Pi Pi Alpha recently held its 2018 Induction Ceremony at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to welcome 26 Master in Public Administration or Master of Public Policy students into the honors society. The purpose of Pi Pi Alpha is to encourage and recognize outstanding achievement and to support graduate public service education. To be honored with membership, students are required to complete at least half of their coursework while achieving a grade point average of 3.7 or above.

Receiving an honorary membership were faculty members Dr. Deneen Hatmaker, Associate Professor and Director of the MPA and MPP Programs, and Dr. Joshua Hyman, Assistant Professor.

Guest speaker for the evening was Patrick McMahon, MPA graduate and Pi Pi Alpha member.  Patrick is the CEO of Connecticut Main Street which is dedicated to community and economic development and is committed to bringing Connecticut’s commercial districts back to life socially and economically.

The honors society supports graduate students in public administration and public policy by hosting events and trainings.  Along with its continued support of a practice interview night conducted by real public, nonprofit and private sector managers, a Meet and Greet event with faculty and students, Pi Pi Alpha has initiated a new professional development scholarship to encourage students to seek learning opportunities that augment the DPP curriculum.

The event also included the announcement of the Pi Pi Alpha 2018-2019 Board members:

Douglas Shipman, President
Blaize Levitan, Vice President
Anthony Naples, Treasurer
Jessica Seabrook, Secretary
Sara Nagle, Membership Chair

Congratulations to all the new inductees and Board members!