Director's Message
Welcome to this year’s SPPA Newsletter. We are completing another busy year at the School of Public Policy and Administration. I remain honoured to serve as the School’s Director, an institution that has for decades been at the forefront of graduate education on matters of public policy and administration in Canada.
I welcome this chance to share some of the events, accomplishments, and developments that have taken place in the last year. And to remind you of the upcoming SPPA Alumni Reception on September 6, with remarks from Bruce Linton – Co-Founder of Ruckify, Founder and Former CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation, and SPPA alumnus (Bachelor of Public Administration, 1992). The School had the pleasure of awarding Bruce the 2019 Bissett Alumni Award for Distinctive Contributions to Public Affairs, an award named after Joe Bissett (MAPA ’56) in recognition of his career contributions to public service.
Our graduate programs and diplomas remain at the centre of what we do at the School. But our students are changing and the nature of what they need from graduate education is shifting. We’ve adapted to these changes with our innovative online program offerings for those seeking additional training in public policy and program evaluation or a deeper appreciation of Indigenous policy and administration. As you will read further below, summer institutes have become hallmarks for the experience students get when they enroll in our Graduate Diploma or Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership and the Master of Public Policy and Administration Concentration or Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Policy and Administration.
We have also been reacting to our students’ appetite for more exposure to the policy world through trips and engaged learning experiences. Our appointment of Mike Beale (former ADM Environment and Climate Change Canada) as a Practitioner-in-Residence has commenced an initiative focused on developing practical teaching materials about critical policy questions like regulatory design.
Beyond our normal focus on research, the School was honoured to serve host for the 10th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, an event coordinated by the tireless work of James Meadowcroft, Alexandra Mallett, and Danny Rosenbloom, with the assistance of the School’s incredible administrative team and students. The stories contained below offer a flavour of the other research events and accomplishments for the year. And if you are tired of reading, please check out the further installments of SPPA Audio Files that offer short conversations with faculty members about their research.
For those of you who will be in Ottawa, we hope to see you on September 6 at the Alumni Reception and at other School events over the year. You can keep track of what’s upcoming through our website, Twitter account, or via LinkedIn.
Thanks,
Graeme Auld
Director and Associate Professor
|
The Year in Review
The School Welcomes a New Faculty Member – Katherine Minich
The School is incredibly pleased to welcome Katherine Minich to Carleton as a new faculty member. She joins the School to contribute to our concentration in Indigenous Policy and Administration in the Master of Public Policy and Administration and Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Policy and Administration, a set of graduate programs the School launched in 2015.
Katherine’s work focuses on the practices of Indigenous self-determination in community, particularly Inuit self-determination practices in Nunavut. This includes studying the policy spaces in the cash and non-cash political economies and policy processes in community, self-government and citizen organizations. You can learn more about her ongoing research on her faculty profile.
Katherine comes to us from Ryerson, where she is completing her PhD in Policy Studies. Her previous degrees include a Master of Health Science from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University.
|
SPPA students visit Queen’s Park and Toronto City Hall
On Friday, November 9, Prof. Calum Carmichael, along with 19 students in the Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA), visited SPPA alumni at Queen’s Park and City Hall in Toronto. SPPA Director Graeme Auld commented, “As the oldest public policy school in Canada, we have alumni working in all levels of government across Canada. It was wonderful for our current students to meet some of these graduates who are now working with the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario.”
Read More → |
Annual Washington Trip: The Carleton-Georgetown Exchange
 |
From April 29 to May 1, 2019 32 SPPA and NPSIA students travelled to Washington D.C. for an intensive and stimulating tour of several key Canadian and American government agencies, as well as visiting Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University and the World Resources Institute. Carleton students participated in stimulating interactive seminars with faculty from the two major American Universities, and with professionals from the State Department, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and the World Resources Institute. The students were also treated to a fun evening with Washington based Carleton Alumni at the National Press Club. They keynote speaker was Greg Yip of the Wall Street Journal and former editor of The Charleton. Students enjoyed excellent presentations from Carleton grads at both the Canadian Embassy and the WB/IMF. Students also appreciated the views of Capital Hill and The Mall from the rooftop of the Embassy overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue. In their spare time, students enjoyed the many museums and monuments that Washington offers. Following are some reflections from three of the SPPA participants.
Read More → |
Engaged Learning Trips
SPPA Students in Conversation with Katie Telford
By Juanita Molano and Mada El Dibs, students in the Master of Public Policy and Administration
If public policy and politics move you and are a passion of yours, you would jump at the chance to attend an event at the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council, especially if you got the chance to meet the Chief of Staff for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Katie Telford. On November 15 a group of us at the School of Public Policy and Administration had the privilege of having a long evening talk with Ms. Telford, where Professor Calum Carmichael led the conversation. Afterwards, the floor was given to students to ask their burning questions on the #MeToo movement, the UN, President Trump and other topics of interest.
