Brent Troxell '12 has been named a recipient of the Government Finance Officers Association’s Daniel B. Goldberg Scholarship, presented each year to a student preparing for a career in state and local government finance. The scholarship and financial award will be presented to him at the organization's annual conference in Chicago in June. An ICMA Fellow, Brent will work in the Dakota County, Minnesota, manager's office after graduation.

Jake Pflepsen '12 has received the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health's "Service in Action" award, which recognizes outstanding service to the emergency response community. Pflepsen was cited for his years of service with San Diego Fire-Rescue, his contribution to Liability Issues in Emergency Management for North Carolina Emergency Managers (2011), and his volunteer work at Dare County's Emergency Operations Center with MPA faculty member Norma Houston during Huricane Irene in August 2011. The photo at left shows Pflepsen in Manteo with a dog he rescued during the storm.

On April 18 and 19, 2012, Professor Chuck Szypszak taught a workshop at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, attended by students and graduates of the university’s law school. The session, Law and Public Administration: When does Law Matter?, was held at one of the university’s historic buildings in the Old Town. In his session, Szypszak presented the fundamentals of American law and legal analysis, while also discussing public officials' responsibility for understanding the law and contributing to its reform.

Municipal Benchmarks: Assessing Local Performance and Establishing Community Standards, Third Edition (M.E. Sharpe, 2012) is now available. This comprehensive resource gives urban experts, municipal leaders, management analysts, and pre-professionals essential practical tools to assess a municipality’s performance in all areas of operation.

Lee Worsley ’97 has been elected as a vice president of the International City and County Management Association (ICMA) Executive Board for 2012-2013. Worsley was named deputy county manager of Durham County in October 2011 after serving as assistant county manager in Catawba County since 2005.

Second-year MPA students Trevor Fleck and Claire Long have been selected as 2012 Presidential Management Fellows, a highly selective two-year program with the executive branch of the federal government.