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Awards & Recognition
Following are select awards and recognition our Public Policy and Administration community has received over the years.
PPA In The News
Cristy Jensen Award
In 1989, Professor Emerita Cristy Jensen founded the graduate program in Public Policy and Administration as it is today. Dr. Jensen was the 2007 recipient of the prestigious John C. Livingston Award. Read the transcript or view her lecture.
Upon her retirement in 2007, the Department of Public Policy and Administration created the Distinguished Graduate Award in her honor. Affectionately known as the Cristy Jensen Award, MPPA students selected for this honor exhibited throughout their graduate careers the qualities Dr. Jensen valued most:
- academic achievement
- active involvement in the PPA community
- peer mentoring
- demonstrated leadership
- professionalism
Each Cristy Jensen Award recipient is selected at the end of a given academic year from those MPPA students who completed their culminating experience in that year.
| Year | Cristy Jensen Award Recipient |
|---|---|
| 2021-2022 | Diana Dominguez, MPPA |
| 2020-2021 | Alexis Foley, MPPA |
| 2019-2020 | Alex McCreddin, MPPA |
| 2018-2019 | Amelia Gomez, MPPA |
| 2017-2018 | Erin Stumpf, MPPA |
| 2016-2017 | Kara Corches, MPPA |
| 2015-2016 | Ginger Hashimoto, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2015-2016 | Damien Mimnaugh, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2014-2015 | Terra Thorne, MPPA |
| 2013-2014 | Sergio Aguilar, MPPA |
| 2012-2013 | Katie Cardenas, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2012-2013 | Angela Marin, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2011-2012 | Eric Chisholm, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2011-2012 | Andrew Sturmfels, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2010-2011 | Eric Stern, MPPA |
| 2009-2010 | Joe Karkoski, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2009-2010 | Geoffrey Propheter, MPPA co-awardee |
| 2008-2009 | Lindsay Keyes, MPPA |
| 2007-2008 | Danell Brewster, MPPA |
| 2006-2007 | Jean-Marie McKinney, MPPA |
College Graduation with Distinction
The College of Social Science and Interdisciplinary Studies recognizes master's students who are graduating with distinction. To qualify for this honor a master's student must have an overall grade point average of at least 3.8 and have completed a culminating project that the faculty considers distinctive.
| Year | SSIS Graduation with Distinction Award Recipients |
|---|---|
| 2021-2022 | Michael Turgeon, MPPA |
| 2020-2021 | Nick Thomas, MPPA |
| 2020-2021 | Giselle Sanchez, MPPA |
| 2020-2021 | Nicole Cuellar, MPPA |
| 2020-2021 | Rachel Croopnick, MPPA |
| 2019-2020 | Justin Adelman, MPPA |
| 2017-2018 | Erin Stumpf, MPPA |
| 2017-2018 | Imaez Wahid, MPPA |
| 2016-2017 | Katrina Beedy, MPPA |
| 2016-2017 | Kara Corches, MPPA |
| 2016-2017 | Katerina Robinson, MPPA |
| 2015-2016 | Ginger Hashimoto, MPPA |
| 2015-2016 | Damien Mimnaugh, MPPA |
| 2013-2014 | Andrea Howard, MSULD |
| 2013-2014 | Arianna Smith, MPPA |
Student Research Competitions
- PPA Student, Horacio Corona Lira, won first prize in the Education section of the 2021 Student Research & Creative Activity Spring Symposium (Sacramento State), as well as "Best Graduate Paper" at the 46th Annual CSU, SSRIC Social Science Student Symposium, 2021.
- MS/ULD student, Ryan Sharpe, won the 2018 Gloria Rummels Award for “paper demonstrating the best use of quantitative data” at the 2018 Social Science Research & Instructional Council research competition.
- PPA student, Ginger Hashimoto, won the 2016 Gloria Rummels Award for “paper demonstrating the best use of quantitative data” at the 2016 Social Science Research & Instructional Council research competition.
- PPA student, Terra Thorne, won the 2015 30th Annual CSU Student Research Competition.
- PPA student, Jodi Lewis, won the 2014 Student Research Symposium at Sacramento State and the 2014 Social Science Research & Instructional Council research competition.
- PPA student, Lucinda Winward, won the 2007 Gloria Rummels Award for “paper demonstrating the best use of quantitative data” at the 2007 Social Science Research & Instructional Council research competition
Distinguished Alumni Awards
Two MPPA Alumni were honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards in 2014.
- Keri Thomas, MPPA '06
- James P. Mayer, MPPA '92
John C. Livingston Annual Faculty Lecture Award 2016-2017
PPA Professor Ted Lascher is the recipient of the John C. Livingston Annual Faculty Lecture Award, 2016-2017. On Monday, February 20, 2017, Ted Lascher delivered the prestigious annual Livingston lecture. His lecture, entitled “Curbing the Inclination toward Populist Reform (And Why You Should Appreciate the Faculty Senate)”, addresses populist reform.
John C. Livingston Annual Faculty Lecture Award 2007
PPA Professor Cristy Jensen was the 2007 recipient of the prestigious John C. Livingston Award. Jensen delivered the lecture, titled, “Faculty as Academic Leaders: Our Students Are Counting on Us (Whether They Know It or Not),” Tuesday, Oct. 30. The lecture focused on faculty’s responsibility to set curriculum, despite attempts by industry, think tanks and government to usurp that responsibility.
Champions of Change
- First Place Winner Featuring PPA Professor Su Jin Jez
- Second Place Winner Featuring PPA Professor Rob Wassmer
- Third Place Winner Featuring Interim Dean and PPR Professor Ted Lascher
California Housing Forum
Professor Rob Wassmer participated in the California Housing Forum's second panel on October 5, 2016.
The second panel of the California Housing Forum addressed "Barriers to new housing in California. What makes California a unique place to build? What are the challenges to new construction in California cities and how might we learn from other states?"