Tag Archives: MPAC

Getting Involved: MPA Council

I worked for a few years prior to returning to school in the MPA program.  I was a bit of a wallflower as an undergraduate, and I wanted to do the complete opposite here.  I’m doing everything I can to be as active as possible, and one of the great things about UT and the MPA program is that you can be as deeply involved as you desire.  As a traditional MPA, I’m only going to be here for just over a year, so I have to jump in feet first.

To that end, I was very interested in the MPA Council.  A couple weeks ago, they hosted an information session to kick off the fall semester.  I loved that one of their goals is to build the community of the MPA program, and that includes not only students, but alumni, faculty, staff, and employers.  I was elected to an officer position as Vice President and I’m massively excited to help roll the year out.  Ethics Week and Faculty Appreciation Week are both under my office, and I’m currently talking with potential committee chairs who will run those events.  I love building communities, and I want these events to really help weave that MPA tapestry.

Opportunities like these are why I came to UT, and are the kind of experience that you just don’t get other places.  We’re the top accounting program in the country at one of the largest universities in the country.  That combination gives us resources and access that are invaluable.

I’ll close out my first post here with my best accounting joke:

Why are so many students afraid to major in accounting?
They hear that it’s accrual experience.

MPA Council Hosts Catherine Cook, Founder of MyYearbook

MPAC members with Catherine Cook

Last Wednesday, April 4th, the MPA Council invited Catherine Cook (founder of MyYearbook.com) to speak as part of their Esteemed Speaker Series.

Ms. Cook started off describing what MyYearbook was all about. When I hear about social media sites, I assume they are destined to fail since they are competing with the powerful network effects of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But Catherine Cook explained how these three social media giants don’t cover the entire span of the social media market. Facebook is for people you already know, Twitter is primarily used for news and entertainment feed, and LinkedIn is for the professional sphere of social media.

None of these sites are for meeting new people. That is the goal of MyYearbook. Cat Cook told us she got the idea at 15 when she moved to a new high school and didn’t know anybody. One of the purposes of the site is to help people who move to a new city engage with new people within a certain mile radius of them. Continue reading MPA Council Hosts Catherine Cook, Founder of MyYearbook