Welcome Reception for
Executive Master of Public Management Program
Suzhou City Public Managers
November 24, 2008
C. D. Mote, Jr.

I am very pleased to welcome the Suzhou City Public Managers to UM and to celebrate our first Chinese group in the Executive Masters of Public Management (EMPM) program.  I know that you must be a very talented group to have been chosen for this program.

The faculty who head this program are leading scholars who understand the theory of policymaking and its real-world applications.  They have the strongest academic credentials and many have served in the highest levels of federal, state and local government.

Part of the Maryland School of Public Policy's mission is to develop leaders who make a difference both in their organizations and in Public Administration and Management. You will be those leaders and I am certain you will benefit greatly from this program.

Our campus places great value on our international collaborations. We have about 3,600 international students on campus (10% of our student body). But we are particularly interested in partnerships with China. There are over 1,000 Chinese students on the University of Maryland campus and UM has over 100 Chinese speaking faculty members. There is a lot of interest in China on the part of our students as well, with dozens of our students going to China on one of 8 exchange programs each year.

I personally place great emphasis on our partnerships with China.  I have traveled to China dozens of times to establish relations with universities, private industry and government agencies.  I have served as the Economic Advisor to Jiangsu for several years. UM currently has over 50 partnerships with China.  We have several academic programs that are located in China or that bring Chinese students to College Park:   Journalism, Business, and Criminal Justice are among them. Our Smith School of Business has had Executive MBA programs in Beijing and Shanghai and runs an annual $50,000 China Business Plan Competition to promote entrepreneurship.

The Clark School of Engineering has offered more than twenty training courses in China since 2000 through the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering.  The Smithsonian Institution partners with the UM’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to allow our students to interact directly with the giant pandas at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding.  We also have several non-degree-granting programs such as:

•The Confucius Institute at Maryland was established with support from the People’s Republic of China Office of Chinese Language Council International (HANBAN). It is the first one in the U.S.

• The Institute for Global Chinese Affairs (IGCA) has offered executive training programs to government officials for over a decade. The IGCA fosters interdisciplinary; communication and collaboration among scholars, policymakers, students and leaders in China- related areas.

• Finally, we are developing a joint UM-China research park with the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Torch Park will be the first one outside of China and we have already attracted investors from China and Maryland who are looking to partner with us.

I understand that you will be here until December of next year, so I hope that you have a chance to enjoy not only our campus but many of the sights of the Washington D.C. area.
We are just nine miles from the White House and there are a wealth of museums, research centers, government agencies and national libraries in this area. I have no doubt that you will have a very rich experience here.

Please take time to explore the campus itself. We have been declared an arboretum – we have over 6,000 trees on campus and we are taking many steps to promote sustainability on the campus. The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center has performances almost every day.  We have an Olympic sized swimming pool and a state-of-the-art Recreation Center. And please remember the students. They are eager to learn about China and to interact with you!
 

I hope you have an excellent stay here. The School of Public Policy’s program is truly outstanding so I know that you will benefit from it. We are honored to have you, and know that you will contribute much to the campus.

________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Maryland School of Public Policy on the web.

We have an array of educational programs designed to develop people for careers in policy analysis, management, leadership and scholarship. We offer Master's and PhD degrees as well as Excutive Master's and Certificate Programs. Our curriculum prepares students for jobs in public, private and nonprofit sectors.

Ranked 8th among public policy programs in 2007, the School enjoys several unique advantages that drew me to the faculty in 1988, which makes me especially pleased and proud to be the School's Dean:

The School is located inside the Capital Beltway, a short Metro ride from Congress, federal agencies, international organizations, think-tanks, and numerous non-governmental and non-profit organizations.

We are the only policy school in the Washington area embedded in a Tier I research university, ranked 37th in the world; our students benefit from interactions with top-ranked graduate programs and faculty in economics, government and politics, education, criminology, business, engineering and the natural sciences.

Enjoy your virtual visit. I hope we can welcome you to the School soon.

Steve Fetter

Dean and Professor