Happy holidays, everyone!
UPCOMING EVENT: "FINDING JOBS IN TOUGH TIMES"
The PPA Alumni Association is sponsoring a talk on "Finding Jobs
in Tough Times," to be held at the PPA Alumni Center (south end
of campus) at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13. The talk will
feature Ken Mandler, publisher of the well regarded newsletter "Capitol
Weekly," which for many years has circulated information about
job openings in the area. We deliberately chose the topic because we
thought it would be of great interest to lots of people. The program
is open to everyone, including current students as well as alumni and
friends of PPA. Please RSVP
if you can make it so we'll have a sense of how many are coming. Thanks
are due to current Alumni Chapter President José Henríquez
for organizing this event.
So... mark your calendars!
WELCOME BACK PARTY
I would like to invite people to a welcome back potluck at my house
in Davis on Sunday, February 1, 2004. We didn't quite get it
together to do this before the end of the year as we did last year,
but we'll be happy to see people in early 2004. More details will be
forthcoming; for now, please mark this on your calendar as well.
INPUT ON THESIS CHANGES
I would appreciate obtaining input from current students regarding changes
in our thesis requirements. We made two major alterations this academic
year. First, we allowed people who had advanced to candidacy to take
PPA 500 (Thesis Seminar) before beginning the last semester of core
classes. Second, we clarified that our preference was for shorter theses,
provided people could cover the required thesis components. That is,
we were looking to review projects of perhaps 40-50 pages on average,
rather than the 100 page plus documents we had often seen in the past.
At the same time, we were explicit that we wanted the theses to be analytical
in focus, with background included only as necessary.
Have these changes made a difference? Is it helpful to be able to take
PPA 500 earlier? Are people adequately prepared to enroll in that course?
Do the clarified page expectations help to make the culminating project
more manageable? Is there anything else that would be helpful in terms
of clarifying expectations? Your responses to these questions would
be of much assistance to the faculty. In addition, we would like your
thoughts on any other thesis related topics, including the advisability
of seeking further group projects such as the one Rob Wassmer is running
this academic year on urban sprawl. You're welcome to write me, call
me, or set up a meeting to discuss any of these matters.
GIVE US NEW STUDENTS TO MATCH OUR MOUNTAINS
This is the time of year that we begin recruiting students for the upcoming
PPA class. Please have anyone you might recommend contact me to obtain
more information about the program. We also would be glad to talk to
groups of students in particular work settings if you think that would
be helpful. Experience shows that word of mouth matters a lot in terms
of learning about graduate programs, and you can be very helpful in
that regard.
All our best to you for the new year.
Ted Lascher
PPA Department Chair
We welcome your contributions to the Communicator! Contact the Department
Chair, Ted
Lascher, or the Department
Secretary (916) 278-6557, in the PPA Department Office.
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