Articles by 11 master of public policy, administration and law (MPPAL) students from York University are being showcased in Canadian Government Executive (CGE) magazine in 2019 and 2020.

MPPAL students in the School of Public Policy and Administration wrote original articles as part of public management coursework that began in Fall 2018. Their articles offer insights on the prospects for public sector development from the upcoming generation of public service leaders.

“We are excited to announce … a new section called the Millennial Outlook. This section will feature students and young professionals in the public sector sharing issues they are dealing with to help us anticipate what the future of public service will be like,” said CGE Managing Editor Marcello Sukhdeo.

Professor John Wilkins, adjunct faculty member with the School of Public Policy and Administration, who coached student writing efforts, introduced the series in an overview entitled “People first, policy second.” In it, he highlights students’ preoccupation with people and capacity issues as precursors to excellence in public policy, and says: “Good people who are good leaders make good policy for good governance … an honourable legacy to which millennials can aspire.”

The six MPPAL students featured in CGE magazine in 2019 include:

Yunus Jawaheer – When corporate culture hinders talent management
• The nature, scope and quality of corporate culture influence whether individuals decide to stay or leave their job. Institutionalizing change in corporate culture is a daunting undertaking. Leaders ought to recognize the transformative challenges and commit to consolidating incremental changes over time.

Lauren Inouye – Want to retain staff? Let them leave
• Fostering exchange, collaboration and innovation will enable the OPS [Ontario Public Service] to serve Ontarians better. It will also sustain institutional relevance and develop the capacity to lead and grow. Staff may leave in the short term, but they will thrive … and they will always come home.

Kiran Hamid – Mental health: the blind spot in the public service
• Managers must champion mental health exercises that are applicable to their workplace. Examples include managing stress in a fast-paced call centre or managing high workload volumes in a high-demand workplace. Employers need to lead the fight against mental health and be a beacon of hope in the workplace.

Andres Urrutia Bustos – The middle manager’s edifice for success
• Instead of gambling, middle managers try to minimize negative outcomes while simultaneously trying to leverage better outcomes. Fluid, honest communication with senior management is capital, so that everyone understands the calculated risk and executes actions to maximize the chances of success.

Antoinette Sarpong – Let’s get physical
• Fortunately, the key to Millennial retention transcends borders. It’s simply about management supporting the four drives that motivate employees and, by extension, offering more flexibility that shifts organizational culture. Organizations that do this will attract future thought leaders while ensuring that the brightest young minds stay in the public service once they get there.

Monica Mann – Besting the private sector at its own game
• Canada has one of the top public services in the world, so governments must be doing something right. But this does not mean that the public sector can become complacent or ignore emerging data. It must continue to evaluate and track employment trends to understand how to attract and retain the best and brightest.

Five more articles are scheduled for publication in the magazine, and this year’s MPPAL students drafted  articles in the Fall 2019 term to augment the body of work. The aim, over time, is to discern trends in public service careers, to track issues in public management, and to offer CGE readers valuable insights from the frontier.

There is an open invitation to prospective authors to contribute articles. CGE has a domestic and international readership of more than 65,000 senior public executives.

Recognizing service excellence and visionary leadership, the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA) held its annual Student, Alumni and Community Recognition Awards dinner on Nov. 21.

This year, alumnus Jim Cassimatis, interim associate deputy minister of ServiceOntario, delivered the keynote address. Cassimatis reflected on his public service career, offering a candid account of some of the challenges he experienced over the last three decades. From technology to ethics, the public service tackles a constantly evolving set of realities in its mandate to deliver on commitments that politicians have made to the public, he said.

Cassimatis has devoted his career to the implementation of government programs and services. He offered advice to students and more junior alumni, noting that first, sound budgeting and management are essential for successful program delivery; second, learning the intricacies of program delivery takes time; and third, it is important to move laterally to gain exposure to different functional roles in the public service to appreciate the complexities of implementation.

He also cautioned junior colleagues against rushing to move up the career ladder prematurely, as risks are inevitable in the face of steep learning curves and the need to build one’s leadership capital.

Awards

The first award presented at the dinner celebrated public service excellence and leadership. The 2019 year marks the 10th anniversary of the first graduating class of the school’s Master of Public Policy, Administration and Law (MPPAL) program, and on this occasion the School’s Alumni Network – YUSPPAAN – established the Foster – Greene Award for Excellence in Public Policy, Administration and Law. The award is named after the MPPAL program’s inaugural graduate program directors – University Professor Emeritus Ian Greene and Professor Lorne Foster – and recognizes an alumnus/alumna of the MPPAL program whose work has demonstrably and significantly advanced social justice, human rights, ethics and good governance in congruence with the program’s founding principles. The award recipient will normally have a minimum of 10 years of work experience in the broader public sector.

