MPA Alumni

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Our Local Managers

 

When you walk into any city government office in Orange County you will find graduates of Cal State University Fullerton's MPA program. Among our distinguished MPA alumni are the following local city managers:
Our local city managers

Jeffrey Boynton

La Mirada City Manager

Maggie Le, MPA 

City of Fountain Valley City Manager

Sean Joyce, MPA '1986

Irvine City Manager (ret.)

Tom Hatch, MPA'1991

Costa Mesa City Manager

Jim Sadro,    MPA '1992

La Habra City Manager

Ben Siegel, MPA'2007

San Juan Capistrano City Manager

Jeff Collier, MPA'1986

Whittier City Manager

Class of 1986

John Sibley,         MPA '1975

Orange City Manager (ret.)

Chris Meyer, MPA'1979

Fullerton City Manager (ret.)

David Adams, MPA'1980

San Juan Capistrano City Manager (ret.)

David Morgan, MPA'1973

Anaheim City Manager (ret.)

 Debra Rose

Lake Forest City Manager

RECENT ALUMNI EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS

2017 graduates: 88% employed six months after graduation; 38% of those had obtained a promotion or new job!

 

2016 graduates: 100% employed six months after graduation; 64% had obtained a promotion or new job!

 

2015 graduates: 100% employed six months after graduation; 57% had obtained a promotion or new job!

 

2014 graduates: 100% employed 6 months after graduation; 66.7% had obtained a promotion or new job!

 

 

2013 graduates: 100% employed 6 months after graduation; 64% had obtained a promotion or new job!

 

2012 graduates: 89% employed 6 months after graduation; 22% had obtained a promotion or new job!

 

2011 graduates: 100% employed 6 months after graduation; 50% had obtained a promotion or new job!

 


 

(based on submitted post-graduation surveys)

MPA Graduation Rate 2017-2018

MPA post graduation employment

Internship Placement

The internship is required of students who have little to no experience working in the public or non-profit sector which is very few of our students.

The required internship includes a 3-unit class with written work requirements and 300 hours of internship experience in a public or nonprofit organization; as fits the mission of our program, most students intern in local government. Several decades of this internship class have resulted in a list of potential internship opportunities that exceeds 80 organizations.

Students can also earn their internship credit by spending a summer in a public or nonprofit agency internship in Washington D.C. These students often intern with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture or Interior, or a nonprofit organization.

The internship coordinator has a long list of placement leads for students who need help securing an internship. This list has been cultivated for decades as have program relationships with agencies/alumni who frequently contact the program to invite intern applications.

Our MPA students secure paid internships in about one-third of cases. To offset the opportunity costs of unpaid internships, Bruce Lawson (CSUF MPA 1972), has provided financial support through the Lawson Internship in Public Service Award for the past 12 semesters. This award provides a $2,000 scholarship to one student each semester based on a competitive application that is evaluated by program faculty.

In 2017/18, nine students enrolled in the POSC 497 Public Administration Internship. Four students worked  in paid internships; two other students   secured paid employment before the end of their internship experience.

During 2017/18 students interned in Human Resource Departments in the cities of San Marino and Anaheim, and the County of Orange; The Department of Fleet Management in Santa Ana; Community Services in the cities of Brea and Orange; the U.S. Probation Office in Inglewood; and two students worked in nonprofit settings doing parent outreach, and voter education. 

Alumni Spotlight

Bruce G. Lawson CCP - IPMA-CP (MPA, 1972) is Managing Director of Fox Lawson Associates, a Division of Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. He created the Lawson Internship in Public Service, which awards $2000 each semester to an MPA student enrolled in our internship program.

Jodi Balma (MPA, 1997) is a political science professor at Fullerton College.

Melissa Riordan (MPA, 1998) is the Executive Director, Alumni | Community Relations at Cal Poly Pomona.

Jeanet Kulcsar (MPA, 2005) works in Ecomonic Development in the Office of Mayor Mike Duggan, City of Detroit.

Ben Siegel (MPA, 2007) is the City Manager for the City of San Juan Capistrano.

Carlo Tomaino (MPA, 2007) is Economic Development Director in the City of Lake Forest.

Jennifer Whyte (MPA, 2008) works for the Colorado Bureau of Land Management as Lead Realty Specialist/Renewable Energy Program Manager.

 James Hodgson (MPA, 2012) is an Industrial Operations Analyst with the federal General Services Administration.

Samantha Marin Rivera (MPA, 2013) works in Washington DC as a Management Program Analyst for the USDA in the Animal Plant Health Inspection Services, Office of Civil Rights, Diversity and Inclusion.

Seon Chun-Burbank, Ed.D., (MPA, 2014) is chair of Early Childhood Education programs at Vanguard University of Southern California.