On Friday, April 26, UGA Georgia Students for Public Administration held their annual banquet. Students, faculty, and staff came together for this wonderful occasion. There was much merriment and celebration, though it was bitter sweet, as fall semester is coming to a close and part of the students are graduating and moving on to new and bigger things, while other students are stepping up to fill the newly vacated officer rolls.

Outgoing officers include:

Allyson Terry, President
Rose Anthony, Treasurer
Sam Nagy, Secretary
Lucas Smith, Social Committee Chair
Jay Keen, Professional Development & Policy Competition Committee Chair

Incoming officers include:

Sierra Francois, President & Social Committee Chair
Christina Rudolph, Treasurer
Emily Stone, Secretary
Elizabeth Griffin, Professional Development Chair
Theresa Vencill, Policy Competition Chair

The key note speaker this year was Andrea Arnold, City Manager for the City of Decatur. She gave a wonderful talk about management and innovation.

As is tradition, awards were also presented. Student of the Year awards were announced by Dr. Eric Zeemering, Associate Professor & MPA Director:

The MPA Student of the Year went to Allyson Terry.
The PhD Student of the Year went to Andrew Grandage.

Outgoing GSPA President, Allyson Terry, presented the Faculty of the Year award:

It went to Dr. Bradly Wright, Public Administration & Policy Professor and Department Head.

Awards for service hours were also give out to the students by MPA Career Services Coordinator, Mr. Aaron Redman. This year, all recipients earned both service awards: the departmental 100 Hours of Volunteering Award and the President’s 100 Hours of Service Award. The recipients include:

Jason Moon
Sydney Borges
Emil Nieves

It was a full, wonderful night of celebration. After networking, dinner, a wonderful keynote talk, awards, and a few words from the outgoing officers, students were able to spend time together and danced the night away.