Welcome To Nyus Wagner School Of Public Service

I have exciting news to share! I’ve started on a wonderful and new adventure to add to my already wonderful and full plate. I have just started graduate school as a part-time student at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service working towards a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in management.

This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes of all time from Andrew Carnegie, “My heart is in the work.”

The definition of public service is “a service rendered in the public interest” and I have always had such a strong pull to serving in the best interests of the public. That can be seen through all of my community activism and projects in social media for social good. Now I have the chance to deepen my understanding and my learning in these topics in a community of my peers.

I did consider MBA programs, but context matters folks. For me, it was a lot about the people in the program itself, as much as it was about the program and reviews on Wagner (one of my mentors is an alumni) are stellar. In fact, every time I mention it now to someone I often here about a person I have to meet in theprogram or someone who graduated from there that I would connect with.

Ranked in the top 10 graduate programs for Public Affairs by U.S. News and World Report, the school is an excellent blend of academics and practitioners. Many of my classmates also work full-time and the classes I’m taking are in the evenings which allow me to work all day and then make it to class on-time.

While my concentration is management, I am also going to be focused a lot on the two subjects that have been woven through much of my work during my careers – social innovation and access to education for girls and it’s implications on health, wellness and economic development. I am working in tandem to broaden my horizons of what is possible in my professional career and hone in and focus on the subject areas where I want to deepen my knowledge and network. I’m kicking things off with Introduction To Public Policy and Microeconomics. If you see me in person you might have already noticed the shift in my lexicon – I posed the question last night about how I wanted my life to be linear and not parabolic (yes this happened). I also have been talking about public/private partneships a lot – in particular how something that is private becomes public and becomes policy. You can expect more of my musings and what I’m learning here, and of course in greater “live-time” on Twitter. You can also follow NYU Wagner on Twitter at @NYUWagner.

It’s going to be a long road, I know I’m putting a lot on myself to perform at work and now at school. I couldn’t do this without an amazing support network of family and friends and also the conviction that now is the time for this next steps in my formal education. You might hear less from here on this blog as I have to reallocate my time and focus on lectures and homework. Then again you might hear from me more as I’m learning so much and busting from the seams to share it. We’ll see. Either way, wish me luck! And if you want to talk at all about if going back to school is right for you or talk about Wagner in particular, you know where to find me.