Category Archives: Feature

Big news from the MPA

International Potluck

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Recently, the MPA International Connection hosted a potluck where international students shared foods from their respective home countries. Fortunately, they invited all of us to come and try them out. In good spirit, the domestic students brought some of their own food to share with the international students. Career Consultant Dawn Shaw was there, too, helping promote unity among the varied group of students in the MPA program.

About 25 students brought food from China, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, Hawaii, and elsewhere. My only regret is that I didn’t save more room for the Korean BBQ. A bigger sampling might have given me enough ammo to write about another stop on my “BBQ trail” even though it’s pretty different from Texas BBQ.  There was so much food that I didn’t get to eat a substantial amount of any one dish, but I do not regret1610014_294678857356625_2368457516241372259_ntaking the opportunity to try out each one. My contribution, being a southerner, wassouthern-style sweet tea. I made a regular sweet tea version and another one infused with fruit.

Altogether, it was a great way to branch out and try something new that you would not otherwise be exposed to. I have always enjoyed eating foreign foods, but there’s nothing like home-cooking. That is a truism that transcends national and cultural boundaries. It also provided a venue to better get to know some fellow students who we may not have known at all otherwise.

That there is enough interest in an event like this is a testament to the diversity of the Texas MPA class, which is a quality important to me. I have enjoyed my travels outside the US and look forward to future travels, but experiencing fellowship in this context with others who are outside their home countries is the next best thing.

 

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Bill Powers and the University of Texas

Large_university-of-texas_seal_rgb(199-91-18)Despite having arrived in Texas only one year ago, I have been paying attention to the controversy surrounding the university’s President, Bill Powers, for some time. It has made national news and recently culminated in his announcement of resignation in 2015. The issue has many facets, not least of which is what the fundamental purpose of the university should be. The University of Texas is a world-class research institution and the flagship university of the state of Texas, but some argue that increasing tuition costs are cheating students out of a low-cost education.

Sure, if we could have it both ways we would provide every student with a top education for pennies. The fact is that tuition costs are soaring everywhere, not just UT, and declining state funding is part of the cause for the increase. Another reason commonly cited, again not just at UT, is the increasing administrative burden on university budgets. That said, the idea that college education should be cheaper to make it more accessible to students sounds like a positive notion on its face, but the side-effects could result in consequences antithetical to the stated goals of its proponents.

The Board of Regents has accused UT of wasting too much money on “ivory tower research” that does not result in much benefit to the public or students. The solution? Force professors to teach more classes and do less research so that fewer professors would be required to be on the payroll. Some unfortunate side-effects of that policy would be that the best professors would leave for other universities that do allow for research opportunities, leaving students with fewer professors that have extensive knowledge of current research in their fields. This is not to say that professors who do not engage in research are inferior, but an important part of a college education, particularly in technical fields, is learning about the forefront of progress. Another side effect would be found in rankings, which are dependent in part on the volume and quality of research. UT has numerous highly-ranked programs that would suffer in several ways. This would also result in employers of UT graduates that frequently recruit here because of the prestige of the academic programs becoming less inclined to do so.

Additionally, many of those students who come from out of state (or out of country, for that matter) would cease to come to Texas if not for the prestige and opportunity offered here. These are the students who pay the most in tuition, and whose absence would be well-noticed on UT’s “bottom line.” The brain-gain that Texas enjoys from these students coming from all over the world ripples through the state’s economy as they graduate and become employed in high-tech industries, which are attracted to the state because of its well-educated labor pool.

Further, what about the Texas residents seeking a world-class education? If UT’s education were cheapened, would they remain in-state at a public university? Not likely – top performers will seek their next best opportunity, and if that involves going to another state and paying top tuition rates there, they will do so.

If Texas is in need of more accessible college education for its citizens, why provide it at the expense of another group of its citizens and the economy at-large? Would it not be easier to convert, say, Austin Community College into a 4-year university? Is UT the only university in the state that is capable of providing what these reformers seek? They could also more effectively achieve their goal by attacking the administrative cost of the university, rather than sacrificing academic excellence in order to lower tuition. Of course, this would not necessarily make education at UT more accessible, but definitely less burdensome since colleges typically do not compete on tuition rates due to the fact that many students take on loans.

The bottom line is that UT has spent decades growing through investment to become one of the top universities in the country. That legacy should not be discarded so quickly. I agree with the Regents that we should do what we can to reduce tuition, but they should be more prudent in their actions and make sure that they do not sabotage their own goals by ignoring side effects that could potentially subvert those goals.

Competing With Engineers for a Sustainable World

A couple of months ago, we all received an invitation to compete in BASF’s Team Chemistry challenge. A fellow MPA student decided to formTexas-mascot a group, and so I joined. It seemed like a fun project – come up with ideas to lessen the environmental impact of football gameday. I love football gameday and I have an interest in environmental sustainability, so it was like a match made in heaven. Of course, the incentive of winning a bunch of money didn’t hurt.

So, we set to work coming up with ideas on how to approach the problem.  We easily came up with a host of small solutions that would have some impact, but quickly got bogged down in the details. After spending some more time pondering our work, we decided to focus on a group  of related solutions and hone in on them.  As Joel said in his most recent article about accountants being risk-averse, we learned from our initial mistakes, found the proper balance, and ended up with some pretty cool ideas.

