Popular program transitions to a college

At the most recent UCF Board of Trustees meeting, the Department of Public Administration, part of the College of Health and Public Affairs, was deemed its own school.

With 22 graduate and undergraduate programs that serve nearly 1,000 students, the UCF School of Public Administration is one of eight UCF graduate programs nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

"The former Department of Public Administration has been really expanding its range of programs and it's outreach into the community for the last several years," Dean of the College of Health and Public Affairs Michael Frumkin said. "What really designates a switch from department to school is really reflective of the accomplishments of a unit like public administration."

Frumkin went on to state the many improvements that the former department has made, such as developing a whole range of new academic programs at the master's level and being the first department at UCF to have a dual-degree program at the master's level.

"We did a comparison of the programs within the department of public administration and the existing other public administration programs across the state," Frumkin said. "Looking at that, we found that we were doing way more than they were in every category. At least two of those were schools, so you put all of those pieces together and it just made sense to move it from a department to a school."

Frumkin said that having the title of "school" will also provide more visibility when applying for grants and allow for more exposure to UCF students.

"I think what it does is it's going to expose students at UCF to the range of programs and opportunities that the School of Public Administration offers," Frumkin said. "It's everything from a new degree in urban and regional planning master's degree, which is the first one in Central Florida, to that I talked about earlier."

The professors in public administration also feel that the title of "school" will bring benefits and only help the former department with succeeding.

Tom Bryer, an assistant professor in public administration and director of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management, believes that the combined work of students and faculty is one of the reasons that the department is becoming a school.

"The ‘school' status is an indicator of the strength of the students and our faculty," Bryer said. "The reputation of the program will shine a brighter light on the degrees the students are leaving with."

The Center for Public and Nonprofit Management, one of the most active parts of the program, has earned about $4 million in external funds and helped more than 200 nonprofit organizations.

"One of our strengths in the center is working very hard to get grants," Bryer said. "The continued strength of the center and the new status [helped] us … gain access to more grant opportunities."

Another benefit of the switch from department to school is the ability to stay in contact with UCF public administration alumni.

"We have taken this opportunity to really reconnect with our alumni," Director of Public Administration Mary Ann Feldheim said. "We've had the undergraduate program for 37 years, and we've had the MPA program for 29 years. We really have not stayed in contact as well as we would have liked with all of those alumni and we're taking this year as the opportunity to reconnect with all of the alumni."

With a new title, the School of Public Administration plans on growing even more in the coming years and looks to keep the same, if not a higher, level of success.

"The new status has lit a a fire under us in a new way to continue performing in the high level we have been performing," Bryer said. "I have every confidence that we will grow even stronger in the years ahead."