Read full story here…
SPPA students attend external learning event at Health Canada
On February 15, 2019 SPPA students attended an external learning event hosted by Health Canada. SPPA alumnus Ian Hodges, Manager, Policy Development, Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy with the Office of Drug Policy and Science (Controlled Substances and Cannabis), hosted the event along with three colleagues. The team presented on policies and programs focusing on the growing opioid crisis, legalization of Marijuana and the regulation and health impacts of alcohol.
Read full story here…
|
22nd Annual SPPA Gala, National Art Gallery
The Indigenous Policy and Administration (IPA): Summer Institute
By Prof. Frances Abele
Participants in the Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Policy and Administration attend classes at Carleton University in June for the Summer Institute – which is an intense two weeks of study remembered by most as a highlight of the program. The Institute provides an opportunity for program participants to meet and work with each other, as well as with the instructors and the program administrator. It consists of two courses delivered consecutively and intensively –all day for one week per course. To ensure participants can benefit fully from the two weeks, readings are required in advance and assignments are completed during the remainder of the summer, after the Institute concludes.
Read More → |
The MPNL – First and Only in Canada: the 7th Summer Institute
The first and only in Canada, even after seven years, the Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL) provides a pathway into leadership careers in the large and growing nonprofit sector. As the only degree of its kind in the country, the MPNL (and shorter Graduate Diploma) attracts students from across the country, a mix of recent graduates from a diversity of undergraduate programs and experienced working professionals. The delivery is designed so that people do not need to relocate to Ottawa, although a number of the full-time students choose to do so. The program starts with an intensive two-week Summer Institute in July, then a mix of online courses and one-week intensives, and back for a second Summer Institute.
Read More → |
Carleton Hosts National Case Study Competition Examining Public Policy Issues
By Elizabeth Howell
Photos by Josh Hotz
Masters public policy students at Simon Fraser University took top prize at the 2019 National Public Administration Student Case Competition hosted at Carleton University, with Glendon College and the University of Toronto taking silver and bronze respectively.
Students and faculty applauded the announcement during a mixer that had a crowd of about 75 students, faculty members and community judges. The winning team included Nancy Olewiler (coach), Kat Gallant, Miriam Moore, Jenna Quelch and Sarah Tremblay.
Read More in Carleton Newsroom → |
Dr. Glen Toner Scholarship Campaign
There are people in our lives – mentors, champions, supporters – who at critical moments provide the right balance of encouragement, challenge and support to lift us to new heights; to help us realize that hard work and supportive networks will enable each of us to reach our potential in our personal and professional lives. SPPA Professor Glen Toner is one of these people.
Glen has had a significant influence on the students he has taught over the years. Those who have come under his tutelage have gone on to achieve many successes including becoming DGs, ADMs, DMs, Association Presidents, Corporate VPs, Professors and NGO leaders.
Read More → |
Career Development for Regulatory Professionals (CDRP) Program
By Michael Presley
Governments announce new policies all the time on a wide range of topics. Often these policies are debated extensively and affect how voters, the media and other interested commentators evaluate the performance of the government of the day. Public servants play an important role in contributing to how these policies are shaped by providing analysis and advice to their Ministers and to Cabinet. An equally important public servant role to shaping policy is their role in implementing it. In many instances, implementation of policy falls to the regulatory community who must design and implement regulatory programs that achieve the policy intentions of the Government as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Read More → |
Regulatory Case Studies – A new educational initiative
By Prof. Graeme Auld
The School has a long tradition of providing students with rigorous academic training coupled with practical skills and competencies needed to excel in public service work. A new School initiative builds from this tradition by focusing on the development of educational case studies designed to situate students in the context of real-world policy decisions made across a range of issue areas. These cases, we hope, will help students cohere the analytic tools and theories they have learned in the classroom, and see how these tools and theories matter for making sense of complex policy and administration challenges they will confront in their future careers.
To help with this initiative, Mike Beale joined the School and the Regulatory Governance Initiative as a Practitioner-in-Residence after a public service career in environment and energy policy, and he began work on several regulatory case studies in the area of environment.
Read More → |
Research and Accomplishments
|
Global Gathering: SPPA Hosts International Sustainability Conference
In the 1880s, Thomas Edison took the first commercial light bulbs to market and in a few short decades, electrification was transforming industrialized cities. The change was radical and irrevocable — exactly the kind of change that is needed to address major environmental challenges we face today.
The 10th annual International Sustainability Transitions conference is gathering the global community of scholars who study these transitions at Carleton University. Running from June 23 to 26, 2019, this year’s conference is the first to be held outside Europe.