We were invited to a couple of events by BASF and the Athletic Department to learn more about the initiative and the goals of the competition. One event was a sustainability panel sponsored by UT Engineers for a Sustainable World. The panel was entirely made up of engineers and the audience was entirely engineers … except two of us MPA students. It was very intimidating hearing about them discussing various polymers of which we had no clue of their existence much less their properties. Apparently these students have a big advantage over us with their knowledge of chemicals, considering BASF is essentially a chemical company. The next event was a stadium tour, during which our guides told us about their issues with waste management. Their focus seemed to be only on waste management problems, while our solutions did little to address that.

ConcoursePoster_#2_Sec120But, we pressed on, confident in the power of our ideas despite not having the technical knowledge that is certainly common among our competition. What we do have is a business ingenuity that enabled us to come up with feasible solutions that are easily implemented and have a measurable impact. We used the skills we have learned in economics, finance, and accounting to estimate the results of our proposals. We also used our branding and presentation skills to develop a persuasive format through which to deliver our proposal.

We find out Friday if we are invited to the finalist round, where we will present and defend our ideas in a “shark tank” environment. We’ve had fun putting it all together, and we’re proud of our accomplishments, but it would be great to get to write a “Part II” to this article about our preparation for the finalist round!

 

Live Music Capital of the World

austin city music header Now that recruiting is out of the way and one semester under my belt, I feel like I have some extra breathing room to enjoy more of the fun that Austin has to offer. My biggest new year’s resolution is to see more live music, and what better place to enable my success than the Live Music Capital of the World? Being a musician, it wouldn’t hurt to get the chance to perform some of that live music as well.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve had the chance to see a few acts already, but I still have some places on my hit list:

Victory Grill: I had the chance after our first day back of the spring semester to check out Victory Grill’s weekly Monday night blues jam. A few of us MPAs went, and have already made plans to go back. It felt like a neighborhood bar for regulars to come and play sweet blues music, taking turns on the stage to wring out their troubles.

Red River: Not a single venue, but a strip of clubs, bars, and music venues. Stubb’s BBQ and Mohawk regularly feature relatively well-known touring artists in addition to some of the local greats. Then there are several smaller venues and bars clustered around that frequently host live music.

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The Legendary White Swan: This one, another neighborhood bar, has been on my list for a while, but I haven’t made it down there yet. They host a variety of local artists, from blues to punk to roots country.

Sahara Lounge: Another venue that recently appeared on my radar, the Sahara Lounge is the most eclectic on the list. The variety of music that can be found here includes Indie, African, Blues, Rock, Country, Swing, Brazilian, and Funk.

Any takers?  Any other venues I need to check out?

ARK in Austin

On a beautiful Saturday morning, I went to Starbucks to get my caffeine fix for the day. Everything was fine, normal, and actually boring until a car cut in front of me in the drive-thru lane. I didn’t know you could do that but it happened. What a way to start the day! Someone has apparently removed the orange traffic cones on the corner that were supposed to keep peace and order in this little community.

Now we have chaos. I was miffed.

I almost honked my horn, when a confused beautiful girl came out of the car, replaced the cones, and gave me a nice apologetic smile. Aha, the culprit! Thanksgiving just passed, Christmas is coming, and the end of the semester is approaching. After a mental flip coin, I decided to let it go, smile, keep my cool, and let the car proceed.

I didn’t think much about this incident afterwards. With Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby in the background, I realized it was no big deal. Christmas music just has a special way of putting me in merrier spirits. So I ordered my normal drink and pulled to the counter to pay for my caffeine  addiction.

I was handing cash to the barista, when in a very sweet manner she pointed to the car in front that was driving away and said, “They paid for your drink. Have a happy thanksgiving.”

So the people in front of me, the very same folks who just cut in line, gave me a free drink. That was totally unexpected and even as I write this post and finish that cup of coffee I still can’t believe it happened. Overwhelmed. Thankful. Speechless. That’s how I felt as I drove away from the counter, sipping coffee freely given by a thoughtful stranger.

I’ve heard about stories like this on the radio, but it has never happened to me until this day. In Austin last year, there were so many pay it forward stories on the air that I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. But now, I’m a believer. Acts of Random Kindness (ARK) do happen and some times in the most unexpected places and situations. This just warmed my heart and encouraged me so much. I am grateful, not only because of the free coffee, but because people, in spite of the pressures of this world, still know how to give and bless others. This is such a great reminder, especially for this season.

I wonder if things would have turned out differently if I frowned on that girl and did not let them pass. I wonder if instead of a nice morning, I would have ruined it for everybody. I still think about this sweet encounter and realize that this shows how the little things really do make the difference. A simple smile, a humble perspective, a grateful heart, go a long way.

Now, if I can only let somebody pass in front of me when paying for tuition at McCombs that would be a huge ARK I’d be forever thankful for. I can only imagine my reaction. I see a few high jumps happening. But jokingly aside, the point is in this season of thanksgiving and cheer, small acts of random kindness go a long way in making a positive change.

The strangers on that car may never know who I am, what my name is, or how much what they did meant to me. But on this day, they put a smile on my face and reminded me to keep paying forward.

That’s a memorable impact and one that would stay with me for a while.