Dean's Message: Welcome to the Spring Semester, January 2025

Happy New Year and welcome to the spring semester! Whether you are a returning student or new to Rutgers SPAA, we are so excited you are here.

A new semester represents a time of change for us all, bringing many opportunities and challenges with it. This proves true to a greater degree this spring semester, as our start coincides with the beginning of a new federal administration. As a school of public administration, we are uniquely placed to not just to study this extraordinary moment in time, but to find ways to make a real impact. In fact, we started a conversation around this in November, when we hosted "A Discussion on The Future of Public Service," to address advancing public service and social equity concerns in the context of a change in federal government leadership. As we move forward, let's navigate this new beginning with a renewed sense of community, where we treat each other with dignity and decency, support each other, and work together to achieve great things.

This calendar year marks five decades since the Master of Public Administration degree was first offered at Rutgers-Newark. Events to celebrate this proud point of SPAA's history – 50 years of shaping public administrators who have gone on to make a profound impact on the world – are just some of the many planned initiatives this spring. Watch for announcements sharing more details with you in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I wish you all a prosperous and enriching semester. Let's celebrate our successes, offer each other support, and make this semester noteworthy.

Here's to new starts and a triumphant year ahead!

Kaifeng Yang, PhD
Dean and Professor
Rutgers SPAA