University of Delaware School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy
graduate students Robert Coons and Sarah Logrieco were invited to
participate in a session entitled Study Abroad for Graduate Students:
Combining Teaching and Research in a Cross Cultural Course in Public
Administration and Public Policy at the 18th NISPAcee
(Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central
and Eastern Europe) Annual Conference held in Warsaw in mid-May.
They never expected their January 2010 trip to Romania as part of the
SUAPP cross cultural course in public administration and public policy
would turn into a May trip to Warsaw -- but it did.
The research was conducted with public administration graduate students studying at Babes-Bolyai University
in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Coons, accompanied by Romanian student Andreaa
Andries, presented research on Emergency Management in Romania and
Logrieco, accompanied by Diana Pop, presented a paper on Prevalent
Issues in Romania: Public School Management and the Progress of Regional
Decentralization.
During their January stay in Cluj-Napoca, Coons, Logrieco and five
other SUAPP students worked in teams with Romanian graduate students,
conducting interviews, collecting data and meeting with local and
national government leaders as well as nonprofit, education and media
leaders.
Research topics included public education, public health,
opportunities for economic and social development of minorities
(especially the Roma population), disaster response, freedom of
information, anticorruption measures, and the interrelationship of
public transportation and air quality.
The resulting research papers were initially presented at a forum on
Jan. 21 in Romania that was preceded by a press conference at which
student participants were interviewed by Romanian print and broadcast
media.
Logrieco received her master's degree in public administration (MPA) on May 29 and will begin work with Uncommon Schools in Newark, N.J. Coons, who has been working in the University's Disaster Research Center, expects to receive the MPA degree in 2011.