YUSPPAAN Board Member Kevin Giddings (MPPAL ’15) championed the establishment of the award and presented it to its inaugural recipient, Amuna Baraka-Clarke (MPPAL,’18). Baraka-Clarke’s career spans three decades in the non-profit sector, including 15 years at senior leadership level. She currently holds the position of director of human resources and operations for the Jane/Finch Centre. In this role, she strengthens organizational structures and practices through strategic human resources interventions and the engagement of policy. She is also a 2019 CivicAction DiverseCity Fellow and sits on various boards, including the newly engaged York University Black Alumni Network.

The School also recognized the contributions of two public sector partners for the practicum opportunities they provided to our fourth-year Bachelor of Public Administration (BPA) students. Professor Peter Constantinou, the school’s experiential education coordinator, highlighted the championing roles of: alumnus Claudio De Rose (BA spec. hon. PPA ’98), acting executive director, driver and vehicle program development and modernization in the Road User Safety Division of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation; and Louise Simos, who currently leads a team responsible for ServiceOntario’s intergovernmental relations and data services at the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Simos recently received the highest award in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) – an Amethyst Award – for digital disruption and for an innovative new intranet for the 60,000-plus OPS employees.

Several other awards were presented to students and alumni, including:

The Undergraduate Student Award presented to Sukhpreet Singh from the BPA spec. hon. (management stream) program (class of ’19) for his leadership and service to the Public Policy and Administration Student Association (PPASA) in a variety of roles for three years and most recently as president in 2018-19.

Singh joined the federal public service in May as an access to information and privacy analyst at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and expressed his gratitude at the dinner to his parents, and SPPA faculty and staff for their support during this journey.

The Graduate Student Award was presented to Tiago De Oliveira for his service as director of communications for our Graduate Students’ Association during the first year of his MPPAL studies in 2018-19, and contributions to organizing a career panel for students, the school’s municipal symposium and several networking events.

De Oliveira currently holds the position of payroll transformation project lead with the City of Toronto. He is a graduate of our BPA spec. hon. program (law, justice and public policy stream, class of ’14) and also holds a certificate in human resources management from York.

The Best 2019 Major Research Paper Award was presented to Ryan Clancy (MPPAL, class of ’19) for his research on the City of Toronto’s response to gun violence. MPPAL Director Dagmar Soennecken served as Clancy’s research supervisor and highlighted his background and aspirations combining a bachelor of commerce, chartered professional accounting (CPA) designation and commitment to social justice in line with York’s and MPPAL values.

Clancy recently transitioned from the OPS to LIFT Philanthropy Partners as the senior manager, impact investing with emphasis on social finance and impact. He also serves as vice-chair of the Board of Regeneration Community Services, a not-for-profit that provides housing support for persons with mental health and addiction challenges.

MPPAL students Rebecca Ganesathas, Joana Jabson, Asare Kester-Akrofi, Sindiswa Moyo and Gurjeet Virdi were presented with the Best Team Award for their participation in the 2019 IPAC-CAPPA National Case Competition. Soennecken also acknowledged the work of the team’s long-standing coach John Wilkins, and MPPAL student Richard Mohammed was named honorary member of the team for his unparalleled dedication and constructive support of the team at every tryout.

Undergraduate Program Director and Professor Joanne Magee and Gurkamal Dhahan, president of the PPASA, presented the awards to this year’s winners of our high school essay contest for sharing their thought-provoking Vision for Canada:

• First prize: Taylor Dallin, Grade 12, Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts, North York, for her essay entitled “Seeing 20/20: A Vision for 2020 and Beyond Which Brings Indigenous Issues to the Forefront;”
• Second prize: Rehana Lalani, Grade 12, Glenforest Secondary School, Mississauga, for her submission asking: “Is it possible to advance both economic and environmental policy?”
• Third prize: Anjali Singh, Grade 12, Francis Libermann Catholic High School, Scarborough, on the status of women in Canada.

The evening concluded with the presentation of two alumni awards by SPPA Director Alena Kimakova:

The Emerging Leader Award was presented to Shireen Salti (MPPAL, class of ’17) who was recently named the executive director of the Canadian Arab Institute, a national not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that focuses on issues and interests of the Canadian Arab community through research, education and community engagement. The institute strives to be the leading policy and research organization on domestic policies of concern to Arab Canadians. Salti has held various positions with the Ontario Public Service, the Ontario Legislature Internship Programme and the Council of Ontario Universities. In 2017, Salti received both the school’s Graduate Student Award for her contributions to student life and the Best MRP Award in the MPPAL program for her major research paper on the settlement of Syrian refugees in Toronto.

The Alumni Recognition Award was presented to Ashley Cabral (MPPAL, class ’17) for her exceptional dedication to creating professional development opportunities for our students and alumni, as well as leadership and strategic vision for our alumni network. Cabral juggles a hectic schedule as executive advisor to the assistant deputy minister of the Ministry of the Solicitor General, Chair of YUSPPAAN and board member and the New Professionals Lead of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). She is also the recipient of the 2017 SPPA Emerging Leader Award. Her commitment to service excellence and visionary leadership to achieve client-centered, outcome-focused service delivery transcend all areas of her work and are assets to the alumni network and the school.

