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Department of Public Policy & Administration College of Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary Studies

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Awards & Recognition

Following are select awards and recognition our Public Policy and Administration community has received over the years.

Public Policy and Administration graphic mark showing Capitol dome, Tower Bridge, and Guy West Bridge

PPA In The News

Cristy Jensen Award

In 1989, Professor Emerita Cristy Jensen founded the graduate program in Public Policy and Administration as it is today. Dr. Jensen was the 2007 recipient of the prestigious John C. Livingston Award. Read the transcript or view her lecture.

Upon her retirement in 2007, the Department of Public Policy and Administration created the Distinguished Graduate Award in her honor. Affectionately known as the Cristy Jensen Award, MPPA students selected for this honor exhibited throughout their graduate careers the qualities Dr. Jensen valued most:

  • academic achievement
  • active involvement in the PPA community
  • peer mentoring
  • demonstrated leadership
  • professionalism

Each Cristy Jensen Award recipient is selected at the end of a given academic year from those MPPA students who completed their culminating experience in that year.

Year Cristy Jensen Award Recipient
2021-2022 Diana Dominguez, MPPA
2020-2021 Alexis Foley, MPPA
2019-2020 Alex McCreddin, MPPA
2018-2019 Amelia Gomez, MPPA
2017-2018 Erin Stumpf, MPPA
2016-2017 Kara Corches, MPPA
2015-2016 Ginger Hashimoto, MPPA co-awardee
2015-2016 Damien Mimnaugh, MPPA co-awardee
2014-2015 Terra Thorne, MPPA
2013-2014 Sergio Aguilar, MPPA
2012-2013 Katie Cardenas, MPPA co-awardee
2012-2013 Angela Marin, MPPA co-awardee
2011-2012 Eric Chisholm, MPPA co-awardee
2011-2012 Andrew Sturmfels, MPPA co-awardee
2010-2011 Eric Stern, MPPA
2009-2010 Joe Karkoski, MPPA co-awardee
2009-2010 Geoffrey Propheter, MPPA co-awardee
2008-2009 Lindsay Keyes, MPPA
2007-2008 Danell Brewster, MPPA
2006-2007 Jean-Marie McKinney, MPPA

College Graduation with Distinction

The College of Social Science and Interdisciplinary Studies recognizes master's students who are graduating with distinction. To qualify for this honor a master's student must have an overall grade point average of at least 3.8 and have completed a culminating project that the faculty considers distinctive.

Year SSIS Graduation with Distinction Award Recipients
2021-2022 Michael Turgeon, MPPA
2020-2021 Nick Thomas, MPPA
2020-2021 Giselle Sanchez, MPPA
2020-2021 Nicole Cuellar, MPPA
2020-2021 Rachel Croopnick, MPPA
2019-2020 Justin Adelman, MPPA
2017-2018 Erin Stumpf, MPPA
2017-2018 Imaez Wahid, MPPA
2016-2017 Katrina Beedy, MPPA
2016-2017 Kara Corches, MPPA
2016-2017 Katerina Robinson, MPPA
2015-2016 Ginger Hashimoto, MPPA
2015-2016 Damien Mimnaugh, MPPA
2013-2014 Andrea Howard, MSULD
2013-2014 Arianna Smith, MPPA

Student Research Competitions

Distinguished Alumni Awards

Two MPPA Alumni were honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards in 2014.

  • Keri Thomas, MPPA '06
  • James P. Mayer, MPPA '92

John C. Livingston Annual Faculty Lecture Award 2016-2017

PPA Professor Ted Lascher is the recipient of the John C. Livingston Annual Faculty Lecture Award, 2016-2017. On Monday, February 20, 2017, Ted Lascher delivered the prestigious annual Livingston lecture. His lecture, entitled “Curbing the Inclination toward Populist Reform (And Why You Should Appreciate the Faculty Senate)”, addresses populist reform.

John C. Livingston Annual Faculty Lecture Award 2007

PPA Professor Cristy Jensen was the 2007 recipient of the prestigious John C. Livingston Award. Jensen delivered the lecture, titled, “Faculty as Academic Leaders: Our Students Are Counting on Us (Whether They Know It or Not),” Tuesday, Oct. 30. The lecture focused on faculty’s responsibility to set curriculum, despite attempts by industry, think tanks and government to usurp that responsibility.

Download and read the transcript

Champions of Change

  1. First Place Winner Featuring PPA Professor Su Jin Jez
  2. Second Place Winner Featuring PPA Professor Rob Wassmer
  3. Third Place Winner Featuring Interim Dean and PPR Professor Ted Lascher

California Housing Forum

Professor Rob Wassmer participated in the California Housing Forum's second panel on October 5, 2016.

The second panel of the California Housing Forum addressed "Barriers to new housing in California. What makes California a unique place to build? What are the challenges to new construction in California cities and how might we learn from other states?"

Watch on YouTube