Date September 11, 2025

The Watson School welcomes its first cohort of Master of Public Affairs (MPA) students

By Pete Bilderback

As the Watson School launched early this summer, its Master of Public Affairs (MPA) program welcomed a new class of students. This year's cohort brings with them a wide array of experiences and perspectives that have shaped their goals as they enter the program.

The Watson School of International and Public Affairs recently welcomed a cohort of 66 Master of Public Affairs (MPA) students as part of its inaugural class, including four students seeking a dual MPA/MPH (Master of Public Health) degree. The rigorous, professional one-year program fosters a space where diverse perspectives are openly and respectfully debated, emphasizing learning through practice to prepare students to become leaders in the public policy arena.

Faculty Director of the MPA Program, David Blanding, welcomed the incoming class, praising their leadership potential, perseverance and commitment to public service. He encouraged them to take advantage of every opportunity, “whether that's prestigious fellowships with institutes doing cutting-edge policy research like the Costs of War Project, the Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, or the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, courses with leading scholars like Eric Patshnik and Margaret Weir, or access to Watson Senior Fellows like David Cicilline, Malika Saada Saar and Isaac Dovere."

This year, 70% of the incoming MPA class are U.S. students representing 16 states and the District of Columbia. International students from 13 different countries make up the remaining 30% of the cohort. Five students come to the program from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and five come from Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Two students are on active duty with the U.S. military, and one is a veteran. Whether they are mid-career professionals or newly graduated undergraduates, most students in the cohort have prior professional experience, whether it is from full-time jobs or high-impact internships in public service before graduating from college.

Associate Director of Admissions and Recruitment, Catherine Rodarte, said "The customizable curriculum of our one-year program attracts talented leaders from varied policy interests, lived experiences, and viewpoints who share a sense of urgency to address some of society's most pressing challenges." She noted that this year's cohort, "includes a student who served as an economic officer for the U.S. Department of State, students who worked as legislative staff in their home states, medical doctors passionate about health policy, fundraising and community engagement professionals from Rhode Island non-profits, a former elementary school teacher, and so many other mission-driven public service professionals."

The students' reasons for pursuing an MPA degree are as varied as their backgrounds.

Kelsey Crowley, an active-duty service member in the United States Army, entered the MPA Program due to a shift in her Army career. "I switched to what's called a functional area within the Army," said Crowley, "I will be working as a strategist, which allows you to pursue a master's degree if you don't already have a master's in public policy."

She said she chose the Watson School's program because of its flexibility and the variety of electives it offers. "Given my career path in the Army, having the opportunity to touch on a variety of topics appealed to me," she said. Crowley added, “The size of the cohort was also appealing — it's small enough that you get to know everyone, but large enough that you really get a diverse group.”

Marcos Montoya Andrade, a fifth-year Brown student earning his MPA with this year's cohort, wanted to continue the widely publicized work he did on immigration as an undergraduate. He said he did not consider any other MPA programs, noting, "Brown is the place I've loved for the past four years, and I knew it was the right place for me to continue my studies and earn an MPA."

Montoya Andrade credited Rodarte for encouraging him to apply. "She was one of the first people I talked to about the program," he recalled. "She guided me through the process and told me about the courses, but what I appreciated most was that she made me feel like I'd belong and be an asset to the program."

Montoya Andrade said being an MPA student at Brown feels different from being an undergraduate. "The program is very professionally-oriented," he said. "[The MPA team] constantly posts positions and internships that are open and that may be of interest to us. The program is clearly geared toward building new skills, honing the skills that you already have, and then translating that into a career," he explained.

Crowley noted that being part of a cohort with a broad variety of life experiences has been impactful. "Some of us are mid-career, and others are straight out of undergrad," she said, "but you find common ground, especially with those who are interested in the same topics." She noted that she has gravitated towards others focused on national security issues, but finds exposure to students with other interests stimulating. "It allows us to explore different perspectives, different topics, and learn from each other rather than just having the same conversations with people who think the same as you and want to study the same things as you," she said.

