Alumna offers her experience and advice

Dr. Erin Nemenoff graduated from UMKC in spring 2013 with an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Public Affairs and Administration and the Social Science Consortium. Since then, she has earned a tenure-line faculty position at the University of Memphis, which she started in fall 2013. She has also presented at two academic conferences, written two technical reports, and has three manuscripts out for review.

“At a very basic level, the degree helped me get a job,” she said. “However, training under the caliber of faculty that UMKC has within PA&A opened many doors for me that might not have otherwise been opened.”

Nemenoff originally chose UMKC for her Masters in Public Administration because it offered a nonprofit management emphasis, which is what she wanted to pursue. During her time in the MPA program, she found that the Public Affairs faculty were top scholars within the discipline, and that was a deciding factor in her pursuit of a Ph.D. while training under these faculty.

“UMKC offered an MPA with a focus on nonprofit management, which fit my educational needs and career goals,” she said. “While I was working on my MPA, I realized that … earning a Ph.D. and becoming faculty would allow me to help not only develop what we know about the nonprofit workforce, but also educate the next generation of the nonprofit workforce, and have a greater overall impact within the nonprofit sector.”

She described her IPhD journey as “pretty typical.” She also had a research assistantship and teaching assistantship at UMKC, which she said both enhanced her experience. Choosing an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program was not unusual for Nemenoff, because public administration and nonprofit management are already interdisciplinary.

“As a discipline, we talk about and study major social issues, which should not (and cannot!) be solved using a single disciplinary lens,” she said. “My research is informed by scholars in the fields of psychology, sociology, economics, and education, and our broader field regularly incorporates research from political science, business, and anthropology.”

Nemenoff said she particularly enjoyed the collaborative environment, learning from peers and faculty, and feeling supported by the institution. To prospective students who are interested in the IPhD program, she would say to make the most of the interdisciplinary experience because of its uniqueness.

“Get involved with the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Student Council so you can network with peers and find ways to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries,” she said. “And attend the PFF seminars, even if you aren’t a PFF Fellow. Teaching is not something we necessarily come by honestly, and it will be helpful to have a few tools and techniques to work with before you get thrown into your first class as a professor.”

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