The evening was moderated by BPA alumna and 2017 recipient of the University-wide Robert Tiffin Student Leadership Award Munisha Basiram. In attendance were also Associate Dean Students Peter Avery of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LA&PS) and Tony Haddad, who recently joined the school’s Advisory Committee after a distinguished career in the municipal public service. The event was supported by Nicole Glassman of the LA&PS communications team and SPPA staff members Maria Flores, Jasmattie Jewan and Shakira Bacchus.

Twelve students from across the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) were recognized as winners of the annual LA&PS Writing Prize on Nov. 27. The students were honored for their outstanding work by Associate Dean (Students) Peter Avery during a recognition ceremony.

Avery congratulated the winners in front of a gathering of students’ family members and professors in a reception at the Second Student Centre. There, each student was recognized, and the adjudicators’ comments concerning their submission were read aloud.

The 2018-19 winners featured finalists from both sides of the LA&PS ampersand, from the Humanities Department to the Department of Social Science. This year, the competition featured entries from Fall/Winter 2017 and Fall/Winter 2018, to compensate for the labour disruption of two summers ago.

“We continue to get some really amazing papers,” noted the competition’s co-ordinator Professor Jon Sufrin. “My personal favourite this year was a paper on Viking magic, but we saw a wide variety of submissions, from formal writing to personal essays. The judges had a particularly difficult decision given the high quality of entrants this year.”

For the Fall/Winter 2017 and 2018 competition, the winners were:

• First-year honourable mention: Michelle Molubi, “Violence Against Black Queer People: The Intersections of Antiblackness and Antiqueerness in North American Society,” from HUMA 1300, Cultures of Resistance in the Americas: The African American Experience, taught by Professor Andrea Davis.
• First-year honourable mention: Sivana Vythilingum, “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” from WRIT 1700A, Writing: Process and Practice. Course director: Kerry Doyle.
• First-year winner: Robert Gibbs, Shailee Peck, “Misogynistic presence in Cellini’s Vita & the works of Machiavelli,” from HUMA 1125, Medieval and Renaissance Civilizations, taught by Professor Thomas Cohen.
• Second-year honourable mention: Noorin Pattni, “Angola’s Challenges,” from SOSC 2800, International Development in Comparative and Historical Perspective, taught by Associate Professor Merouan Mekouar.
• Second-year honourable mention: Vincent Rizzo, “The Mission Before the Escape,” from WRIT 2710, Grammar & Proofreading, taught by Frances Maranger (TA) and Dunja Baus (course director).
• Second-year winner: Gil Segev, “Homme Improvement,” from WRIT 2004, Writing in Digital Cultures, taught by Associate Professor Andrea McKenzie.
• Third-year honourable mention: Jerome Paul, “The Comedy of Tragedy in Good Night, Desdemona and Cloud 9,” from EN 3191, Comedy, taught by contract faculty member Aida Jordao.
• Third-year honourable mention: Chris Paulin, “In Time We Hate That Which We Often Fear,” from HIST 3843, Occupation, Collaboration and Death: A Social and Military History of the Second World War to 1944, taught by Associate Professor Deb Neill.
• Third-year winner: Ranfateh Chattha, “State Management and Private Enterprise in the Grain Supply of Ancient Rome,” from HIST 3140, The City in the Roman World, taught by Associate Professor Ben Kelly.
• Fourth-year honourable mention: Olivia Quenneville, “The Counterfeit Clothing Wars,” from WRIT 4002, Periodical Writing and Publishing Practicum, taught by Paul McLaughlin (course director).
• Fourth-year honourable mention: V. M. Roberts, “Misjöfn Verks: Gendered division of labour and social/instrumental power in the Viking Age,” from HIST 4990, History of Technology, taught by Associate Professor Margaret Schotte.
• Fourth-year winner: Joseph Yachimec, “Dreams of the Merchant-King: Sidewalk Toronto as Neoliberal Project,” from POLS 4404, Politics and Cultures of Neoliberal Urbanism, taught by Associate Professor Karen Bridget Murray.

There were no entrants in the category of Major Research Project.

Both the winning essays and the adjudicators comments can be found online, in the Fall/Winter 2017 and Fall/Winter 2018 YorkSpace Repository for the LA&PS Writing Prize. The winners also received transcript notations, certificates and cash prizes.

Each year, the Faculty invites course directors to submit outstanding essays in any field but creative writing. The submissions are collected and organized by Writing Department staff into year levels (first to fourth year), with a special category for major research projects and undergraduate theses included.

Then, small teams of full-time writing faculty (each responsible for a category) review the submissions. Using criteria of originality, research, expression (style, structure etc.) and overall significance, the teams choose a winner and a runner-up for each level of the competition.

In Fall/Winter 2017 and 2018, the competition received more than 65 entries written in many different styles and on a wide variety of topics. Some departments held their own internal competitions first, to nominate their strongest submissions to the Faculty-level competition.

The Fall/Winter 2019 LA&PS Writing Competition, open to papers from summer 2019 to winter 2020 will open in April 2020.