Barry Friedman honored for twenty years of service to the M.P.A. program
On April 20, 2016, PSIA faculty members were joined by M.P.A. current students and alumni who thanked Dr. Barry Friedman for his commitment and dedication as the M.P.A. Program coordinator for the last 20 years. Georgia state Senator Stephen W. Gooch (M.P.A., ‘98) and Marsha Harper Moore, founding commissioner of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (M.P.A., ‘98), were in attendance. According to Dr. Friedman’s March 21 letter to current M.P.A. students and alumni, “The program went into operation when the spring quarter of 1996 began. Since then, 150 students have earned their M.P.A. degrees from our program. I gratefully recognize the various ways in which the recipients of this E‑mail message have supported the program‑‑by enrolling in it, working as hard as you did to learn the course material, providing volunteer service to the M.P.A. Student Association and the Graduate Student Senate, establishing impressive careers that reflect so well on the program, recruiting others to enroll in the program, and causing the program to have a favorable reputation. I remember with gratitude the determination of Dr. Delmas J. Allen, who served as vice president for academic affairs and then as president of NGCSU, that an M.P.A. Program would be established here, and the resolute support of Dr. Ray C. Rensi, then head of the Department of Social Sciences, and Dr. Brian M. Murphy, the first head of the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, that made it possible for the program to go into operation in March 1996.” The Barry Friedman M.P.A. Legacy Award was established and will be awarded annually to the M.P.A. student who has the highest GPA. Dr. Luisa Diaz-Kope is serving as the new M.P.A. coordinator and is in the process of developing a new online program scheduled to debut in August 2017.