Memo to Incoming Students

Department of Public Administration and Policy
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
The two (identical) Excel Basics sessions will be held at the following times:
Monday, August 19, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (Husted 004)
Tuesday, August 20, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm (Husted 004)
The two (identical) Fun with Charts and Graphs sessions will be held at the following times:
Wednesday, August 21, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm (Husted 004)
Thursday, August 22, 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm (Husted 004)
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT EXERCISE
The second exercise (Clinton Impeachment) will give you additional practice. The skills in the
second exercise complement those in the first exercise. (You will learn some new tricks if you do
the second exercise.) We will not cover the second exercise in the workshops. You are strongly
encouraged to work through the second exercise on your own after attending the workshops. The
guide contains extensive documented solutions which show multiple ways to solve the problems.
PAD 504 GRADED HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
The third exercise is your first problem set for PAD 504. This will cover all of the skills from the
Excel workshops. You are required to do this, and it will be due the first week of class. Do
not submit it to the Welcome Week Blackboard website – you will receive detailed submission
instructions from your PAD 504 instructor on the first day of class.
SUGGESTED EXCEL MANUAL
We strongly recommend that you purchase an Excel manual to keep throughout your MPA
program. You will be able to use it for core courses that use Excel, such as 501, 503, 504, and
505. The following text covers the basics that you will need in your core courses, and is available
for a conveniently modest price on Amazon.com:
Etheridge, D. (2010). Excel Data Analysis: Your Visual Blueprint for Creating and Analyzing
Data, Charts and Pivot Tables (3rd ed.). Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
However, there are a lot of good Excel books, so feel free to look at other texts. Find one that is
user-friendly and which you will use.
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