On Friday, May 15, 131 students from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University will cross the stage in Reed Arena with master’s degrees in hand. Seventy-two students have earned a Master in International Affairs, while fifty-nine are graduating with a Master in Public Service and Administration. Less than twenty years since its founding, the Bush School has grown dramatically, with applications increasing as the institution’s reputation for academic and research excellence and principled leadership training has grown among peer institutions.
The School is now ranked in the top 12 percent of the 266 graduate public affairs schools in the nation, according to rankings published in U.S. News & World Report. It ranks thirty-third among both public and private public affairs graduate programs and twenty-first among public university programs.
On April 27, graduating students were awarded certificates for additional work they had completed in leadership development and writing. Sixty-seven students were recognized for completing requirements for the Dean’s Certificate in Leadership or the Writing Portfolio Project. Students in the leadership development project each created an individual leadership plan, including a self-evaluation. They then took part in public service leadership projects as part of the program’s workshops and individual leadership coaching sessions. Students in the writing project aimed to improve their writing and critical evaluation skills. They also created a writing portfolio to use when seeking post-graduate employment.
This year’s graduates will be working in federal, state, and local government, as well as in the private and nonprofit sector, bringing the skills they have honed at the School during their classroom work and Capstone research projects. This year’s Capstones included studies on diverse issues affecting Texas and other locales in the US as well as international issues relating to Ghana, China, and Iran.
“We’re very proud of all our graduates, and I know that each of them will make significant contributions to their chosen field of endeavor,” said Dean Ryan Crocker.