Read More in Carleton Newsrooms → |
Robert Slater Receives Honorary Doctorate from Carleton University
Carleton University today conferred an honorary degree on Robert Slater in recognition of his distinguished career in the Public Service of Canada, spearheading initiatives for the protection of the air and water, and inspiring a new generation of Canadians to environmental leadership.
Slater was honoured with a Doctor of Laws during Carleton’s Spring Convocation, where more than 4,800 students are receiving degrees over the course of five days.
Read More in Carleton Newsroom → |
SPPA Prof. Alexandra Mallett Recognized by New Frontiers in Research Fund
Three Carleton University early career researcher projects received support from the federal government’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) to pursue multidisciplinary projects in the diverse fields of language and computer programming, telling stories about endangered species, and energy-efficient buildings.
Each project is receiving up to $250,000 over the next two years from the new fund, which enables leading-edge research not traditionally supported in the past. Science Minister Kirsty Duncan made the announcement today.
Read More → |
Daniel Rosenbloom Awarded Senate Medal at June Convocation
SPPA PhD in Public Policy graduate Daniel Rosenbloom received the 2019 Senate Medal for outstanding academic achievement at the convocation ceremony on June 12. His research focuses on the policy and political dimensions of low-carbon energy transitions. Drawing on transition and political perspectives, his research explores the intersection of climate change, energy, and societal transitions. His work has appeared in a number of high impact journals such as Global Environmental Change, Research Policy, and Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions.
Read More → |
SPPA Audio Files: Katherine Graham reflects on her long-term research agenda with community partners
In a country as vast as Canada, the distance between communities and policy making can seem immense and insurmountable. For Professor Katherine Graham, this perceived and real distance has been an animating concern for her long-term research agenda. She has sought to work with communities across Canada to empower them to have a voice in policy processes to bring about changes meaningful to their priorities and concerns. In this instalment of #SPPAaudiofiles, Director Graeme Auld had a conversation with Professor Graham about her community research, looking back to why she began embarking on this form of research and learning about some of the current projects she is working on.
Listen Here → |
SPPA Audio Files: Mehdi Ammi on why physicians chose to stay or leave Family Medicine Groups
Primary care is a critical feature of health-care systems around the world. In recent years, many jurisdictions have sought to complement the work of family physicians with integrated teams that offer the potential to improve care for patients. The idea is that when physicians work with nurses, pharmacists, psychologists and other allied health professionals, patient needs are better met through coordinated and integrated care. Plus, the thought is that family physicians may prefer the additional workload flexibility of this team-based approach, making this specialization more attractive to medical students considering different specializations.
Listen Here → |
SPPA Audio Files: Amanda Clarke on Federal Bureaucracy in the Digital Age
Our digital age has brought with it calls for governments to get with the times, to open up, to be more agile and savvy in the way they generate, use and share data. These pressures, and what should be done about them, are at the heart of Professor Amanda Clarke’s just published book Opening the Government of Canada: The Federal Bureaucracy in the Digital Age.
Listen Here → |
SPPA Audio Files: Susan Phillips on why philanthropy matters for public management
Professor Phillips is a leading expert on the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, and she has been the lead architect of Carleton University’s efforts to bring graduate-level training to these sectors in Canada through programs in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership.
“Dancing with giraffes” is an important paper that pushes experts in public administration to pay more attention to Canadian foundations to understand the different ways in which these organizations shape public affairs. These foundations do not just provide funds to needy causes, they also can advance social innovation, build new fields of practice, shape ideas, and advocate for policy change and broader social change. Professor Phillips helps us understand these different paths of influence, their limits and what they mean for how governments can more creatively engage the philanthropic sector.
Listen Here → |
SPPA Alumna Yaprak Baltacioğlu Named Carleton University’s New Chancellor
By Dan Rubinstein
Carleton University alumna and distinguished public servant, Yaprak Baltacioğlu, has been appointed as the university’s 12th chancellor, continuing the tradition of accomplished Canadians serving in this important role.
Baltacioğlu earned a master’s degree from Carleton’s School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA) in 1989 and went on to fulfil a series of increasingly senior roles in the federal government, including deputy minister posts in the departments of Agriculture and Agri-food and Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, before becoming Secretary of the Treasury Board in 2012
Read More → |
SPPA Alumnus David Thibodeau Receives Academic All-Canadian Award
Carleton University Athletics held their annual Academic Achievement Banquet for Ravens student-athletes on November 13.
Recipients were awarded with U SPORTS Academic All-Canadian or OUA Academic awards, depending on the conference of their sport. Each award winner received their recognition for maintaining a grade point average of 80% or higher across all of their courses. This year, the Ravens varsity teams and competitive clubs combined for over 80 students who received awards.
Read More → |
The Year Ahead
|
|
|