[Having a cohort with diverse interests] allows us to explore different perspectives, different topics, and learn from each other rather than just having the same conversations with people who think the same as you and want to study the same things as you.

Kelsey Crowley MPA class of 2026

Dr. Sarah Carpenter is a practicing emergency physician attending the program through the Social Emergency Medicine Fellowship under Brown University Department of Emergency Medicine. She said she has long had an interest in health policy, and in particular, "How to best communicate messages about health policy to people outside the medical profession."

"In my work as a physician," she said, "I see the ways in which our broken health care system affects patients." While earning her MPA, Carpenter is working shifts at Miriam Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital, where she sees some of the problems with the current system up close and personal. She noted that more Rhode Islanders are seeking non-emergency care in emergency rooms due to a scarcity of primary care physicians in the state.

"Clearly," said Carpenter, "the problem needs to be solved via policy," noting that emergency room physicians feel frustrated by their inability to address the structural problems that create long wait times for those in need of emergency treatment and insufficient care for those without access to primary care physicians.

It was this frustration, she said, that drove her to seek an MPA at Brown. "I want to get a better understanding of how policy is made to create change. I want to craft a career where I work part-time clinically and part-time within the field of health policy. The MPA program will provide me with the skills, the network, and the mentorship that will allow me to break into the policy world in a way that I haven't been able to thus far as a practicing clinician," she said. This semester, Carpenter is taking one of the MPA program's core classes, Policy Analysis and Problem Solving, taught by Eric Patashnik, Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, which addresses exactly this goal. The class teaches students how to define public problems, develop and compare potential policy options, and then select and effectively communicate recommendations for actions that advance change.

Tyler Cerrato, an active-duty officer in the United States Marine Corp., who is serving as a national defense fellow through Watson's Military Fellows Program while earning his MPA degree, noted the diversity of interests across a broad ideological spectrum within the cohort. "Some people are focused on equitable housing, some are passionate about immigration reform, others are interested in national defense," he said. Among the cohort, "You have some students who are very left-leaning, some who are moderate Democrats, and then you have some conservatives and a few who are very conservative," he said.

According to Cerrato, what unites all the students across their interests and ideologies is that "everyone here wants to make things better." "What I've seen," he said, “is that there's a lot of respect here for other people's opinions. Debate is never divisive. The diverse beliefs and politics among the cohort are valuable. And I give kudos to the younger people in the cohort who are mature enough to respect and find value in other people's opinions, even when they passionately disagree.”

Cerrato said he was impressed by the rigor of the summer sequence focusing on quantitative analysis, including Statistics for Public Policy, taught by Assistant Professor Jesse Bruhn, and Economics for Public Policy, taught by Bryce Millett Steinberg, IJC Assistant Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs. "As a Marine," he said, "I'm used to dealing with pressurized situations, challenges with what feels like insurmountable odds, and problems that need to be solved under time constraints." Even still, he admitted, "Having not done derivatives in almost two decades and then stepping into a program like this, there was definitely an intimidation factor." "Going through the first month of statistics and doing probabilities, I had to rewire my brain to look at problems," he said, “But I really developed an appreciation for using regression analysis as a tool.”

Cerrato credited some of the younger students in the cohort, who had more recent experience with qualitative analysis, and especially the program's teaching assistant, Bo-Yeon Jang, a graduate student in economics, for making the experience a positive one. Crowley agreed, adding, “I've never seen a teaching assistant put in the amount of time and effort that Bo-Yeon does. She's a brilliant teacher and just an overall wonderful human.”

Crowley said she has found the program rewarding so far. "I liked the fast pace of the summer program," she said. "Having an intensive summer format allowed us to spend a lot of time together." She added, “I'm looking forward to the fall and spring semesters, where the course format allows us to dive deeper into discussion with each other in the classroom on topics we're passionate about.”

The MPA Class of 2026 is the first cohort admitted by the Watson School following its launch earlier this summer. The one-year Master of Public Affairs program, which has trained and graduated ten classes under the School's predecessor, the Watson Institute, is built upon a now twenty-year history of graduate education in public policy, public affairs and public administration at Brown.