Welcome to our 50th Anniversary celebration of the UCF School of Public Administration (SPA) — a milestone honoring five decades of leadership, innovation and impact in public service. Since our founding, the school has grown alongside the communities we serve, preparing generations of students to lead with evidence-based insight, integrity and a commitment to the public good. I invite you to explore the rich history of our school, from key milestones in our development and expansion to the transformative initiatives that have shaped our teaching, research and outreach. You will also find tributes to the faculty and staff whose dedication and vision have defined our excellence over the years.
In reflecting on the past, we also look to the future with optimism and purpose. As society’s challenges evolve, we remain committed to preparing leaders equipped to meet those challenges. We share not only where we have been, but where we are going — highlighting emerging priorities and imagining the next 50 years of impact.
We invite you to celebrate with us, reconnect with our community and consider supporting the future of the school. Together, we can ensure that the next generation of public service leaders is ready to serve, innovate and lead.
Bradley Heim, Ph.D.
School Director
For 50 years, the School of Public Administration has made its greatest impact through its people. Thousands of graduates have gone on to lead and serve in city and county governments, nonprofits, planning departments, emergency management agencies, public policy think tanks, research offices, and higher education institutions.
As Central Florida has grown, the school has prepared professionals with expertise in key areas such as public finance, leadership, policy analysis, planning, emergency response, nonprofit governance, and intergovernmental collaboration. Today, nearly 7,000 alumni form a civic network — leading organizations, managing public resources, planning communities and improving quality of life.
Their impact expands beyond the classroom, visible every day in the work of our graduates who serve residents, lead institutions and enhance community resilience.
Invest in the next generation of public servants.
Featuring a snapshot of the faculty, staff and alumni who helped shape our school’s first half-century.
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“At CPNM, I was honored to do good work with good people. A special memory of the Strengthening Communities Program was hearing participant testimonials stating that the knowledge gained during the program both challenged and revived their organizations.”
Maria-Elena Augustin
Former Assistant Director of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management (CPNM) -
“My proudest moment at UCF was walking across the stage to receive my master’s degree in nonprofit management. After experiencing homelessness, dropping out of college twice, and not being able to walk across the stage for my associate or bachelor’s degree, this moment held a lot of weight for me. Working on my master's degree while working two — and sometimes three — jobs and juggling the responsibilities of a nonprofit I started was also one of the most challenging things I've done. Nothing else in my college career can compare to this moment for me. May future public servants realize that their unique life struggles are actually their strongest assets for leading change.”
Eric Camarillo ’16 ’19MNM
President/CEO SALT Outreach, Inc. -
“Having served on UCF’s Emergency Management and Homeland Security (EMHS) Advisory Board since its inception—and through my time as an adjunct professor — I’ve been proud to help shape the undergraduate and graduate programs (currently #1 in the nation for the second year in a row!) that prepare leaders not just to respond to crises, but to serve with purpose. My hope is that UCF continues to build a legacy of public servants ready to meet tomorrow’s challenges with integrity and innovation.”
Michelle Cechowski ’12 ’12MPA
Program Manager, National Capital Region Incident Management Team (NCR-IMT) Fairfax, Virginia -
“UCF gave me the fundamentals and the skillset to lead staffs of hundreds, manage budgets in the hundreds of millions, and serve communities of tens of thousands across this state. Leadership is measured by the trust you earn and the problems you actually solve, not the title on your door. My hope for the School of Public Administration is that it keeps producing graduates who lead that way — grounded in ethics, ready to be tested, and committed to the people they serve.”
Jonathan Evans ’04 ’06MPA
City Manager, Lauderdale Lakes -
“The School of Public Administration has always been more than an academic unit. It is a community dedicated to serving the public good through education, research and engagement. I am grateful to have been part of its journey and remain committed to supporting its mission as it continues to educate principled, innovative and collaborative public servants for generations to come.”
Naim Kapucu, Ph.D.
Pegasus Professor, Former School Director (2015-20) and Founding Director of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management -
"What attracted me to UCF's School of Public Administration nearly 20 years ago remains true today — community-focused, innovative and collaborative. This unique combination allowed us to not only build the best emergency management academic programs in the nation, but also the interdisciplinary teams needed to address complex problems facing our communities. As a former practitioner, this combination was important because I wanted my research and curriculum to impact the profession and communities we serve."
Claire Knox, Ph.D.
Professor and Program Director, Master of Emergency and Crisis Management -
“My hope for the School is that it continues to develop deep connections between the practitioner and the researcher, and that it strives to improve research-based public policy regionally, nationally and internationally.”
Richard Levey ’15 Ph.D.
Managing Director, Levey Consulting -
“As SPA celebrates its 50th anniversary, I am pleased to have witnessed, over my 30 years of service, its transformation from a teaching-oriented department offering one program into a research-intensive school offering five programs.”
Kuotsai Tom Liou, Ph.D.
Professor and Former Department Chair (1997-2003)
Building Public Leaders, Resilient Communities, and a Metropolitan Future for Central Florida
For more than 50 years, the University of Central Florida’s School of Public Administration has helped shape the people, institutions, and ideas that serve Central Florida.
Preparing Central Florida’s Public-Service Workforce
For five decades, the School of Public Administration has educated thousands of students who have gone on to serve in city and county governments, nonprofit organizations, planning departments, emergency management agencies, public-policy organizations, research offices, higher education institutions, and civic leadership roles.
Advancing Metropolitan Governance and UCF’s Urban Mission
The School of Public Administration has played a central role in advancing UCF’s identity as a metropolitan research university.
Strengthening the Nonprofit Sector and Community Capacity
The launch of undergraduate and graduate certificates in nonprofit management, followed by the Master of Nonprofit Management in 2004, created a dedicated pathway for nonprofit professionals to develop skills in leadership, governance, fundraising, program evaluation, strategic planning, and community engagement.
Advancing Emergency and Crisis Management
Central Florida faces significant emergency-management demands, including hurricanes, public health crises, infrastructure risks, tourism-related security concerns, and regional coordination challenges. The school’s expansion into emergency management and homeland security directly addressed this need.
Integrity
Our dedication to honest, ethical and consistent actions that perpetuate trusting and authentic relationships with faculty, staff, students and other key stakeholder groups.
Innovation
Our pursuit of novel, transformative ideas that challenge conventional boundaries to identify new solutions to the most pressing issues within the communities we serve.
Building Urban Resilience Through Research, Partnerships, and Community Engagement
The Urban Resilience Initiative represents one of the school’s most important contemporary contributions to UCF’s metropolitan mission.
Leading Ethical and Applied AI Innovation in Public Service
As public and nonprofit organizations enter the digital era, the school is helping Central Florida understand and use artificial intelligence responsibly.
Producing Research With Public Value
The School of Public Administration has contributed to national and international scholarship while maintaining a strong connection to community needs.
Convening the Region and Elevating Central Florida Nationally
The school has hosted major professional gatherings, including the Southeast Conference of Public Administration (SECoPA), the American Society for Public Administration Conference (ASPA) in Orlando, and Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations Voluntary Action.
Prepared thousands of public-service professionals.
years as a stand-alone public administration unit at UCF
current students
alumni serving Central Florida, Florida, the nation, and the world
academic programs across five major public-service areas
nonprofit organizations supported through Orange County-funded AI-integrated technical assistance
rural low-income renters engaged through HUD-funded hurricane recovery research using community participatory action research
Help ensure the UCF School of Public Administration continues to make a positive impact on the lives and communities we serve by making your gift today, and you will receive this special gift as a reminder of your impact.
