MPA-MCRP 2018 Graduate
Specialization: Housing and Community Development
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Stephanie was a few months into her MPA program at UNC Chapel Hill when she realized she wanted to dive further into her interests around housing and community development and gain additional technical skills. After speaking with Professor Tyler Mulligan from the School of Government and Dr. Mai Nguyen from Carolina Planning she felt encouraged that Carolina Planning would be a fitting addition and applied.
Since becoming a dual degree student, Stephanie has continued to build her understanding of leadership and public service in the MPA program and has been able add a layer of technical skills from her planning courses, that are helping her work towards being the well rounded public servant she hopes to be. For the first two years of her graduate career she served as the GPSF senator for the MPA program, and in January of 2017 she began serving Carolina Planning as co-president of the Planners Forum alongside fellow dual-degree student Ellis Johnson II.
Stephanie’s favorite thing about the Carolina Planning community is how engaged and connected the student community is. “Everyone is passionate about something and it’s a really inspiring environment to continue learning and growing in”. After graduation, she hopes to combine the relationships and technical skills at Carolina Planning with the leadership and communication skills from the MPA program and work in the community development finance and affordable housing fields.