in five undergraduate college students is a parent, a situation that makes them 10 times less likely to complete a degree program than nonparents. Meanwhile, fewer than 2 percent of teen mothers who have a baby before age 18 earn a college degree before they turn 30.

Nicole Lynn Lewis: ‘My two years in the [Schar School] program really opened me up to looking at the issues that I was most passionate about through a policy lens…’

Nicole Lynn Lewis has spent the last 14 years trying to change those odds—because it wasn’t so long ago, she was among those unwed, pregnant teens trying to finish her senior year of high school and then attend college.

Fourteen years later, Lewis has helped some 450 young families in the Washington, D.C., metro region reach their education goals with financial assistance and mentoring through Generation Hope, the nonprofit she founded in 2010 after earning a 2006 Master of Public Policy degree at ��ӽ紫ý’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

In January, Lewis was named Washingtonian of the Year for 2023, one of 10 awards presented by the magazine to community leaders in various fields. It’s not the first major honor the author of Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families has won: In 2020, Lewis was one of 31 inaugural awardees of the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund, an initiative of actress Kerry Washington and philanthropist Wes Moore, now the governor of Maryland.

My two years in the [Schar School] program really opened me up to looking at the issues that I was most passionate about through a policy lens, and understanding the role that legislation plays in shaping the lives of all of us—but especially of marginalized people who are under-resourced in our in communities,” she said of her experience at Mason.

While helping individuals in need was the driving force, lessons learned at the Schar School taught her about the implications of larger-scale policy.

“It really helped open my eyes to the systemic impact of what young families are navigating every day,” she said. “I also remember looking at policy holistically and understanding that policies don't always do what they're intended to do. It's important to really be intentional and thoughtful about not only crafting policies, but the way that they're rolled out.

“And I think that was really helpful in looking critically at policy and understanding that the intention of a policy is one thing, but what’s really important is how it plays out in the lives of the people it’s purporting to serve.”

The Schar School’s Master of Public Policy program prepares students to become leaders in influential positions in the policy world. The program addresses a vast range of public concerns and “big problems,” including terrorism, human trafficking, gender studies, environment, and others. More information can be found at the Master of Public Policy website.

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Cabinet Posts: Two Schar School Grads Picked to Lead Maryland Environment, Natural Resources Agencies

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 20:11:07 +0000

Cabinet Posts: Two Schar School Grads Picked to Lead Maryland Environment, Natural Resources Agencies Andrew J Schappert Tue, 03/07/2023 - 15:11

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Environment Secretary Serena Coleman McIlwain

Maryland’s new governor has chosen two Schar School of Policy and Government graduates to serve in his cabinet. Governor Wes Moore (D) has named ��ӽ紫ý graduates Serena McIlwain (nee Coleman) as Secretary of Environment and Josh Kurtz as Secretary of Natural Resources. Both have been confirmed by the Maryland senate.

“With each announcement, we continue to build a cabinet that reflects the state we are humbled to serve,” said Moore in a statement about his cabinet appointments. “These leaders bring with them great knowledge and deep expertise. This is going to be Maryland’s decade, and our team will lead with service in their hearts.”

The agencies to be led by the Mason graduates work closely together to maintain and improve Maryland’s air, land, and water.

As Secretary of Natural Resources, Kurtz, a 2012 graduate of the Master of Public Policy program, takes the helm of the agency with 1,352 employees and a $578 million budget. Previously, Kurtz was Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and government relations director of the Nature Conservancy.

“Regardless of the issue at hand, one challenge we will continually face is solving complex problems with diverse stakeholders who share different views and ultimate interests,” Kurtz said in an email. “I believe, however, that we can all agree with the department’s mission: Securing a sustainable future for our environment, society, and economy by preserving, protecting, restoring, and enhancing Maryland's natural resources.”

The Schar School MPP degree, he said, helped prepare him for the new leadership position. (At the time of both Kurtz’s and McIlwain’s degree programs, the school was called the School of Public Policy.)

