After Year-Long Vacancy, New MPA Director Announced
by Jane Lloyd on April 17, 2008 in HKS News
On March 24, HKS announced the appointment of Robin Engel (MPA 2005) as the new director of MPA programs, a position that has been unfilled for most of the 2007-08 academic year.
The position was left open last September when the previous director, Manny Stefanakis (MPA 1992), took a period of personal leave after serving for just over one year.
“We had an incredible pool of candidates,” said Judy Kugel, Assistant Dean and Deputy Director of Degree programs, who led the selection committee. “Robin is extremely personable and an outstanding candidate.”
A Conspicuous Absence
According to many mid-careers, the long vacancy left their class without a key advocate.
“We have had a great year, but we missed having a person who anchors the group… someone who knows the players and the system,” said Anne Manning (MC/MPA 08).
Mid-career class representative Jane Whittaker (MC/MPA 08) agreed, saying she had nobody to turn to when she sensed classmates were in trouble.
“We had to wing it a bit,” Whittaker said. “I felt some classmates were struggling and I did not know who to go to. There is a privacy issue we did not know how to deal with.”
Kugel, who helped fill in for the vacant position, sympathized with students’ frustration.
“We want students to have the best possible experience and the MPA Director is part of that,” Kugel said. “Students did not get the complete attention of one professional person thinking about them and their issues, although they were never out of my mind.”
Senior Associate Dean and Director of Degree Programs Joseph McCarthy agreed the situation was less than ideal.
“I think we made the best of a tough situation,” McCarthy said, referring to the substitution work performed by Kugel and others during the year. “Is it the same as having a person in that position? No, it’s not. But it was the right thing to do.”
Indefinite Leave
Stefanakis’ leave was announced in an email from McCarthy on September 5, 2007. The note - sent to all faculty, staff and students - said Stefanakis had “been granted personal leave to address a very pressing family matter,” and that his advisees would be re-assigned. No further updates were disseminated.
According to several students, rumors soon began to circulate that the position may be vacant longer than originally anticipated.
“Initially the word got out that the director was not going to be around”, said Manning. “Then there was a long pause. Someone could have come to the mid-career seminar and fielded questions.”
“Perhaps the faculty could have pulled us together and filtered some of the concerns regarding the vacancy,” added Maasdam. “No one ever addressed us like adults”.
By late October, McCarthy and Kugel began meeting with class representatives to talk about the absence and see how they could help. At that time, according to the representatives, members of the administration were not able to discuss the personal circumstances surrounding Stefanakis’ leave, or predict how long it would last.
“The personal leave was extended beyond our original expectations,” Kugel told the Citizen. “It was extremely painful for all those involved.”
In response to the continued absence, a mid-career representatives presented petition to McCarthy in December, requesting that “the position of Director for MPA Programs be filled by January 1, 2008.” The petition continued: “While we understand that some delays were necessary in filling this position, we believe the time has long past for resolution.”
Shortly after the start of the spring semester in late January, the position was officially opened for applications, but it was not filled until earlier this month. McCarthy would not comment on when Stefanakis’ leave officially ended, or whether the former director voluntarily resigned or was asked to step down.
“Anything that would affect students directly is communicated to them,” McCarthy said. “If it were something which I thought affected them, I would [share it], but this was not one of those cases,” he added, referring to the reasons for Stefanakis’ departure.
Though Kugel regrets the difficulty of the situation, she sees it as part of the job.
“We in the administration have issues to deal with that are very hard,” she said. “And this goes into that box.”
A New Director
The incoming director is committed to engaging with current students concerns, even if he will have only one week to do so before the end of classes.
“I am excited about starting,” said Engel, who plans to focus on shaping the overall MPA experience and talking to students about how the school can adapt to their needs.
Engel cites the late Sue Williamson, who held the position for many years prior to Stefanakis, as his model. “She created space to bring people together to accelerate their personal and professional growth and impact their growth as a student,” he said, having studied at HKS during Williamson’s tenure.
Asked about the year-long vacancy, Engel said, “I am not sure about the current situation, but I understand that many staff and faculty filled in [for the position].”
Engel graduated from the mid-career program in 2005, after working for years organizing political campaigns. He comes to HKS from Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA, where he served as Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.
Following the announcement, class representative Whittaker wrote to her fellow MPAs of her confidence in Engel. “I had the decided impression that his history of successful political organizing and campaign work would serve him well in working with the diffused authority structures at HKS.”
Engel will begin working at HKS on April 28.
NIk Steinberg contributed to the reporting for this article.
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