JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa
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Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and Creativity<br />
APPENDIX C<br />
Transcript of the Undergraduate PSA Presented at the Teaching Public<br />
Administration Conference, May 31-June 8, 2008<br />
How did you learn about public administration<br />
Respondent #1: I learned about it from the former mayor of Grand Rapids<br />
who had made the comment that people weren’t learning civics anymore, so, I<br />
got interested.<br />
Respondent #2: I learned about it from one of my advisors who suggested it<br />
since I wanted to work with nonprofits. My actual major is public relations, but<br />
he suggested public and nonprofit administration for my minor.<br />
Respondent #3: I learned about it at my community college, Muskegon<br />
Community College, when I went and talked to my advisor and she suggested<br />
public administration would be needing a lot of solid educated individuals to fill<br />
the careers in upcoming years.<br />
What does public administration mean to you<br />
Respondent #1: It means making a difference in the lives of people around you<br />
and in your community.<br />
Respondent #2: For me it means having the knowledge to know how I can best<br />
effect the change when I start working with a nonprofit.<br />
Respondent #3: Public administration to me is everything in society…<br />
everything in society that sometimes gets overlooked if people don’t understand<br />
something and to do the research into it, it’s basically everything and how<br />
everything runs.<br />
Do you think you’re in the right field and why<br />
Respondent #1: Absolutely, without a doubt. There is no other field that I can<br />
find that offers such a way to have a hands-on impact on everybody’s daily life.<br />
Respondent #2: I would say I’m definitely in the right field now.<br />
Respondent #3: Definitely, public administration is for me. I think Grand<br />
Valley has a really, really good curriculum and I know that I would like to bring<br />
my experience, my education, and my research into the field and give a very<br />
interesting approach to the ethics and everything that needs to be installed in<br />
public administration.<br />
How important is public administration and do we really need this field<br />
Respondent #1: Public administration is critical to our lives, as I had<br />
mentioned. We really do need this field and particularly at the undergraduate<br />
level like we are. It is one thing to talk about it as an academic and it’s another<br />
thing to actually go out there and impact the lives of people.<br />
Respondent #2: I think public administration is really important and, after<br />
380 Journal of Public Affairs Education