“My time at [Mason] equipped me with some of the tools I think I will need to be successful in bringing people together toward our goals,” he said. “As an example, at [Mason] there was a strong focus on the upfront work of learning about the intricacies of the issues and blending the data and the human component.

Secretary of Natural Resources Josh Kurtz

“This was best illustrated to me while working on a group project focused on building policy and programmatic solutions to reducing traumatic brain injuries in our service members. We developed a project that was based on medical research, statistics, and anecdotal evidence about the impacts of specific injuries. We presented our draft to our professor and he asked us: How does this impact the families of those dealing with the injuries? How about their communities?

“It really crystallized for me the need to evaluate the issue within the broader context, while finding solutions for the people who are immediately impacted.”

McIlwain, a 2003 graduate of the Master of Public Administration program, will take charge of the agency that implements and enforces environmental protection laws and programs.

Before joining Moore’s administration, McIlwain served as Undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration beginning in 2019. She supervised the agency’s day-to-day operations and managed a budget of $22 million, providing leadership and support to all of the boards, departments, and offices under CalEPA and CalEPA’s total budget of $4.6 billion.

“[Gov. Moore] is a person who considers Maryland home, and I can just feel his love for this state and mine, too,” McIlwain told the Washington Post. “And it just really made me want to be back here to do all of the things that I was doing in California.”

She said she read through the Maryland Climate Solutions Now Act, and “I couldn’t believe that some of those goals in that act were more aggressive than California. And I thought, ‘Wow, I need to be there to see if we could make that happen.’”

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These Marines embrace their Mason mission

Colleen Rich — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 13:48:00 +0000

These Marines embrace their Mason mission Colleen Rich Thu, 11/10/2022 - 08:48

Neither Paul Deller nor Michael Harris knew anything about ��ӽ紫ý before they enrolled in the Master of Public Policy (MPP) program in the Schar School of Policy and Government.

Now, both are Mason boosters.

Two Marine Corps officers from Mason's Congressional Fellowship Program. From left, Michael Harris, Anne Holton, Paul Deller. Photo provided

“Exceptional,” Deller said when asked about his experience at the university. “There are a number of people who teach at Mason who I have heard on some of my favorite podcasts and read about in the news for years. I’m still amazed that I get to learn at an institution where you regularly bump into these people in the hall.”

“Outstanding,” Harris said. “The faculty, staff, and students I’ve met so far have all been amazing.”

Deller and Harris are part of an interesting cohort of 11 Marine Corps officers attending Mason through the Congressional Fellowship Program, which gives Marines opportunities for professional development that include working on Capitol Hill in the office of a member of Congress for one year and enrollment in Mason’s graduate public policy program.

It is another example of Mason identifying educational pathways that meet students where they are, while the university engages them, in this case, on the Mason Square Campus in Arlington, Virginia, which is just six miles from downtown Washington, D.C.

It also is an example of Mason’s commitment to active-duty military, veterans, and their families. With 1,790 Mason students holding veteran certification, the university is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 military-friendly institution by College Factual.

“Mason is unique from other universities I’ve attended or graduated from,” said Maj. TJ Byers, who manages the Congressional Fellowship program and graduated from Mason with an MPP in May 2022. “The professors set us up for success. I even reached back out to them during my year on Capitol Hill to get some technical assistance for some policy stuff I was working on, or with just a generalized question in a field I needed to research.”

For Deller, 35, a major, and Harris, 33, a captain, in the Marines’ Office of Legislative Affairs at the Pentagon, the master’s degree they will receive at the end of the program will prepare them for their year on Capitol Hill and enhance their career prospects in the Marine Corps.

“I’ve always been interested in pursuing a master’s degree,” Harris said. “My undergraduate degree is in economics and the MPP program has an economic policy focus area, so it aligns with my interests. The program will assist in my ability to be an effective liaison between Congress and the Marine Corps. And learning to be a more effective team leader will pay dividends in the future.”

