Love this! Early in my career, I saw the same dichotomy between high-minded policy folks and administrators grinding it out in the trenches. I calibrated my own Masters from American University to split the MPA/MPP degree programs - but could only wish for course offerings like Professor Sinai’s. I think inclusive methodologies like HCD/co-design should actually be mandatory for public administration degree programs in this day and age.

I’d like to share one additional aspiration - maybe something you can expand on in a future post - that American MPA programs expand offerings beyond traditional New Public Management (NPM) approaches. NPM, in my view, pairs well with neoliberal economics and policies. But I personally wish I could find more coursework and intellectual leadership aligned with University College London (UCL) Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, which is developing tools and capabilities for co-creating and co-shaping markets instead of teaching established tools for fixing market failures.