Master’s Program Graduation Celebration

On Thursday September 22, Elsie Lum, Interim Director, and Toni E. Fogarty, Professor & Alameda County MPA Program Director, hosted the Master’s in Public Administration Program’s Graduation Celebration for Cohort #5.

Inspiring speeches were given by our dignitaries, Susan Muranishi, County Administrator, President Leroy M. Morishita, President of Cal State East Bay, Joe Angelo, Director of Human Resource Services, and O. Jay Umeh, Professor and Department Chair, and Libby Schaaf, Mayor of the City of Oakland, stopped by to congratulate four City of Oakland employees and also spoke.

In her speech, graduate Jamila Dotson said that the MPA program served as a way for her to step away from complacency. She was ”longing for change, longing to help [her] community, longing to learn more and more,” most of all she was longing to be a better person.

Graduate Ana Martinez summed up the struggles many people faced in their communities, as she was part of the only five percent of her high school class who graduated from university. Now she belongs to a new statistic: the eight percent of the US population with a Master’s degree.

Graduate Cristina Morales summed up her hopes for her graduating class by saying that when her class applies what they learned, they “continue to leverage the voices of the community to make better and more relevant decisions.”

For more information on the program click here.