Anne Holton, professor of public policy and education at Mason, has both Marines in her Public Sector Leadership class.

She called Deller “outspoken and chatty” and Harris “quiet and thoughtful.” And though Harris doesn’t speak as often, “when he does, it’s powerful.”

Both of them, Holton added, are “great contributors to the class.”

“The military presence is our classes is significant,” Holton said. “It’s exciting that these folks are taking seriously what it means to be leaders and future leaders.”

And, really, that is what the Congressional Fellowship Program and the MPP program are all about.

“The ultimate purpose is to bring back this knowledge to the Marine Corps and share it with others,” Deller said. “The program isn’t about what I get to take away from it, it’s about how this experience will allow me to contribute to the development of the Marines throughout the remainder of my career.”

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First Marine Corps Congressional Fellows enrolled in Schar School's Master of Public Policy Program

Melanie Balog — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 10:00:32 +0000

First Marine Corps Congressional Fellows enrolled in Schar School's Master of Public Policy Program Melanie Balog Thu, 11/08/2018 - 05:00

The first students in a new Headquarters Marine Corps program, which makes higher education opportunities available to Marine Corps Officers, began studies in July at the Schar School of Policy and Government at ��ӽ紫ý.

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2007 Alumna Rose Previte Named Restaurateur of the Year

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 15:07:12 +0000

2007 Alumna Rose Previte Named Restaurateur of the Year Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/19/2017 - 11:07

Restaurateur of the Year Rose Previte on her Mason degree: 'City and local policy issues have always been my favorite. It’s exciting to see the results of your work in your community not long after doing the work.'

Rose Previte, who graduated with a Master of Public Policy degree in 2007, last week was named Restaurateur of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Her award-winning Compass Rose and Maydan restaurants will be joined this year by Kirby Club in Clarendon, offering Middle Eastern fare not far from Mason Square. Here we reprint a profile of Previte from 2017 detailing how her Schar School degree helped establish her restaurant career and how her travels with her husband, NPR’s David Greene, influenced her menus.

Rose Previte arrived in Washington, D.C., ready to change the world through politics, or open a restaurant, whichever came first.

"I didn’t see a way to make it [in restaurants] at the time,” she said. But her other option—“changing the world and fixing it”—required additional education, which led her to the Schar School of Policy and Government’s Master of Public Policy Program. She completed the degree as a full-time student in two years, finishing in 2007.

Flash forward: Previte’s award-winning Washington restaurant, Compass Rose, is on national “best restaurant” lists, noted as much for its sold-out, no-reservation tables as for its global “street food” theme. She collected the recipes on travels to more than 30 countries with her husband David Greene, a correspondent for National Public Radio.

This spring Previte was selected to host the Washington, D.C., area’s installment of the public television show “Check, Please!” which debuted Oct. 18 and airs each Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Washington’s WETA-TV. Previte guides a frank discussion about dining in D.C. with a panel of three guests who each ate at restaurants recommended by the other panelists.

“I’ve been sitting around a table and talking about food my entire life,” she said of her qualifications for the new venture. Her Lebanese mother ran a catering company in Ohio; her Sicilian father sold Italian sausage sandwiches at street fairs and festivals and was involved in local politics, which is where she gained her affinity for campaigning and advocacy.

While at ��ӽ紫ý's Schar School, she traveled to New Orleans to work on an independent study on how the city could recover after Hurricane Katrina. She also interned for Washington, D.C., City Council member Jack Evans, who was leading the effort to fund a new Major League Baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals.

“All these projects made me want to go on and work in local government after graduate school,” she said. “City and local policy issues have always been my favorite. It’s exciting to see the results of your work in your community not long after doing the work.”

Her Mason experience continues to come in handy in the restaurant business.

“I say if you open a restaurant in D.C., you probably should have a master’s in public policy, because in D.C. you do your own permitting and liquor licensing,” she said. “It was some of the hardest stuff I’ve ever done in my life, but the degree really helps. I was able to do it because of my public policy degree.”