MPA-ESP 2008-2009 Class Attends NY Mets Game!

On Monday, June 23^rd, the Masters in Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs students and faculty attended a baseball game at Shea Stadium where the NY Mets played the Seattle Mariners.  As has been tradition for this masters program, the game was an opportunity for students to enjoy each other's company and informally spend time with the faculty outside of the classroom setting. 

The MPA-ESP program is a rigorous 12-month program combining science and policy that trains public managers and policymakers to apply pioneering, systems-based thinking to environmental issues.  The summer semester is spent on science courses: students study hydrology, climatology, environmental chemistry, environmental toxicology, and ecology-as well as their Workshop in Applied Earth Systems Management in which students focus on the environmental science aspects of a management problem.

The game provided students the opportunity to spend time with their summer faculty outside of the classroom and get to know the fall and spring semester faculty better.

During the summer semester, students take on the sciences; in the fall, the focus shifts to public policy; and in the spring, management is at the focus.  The summer Workshop in Applied Earth Systems Management groups report on environmental science aspects of management problems to non-scientist political decision-makers. 

In the fall, the student Workshop groups complete their operational plans for implementing the program.  Students simulate management innovation projects, and address the management problems associated with selecting and operating program changes over a one-year period.

After two semesters of examining proposed environmental statutes or international agreements for the workshop course, the spring semester Workshop provides a new challenge: working with real life clients and tackling the diverse environmental policy issues these clients are currently facing. Students in the Workshop in Applied Policy Analysis work in teams for clients in government agencies or nonprofit organizations, facilitated through a faculty advisor.  Spring Workshop is a 6-credit point course.   

Nathan Chan, an MPA-ESP student, said that the night was "great as a social event.  I actually missed most of the game because I was talking with students and professors for most of the time."  Nathan was not the only student to take advantage of the built-in time away from his studies and with his classmates.

Professor Sara Tjossem, who teaches Earth Systems and Environmental Policy this summer, also enjoyed the evening.  Earth Systems and Environmental Policy is the first social science course in the earth systems concentration.  The course takes a system-level approach to environmental policy problems.  Professor Tjossem's course discusses international environmental regime development, conflict resolution, and citizen participation in environmental decision-making.  She and other less baseball-savvy faculty and staff picked up baseball pointers from baseball enthusiast and MPA-ESP student Joseph Katz. 

Unfortunately, the game was not a success for the NY Mets, who lost 2-5 against Seattle.  Regardless of the loss for the NY team, MPA-ESP students were glad to have time away from their coursework.  MPA-ESP student Grant Goodrich was happy to have a chance to socialize "away from the [International Affairs Building] 6^th floor computer lounge."

Though the Mets lost, the night was not a total loss: the evening was a pleasant getaway from studies and the city and gave the students and faculty a chance to relax and bond more at this busy time of the semester.

For more information on the MPA-ESP program, please contact Louise Rosen, Associate Director of the MPA-ESP Program, at 212.854.0643 or via email at lar46@columbia.edu.

Picture courtesy of 2008-2009 MPA-ESP student Joseph Katz.